To help encourage conversations and dialogue about the systems and practices that need to be in place to foster lifelong and ‘long life’ learning, our question of the week is: What can we do (or keep doing) to help all learners love to learn? Be specific. Learning to Love Learning (Week of 1/31/21) (This is an anonymous Google Form)
Blake's Guiding Lights
Our Students
Blake's Core Values: Respect, Responsibility, Resourcefulness, Reflection
Our Essential Question: How can we cultivate and curate the progression of student learning and growth?
Our Mission: Blake Middle School believes in a living mission statement, based on the concept that our community seeks and respects knowledge, integrity, character, wisdom, and the willingness to adapt to a continually evolving world.
The most important attitude that can be formed is that of desire to go on learning. - John Dewey
You cannot teach today the same way you did yesterday to prepare students for tomorrow. - John Dewey
With the frigid weather this past weekend, I hope that everyone has been staying warm and safe. Even though I have lived my entire life in New England, I had forgotten that this cold weather can be pretty typical - amazing how the mind/memory can romanticize things and ‘blissfully ignore’ reality! It looks as though some more wintry weather will be continuing - I have to say that despite the cold temps, the sunshine has been a real source of hope and light.
- What can we do (or keep doing) to help all learners love to learn? (Question of the Week)
- What systems to help to support all learners?
- What practices help to support all learners?
- What practices free us to support all students?
- What systems free us to support all students?
- Given our learning over the last (almost) year, what is something that you will keep doing (and we should keep doing)?
- Given our learning over the last (almost) year, what is something that you will never do again (and we should never do again)?
We will be taking time at our faculty meeting this month to explore the essence/themes of these questions with the intent to try and ‘archive/capture’ and reflect upon the learnings we have all experienced over the last year - What practices should we continue? What should we resume? Should we go back to 'normal'? etc. All of these questions are critical and important - and I really believe (you have heard me say this before) that we would be remiss (and irresponsible) by not taking intentional and concerted time to name, process, and incorporate the answers and learning into our practices.
This past week I listened to (among others) a couple of podcasts that helped further my own thinking and answers to these questions - one is from What's the Big Idea? and the other is from Future U Podcast...
Over, Under, or Properly Rated? Education in 2020 with Amy Fast
(42 minutes)
In which Dan weighs what 2020 taught us about many of the tenets of education. He's joined by Amy Fast (@fastcrayon), principal of McMinnville High School in Oregon, to take part in "Over, Under, or Properly Rated?", a game of evaluation and reflection. They talk synchronous vs asynchronous, teacher content knowledge, parental involvement, college prep, and more. As always, we welcome comments and questions on Twitter @BigIdeaEd.
Preparing For Jobs That Don’t Yet Exist
(40 min, 40 seconds)
Michelle Weise returns to Future U to talk about her new book, Long Life Learning: Preparing for Jobs that Don’t Even Exist Yet and why creating a new learning ecosystem for what’s ahead is so critical for all of us.
The interview with Amy Fast (@fastcrayon) provides an excellent framework for reflection (over, under, or properly rated) and the segment with Michelle Weise (@rwmichelle) provides insight into the importance of long-term thinking/planning - they both speak to the need to examine and shift our current systems for all of our learners. Weise shares her mindset shift from ‘life-long learning’ to ‘long-life learning’ - as life expectancy increases, an important question to think about is the inevitable need (yes, need) for a longer span of learning over our lives.
How do these episodes relate to our current realities - students, teachers, and learning at Blake? In addition to the listening and reflection that has come forth for me (and sharing with others - some have received these already and have heard some thoughts in recent meetings/interactions), direct and indirect connections have been made clear to me (and potentially others as well) over the last few days...
- Start With Hello assemblies- How do we help our students and families feel connected? What systems and practices help to foster growth and connection?
- Black History Month planning - Are our plans indicative of our culture and practices at Blake?
- Student Council - How can we incorporate our students into leadership roles as it is their school?
- Blake Think Tank - What is on the minds of our staff? Are we (and I mean both me in my role and the ‘greater we’) listening?
