Bad Raps: In Poetry, Social Media and Of Course, The Common Core

Posted on January 20, 2014 by conversationeducation

Poetry and Social Media have both had their share of bad raps.

The poetry of our (collective) past was often presented as something that was only available to those chosen few who may or may not find the many levels of hidden meanings tucked in between the lines. Every time I bring poetry to my teachers, there is a group squirm in the room as everyone shifts in their seats and falls back into their past experiences with poetry.

You will find poetry nowhere unless you bring some of it with you.
– Joseph Joubert

Poetry was not available and many hold fast to the belief that it still isn’t. But thanks to modern day poets such as Billy Collins, Mary Oliver and even those of old such as e.e. cummings, poetry can be accessible to all. With a little patience and practice some even come to enjoy poetry.

We just need to shift out of our old habit of thinking we “won’t get it” and realize that what we take from the poem is enough. It may just be the sound of the words or how they are arranged; it may be a line that strikes the soul, or an adverse reaction to an image. Whatever it is, it is for us. Poetry can move people to their own “edges” if you will, asking them to work and think a little bit more and little bit harder, what does that mean?

“Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.” Khalil Gibran

Social Media has also gotten a bad rap, especially when we are having conversations about our youth. And while we might be concerned about the growing evolutionary thumbs of this next generation and their inability to communicate face to face without a device are worthy concerns, there is the upside to this wonderful world of technology.

Credit to http://www.thedrum.com –

One is the meeting of poetry and social media I encountered these past couple of weeks as poetry swept it’s way onto Facebook and flooded my feed with fabulous poets and poetry. The way it worked was simple. Read a poem posted by a friend and if you liked that poem they would send you a poet and you in turn posted a poem by that assigned poet.

I can only wonder how many hits poetry.org and other such sites got this poetry month. It was a treat to go onto Facebook wondering what poem or poet you would see next. It was also interesting to see what new poets might come up. And even if the poem was one I knew, it was nice to be revisited by old favorites. Some even went so far as to research their assigned poet, posting photos and biographical information as well as a poem. There were side conversations about how many poets some knew and how thrilled others were to be introduced to new poets. Others felt “out of their league” but quickly immersed themselves in finding the perfect poem. Some began the process of identification as one who likes and dare I even say might consider writing poetry.

I can’t tell you how many poems I added to my poetry folder for future teaching! There was a crazy wonderful poetry community created through social media with people across the country that never would have been possible without social media. It was, if I may say so myself, pretty damn cool!

And then we come to the Common Core where poetry is not mentioned, named or listed in any categories in the entire document. And while the intent was not to eliminate poetry, that is the interpretation of many. Schools are reading this document as a curriculum even when it clearly states that it is NOT! But the subtle, or not so subtle message underlying the omission of poetry is that what is not listed will not be tested; therefore precious time will not be wasted teaching it. Schools without Shel Silvserstien, Prelutsky, Roald Dahl, A.A. Milne, and Sharon Creech will be very sad places.

While I realize you have all heard me rant and rave on about the CCSS nation wide hold on education, I do not believe I have given it’s history justice and so I direct you here to a link where Diane Ravitch lays out the history of the Common Core and it’s daunting predecessors.

Diane Ravitch

I believe this history gives context to why we are where we are and how incredibly insipid it is. I believe anyone who has any stock in the public educational system needs to read this. I would like to see this article go viral. The more we know the more we can begin to understand what is at stake.

And so I leave you with my assigned poet (by the fabulous Children’s poet, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, who you must check out at this link) and the words of ee cummings: enjoy, savor and just take it in for what it is, let it linger on your tongue for the sweetness that it is and nothing more or less.

e.e. cummings

E. E. Cummings (1894 – 1962)

I Will Wade Out

i will wade out
till my thighs are steeped in burning flowers
I will take the sun in my mouth
and leap into the ripe air
Alive
with closed eyes
to dash against darkness
in the sleeping curves of my body
Shall enter fingers of smooth mastery
with chasteness of sea-girls
Will i complete the mystery
of my flesh
I will rise
After a thousand years
lipping
flowers
And set my teeth in the silver of the moon

And as the world goes, I read this post to my daughter, Emma and she reminded me that her choir in High School sang this poem as composed by Eric Whitacre. Love the connections! And while we don’t have a recording of her choir, here is a youtube link to another choir singing it. Glorious!

