So this entry will be very different from ones I have done before. It seems that I have had a wealth of experiences given to me this week through other bright thinkers influencing my understanding of this work. I wanted to take the time to do a "close reading" of some of the most insightful thinking that is shaping how, and why, and what I want to do with my life.
So you will find a quote followed by my thinking of how this is personally inspiring, how it influences the work with NGC I want to do, or how I see it as playing an integral part in the future of education as a whole.
"Like Copernicus, I propose that for the sake of better results we need to turn conventional wisdom on it is head: let’s see what results if we think of action, not knowledge, as the essence of an education; let’s see what results from thinking of future ability, not knowledge of the past, as the core; let’s see what follows, therefore, from thinking of content knowledge as neither the aim of curriculum nor the key building blocks of it but as the offshoot of learning to do things now and for the future. ...
The point is to do new things with content, not simply know what others know – in any field. ...
In other words, though we often lose sight of this basic fact, the point of learning is not just to know things but to be a different person – more mature, more wise, more self-disciplined, more effective, and more productive in the broadest sense. Knowledge is an indicator of educational success, not the aim."
Grant Wiggins,Granted,and...
This is where I started. Principal Cunat asked if I had read Grant Wiggin's article on Curriculum Management and I googled such a topic and came across this blog entry from 2012. I do not know for sure this is the article she read, I think it was something more recent, but this was gem of a read and so I used it as a platform to jump into the world of educational pedagogy.
I believe NGC emphasizes the "irrelevance" of specific content in place of knowledge gained through the action of doing something new with whatever content you choose. The whole concept is built upon students developing a claim based on evidence that has never been used together in such a way. It is being able to see unique patterns across content that no one has thought to look for. It's about learning to connect those patterns to be a more effective human being and a more active participant in ones own life instead of it happening to you.
"The system of education Rousseau proposes details a specific pedagogy for each stage of life, an educational method that corresponds with the particular characteristics of that stage of human development. ...
Rousseau goes on to say that as Èmile enters his teenage years, he should begin formal education. However, the education Rousseau proposes involves working only with a private tutor and studying and reading only what he is curious about, only that which is “useful” or “pleasing.” Rousseau explains that in this manner Èmile will essentially educate himself and be excited about learning. He will nurture a love of all things beautiful and learn not to suppress his natural affinity for them. Rousseau states that early adolescence is the best time to begin such study, since after puberty the young man is fully developed physically yet still uncorrupted by the passions of later years." Spark Notes on Rousseau
Of course the public education system is FAR far away from being the space Rousseau envisioned. First and foremost because we don't have that many teachers- we don't actually put value to PAYING people to be a mentor to youth. There is no public school in Chicago that I can think of that has less than a 22:1 student to teacher ratio. Can you IMAGINE the intimate personal relationship you would have with only one person to talk to about all the things that interest you, and if their role was to listen and help guide you to the next place that would answer whatever question emerged, what would it be like?
Is NGC doing what Rousseau describes- not totally, no I admit, although I would dream to. The reality of red tape of "The System" bites me in the butt. I have to work IN the system to change the system. To prove that it can be done!
So, the end goal, I will remind myself, no matter how small the baby steps might have to be- is to get to an education system ONE day, that actually puts children utterly at the center of the educational experience.
On a more personal note, in line with Rousseau's developmental model, I have decided my next degree (I hope!) will be a PhD in Comparative Human Development from University of Chicago. I have discerned that I want to unite this subfields of social sciences(sociology, anthropology, psychology, theology) and some human physiology, to develop a stage theory of best practice on HOW we should be teaching in this particular time and space- America 21st century. The Next Gen eration Curriculum! I want to be like Piaget or Jane Jacobs or Gandhi, just someone who DID something, not for the recognition but because I believe I can and so I should.
I believe deeply that each and everyone of us can, because we are all made of that same metal. This is the heart of foundation for whatever this new model will look like one day.
