Parents for Educating Texas

Join the FearLess Revolution

A piece I wrote for FearLess Revolution appears today. Awesome photo illustration by Meat + Bones. 

I am so excited to show you "Hip-Hop High Cracks the School-to-Prison Pipeline," my contribution to the blog FearLess Revolution appearing today. The piece, based on the inspiring book Hip Hop Genius by Sam Seidel, speaks to a new kind of education reform going on in St. Paul, Minnesota. The High School of Recording Arts (HSRA), aka Hip-Hop High, is transforming troubled kids' lives by teaching them all aspects of hip-hop culture - students learn studio recording, mixing, engineering, producing, the business of hip-hop, and some are even working on becoming hip-hop artists in their own right. By tapping into a passion also relevant to their lives, HSRA is turning kids' lives around.

FearLess, whose tagline is "Collaboration is the new competition," was the brainchild of advertising guru Alex Bogusky, who had enough of winning every award in advertising after 20 years and decided to take on a different challenge: inspiring choices for consumers who are tired of consuming. Since we all have to buy things, Bogusky's idea is to inform consumers of the choices they make, and help them protect humans, animals and the planet along the way. He even created a Conscious Consumer Bill of Rights which is, well, really really cool. 

The FearLess blog covers topics from advertising to climate change to investing and money  - with the idea that these are problems that can certainly be solved if we come together. Follow them on Twitter or read the blog and get FearLess today!

Stonewall Gardens Goes Beyond (the) Green, Part II

Part I focused on Stonewall Jackson Elementary's fantastic student garden and science lab, its leader Mark Painter, and president of the Stonewall Gardens nonprofit, Kate Cromwell. Read it here. 

Stonewall Gardens produces lessons for all children in the school year round - not just as a resource, but as a full-time model. Garden lab teacher Mark Painter has a deep understanding of the workings of the garden, and reinforces the curriculum with a high-level philosophy that supports caring for nature and preserving it for future generations.

Last year, Stonewall Gardens put on a Chicken Coop Tour that brought 2,000 people from the community to see their heirloom chickens. On top of raising money, the hands-on fundraiser engaged the neighbors, community, and parents directly with the garden. 

Part of Stonewall's garden curriculum engages students directly with animals - the bugs, butterflies, birds and chickens that inhabit their space. It's important to the teachers that students be amazed by, not afraid of, garden creatures. Garden lab teacher Mark Painter tames a chicken in front of the coop. 

Inside the garden lab, evidence of children's empirical observation cover the walls and surfaces. 

Every child, K-5, owns a plant they grow from seed and plant in the garden. Children follow their plants' progress throughout the year. 

The all-organic compost heap, made up of nitrogen-rich White Rock Coffee grounds.

Related topics: 

• Stonewall Gardens Goes Beyond (the) Green Part I
• Support Stonewall Gardens
• Real School Gardens
• Green Ribbon Schools

Stonewall Gardens Goes Beyond (the) Green

 

What Works: A couple of Saturdays ago, I had a chance to tour the Stonewall Gardens at Stonewall Jackson Elementary in Dallas, where they are using systems theory and empirical observation to teach elementary students about gardening, themselves, and the natural world. Each student in the school follows their own plant from seed to harvest. When DISD cut the funds for the program in 2008, parents stepped in and created a 501C nonprofit to keep the program alive. Here is their amazing story in two parts.

Part 1

"Over there, we had a cover crop of rye, a good habitat for lady beetles." Mark Painter, Stonewall Jackson Elementary's garden lab teacher, adjusts his straw hat and points. His skin is tanned and his hands are rough and dirty, like a full-time gardener's should be. "I remember lying down with the kids in that grass, watching the lady beetles eat aphids. It's those instances - watching a spider capture a wasp, and watching that wasp struggle - for the kids, that's the neat stuff." He smiles. "Have you read E.O. Wilson or Wendell Berry?" I shake my head no. Evidently, these intellectuals have written high-level stuff about sustainable agriculture, the interconnectedness of life, and the threat industrialization and industrial farming pose to the environment and our way of life; Mark Painter uses their theories to teach kindergarten through 5th graders not merely how to keep a garden, but the importance of nature, and how to get along in it. Every child in the school owns a plant in the garden, works in the garden, and learns from it. Painter calls it "learning to do by doing."