I Will Wade Out

Letting Go: On Permission, Patience, Persistence and Possibilities…

Posted on December 20, 2013 by conversationeducation

Zachary is a senior this year and while I have tried to keep from writing about him, I find myself in the beginning phases of grieving his impending move from home to college. When I asked him if he was ready he simply said, “No, not really, but it will be great.” Zachary is my possibility person. He sees the world as something that is here for him to embrace and engage in every moment he is alive. He truly does live in the moment. My Dad always referred to him as the one who is always “tinkering” with something. In many ways I think he is a lot like my Dad in that his while his grades in school are not stellar, his ideas and his passion for possibility lies deep. It is rare he says he “can’t” do something.

His latest passion is this song, Let Her Go by Passenger (that I now know by heart as I have heard it a million times a day for about 4 weeks now) and so he has decided to learn this song on the piano. He does not, or should I say he has not ever really played the piano. That is Emma’s instrument. But he you tubed it (yes, I do think that is a verb!) and from watching has begun the process of two handing the keys to this tune. I marvel at his persistence, or in this day in educational jargon, his stamina to keep on keeping up with this endeavor. He has the first part down pretty well, and he won’t quit until he reaches the end. I know this because this is how Zachary learns. There is always some kind of creative process that invites him in and then he is all in.

What happens when we slow down and give each learner the permission to learn about and research whatever it is they are interested in? What happens when there is a structure, but the content is filled in by each individual in the group?

So this year I decided to try out some of what I was preaching on my group of teachers in Dover Middle School. I have been working with this group for years and they have one of the best collective senses of humor I have ever known. The group has come together, I believe, even more so because of the writing we have been doing together every time we meet. I am always surprised at what I learn about one of these dedicated teachers through their writing and I love hearing their voices develop and change with each piece they try. They are always willing to read their writing and give feedback to each other. In our conversations about the Common Core State Standards we also question and wonder about where the idea of freedom comes into play in public education.

And so I walked into the first class and said, “I have no class text, I have no syllabus, all I have is a workshop model and ways to guide and facilitate us through the processes of learning of your choosing. What is it that you want to learn about? What are some of the questions you are wondering about that you feel you don’t have the time to discover? There were wide eyes of excitement looking back at me as the possibilities ran across the faces of some and panic across the others. I quickly realized that one of the first beliefs we needed to look at was that of the “right answer” as some asked me, “What is it that you want?” “What exactly are you looking for and what does it look like?” Immediately I saw that although we talked the good talk of freedom, that we as adults are as entrenched in this kind of thinking as our students, seeking that “right” answer. In the words of Socrates, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” And so we have spent a great deal of time examining our attitudes, beliefs and biases. Some of the work we have done together I took on the road as I have told this group that they are my research project as I work beside them and experience the same processes they are experiencing.

I recently presented some of this research at NCTE in Boston with colleagues and friends, Louise Wrobleski and Terry Moher. We engaged in a playful study of “Reading the Visuals and Visualizing the Reading” and along the way we rediscovered the power of the visual everywhere we went. Every day we sent each other new ideas, articles, links and images to spark our thinking. It was exhilarating because we were all engaged in thinking about, reading and researching the same thing at the same time and yet we each came at it from completely different angles. It was these differences that gave form and texture to our presentation as we each defended and wrote up just what it was we intended to do with our 20 minutes of fame while at the same time weaving a common thread among us. It was challenging and exciting.

Ultimately my part in the presentation came from the deep seeded belief that if we want our teachers/students to engage their students then they must first experience the process themselves. Classic Don Graves. When our participants sat down there were pictures of faces staring at them from the middle of the table. They were asked to take one that spoke to them and then to add something to the face. Instantly I could feel a shift of energy in the room and so I asked, “How many of you think you can’t draw?” and almost all of the hands went up. And while I told them not to worry, it was evident that it was a challenge for many as everyone tried to add some kind of body to their chosen face. Here are some images I shared with them from my work with my Dover teachers and many mimicked this same behavior by adding what they “thought” was expected of them, a body.