"Speaking generally, the fundamental fallacy in methods of instruction lies in supposing that experience on the part of pupils may be assumed. What is here insisted upon is the necessity of an actual empirical situation as the initiating phase of thought. Experience is here taken as previously defined:trying to do something and having the thing perceptibly do something to one in return." Dewey, Democracy and Education
So first, I realized how DENSE Dewey was. No wonder no one wants to pay attention in educational philosophy as an undergraduate, he's meaty to chew on! But Grant Wiggins (I got this from his blog) did me a favor by bolding a specific line, and I appreciate his insight into the most significant part of the claim - that experience involves something which has an INTERACTION with you.
Sorry, but putting kids on computers for "individualized learning" that's "at their own pace" is not going to do anything to them. Simply because they can take longer or shorter amounts of time does not in fact offer any sort of INTERACTION because a computer CANNOT ACT. It can produce a screen and even play moving talking pictures that make us think we are interacting- but can it DO something to us? No. In order to be impacted I must have someone else there to mirror back to me that I am changing, how do we know we're learning if no one is around to share it with? What good does it do us at all?
If we are not careful, (I'm sorry if this sounds like a teenage dystopic novel, but I read a LOT of them- think of it as a sociological study of the content of Y.A. fiction in search of a theme that categorizes their interior struggle as a "generation") I'll repeat, IF we are not careful, we are going to eventually replace all our teachers with computers. It's cheaper, we don't have to pay health insurance, eventually we might even be able to get rid of most of the buildings - saving the federal government billions and pumping millions more into the pockets of "curriculum program developers" who have the infrastructure to manage such a system. Why not have T-Moblie run school? They could host a server through their system that could hold the data, and they could connect people and just add their school bill to their iphone bill. Why not?
It's not that far off of a possibility, and there are scary implications for what little remains of human PERSONAL social community, as well as the likely widening divide between haves and have nots.
We need each other, to be present to, to be witness to this thing we are all experiencing called LIFE. Computers cannot give an experience alone, they are only a tool to foster such an experience.
"Children as such are not usually included among the oppressed. Yet they necessarily compose one of the weakest, most dependent and defenseless sections of the population. Each generation of children is not only helped but hindered and hurt by the elders who exercise direct control over them. ... Children cannot formulate their grievances collectively, or conduct organized struggle for improvements in their conditions of life and mode of education. Apart from individual explosions of protest, they must be helped by spokesmen among adults who are sensitive to the troubles of the young and are resolved to do something about remedying them...."
George Novack, John Dewey’s Theories of Education
This might be my favorite quote, because it supports the phrase that I often tell people I am fighting for when I am asked where my passion lies. I tell them child rights, I think I have said on this blog that I see children's rights as the next major human rights issue we have to take on. Children have NO say in society. I mean, there are systems of oppression everywhere we acknowledge them as part of the evil in the world, but there are many still yet unnamed, unacknowledged on a widespread scale. Tackling these injustices is where all our work should lie, in whatever way we choose to do so. And this is mine, I will be a spokesperson because I have EXPERIENCED the brilliance of children and I seek a more just system for them.
So you will find a quote followed by my thinking of how this is personally inspiring, how it influences the work with NGC I want to do, or how I see it as playing an integral part in the future of education as a whole.
"Like Copernicus, I propose that for the sake of better results we need to turn conventional wisdom on it is head: let’s see what results if we think of action, not knowledge, as the essence of an education; let’s see what results from thinking of future ability, not knowledge of the past, as the core; let’s see what follows, therefore, from thinking of content knowledge as neither the aim of curriculum nor the key building blocks of it but as the offshoot of learning to do things now and for the future. ...
The point is to do new things with content, not simply know what others know – in any field. ...
In other words, though we often lose sight of this basic fact, the point of learning is not just to know things but to be a different person – more mature, more wise, more self-disciplined, more effective, and more productive in the broadest sense. Knowledge is an indicator of educational success, not the aim."
Grant Wiggins,Granted,and...
This is where I started. Principal Cunat asked if I had read Grant Wiggin's article on Curriculum Management and I googled such a topic and came across this blog entry from 2012. I do not know for sure this is the article she read, I think it was something more recent, but this was gem of a read and so I used it as a platform to jump into the world of educational pedagogy.