Painter, who was hired by Dallas ISD as full time science lab teacher for the garden in 1997, works to create the garden as naturally and organically as possible, even if that means letting plants die during droughts like the terrible one Dallas experienced this past summer. "We weren't created to live forever," Painter points out, indicating that the plants weren't, either. By not watering the drought-hardy plants and letting them naturally select survivors, Painter was taught the children a valuable lesson about nature. It's a part of his overall curriculum of systems theory, or the study of self-regulating systems found in nature, and how all the systems work together. 

Stonewall Gardens, a 20,000 square foot 'outdoor laboratory' located behind Stonewall Jackson Elementary in Dallas, is more than a school garden, and more than a science lab. It's an interdisciplinary breeding ground for learning and discovery, where teachers cover topics from art to history to science. Along with a plant for every single student to nurture and follow throughout the year, the Gardens also house a chicken coop, a state-approved Texas wildscape, a butterfly garden, a vegetable garden, and an all-organic compost heap featuring repurposed coffee grounds from local coffee shop White Rock Coffee. (Painter collects the used coffee filters that come with the grounds, dries them, and then repurposes them as paper towels.) What started as a single row of beans Painter volunteered to plant for his wife's class 16 years ago has grown into an outdoor classroom every student has a stake in. 

But after 11 years of teaching the garden lab, Painter was included in the Reduction in Force budget cuts of 2008. While the DISD praised the garden and used it as an example of the great things happening in the district, they assumed the garden could go on without its tireless leader and cut his position. That's when a group of parents stepped forward to protest. "These kids grew up gardening," says Stonewall parent Kate Cromwell. "To many of them, gardening was the most important factor of school." Cromwell and other parents decided they could not let the district fire Painter; he was central to the program. So, they fought the district on the decision. They held an all-school meeting in the auditorium to voice their concerns to the principal and PTA president over losing their lab teacher. "We need a Mark Painter to lead the garden," says Cromwell, "and the parents decided they wanted to keep the garden, not as a resource, but as a full-time program. We have a model that engages kids early on - taking hardcore sciences by the time they're five or six years old."

After a serious campaign, and after offering Painter a job as a first grade teacher (which he declined), DISD decided to let Painter go. That's when the parents at Stonewall Jackson decided to rehire him, reinstating his position through their newly formed nonprofit Stonewall Gardens. Kate Cromwell was asked to be president, and the group raised $30,000 after kicking off January of 2009, enough to bring him back on as a part-time teacher. Since the 2010-2011 school year, Stonewall Gardens has raised enough money to offer Mark Painter a full-time contract as lab instructor and overseer of the garden. 

When I asked Cromwell how they managed to raise enough money to pay Mark Painter full time, she shrugs her shoulders. "We hold fundraisers," she says. They also get support from community businesses and organizations. "We wrote a letter to the neighborhood about what was going on, and hand delivered them to every house around here. We got a lot of support through our neighbors."

The combination of parent involvement, community involvement, and the enthusiasm of the students has kept the program an important - and innovative - part of the entire school's curriculum. Barbara Uskovich, a first grade teacher at Stonewall, uses elements of the garden to teach every subject. "In the fall, we learn about Johnny Appleseed in the garden. In the spring, we study the life cycle when we hatch the chicks from eggs right in our classroom." 

For Mark Painter, continuing to work with children in the garden has given him meaning, and a role beyond just keeping his job. "You've got to give something to make things better." 

