are you nervous?

In middle school, my friends and I played this game where we’d slowly move a hand up someone’s leg and ask “Are you nervous?” Every time I read a newspaper, I feel like I’m playing that game. This weekend, I read this article, and yes, I’m nervous.

http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2012/02/10/middle-schools-start-a-new-chapter-on-reading/?ref=todayspaper

The hand started around my knee and at each of the following lines, it moved up:

“New York City is changing tactics and concentrating on improving reading and writing skills.”

Sorry, what? Were we not already concentrating on reading and writing skills?

“Because of the way we license middle-school teachers,” [Josh Thomases, deputy chief academic officer for the Education Department]  said, “none of the teachers colleges actually train secondary teachers in how to teach kids how to read.”

This one surprised me. I’ve always attributed my reading and writing abilities to my middle school teachers. We had extensive libraries in our English classrooms and got at least a period each week to explore it. Even if we weren’t particularly strong readers, our teachers at least encouraged us to enjoy reading. They taught us strict essay formats and once we’d mastered them, we were encouraged to make them more personal. We had occasional grammar lessons and got extensive feedback on our writing. Are teachers not doing this elsewhere? Are they lacking training? Resources? Both?

“Of the original 51 schools, [in a 2008 initiative to to bolster student performance at 51 of the lowest-performing middle schools] only 4 remain in the initiative, and 8 of them have been closed or are being phased out because of poor performance. Although a few appear to be improving, many of the middle schools that participated are still foundering.”

So these efforts have been made and haven’t worked. Looks like it’s time for a new tactic. Maybe the funding and restructuring of schools are not where we must focus. Maybe reading and comprehension needn’t fall solely on schools. Maybe we should be looking at the reading going on (or not going on) at home. A 2010 study that looked at students in 27 countries concluded that “Children growing up in homes with many books get 3 years more schooling than children from bookless homes, independent of their parents’ education, occupation, and class” (Evans, et al.) Reading should be the least of our worries. Once a person learns how to do it, he or she can do it anywhere, anytime, with anyone, with a book, with a comic, with an iPad. But they’ve got to learn first.

Finally, Christine Quinn says that, “…[middle schools] are the part of our system that’s still the weakest…”

I think that one speaks for itself.

everything. matters. more. (School|Life 17)

geoffrey canada is an amazing and inspiring leader . . . and he’s also one of education’s least understood reformers.  he established harlem children’s zone, an incredibly successful independent charter school in new york city.  but he’s also a former social worker, and he’s deeply committed to “wrap-around” or “conveyor belt” social service agencies and programs.  in fact, several years ago, he stirred controversy because he supported opposite reform manifestos.  he says exactly what nobody wants to hear: everybody is right.

if you believe that schools are not accountable, then you’re right.  if you believe that teachers are not skilled enough, that families are the center of moral development, that there are never enough supportive services, that everything small is because of everything large, then you’re right.  because if you believe that everything matters, you’re right.  everything matters more.

too often, our children do not develop essential assets, resiliences, and strengths because there are too many failing systems.  we don’t mess up, once.  we mess up again and over again.  if any single mistake is important, every compound mistake means that hundreds of thousands of children do not receive the care, challenge, and support they need – and what they need is “comprehensive intervention“.

media attention has focused on harlem children’s zone, canada’s charter school, as a rare success in a very challenging neighborhood.  they highlight his strong work ethic, contagious passion, and demanding expectations.  what they don’t often explain is that hcz is the result of a long string of associations, collaborations, and partnerships.  there are more than 10 intensive social service programs that address urgent community needs for children and families, including public benefits, employment training, mental health services, and intensive sobriety programs.  (don’t forget that until recently the school only served a closed 24 block radius.)

yes, canada has made a clarion call to hold teachers and schools accountable.  he believes that public schools are laggard, bloated institutions, and he believes that public school teachers are not educated or trained well enough.  that they are not strong enough experts and professionals, and that they are not evaluated or supervised appropriately.  to be honest, i think he’s absolutely right: a really good teacher makes an enormous impact.  in fact, according to a recent harvard business school study, that impact can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in accumulated earnings over one lifetime.

i completely agree; it’s just that there’s more to it.  yes, good teachers matter.  a lot!  but, you know, everything else matters, too.  a dated new york times profile of canada explains:

It’s not just that [Canada]’s trying to work both sides of the ideological street. It’s that Canada has concluded that neither approach has a chance of working alone. Fix the schools without fixing the families and the community, and children will fail; but they will also fail if you improve the surrounding community without fixing the schools.

absolutely!

and this is our framework: everything matters.  left, right, and center.  teachers matter.  parents and families matter. neighborhoods and organizations and friends and mentors and governments matter.  every single thing matters.  when we isolate individual ideas or policies, we should remember that every child, every classroom, and every school represent complex individual situations and variables.

there is no turn-key solution: one person, one policy, or one reform cannot change everything.  it requires the long march of thousands of teachers and students and families in schools and communities across the country.  we cannot forget that everything matters.  everything matters more.

there is no superman: films about education (School|Life 12)

our most inspiring films on education profile maverick, tough-as-nails teachers that inspire and motivate the most disaffected students.  lean on me, dangerous minds, stand and deliver, conrack, and dead poets society all highlight irascible educators from teach outside the mainstream.  they challenge authority to think about education in a completely different way. . . and it works.

there are good things to take away from these movies: remember – all children can learn!  think differently!  teach with your passion!  students are the center!

still, movies bear little resemblance to real classrooms and real students.  the stories are condensed, edited, and revised to match larger storylines.  they’re inspiring. . . but they also give the false impression (and false hope) that dramatic change in education is really that simple. yes, a truly inspiring teacher matters!  absolutely and completely. i care deeply about being a really good teacher.

however, it’s really also about so much more than that. teaching and learning is always in the context of the life and our world around us.

my friend taught for 6 years at an incredibly difficult school in east brooklyn. his last year, the school was put on probationary status. he had 25 students, but most days, students were in and out of the classroom. at parent teacher conferences, nobody showed up.

last year, he moved with his wife down south, and he began teaching in an incredibly affluent private school. every student came to school every day. they completed all of their work and wrote pages and pages of stories. the principal featured him in a school newsletter, and he received heartfelt thank you notes from parents at the end of the year.

one day, we were arguing about education and teachers and how to do better. he said, ‘do you really think that i’m that much better of a teacher, now?

there are so many reforms out there.  improve teacher quality. decrease class size. improve school funding. increase school hours and lengthen the school year. improve instruction.  and they all matter! they all matter!

i hope our documentary can help show more about what classrooms and schools look like on a daily basis.  how teachers and students change and develop over a full school year.  how different influences from across life and across schools affect teacher instruction and student learning.  how everything, everything matters.

it isn’t simple, but it is incredibly important.