I believe NGC emphasizes the "irrelevance" of specific content in place of knowledge gained through the action of doing something new with whatever content you choose. The whole concept is built upon students developing a claim based on evidence that has never been used together in such a way. It is being able to see unique patterns across content that no one has thought to look for. It's about learning to connect those patterns to be a more effective human being and a more active participant in ones own life instead of it happening to you.
"The system of education Rousseau proposes details a specific pedagogy for each stage of life, an educational method that corresponds with the particular characteristics of that stage of human development. ...
Rousseau goes on to say that as Èmile enters his teenage years, he should begin formal education. However, the education Rousseau proposes involves working only with a private tutor and studying and reading only what he is curious about, only that which is “useful” or “pleasing.” Rousseau explains that in this manner Èmile will essentially educate himself and be excited about learning. He will nurture a love of all things beautiful and learn not to suppress his natural affinity for them. Rousseau states that early adolescence is the best time to begin such study, since after puberty the young man is fully developed physically yet still uncorrupted by the passions of later years." Spark Notes on Rousseau
Of course the public education system is FAR far away from being the space Rousseau envisioned. First and foremost because we don't have that many teachers- we don't actually put value to PAYING people to be a mentor to youth. There is no public school in Chicago that I can think of that has less than a 22:1 student to teacher ratio. Can you IMAGINE the intimate personal relationship you would have with only one person to talk to about all the things that interest you, and if their role was to listen and help guide you to the next place that would answer whatever question emerged, what would it be like?
Is NGC doing what Rousseau describes- not totally, no I admit, although I would dream to. The reality of red tape of "The System" bites me in the butt. I have to work IN the system to change the system. To prove that it can be done!
So, the end goal, I will remind myself, no matter how small the baby steps might have to be- is to get to an education system ONE day, that actually puts children utterly at the center of the educational experience.
On a more personal note, in line with Rousseau's developmental model, I have decided my next degree (I hope!) will be a PhD in Comparative Human Development from University of Chicago. I have discerned that I want to unite this subfields of social sciences(sociology, anthropology, psychology, theology) and some human physiology, to develop a stage theory of best practice on HOW we should be teaching in this particular time and space- America 21st century. The Next Gen eration Curriculum! I want to be like Piaget or Jane Jacobs or Gandhi, just someone who DID something, not for the recognition but because I believe I can and so I should.
I believe deeply that each and everyone of us can, because we are all made of that same metal. This is the heart of foundation for whatever this new model will look like one day.
"Speaking generally, the fundamental fallacy in methods of instruction lies in supposing that experience on the part of pupils may be assumed. What is here insisted upon is the necessity of an actual empirical situation as the initiating phase of thought. Experience is here taken as previously defined:trying to do something and having the thing perceptibly do something to one in return." Dewey, Democracy and Education
So first, I realized how DENSE Dewey was. No wonder no one wants to pay attention in educational philosophy as an undergraduate, he's meaty to chew on! But Grant Wiggins (I got this from his blog) did me a favor by bolding a specific line, and I appreciate his insight into the most significant part of the claim - that experience involves something which has an INTERACTION with you.
Sorry, but putting kids on computers for "individualized learning" that's "at their own pace" is not going to do anything to them. Simply because they can take longer or shorter amounts of time does not in fact offer any sort of INTERACTION because a computer CANNOT ACT. It can produce a screen and even play moving talking pictures that make us think we are interacting- but can it DO something to us? No. In order to be impacted I must have someone else there to mirror back to me that I am changing, how do we know we're learning if no one is around to share it with? What good does it do us at all?
If we are not careful, (I'm sorry if this sounds like a teenage dystopic novel, but I read a LOT of them- think of it as a sociological study of the content of Y.A. fiction in search of a theme that categorizes their interior struggle as a "generation") I'll repeat, IF we are not careful, we are going to eventually replace all our teachers with computers. It's cheaper, we don't have to pay health insurance, eventually we might even be able to get rid of most of the buildings - saving the federal government billions and pumping millions more into the pockets of "curriculum program developers" who have the infrastructure to manage such a system. Why not have T-Moblie run school? They could host a server through their system that could hold the data, and they could connect people and just add their school bill to their iphone bill. Why not?