Related topics: 

• Support Stonewall Gardens
• Stonewall Gardens on Green Ribbon Schools
• Curriculum Reform on PFET
• School Garden Wizard
• School Garden Weekly

 

Playing Games with the Future

Every unbearably hot afternoon of the summer, my 7- and 4-year-old sons would disappear to their room for an ongoing game of Monopoly. They'd be gone for hours, quietly playing for most of the time, occasionally fighting over a close call or a perceived unfair deal. But I never thought my younger son, Z., was actually playing Monopoly. How could he? Z. doesn't read yet, and although at the time he could count a few things, certainly didn't express any clear understanding of the basics of math needed to really "play" Monopoly.

So I pulled H. aside. "Take it easy on Z. in Monopoly, okay? He can't even add!" 

"He can't?"

I was intrigued. One afternoon I asked if I could grab a character (the thimble, of course) and play along. What I witnessed when we started playing astounded me. 

Little Z. wanted to be the banker. He counted out the money - $1,500 in bills from $1 to $500 - for everyone in the correct denominations. When he would make a mistake, H. told him what to do. "No, Z., those are $50s, remember? See the 5-0? We need three $100s." Z. made the corrections immediately. 

They loved playing with four or five dice instead of two. When Z. would roll, I instinctively tallied up all the dice so he could move the right number of spaces. "Mom, don't!" he screamed. I didn't know he was used to adding up all the dice himself, then moving his piece the correct number of spaces called for (well, most of the time). Then he bought up properties like Donald Trump. "I want to own a Monopoly on green, the rents are very high!" He would jump up and down when he had enough money to snag an expensive property (he's long been the family spendthrift) and knew exactly what to ask for rent. What he understood about numbers and counting and money floored me. We certainly hadn't worked with him or taught him any of this - he absorbed all this knowledge simply because he wanted to beat his big brother at Monopoly!

Evidently, what Z. did this summer is called game-based learning. The idea that expansive learning and understanding can come from the motivation and creativity it takes to win a game - especially a digital game - is quickly becoming, among scholars, the model on which 21st century learning will be founded. 

Take a look at NYC charter school Quest 2 Learn, a junior high designed to "support the digital lives of young people and their capacity for learning." Under a headline that reads "Learning by Doing," Q2L says they are "a school committed to graduating strong, engaged, literate citizens of a globally networked world. Through an innovative pedagogy that immerses students in differentiated, challenge-based contexts, the school acknowledges design, collaboration, and systems thinking as key literacies of the 21st century." Note the words challenge-based contexts: that's scholarly talk for playing games.

Q2L's partner is nonprofit Institute of Play, a research-led organization who "creates game-based learning environments, game-based curriculum, and professional development framework." Their projects include Gamestar Mechanic, an entire curriculum created to teach 4th to 9th graders the basics of and understanding behind game design. (And parents, teachers and homeschoolers, you can download all of Gamestar Mechanic as well as the curriculum guide for free. A paid premium subscription, with all the extra bells and whistles, is available, too.)

While the study of game-based learning is in its infancy, some research shows that playing games leads to "powerful learning effects."  I saw with my own eyes what it did for 4-year-old Z. - in one summer, he covered the basics of math and money. He was so engrossed in the game - and so determined to get good - he didn't even know he was learning. 

Have you seen your kids learn amazing things from playing games? Do you view the time your kids spend playing online games or video games as "learning"? I'd love to hear what you think!

(I first heard about Quest 2 Learn and its innovative teaching and learning techniques from our upcoming Book Club pick for September, Now You See It, by Cathy N. Davidson. Get the book and join us in an online discussion Monday, September 19.)  

How can we create a better space for teachers?

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. - Buddha

Part Two

(Part One, What Works: Are the teachers completely to blame?, was Friday's post.)

Many of the reform efforts swirling about us on a national level have a decidedly negative spin. Laws like theParent Trigger - in which parents of a failing school can file suit against the school, remove the principal and/or the teachers, or close the school completely and reopen it as a charter school - as well as top-down reform efforts like No Child Left Behind use only one kind of tactic to entice reform out of teachers and students: the ultimatum. Both kinds of reform have proposed assuredly that by threatening with a very sharp stick (both have a large "get those test scores up or we'll fire you" component), teachers and students will be highly motivated to perform better. So far, that has not happened; as a matter of fact, one could argue that since ultimatums like NCLB were put into place, the situation has actually gotten acutely worse.

