A Season of Unreasonable Hope

Today, on a chilly December morning in the midst of a season of lights, joy, and anticipation, we paused as a nation to commemorate a tragic and incomprehensible loss of innocent life.   

I was struck by the dissonance of the moment:  Quiet reflection punctuated by tolling bells; holiday preparations interrupted by somber prayer.  This is not the season, this is not the time to be marking the loss of 20 beautiful boys and girls and the six adults who cared for them. 

There is never a time for this. 

So I come away more than a little confused, conflicted and even a little guilty.  I anticipate the holidays with my family but know that Newtown parents now dread this season.  I imagine for them that the lights of Hanukkah and Christmas will forever be dimmed. 

Despite the tragedy, we will send students off for vacation and holidays with their families.  It is that time of year and the calendar says so.  We will rest, enjoy family time, catch a movie, and share some laughs with a friend.  Our teachers and principals, who throughout the year—and most certainly in the last several days—have acted with compassion, courage, and commitment to their students and families, will take a break, read a book, play with their own children, maybe even sleep in a little late to recharge their batteries.  All of it well deserved and natural.

Yet as parents, educators, young people, and as a nation we are experiencing an awkward and disconcerting moment in our lives:  We mourn, and we celebrate. We worry, yet we hope.   We remember, but we move on.

The English writer G.K. Chesterton called hope “unreasonable and indispensable.”  Hope is bright, stubborn, unyielding—hope never gives up, and we are nothing without it.  We find ourselves in such a season of hope. 

It is a childlike, youthful hope.  The kind of hope that glimmers in our students’ eyes and shines in their curiosity, creativity, and resilience.  This youthful hope allows even the most cynical and tired among us to endure difficult times, to persist, and to move forward even when the evidence suggests otherwise.  The bubbling energy and courage of young people reminds us why we do this work, why we care so deeply. 

This youthful, unreasonable, and indispensable hope inspires us to carry on and, working together, build a better, more just, and loving world. 

I wish you and your families a joyful season of hope.

Flipped Classrooms and Broken Silos

The Needham Education Foundation (NEF) recently held a symposium entitled Flipped Classrooms and Broken Silos:  Education Trends in Needham and Beyond.  Speakers from Olin College, MIT, and education technology entrepreneurs from Classroom Window and edX shared their ideas and vision with an enthusiastic audience of parents, teachers, and community members.  The following excerpt is from my introductory comments about a new interdisciplinary initiative funded by the NEF.

We are taking small steps to re-envision the middle and high school experience and perhaps break down some of the traditional silos of content and departmental curriculum that are typical of American schools.  Most secondary schools, and Needham’s are no exception, are organized into departments: math, English, foreign language, and social science. Teachers are assigned classes and even identified by the state as highly qualified in a given subject or discipline. At the secondary level we routinely refer to teachers by their subject:  He is a biology teacher; she is an art teacher. I recall one faculty lounge comment about a new teacher who was referred to simply:  “Oh, he’s a Math.”

The problem is this:  The world is not so compartmentalized and departmentalized.  We work and play in a world where communicating, thinking, presenting, and innovating requires the integration of our knowledge, perspectives, and skills. Our lives are interdisciplinary and interconnected, and we should provide similar opportunities for our students and not isolate their learning. We need to lead students to a place where the curriculum silos and walls we have established can begin to melt away into appropriate interdisciplinary experiences so they can see relationships, increase understanding, synthesize information, apply concepts, and enjoy the beauty and the challenge of an increasingly dynamic and complex world.  Fortunately for our students, Needham’s teachers are experts in their disciplines and they radiate a passion for creative learning and discovery.

I happen to be a recovering high school English teacher.  Long ago in Los Angeles where I taught, I recall one of my students muttering under his breath about not understanding why I didn’t teach Huckleberry Finn at the same time as the History teacher was teaching the Civil War.  “Why,” he asked, “Can’t we learn about these things together?  It’d make more sense, you know.”

Years later at another school we developed an American Studies course, a combined American literature and U.S. history class where the teachers could discuss Twain’s Huck and Jim in the context of slavery and abolition.  Students made clear connections between the two subjects and discussed significant themes like justice, poverty, war, peace, and prosperity all through the eyes of historical and literary heroes.  They developed a deep understanding and appreciation of our nation’s story.  They came away connected to the content in a way that is natural, engaging, and empowering.  That’s just the kind of learning we should strive for!