It's not that far off of a possibility, and there are scary implications for what little remains of human PERSONAL social community, as well as the likely widening divide between haves and have nots.
We need each other, to be present to, to be witness to this thing we are all experiencing called LIFE. Computers cannot give an experience alone, they are only a tool to foster such an experience.
"Children as such are not usually included among the oppressed. Yet they necessarily compose one of the weakest, most dependent and defenseless sections of the population. Each generation of children is not only helped but hindered and hurt by the elders who exercise direct control over them. ... Children cannot formulate their grievances collectively, or conduct organized struggle for improvements in their conditions of life and mode of education. Apart from individual explosions of protest, they must be helped by spokesmen among adults who are sensitive to the troubles of the young and are resolved to do something about remedying them...."
George Novack, John Dewey’s Theories of Education
This might be my favorite quote, because it supports the phrase that I often tell people I am fighting for when I am asked where my passion lies. I tell them child rights, I think I have said on this blog that I see children's rights as the next major human rights issue we have to take on. Children have NO say in society. I mean, there are systems of oppression everywhere we acknowledge them as part of the evil in the world, but there are many still yet unnamed, unacknowledged on a widespread scale. Tackling these injustices is where all our work should lie, in whatever way we choose to do so. And this is mine, I will be a spokesperson because I have EXPERIENCED the brilliance of children and I seek a more just system for them.
"My central goal was incredibly simple and incredibly complex. I wanted it to be "cool to care" in my room and in my school. I wanted everyone-every student, every teacher, each staff member, all the parents- to think it was cool to care.
...
Once it is cool to care, anything becomes possible. All the behaviors we have described in this book lead to this. Treating everyone with respect and dignity; always taking a positive approach; alway modeling how to treat others; understanding that what matters is people, not programs; making every decision based on the best people-- each of these helps create an environment where it is cool to are." What Great Teachers Do Differently: 14 Things That Matter Most, Todd Whitaker
This reminds me quite a lot of Principal Cunat's vision for Wildwood. She has described her child centered approach from her public forum interview for the position at the very beginning of her journey, that love was the center of her understanding of this work.
She has led with a school culture which values ownership for the community, the space, the people, and the materials. Is it perfect? No. Are there still poopy high school kids in the neighborhood that think its cool to leave condoms and beer cans in her park and parking lot for kindergartners to find? Yes. Are there still kids to mess up the bathrooms at school dances? Yes. Are there students with academic apathy no matter what you seem to offer? Yes.
AND there a sense of happiness, warmth, acceptance, and care bursting through the hallways even at 200% capacity of the space. Everyday Principal Cunat works in her building to make caring cool. She models it most predominately in her work ethic, where everyone feels compelled to help if they can, to do more, because they see how hard she works. She was the only Chicago principal offering to take a pay cut in order to make up her budget when the worst of the lay offs hit a year ago. Her work ethic can be seen impacting her teachers through their participation in the larger learning community, not only in this grant, but beyond that almost every teacher in the school participated in summer workshops to improve their practice of their own accord!
Cunat has invited parents in on a level they were never allowed to be included before her. There are often at least two parents volunteers working everyday at Wildwood in the lunch rooms, in the office, filling in for odd hours here and there to be useful; because they care about the community. Before Cunat, parents were not encouraged to come into the building. Parents have been invited to care. Is that always easy? No, not everyone "cares" the same way, meaning we have different opinions. I once taught my 7th students (my first year as a teacher) when we were studying the Constitution, that the first amendment protected "Freedom for the Thought That We Hate". Providing everyone with an option to have a say means we have to be willing to hear things that hurt us, and principals are vulnerable to being hurt often for not making decisions the way 30 other people thought it should have happened. But the parents care, they have an opinion, they are engaged, and so they have an opportunity to have an EXPERIENCE to ALSO grow and change and learn along with their children.
Principal Cunat has also nurtured this sense of care through her many efforts to raise the students social awareness. From playing guitar with some 2nd graders who wrote a song to Jane Goodall (did we mention Jane wrote them back?), to singing as a whole school the song "Peace Like A River" on international peace day. She makes it clear to her students that she thinks it's cool to care about being compassionate to those around us. To the kids, maybe it's dorky, maybe they can't imagine a principal being any other way, I mean what 7th grade kids get together and compare administrations?