- Professional Development - How are we encouraging continued growth for all to reflect the new needs that develop at a rapid pace?
- Communication - How do we continue bridging the inherent gap between the internal and external communities at our school?
Two themes become very clear for me…
- We have an inherent responsibility and obligation to foster a love and desire to learn for ALL of our students
- Systems are the levers for change and improvement, and they all connect - we can not look at one practice/system without acknowledging, articulating, and considering the impact and interdependence on other practices and systems
A Few Notes from Recent Professional Development…
Part 1 of ‘Culturally Responsive & Sustaining Pedagogy’
- How does systemic racism manifest itself in the education experience for students?
- Is systemic inequity too big for me to make a difference?
- Need to share hope
- Teachers make a difference
- How Do I Become an Anti-racist Educator/Leader?
- Sphere of Concern, Sphere of Control, Sphere of Influence
- What is an area of concern you want to address?
- What learning will help you to be impactful?
- What, within your sphere of control, can you do?
- What, within your sphere of control, can you do?
- How can you expand your impact into your sphere of influence?
- What is an area of concern you want to address?
- Collectivism vs Individualism
- Culture is software to hardware (Zaretta Hammond)
- Concept of ‘Organized Flexibility’
- We believe in the future of our children
- Consistency is what we would hope for - equity comes from consistency
- Concept of Nexus vs Pipelines for students
- Paradox of ‘Special Education’: Ever since the passage of the original IDEA, educators, researchers, and policymakers have acknowledged concern over the “paradox of special education.” The paradox being: special education provides students with critical services, supports, accommodations, and legal rights that help them succeed in school; yet, at the same time, special education identification can result in lowered expectations from teachers, limited access to the general education curricula, and stigma.” — The Century Foundation, Students from Low-Income Families and Special Education
by Elena Aguilar in Edutopia
Almost six years old, this post is a Q&A with Zaretta Hammond (@Ready4Rigor) in regards to her new (at the time) book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. The neuroscience of her work is enlightening and critical.
In reality, cultural responsiveness is more of a process than a strategy. It begins when a teacher recognizes the cultural capital and tools students of color bring to the classroom. She is then able to respond to students' use of these cultural learning tools positively by noticing, naming, and affirming when students use them in the service of learning. The most common cultural tools for processing information utilize the brain's memory systems -- music, repetition, metaphor, recitation, physical manipulation of content, and ritual. The teacher is "responsive" when she is able to mirror these ways of learning in her instruction, using similar strategies to scaffold learning.
It's a misconception that culturally responsive instruction has to mention race. It's not race that matters in culturally responsive teaching but awareness of implicit bias that gets in the way of healthy student-teacher relationships and narrow interpretations of learning that ignore the cultural tools students bring to class.
Teachers need to simply begin with understanding the cultural dimensions of communalism -- most communities of color have this cultural trait in common, namely a focus on the interdependence of the group. It can be summed up in the African proverb, "I am because we are." This way of being is contrasted with our dominant culture's more individualist, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps worldview.
The neuroscience is clear on the connection between emotions, trust, and learning. Stress hormones from mistrust block cognition.
...the neuroscience is so cool in helping us understand the role of culture in learning. It is like software that programs our "hardware" (the brain). Cultural values and learning practices transmitted from our parents and community guide how the brain wires itself to process information and handle relationships. Neural pathways are over-developed around one's cultural ways of learning.
How To Raise Kids Who Love To Learn
by Caroline Bologna in Huffington Post
Curiosity is at the heart of this post by Bologna as she shares insight from researchers as to how we as educators, parents, and caregivers can foster and promote a love and passion for learning.
Fostering a love of learning and critical thinking skills in children has always been a goal for parents, but these days, it feels rather imperative.
“Curiosity helps a child expand their horizons and thrive in changing circumstances, promoting continuous intellectual growth,” she added. “Plus, a sense of curiosity keeps anyone, child or adult, intellectually vital and stimulated – it’s difficult to be bored when you’re curious. Curiosity also helps a person stay open-minded and less egocentric, so they’re more understanding of the perspectives of others who may not share their experiences.”