In Needham we are working toward a vision of just that kind of learning for all students.  At Pollard we have introduced an engineering and design course that incorporates science, technology, and math.  We are allowing students to explore scientific and engineering concepts and principles in ways that stimulate their minds, imagination, and curiosity.  We have introduced a Chinese culture course that integrates basic language skills with Chinese history, lifestyle, and traditions.  At the high school a new African-American studies course blends history, politics, literature, and more into a rich opportunity to study, debate, and engage.

And now with an extraordinary financial commitment from our NEF partners, the high school is embarking on an ambitious and multi-year effort to create a unique and pioneering interdisciplinary program for 12^th graders—Integrated Senior Studies:  The Greater Boston Project.

NEF and high school leaders have collaborated to develop an innovative course that pulls together three teachers from three academic disciplines: English, social studies, and math, to provide students the opportunity to study specific periods in Boston’s history to investigate how individuals and groups perceived the world around them and how they worked to affect change.  Beginning next school year they will look at propaganda in pre-Revolutionary times, analyze population demographics during Antebellum, and recreate a town meeting during Urban Renewal.  Students will connect academic disciplines and knowledge in projects that will require them to read primary historical sources, build mathematical models, and hone presentation skills.  By learning across three disciplines they will immerse themselves in their learning and prepare themselves for advanced academics and problem solving in college and beyond. Consistent with the district’s core value of citizenship, students in the course will investigate a unique problem associated with the City of Boston and pursue possible solutions to complex urban problems.  The teachers will work together with the students and model the sort of learning, service, and collaboration we value and aspire to scale up in the years to come. 

The NEF’s commitment allows us to jumpstart principal Jonathan Pizzi’s desire to enrich the high school program of studies with creative, innovative, and interdisciplinary academic courses, especially in the senior year when students often languish and are ready and equipped to pursue their learning in new ways, in ways that propel them to adulthood.

For more information about the high school's new initiative or to learn about and contribute to the NEF:  www.nefneedham.org/

Trick or Treat?

It was definitely a trick, especially so early in the school year.  After all, there is a reason we call them “snow days.”  But given the intensity of Hurricane Sandy and the potential for widespread damage and power outages, closing school was the appropriate choice this time around. 

It turns out the real problem was not the first day of the storm but the aftermath and cleanup, at least in Needham.  NSTAR work crews arrived too late to clean limbs and lines in time for a safe path to school, so we closed the district for a second day.

I am not a fan of “snow days” or as we now (now being the last 48 hours) refer to them: inclement weather days.  Our time with students is already too short and a day missed throws the learning off and certainly upsets the family routine.  On top of that, readjusting lessons and rescheduling teacher meetings, field trips, and assignments is a challenge. 

My philosophy has been that we will always have school unless deteriorating weather conditions indicate that schools should close due to unsafe conditions.

A few inches of snow, ice, or slush should not be reason to close school!  Folks just have to get up a little earlier on a morning weather is predicted to be poor and prepare for icy windshields, slippery walks, and long commutes.  Put on the galoshes, warm up the car, and get going!  School is waiting!

Of course, if the snowstorm—or hurricane—is or is predicted to be nasty, I take a cautious approach.  I don’t want any child to be put in harm’s way, and I take that responsibility seriously.  That’s why early in the morning of an inclement weather day I consult with public safety officials, review weather maps and information, and then drive around the streets of Needham to see what road and sidewalk conditions are.  I try to balance all of that information and arrive at a decision that is a safe one for students and staff. 

Like all decisions I make, however, not everyone agrees.  And there have been times I was too cautious and canceled school when, perhaps, we could have just had a delayed opening.  And each time there is a cancellation there are at least half a dozen parents who call or email to tell me I a) made the wrong decision and what was I thinking?; or b) I should have made the decision the day before and what was I thinking?; or, c) please wait until the morning to make a decision and what was I thinking?; or d) please don’t wake me up at 5:30 a. m. to tell me there is no school and, by the way,  what was I thinking?.  (On the last point, instructions for opting out of the weather-related cancellation phone/email notifications can be found on the district’s website: http://www.needham.k12.ma.us/  Look on the left under Hot Topics and open the PDF: No School/Two Hour Delay Information.)

Bottom line?  Students should be in school and weather should never interfere with the learning.

Unless it does.

So all students can learn at high levels

We have enjoyed a great start to the 2012-13 school year in Needham.  Just before teachers headed back to class to greet eager learners, we met together as a staff to talk about the year ahead.  Following are excerpts of my comments to the faculty and staff on September 4^th:

We do these things, we confront difficult challenges, we establish and prioritize goals so all students can have an opportunity to learn and achieve and create a life and a future that will enrich the child personally and enhance the broader community with a capable, caring, and active citizenry.  We do these things  So all students can learn at high levels.