Then I showed them some images from this wonderful blog, busymockingbird.com where a mother collaborates with her four year old daughter and allows her to put “bodies” onto her faces. Here are some of those images.

And after showing these images suddenly the world of possibilities opens up as each person is granted permission to be playful, to think beyond what they “thought” the expectation was in terms of a “right” answer, even though I said there was no right or wrong way to add to their faces. After sharing these as well as images from Terry Moher’s students work I then asked them to turn over their faces and give it another go. And again the energy shifted and people began to envision, talk and even giggle at what might be, based on what they felt confident about drawing and the images took on completely different shapes and forms. After sketching I asked participants to write either about their process or to bring words and life to the images they had created. Or as one Dover teacher Lisa stated on her second go, I looked at this face and as I was trying to think outside of the box, I thought, boxes, yes, I can draw boxes! And this is what she came up with.

These two images above are of particular interest to me. The first was drawn by an elementary teacher, Pam. The second by Ben a middle school teacher. What I found fascinating was that these were their first drawings. What was it about Pam and Ben’s thinking that they got to where others often only got to on the second go? They both talked about how they couldn’t draw bodies, so they looked at the faces and tried to come up with something that fit the face that they could draw, but that was not a body. Essentially Pam and Ben gave themselves permission to add to the faces in any way they felt would work. They allowed themselves to just let go and were not confined by the idea of what was “right”.

Well you only need the light when it’s burning low

Only miss the sun when it starts to snow

Only know you love her when you let her go

Only know you’ve been high when you’re feeling low

Only hate the road when you’re missing home

Only know you love her when you let her go

And you let her go.

~ Let Her Go by Passenger

And while these lyrics ring in my head I think about how we all need to let go, if even just a little bit. All of us. I need to let go as a mother and allow my son to make his way in the world, and as teachers we need to let go. Let go of the “one answer society rules” demands of the testing world and open up our hearts and minds to the infinite possibilities that lie within.

Stupid is as Stupid Does: More on The Common Core

Posted on November 19, 2013 by conversationeducation

The other night we stumbled upon the movie Forrest Gump. Man, I forget what a great movie it is on SO many levels. The scene that really made me pause was when Forrest’s mother, played brilliantly by Sally Fields, is at the local public school and the principal holds up a life –sized graph with 3 sections. He points out the top section and says this is Above Average, then to the middle section indicating Average (duh!) and then to a point in the Below Average section stating, this is where Forrest lies. Her response is what I wish all of our responses are to the numbers we use to sum up our youth, our schools, our teachers and beyond. She looks at the Principal like he has lost his mind when he says Forrest will need to attend a special school where she retorts in her perfect southern accent, “Oh for God’s Sake, It is only 5 silly little points, the boy will be going to school here.” And that is the end of the scene. Soon after you see Forrest getting on the big yellow school bus.

Of course as you watch the embedded history lessons and how Forrest had a hand in so much that we never knew the one line that really sticks out is “Stupid is as stupid does.”

And that is where we are in education right now. Stupid is as stupid does. We are so caught up in those graphs and charts and data that we cant even see what is right in front of us. The more I hear the more stupid it all becomes and I think we need to be more like Mrs. Gump and stop giving these tests and everything that surrounds them so much energy and weight. Part of the problem is that there are so many stories, myths and misconceptions around the Common Core that nobody even knows what is going on.

See here to read “Ten Colossal Errors of the Common Core Standards: http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2013/11/common_core_standards_ten_colo.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-FB

Did you know there are some schools here in New Hampshire who are saying “NO” to the Common Core? And while they ARE being penalized in terms of funding, losing about $100,000.00 they are looking forward realizing that to implement the tests surrounding the Common Core is going to cost their district over $200,000.00. Why are we so incredibly short sighted when it comes to these top down mandates. What are we so afraid of?

I have said it before and I will say it again, if my kids were starting in public school right now I would get them out! Or in the words of Jenny, “Run Forrest Run!” Run from the shackles of numbers and testing! Our kids are being used as lab rats and caught up in a sea of bureaucratic and political snares that have nothing to do with a better education for each. Our educational system is being bullied into the dregs of privatization where companies can and will dictate what happens in our schools.