But perhaps, they have the edges of getting it. Perhaps Nora, a 5th grader who has been a social activist for 4 years now, raising large sums of money for multiple charities while dealing with a physically debilitating disorder, or Tony, an 8th grader with Autism getting up and performing an assembly on why we should save wolves for his 8th class, perhaps they show the edges of what students are capable of when we allow them to shine when they care instead of when they get an A.
I write all this here at the end as my final reflection, to point out that all this work with NGC could not happen outside the context of such an administration. It seems odd that up until now I have seemingly left out the part of the innovation that makes ANY change possible- a visionary leader who's willing to take risks.
...
Once it is cool to care, anything becomes possible. All the behaviors we have described in this book lead to this. Treating everyone with respect and dignity; always taking a positive approach; alway modeling how to treat others; understanding that what matters is people, not programs; making every decision based on the best people-- each of these helps create an environment where it is cool to are." What Great Teachers Do Differently: 14 Things That Matter Most, Todd Whitaker
This reminds me quite a lot of Principal Cunat's vision for Wildwood. She has described her child centered approach from her public forum interview for the position at the very beginning of her journey, that love was the center of her understanding of this work.
She has led with a school culture which values ownership for the community, the space, the people, and the materials. Is it perfect? No. Are there still poopy high school kids in the neighborhood that think its cool to leave condoms and beer cans in her park and parking lot for kindergartners to find? Yes. Are there still kids to mess up the bathrooms at school dances? Yes. Are there students with academic apathy no matter what you seem to offer? Yes.
AND there a sense of happiness, warmth, acceptance, and care bursting through the hallways even at 200% capacity of the space. Everyday Principal Cunat works in her building to make caring cool. She models it most predominately in her work ethic, where everyone feels compelled to help if they can, to do more, because they see how hard she works. She was the only Chicago principal offering to take a pay cut in order to make up her budget when the worst of the lay offs hit a year ago. Her work ethic can be seen impacting her teachers through their participation in the larger learning community, not only in this grant, but beyond that almost every teacher in the school participated in summer workshops to improve their practice of their own accord!
Cunat has invited parents in on a level they were never allowed to be included before her. There are often at least two parents volunteers working everyday at Wildwood in the lunch rooms, in the office, filling in for odd hours here and there to be useful; because they care about the community. Before Cunat, parents were not encouraged to come into the building. Parents have been invited to care. Is that always easy? No, not everyone "cares" the same way, meaning we have different opinions. I once taught my 7th students (my first year as a teacher) when we were studying the Constitution, that the first amendment protected "Freedom for the Thought That We Hate". Providing everyone with an option to have a say means we have to be willing to hear things that hurt us, and principals are vulnerable to being hurt often for not making decisions the way 30 other people thought it should have happened. But the parents care, they have an opinion, they are engaged, and so they have an opportunity to have an EXPERIENCE to ALSO grow and change and learn along with their children.
Principal Cunat has also nurtured this sense of care through her many efforts to raise the students social awareness. From playing guitar with some 2nd graders who wrote a song to Jane Goodall (did we mention Jane wrote them back?), to singing as a whole school the song "Peace Like A River" on international peace day. She makes it clear to her students that she thinks it's cool to care about being compassionate to those around us. To the kids, maybe it's dorky, maybe they can't imagine a principal being any other way, I mean what 7th grade kids get together and compare administrations?
But perhaps, they have the edges of getting it. Perhaps Nora, a 5th grader who has been a social activist for 4 years now, raising large sums of money for multiple charities while dealing with a physically debilitating disorder, or Tony, an 8th grader with Autism getting up and performing an assembly on why we should save wolves for his 8th class, perhaps they show the edges of what students are capable of when we allow them to shine when they care instead of when they get an A.
I write all this here at the end as my final reflection, to point out that all this work with NGC could not happen outside the context of such an administration. It seems odd that up until now I have seemingly left out the part of the innovation that makes ANY change possible- a visionary leader who's willing to take risks.