Allow me to unpack three of these ideas today and share why they will require our time and attention in the coming year.

More than ever we can leverage the integration of technology into the classroom to improve instruction.  This community has invested in the technology infrastructure and the technical staff necessary to keep us connected.  A few high school teachers and students are involved in online and blended learning experiences.  Teachers are integrating Twitter and other web-based tools into the curriculum.  An 8^th grade cluster at Pollard will have access, 24/7 to an iPad which they will pilot as both a technology tool and as an extension of their learning beyond the classroom. The pilot is one way for us to see how we might stimulate student engagement, creativity, and promote innovative classroom experiences.  As one veteran 8^th grade teacher put it last year after using iPads in her classroom for a term:   “There is no question that this tool levels the playing field for my students and that they are empowered to speak up and learn more. I saw all students immerse themselves in learning in ways I have never experienced.”  An 8^th grader reported: “I really learned a lot from using the iPad. I am more organized in my learning and I feel more independent at school.”

It is clear that technology tools will become increasingly applicable to classroom use and allow greater, flexible, and self-directed learning opportunities. We simply can’t ignore the reality that our students, often referred to as digital natives, have the skills, mindset, and expectation that the classroom environment will be as responsive, creative, collaborative, and accessible as their social and home environments have become. We can and should nurture a classroom learning environment that integrates technology with the skill and wisdom of a caring adult.  And why do I believe this is important?

So all students can learn at high levels.

In Massachusetts, the landscape around teacher supervision and evaluation is changing. For the first time next school year in Needham, all educators, including teachers, principals, nurses, counselors, and even the superintendent, will be evaluated annually.  The School Committee will be expected to negotiate a teacher contract which includes a supervision and evaluation system based on the new regulations that involve multiple and brief classroom visits, goal setting, the use of student data to demonstrate educator growth, and eventually the use of written feedback from students and parents to inform teacher practice.  The emphasis is no longer on how the teacher performs, it is in how students grow and learn.  Teachers will collaborate each year with principals about areas for student growth and then, through goal setting, be held accountable for that growth.

Although educator supervision and evaluation is about to undergo a huge overhaul, the Needham Schools, due to the efforts of several risk-taking and incredibly smart teachers and administrators, is well positioned to meet this challenge head on.  Last year teachers and administrators at Hillside and High Rock piloted a mini observation model and this year, in partnership with the Needham Education Association, an additional 35 teachers throughout the district and all administrators will pilot the model program and see what we can learn.

Here is what I believe about teacher evaluation:  The goal of any system should be to assist a teacher to grow, learn, and experiment. It should not primarily be designed to manage the underperforming teacher or simply become a bureaucratic exercise that is reluctantly completed by harried administrators. Teaching is a challenging and complex endeavor, and the system should be designed to provide tools, resources, feedback, and modeling to help a teacher, particularly a new or struggling teacher, to succeed in the classroom. The process should provide ample encouragement for teachers to take risks and create new and innovative lessons for students. And why?

So all students can learn at high levels.

Needham teachers offer excellent programs and educational support for students with special education needs.  In an effort to ensure each school and classroom has an additional level of support and organization, this year we will launch a new special education leadership model that we believe will allow us to become more efficient with limited funds and make certain all students have the resources they need for success.  Beginning this year at the elementary and middle school levels, each school will have a special education coordinator who will collaborate with the principal and staff and work with students and families to provide for and support student needs.

We did not create this model because it was mandated or because we were not meeting student needs.  Rather, with the support of the School Committee we are implementing this structure because we want to build a more cohesive program of response, support, professional development, co-teaching, and collaboration that strengthens student achievement.

Other plans underway will complement the work of our special educators:

-A preK-12 Response to Intervention—or RtI—model will build each school’s capacity to respond appropriately when a child struggles; if we are successful, fewer students will be identified as requiring special education services.

-We are introducing the concept of cultural proficiency into our work so students of color, English Language Learners, gay and lesbian students, and socio-economically disadvantaged youth may feel included, encouraged, and supported in a school culture that is tolerant, aware, and equitable.

-We are increasing literacy support at the secondary level and piloting a math coaching model at Broadmeadow to meet both the needs of struggling and gifted students.

And why these particular activities?

So all students can learn at high levels.

I highlight these particular initiatives not because they are more important than all the others but because I am convinced they will help influence, shape, and complement all of our work in the Needham Schools.  They fit within the framework of our goals, are consistent with our core values, and if we approach them with creativity, purpose, and intent, we can be successful—and our students will soar!