Fostering a child’s natural curiosity is about following their lead and enhancing the experience. Offer new takes on a subject they enjoy and push them to examine different perspectives.
Adult and child psychiatrist Lea Lis believes the best way to instill a love of learning in children is for parents to model intellectual curiosity themselves.
“If you say, ‘Did you get an A?’ they’ll think that what matters is getting an A. If you say, ‘What did you learn about and why does it matter?’ they will see that you value more the intrinsic aspect of the learning.” - Jal Mehta
Mehta emphasized the importance of focusing on the long-term goal of intellectual curiosity for life, rather than short-term goals like good grades, gold stars and other types of rewards that go away after graduation.
What If Schools Were Places Where the Value of Learning Was Obvious?
by Dave Stuart, Jr. (@davestuartjr)
This brief post imagines and articulates a vision for a school focused on and living a ‘learning-valued’ culture. These are worthy of reflection, practice, and implementation - and, we must think about the systems that would not only allow for these ‘truths’, but mandate them.
What would it be like if you went into a school building and shadowed a student for a day, and during that day you and the student experienced 100 or so signals that pointed to the following truths:
- Learning is transformative. When you learn what the solar system is and how stars work, you don’t see the night sky the same. As you grow in knowledge of the world’s history, you don’t see the news the same.
- Learning is emancipatory. Every era of human history is filled with stories of the choice-rich life that learning can bring. Learning frees and empowers people — always has, always will.
- Learning is possible. Given the right foundations and proper strategy, the human mind is remarkably good at learning.
- Learning is challenging. And challenges make us stronger. Challenges are good.
- Learning is plentiful. It’s not a race to anywhere, not a game to win. It’s a journey we’re all on, a bounty we share.
- Learning is beautiful. The longer you learn, the clearer it is.
...just imagine what it would be like if schools were places where these beliefs were actually self-evident — where classroom walls and hallway decorations and loudspeaker announcements and parent newsletters and teacher comments and school policies and initiative decisions and labor contracts were infused with these things like the air you’re breathing now is infused with oxygen.
So, let’s stop there for the day and let me ask you this:
- What signals have you sent, implicit or explicit, in the last twenty-four hours?
- How could you increase the volume of signals like those above and decrease the volume of signals to the contrary?
Sampling of Responses from Last Week’s ‘Question of the Week’: What helps you to improve and learn?
- Working with people who are not like me. They always cause me to pause.
- Being motivated to be my best and having an interest in the topics I am learning about help.
- When I see student results in their interpretation of art concepts/lessons, I learn a lot about what "works" and what doesn't work. I develop new lessons that respond to "their" learning style.
- Zooms
- Always give my 100% even if it’s really hard.
- Well if I’m listening to music I can get my work done. But ask help from a teacher
- A mix between challenging and easy things to do.
- Studying the topic, then testing myself on it
- Practicing and sharing.
- I improve by listening to the teacher and all of the directions and then ask questions when I need to.
- What helps me to learn is staying organized.
- Trying again and again until I understand
- practice and a quiet space
- Keep focusing
- Music
- Having a set schedule for myself made by me
- One thing that helps me to improve and learn is when I can work together and ask questions with other people.
- Read the questions slower
- A quiet space to learn
- To have teachers there to help me when I learn
Through this reflective practice of learning, listening, and writing, I continue to find myself coming back to our culture - and the ways we actively foster a culture of shared learning and care. Culture must be intentional and it needs to be actively fostered and lived. I shared this via e-mail with staff on Friday afternoon, but it is worth re-sharing - receiving the gift of a card from two of our students was simply wonderful. Below is a ‘rough photo’ of the front of the card - 'We made you this rainbow star because it takes many different colors to create something AWESOME just like everyone at Blake'. It spoke to me and brought tears to my eyes (and, I do recognize that as a relatively frequent occurrence as one who shares feelings and emotions openly!) and captured the essence of a culture of care, shared learning, and interconnectedness...
As always, let me know of any questions/concerns.
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Take care.
Nat
#willfulhope #willfulaction #longasIcanseethelight