Pearson already is! Pearson is an enormous conglomeration that has tentacles that reach into more areas of education than you cannot even imagine. This octopus of a machine has created the tests that children will take that are too hard on many levels. The other day I was sent a link to the Smarter Balance site where I could go in and “take” the test at many different levels. I chose 3^rd grade and went to the LA section. Immediately, I thought of all of the hundreds of 3^rd graders I have worked with and my anxiety level started to rise. The first question is about a Chinese child, Little Lang, who is learning his or her characters. I think of those who don’t have the background knowledge that Chinese characters are letters. This character goes off with his brush…how many 3^rd graders “write” with a brush? And it just goes from there. At the end there were multiple questions to answer and of course lots of places for written responses.

As a highly analytical person I can often see at least 2 very distinct answers that “could” be true or right. And after that question I went on to the second one and then realized this was only 2 out of 50! And that is JUST the Language Arts section.

Here is a link to the test. See for yourself!!

https://sbacpt.tds.airast.org/student/

And once the numbers come out we will see exactly what these tests are designed to do, to create a new narrative of the epic failure of our public school system. But as with every magical story there will be the night in shining armor who will show up in shiny new textbooks wrapped in bubble wrap, a colorful collage of books and workbooks to fix all of your districts woes in one fell swoop. And the publisher will be….yes, you guessed it, Pearson. The one who set up the tests in the first place.

And even more disturbing is that if you are really worried about test performance Pearson has test prep materials ready for sale to get all of your little lemmings in line. In fact one teacher in New York City found one of the exact prep test questions on the “actual” test! The message again? If you want to do well on these tests then you must have Pearson test prep. Do you see the irony here? Do you taste the incredible conflict of interest?

There are many things that have started to rumble around the country that give me hope! One group of parents in New York State sent all of their kids test scores back to the school and the company. Great! But the kids still had to suffer through the tests! Other groups are opting out of these tests and the more we get on board with this the more likely is that we can take back our educational system and begin from the ground up to rebuild it. Top down…stupid is as stupid does.

A link to Fair Test listing the many ways to Opt Out locally and Nationally: http://www.fairtest.org/get-involved/opting-out

And although this video is showing up all over my Facebook feed I am going to link to it here as well because this kid has guts and makes some great points!! Again, he gives me hope. Imagine if more of our students stood up for what they think is right and just and fair.

http://youngcons.com/legit-tennessee-high-school-senior-decimates-common-core/

He is something huh? And as Forrest says “Momma always says life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.” In this case, if you dig to the bottom of the box you can see quite clearly what we are gonna get, and it tastes nothing like chocolates!!

Ramblings on Lobsters, Testing, Brownstones and Poetry over the John

Posted on May 7, 2013 by conversationeducation

One sticky New Hampshire July summer evening while hosting the annual lobster and clamfest for our UNH Summer Literacy Institute, Donald Murray was in the house. Now you must know that to have Don in my house was an honor. He was a man I had admired since I was an undergraduate and then here he was all hot and buttered fingers and faces on the back deck with the rest of us.

Donald Murray

And then it happened. He walked right up to me and asked, “Who wrote the poem, ‘Over the John’?” I froze. What? The ultimate test had come my way and as my face heated up and I began to sweat, I flipped through the suddenly empty files in my brain, wracking it for any poet I could think of. The words, who wrote Over the John? Over the John?, Over the John?, reverberated in my head. As I agonized I realized he was staring at me…waiting for an answer and so finally, in the ultimate defeat I simply admitted, “I don’t think I know that poem.” At which point Donald Murray let out a larger than life guffaw of a laugh and re-stated, “No, the poem over the john in the bathroom, who wrote that?”

And in my state of stunned stupidity it still took me a moment to actually realize that he was not testing me at all but simply asking me a question to which I knew the answer. “Oh! My daughter wrote that in 3^rd grade.” To which he responded that she was quite a little writer. And then he left me there in all of my shame to melt in my sense of stupidity. I hate tests. I have always hated tests and this was a self-imposed one. The pressure makes me stupid.

The “actual” poem over the john!