By the way, you should see your work and your responsibility in all of this.  These tasks and initiatives are not for someone else, a different department, grade level, or school.  Technology integration, educator evaluation, and re-envisioning how we assist special education students… all of us have a role to play; all of us are accountable.  And if we work together, share our struggles, and even accept that we may do the work imperfectly at times, our students will thrive.   

Not just some of them, or even many of them—but all of them.

Newman is ready!

Auditorium (more Pictures below!)

After years of monitoring, testing, planning, moving, and construction, the Newman Elementary School is ready for students to arrive on Wednesday, September 5^th.  The $27.4 million project is coming in within the planned budget, and it will provide an appropriate, safe, healthy, and secure learning environment for Newman’s students and staff.

Thanks to the Newman staff and parent community for their extraordinary patience and support over the last few years as we prepared for and then renovated the building.  Their hard work, professionalism, encouragement, and good spirits buoyed all the students and those involved in this ambitious and sometimes complicated project.  The Newman staff will have an opportunity to personally thank the many folks involved in this project at a “Newman Homecoming Celebration” scheduled for Thursday, October 18^th, but I want to take this opportunity to extend a hearty congratulations and thank you to the following folks for their incredible energy, involvement, and dedication.  These folks—and many others—made it all happen!

David Gorman, Consigli Construction

Christian Riordan, Consigli Construction

Diego DeLeon, Consigli Construction

Cal Olson, DRA, Architect

Richard Thuma, Town of Needham

Antonio Antenor, Town of Needham

Hank Haff, Town of Needham

Steve Popper, Town of Needham

Chip Laffey, Town of Needham

George Kent, PPBC

Doug Emily, Town of Needham Maintenance Staff (TNMS)

Kenny Gustowski, TNMS

John Keller, TNMS

John Dunn, TNMS

John Donovan, TNMS

(Many other custodians across town have also participated as well!)

Carol Patsio, Newman Elementary

Greg Bayse, Newman Elementary

Jessica Peterson, Newman Elementary

Congratulations and thanks to all for a job exceptionally well done!

Summer Reading

One of my summer reads includes Harvard professor Tony Wagner’s Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change The World (Scribner, 2012).  It’s a good book, and Wagner does a decent job talking about the role of innovation in the economy and in our schools. He shares the stories of several young people from various backgrounds who are innovators and who Wagner believes represent a new generation of social and business entrepreneurs

 

Some of my takeaways from the book include:

 

•  Young people need play, purpose, and passion in their lives and as part of their educational experience to be successful innovators and contributors to the world.  These elements offer the structure and space children—and adults?—need to create and thrive.

 

•  Parents play an integral role in the development, as Wagner refers to them, of the “innovation generation.”  Parents provide time, latitude, encouragement, risk taking, and attention to the young people described in the book.

 

•  Young innovators, often inspired by a neighbor, teacher, or parent, are increasingly committed to STEM and social change fields and opportunities where they commit to deep and experiential learning that is hands on, action-oriented, and based on solving real problems and seeking authentic solutions.

 

•  Often educators and parents may treat students and young people who exhibit creative problem-solving, risk taking, questioning, failure, and quirky (ADD? ADHD?) behaviors as problematic and peculiar.  I liked this quote on page 98:  “And it is precisely this kind of adult behavior that stifles curiosity, creativity, and imagination.  Some of us respond in this way in the belief that we are being helpful and saving someone from wasting his or her time on ‘silly’ ideas.”

 

•  The role and purpose of the middle/high school and university teachers and schools should include ample opportunity to encourage collaboration among students; break down academic silos and promote interdisciplinary learning; provide space for mistakes and failure; and ensure lots of time for making, seeking, and creating.

 

I like that Wagner recognizes the critical importance of parents and caring adult mentors in the lives and education of young people.  He also acknowledges the dissonance that exists between Federal/State policies and the promotion of innovation:  Race to the Top goals and creative learning are not in synch and will not inspire a pioneering generation of learners.  At the same time, he does not offer a prescription for success for public schools and seems to focus more at the collegiate level.

 

But his book is an important reminder that without regular and consistent opportunities for young people to express themselves, find a voice to share their ideas and creativity, and work on real problems in authentic situations, they can endure schooling—but their education, and our country’s future, will languish and suffer.

 

 

 

Go Ahead, Get Lost!

As the school year concludes, allow me to share my June 4^th remarks to the Needham High School graduating Class of 2012.  Here’s hoping we all have an opportunity to get lost this summer, if only for a little bit.

Members of the class of 2012:  Get lost! 