On the other side, unions insist offering teachers giant carrots in reward for their efforts - the idea that teachers should be rewarded with more money, more time off, and better benefits, and that will earn them the respect they deserve - is the key to student achievement. It's true that teachers in highly educated countries are paid (and respected) better than ours (according to this, South Korea pays teachers on average 250% of what we pay ours). But, could this be a chicken-or-the-egg situation? Do teachers get respect because they get money? Or, do they deserve our respect, and higher pay will come out of that sense of respect?

Daniel H. Pink, author of the business guide Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, says science knows that we've got it all turned around and upside down. According to Pink, social scientists have proven in study after study that carrots nor sticks are motivators for workers (actually, both produce lower outcomes). In the study of what motivates people to be productive, scientists have found that, in large part, it's three things: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Does your child's teacher have access to those things? Chances are, we're not sure. But here's the challenge: can we  parents in any way help to create this atmosphere? If a world of autonomy, mastery and purpose already exists for our teacher, could we make it better? In the school reform hoopla we're surrounded by - that of standards, accountability, political parents, shredded budgets, and leagues of students who are continuing to fail themselves, can we bring this attitude up to our school?

I believe the answer is yes.

 How could we do it? My first thought was, well, that's the principal's job. But, is it? What about giving the teacher the respect to know what grade our child deserves, and back her up on it? What about believing the teacher knows what our child needs to work on, regardless of our feelings? I think that might give our teachers some autonomy. Many teachers I know worry that too many parents protect their kids from bad grades, discipline, or rigor - and the kids know it and the teacher is then powerless to teach them. If we give our teachers autonomy to teach our kids, would the kids learn more and better?

I believe the answer is yes.

Could we parents somehow encourage mastery for our teachers? The PTA could sponsor teachers to get extra training or attend really fun enrichment courses (I'm thinking of something like the Habla School down in Merida, Mexico) where they come back supercharged.

And, easiest of all, parents could absolutely imbue teachers with a sense of purpose that, during these starved and trying public school times, they may not be receiving anywhere else. I know I like to be appreciated at work, don't you? Why can't parents give teachers the feeling that what they are doing - slogging it out seven hours a day with 30 kids just like yours, by the way - matters, both to them and to the world? (See: What can I do to help?)

For some parents, this may seem obvious, but to others, they have no idea - or the time, or the headspace - to worry about whether or not their teachers are feeling the love. Can we help those parents? Can we tell them about this idea, how by going up to school and encouraging their teacher - that's right, not trying to get them fired (unless they are truly awful, I know these teachers exist) - to teach our children whatever they know?

 This is when I started thinking about a kind of help program for parents, where parents who've got the whole thing going could show groups of parents who don't know where to start. I call it Parents Mentoring Parents (I know, it's not a pretty terrible name, anybody got a better one?), but on this blog, with your help, I'd like to start fleshing out what a parent mentor program might look like.

Like, starting tomorrow.

What are you ideas to create a better space for teachers? How could you make their work easier and more rewarding? I'd love to hear from you!

Are the teachers completely to blame?

This is the first post in a new category called What Works?, where we will take a look at excellent programs in public schools in Texas and across the nation and the reasons why they work so well. (If you know of such a program, please let me know!) But before we begin our study of outstanding, positive programs making a difference, let’s take a look to where we stand in education reform today.

Part One

School is in session indeed. The journalism wire is glowing red, firing up angry pieces like this op-ed by Reuters’ Steven Brill and Huffington Post's Margaret Spellings piece "Save Me a Seat by the Fire"; journalists like Brill and Spellings claim that it’s about to get hot in the kitchen for underperforming teachers and principals as well as their unions, who according to them would like to “protect the status quo at any cost.” Reform experts and journalists laud governors and state legislators who are stripping away teachers’ bargaining rights and taking on the unions’ stronghold in order to improve student achievement. To these reform experts, it’s the unions who are the largest obstacle standing in the way of true education reform.