No really, I mean it.  Get lost!  Tomorrow, next year, and for the rest of your life, make sure you take time to turn left when you should go right; turn off the GPS every once and a while; ignore your schedule on occasion; wander off the path a bit; go solo when the crowd is pressing on you to head one way; strike up a conversation with the loner in the back of economics class everyone else ignores…Just take off to parts unknown and go get lost.  I am encouraging you to get lost in order to live and experience a full life, a life of learning, of laughs, of creativity and self-discovery. 

So, go ahead, Get lost!

I know…the predictable and planned is comfortable and secure.  It’s easier and less messy to stick to the script and talk to the same friends and tread the same route others have. It is safer, saner, and simpler to stay within the confines of a college or career plan that ensures smooth, uncomplicated, and conventional success. The rewards seem certain; the obstacles few and nothing is daunting. 

But if you deviate from the routine, wander a bit, and if you allow yourself to become a little confused and discombobulated, isn’t it possible you might meet new people, hear a unique perspective, and experience the mysterious?  And could these new and different encounters transform and shape you?

Margaret J. Wheatley, a brilliant professor, thinker and writer believes individuals and organizations flourish when they experience a certain amount of chaos and confusion in their lives.  She thinks our lives and our world will only improve when we accept the unexpected, listen to diverse voices, and confront confusion with a sense of awe, tolerance, and a willingness to learn.

She writes: “As we work together to restore hope to the future, we need to include a new and strange ally—our willingness to be disturbed.  Our willingness to have our beliefs and ideas challenged by what others think.  We can’t be creative if we refuse to be confused.  Change always starts with confusion; cherished interpretations must dissolve to make way for the new.  Of course it’s scary to give up what we know, but the abyss is where newness lives.  Great ideas and inventions miraculously appear in the space of not knowing.  If we can move through the fear and enter the abyss, we are rewarded greatly.”

As a young and newly minted high school English teacher in urban Los Angeles, I learned long ago that a willingness to be disturbed, an enthusiasm for risk-taking, requires a leap of faith:  A leap of faith in others and a willingness to trust and believe in yourself.

One late Friday evening after correcting assignments in my classroom, after everyone had already gone home for the weekend, I found myself waiting for the bus outside my school’s locked main entrance on Central Avenue in the Watts section of South Central LA.  I needed to get downtown to catch a transfer to my home in East LA.  I stood there in the gathering darkness exhausted, lonely, hungry, and defeated after another week of trying to figure out how to craft exciting lessons, connect in a positive way to my students, discipline unruly sophomores, and understand and appreciate the lives of my mostly African-American students. 

But I was really wondering what, exactly, I was doing 2,000 miles away from family and friends in an environment where I looked different from everyone else and was unsure if what I was doing even mattered.  My students hated me, I was sure of that; I didn’t know what I was doing; and they desperately wanted to learn… but deserved someone who had a clue! 

And what a loser I was on a Friday night correcting papers instead of hanging out with friends.  On top of all that, here I was standing on a street corner in Watts—loud shouting, police sirens, and gunfire erupted in the neighborhood, and the stupid bus hadn’t arrived. All of a sudden, an old blue Buick with tinted windows came to a screeching halt at the curb…  I tensed up as the rear window slowly lowered and a young man leaned out and exclaimed:  “Mr. G!  It’s Dwayne.  What are you doing out here, man??  Are you lost?”

Momentarily frozen with fear I realized I was, indeed, lost. 

Dwayne, a student I had argued with that very morning, threw open the car door and said, “Come on, Mr. G., get in.  We’ll give you a ride downtown.”  Wary, but relieved and trusting that somehow this would work out OK, I jumped into a car full of strangers, and we flew down Central Avenue on my way home.  Dwayne and I got to know each other pretty well after that ride and eventually—he told me later—I even became a half way decent teacher.

I was unsure of myself, anxious about what I was doing, uncertain if I was doing it the right way or having any impact on students, and mostly, I was scared and uncomfortable and without a good road map.  But looking back, I view those years teaching in LA as the best of my life—being confused, disturbed, and lost for a while set me on a journey of self-discovery and fulfillment.  Oh, sure, a journey beset with problems, dead ends, and struggles—but one that helped me mature, grow stronger, and find a challenging career. Along the way, I made lifelong friends, including Dwayne.

Getting lost means taking chances and accepting a little chaos in your life and relationships.  It requires openness to fresh ideas and a willingness to learn and to make yourself vulnerable and exposed.  But the reward is great and life is more than fun and fulfilling.  You see, getting lost in many ways is an act of hope—hope in oneself and in a world that desperately needs your commitment, courage, and leadership.

And so, members of the Class of 2012, with great respect, admiration, and love, I wish you the best.

Now, GO GET LOST, will you?!!