I am wary of blaming the entire teaching profession - mostly because, as a public school parent and friend of many union and non-union public school teachers, I have known very few who actually qualify for this category of I-only-do-exactly-what’s-asked-of-me-not-a-cent-more. Not that they don’t exist. Most teachers I come into contact with are compassionate and interested and take their jobs pretty seriously. But do the reformers have a point? Joel Klein, in his gushing review of last year’s “Waiting for Superman,” backs up the director’s claims that it’s the teacher unions who are holding up the entire school reform effort. According to Klein and others, small-print clauses in teacher contracts actually prevent teachers from having to work extra hours, participate in unscheduled meetings, or add value to their school in other ways because they are not required to do so.

This looks bad, and would make any parent cringe to think that it’s the teachers, the very ones responsible for our children, who are keeping children down by not performing their jobs well enough. Yet I have to wonder if this is the only side of the story.

I am beginning to believe that education reform has become so politicized that parents are being asked to take the focus off their own school and instead focus on the entire pie - all American education as a whole. I am not entirely sure that this is such a great idea. After all, when I sit around thinking of what I can do most for education reform, my mind turns quickly to what I can affect directly in my own community. Isn’t your own public school most important to you? Last spring, I wrote briefly about how successful education reform might look a lot like the slow food movement - organic, local, and sustainable. This is in direct opposition with what politicians and policymakers advocate for grand results. But should it be either/or? What if successful education reform was actually both - top-down and bottom-up?

This belief of mine that as a parent I should stay out of political ed reform and get my hands dirty instead only got stronger over the summer as I watched journalists, think tankers and politicians squabble over the details of the debate, and beg us to not take it personally, like Dropout Nation's RiShawn Biddle so beautifully describes in this lovely essay. I decided I would no longer make it my business whether or not teachers should belong to a union, nor do I care one whit how much power it should have. I don’t care how much teachers get paid - although I tend to believe that better-paid teachers might be happier teachers. What I care about more is what we can do right now - the sweaty, panicking army of parents - to stop this train of substandard learning and turn it around.

So what’s the positive, productive approach? I wish I had the answer to that one. But let’s take a look at some options.

I wonder how many parents in Texas have talked to their child’s teacher and asked, what do you need to teach better? Do you need administrative support? Materials? Classroom improvements? Professional development? Do you need me to speak to the principal, the school board, the superindendent on your behalf?

What’s most helpful to you?

What can I do?

I wonder if more parents were encouraged to come up to school and talk to their teacher, or email, or call - if that would make a difference? I wonder if more parents could make a greater effort to get their child ready to learn, by making sure they are well-fed and well-rested (with help, for those who need it)? If parents knew how to check homework, then follow up with the teacher? How could we get more parents to show up at parent-teacher conferences, to be involved first-person with their child’s education?

What about the statistics that show that, in wealthier communities, public school children do better than those in poorer communities? As parents, we need to explore the reasons that this appears to be true. Is it the stress of poverty alone? Do principals at schools that are known to be excellent get first pick of the best teachers? Do highly qualified candidates only want to work in an excellent public school? Or, do the parents at those schools - schools with good test scores and reputations have armies of parent volunteers - have some effect on how the students, and teachers, and principals actually perform? Could the parents and teachers and principals find a symbiotic relationship in which all work together, more or less, for the child? Should the responsibility of a child’s learning be a community affair, one in which parent and teacher work together?

What can we parents do to make this happen? Is it possible that we can do something to bridge the gap and create a better space for teachers to teach in? And, most importantly, would this increased parent involvement make a difference in school reform and finally in student achievement?

I have an idea that might change this paradigm and bring more parents into school to get to know their teachers. Come back tomorrow to read more about Parents Mentoring Parents!