So what if we are all made stupider by tests? And if that is not the case then what about the some of us that are? I will admit it; I am one of the worlds worst test takers. When I see a question and then the 4 possible answers I try to think about the “right” one and while one might seem “more” or “less” right, I get stuck on imagining the possibilities of what “could” or “could not” be right. I see grey in a world of black and white. I stammer in the ideas that the test is probably trying to trick me and so I get obsessed with thinking about outwitting, outplaying, and outlasting the test. Yes, I want to be the sole Survivor, but I get too caught up in the game and then I simply freeze and ultimately I am blindsided and voted off the island. I lose.

This past weekend in NYC at Barnard (see previous post as well as here: Totalwebcasting.com/live/columbiatc/20130504/ for live on streaming) was eye opening on so many levels. It made me wonder about so many things…many of which have to do with testing and beyond. I heard stories, saw grown men weep, and felt passion so great it was palpable. I met people that I have only “known” on-line for the first time in person.

I was welcomed into Renee Dinnerstein’s (See her blog here: http://investigatingchoicetime.com/) home in Brooklyn…our first face to face meeting ever and she hosted me for 2 nights. We talked for all the time I was there. She introduced me to her husband, Simon and his incredible works of art that line their Brooklyn Brownstone and beyond. She took me to the public schools of NYC, gave me history of the area, of her life, the schools, the system. We visited an exhibit at the Brooklyn art museum by Anatsui, amazing!! Thank you Renee for your kind hospitality and for bringing together great minds for brunch where I also met Vicki Vinton, (See Vicki’s blog here: http://tomakeaprairie.wordpress.com/) on-line colleague, for the first time. But most of all I learned that I am not alone in this endeavor. There are so many of us out there who are so discouraged, outraged and ready to take action.

Tomasen and Renee at Anatsui exhibit

And while I was hoping to have a great post synthesizing the weekend, I realize I still have a great deal of processing to do.

And so as my 16-year-old Zachary heads out the door for his annual NECAP testing this morning he seems to be fine with it. Both of my kids are better test takers than I am. In fact, he enjoys the testing perks…early senior privileges and the fact that teachers are not allowed to give homework during testing because they want students performance to be stellar. (Is it just me or can you see how ironic this is?) Our schools are ready and willing to help students get more sleep FOR the tests, but not for everyday schooling. Sometimes I think I am crazy, or just looking for answers in my brain that are just not there. Am I asking the right questions? That is the real question, or am I just searching for something over the john?

You tell me.

Alternatives and Activism: Reclaiming the Conversation on Education

Posted on May 1, 2013 by conversationeducation

This weekend I will join educational colleagues, professionals, parents, students and friends at Barnard College in New York City to “take back” the Conversation on Education. Does it strike me that this is close to the name of my blog? Why yes, and while it initially inspired me to make this trip, it was more about the idea that “we” can actually DO something about what is happening in the corporate takeover of our public school systems. This is the blurb that made me sign-up.

“If you want to move beyond the focus on test scores, performance outcomes, standardization, and data aggregation, if you are tired of seeing your students deprived of real educational opportunities, if you worry teaching is being reduced to test prep and educators are losing their autonomy and academic freedom, and if you believe all our children should have access to a curriculum and extra-curriculum that are far more engaging that stripped down cram courses or subsistence level job training, then this is the conference for you.”

And if that didn’t convince me then this panel of experts certainly did!!

“Hear speakers such as Susan Ohanian, Barbara Bowen, Carol Burris, Zakiyah Ansari, Juan Gonzalez, Barbara Madeloni, Ceresta Smith, Brian Jones, Nikhil Goyal, Ann Cook, and Shino Tanikawa and join with your colleagues to mobilize resistance.”

Photo Credit: http://www.susanohanian.org

But of course the real kicker is that last line, “join with your colleagues to mobilize resistance.” What a great line! At first I recall being in college and while taking one of my initial courses in education we were assigned the task of doing something we had never done before. The goal was to get out of our comfort zones and to reflect on that experience. I chose to go to a local anti-nuclear demonstration. I did not have to do much to dress the part as anyone who knew me in High School or college knows that I came by the “crunchy” quite naturally. What I remember the most about this rally was the collective energy and power that I felt there. It was exhilarating, amazing and empowering. It was a place where I began to develop and strengthen my voice.

Flash forward, too many years to count, and I find myself at dinner in Ohio with my daughter and 6 of her college friends at a round table where the discussion centered on the increase in tuition for students going abroad, a policy that was delivered to students at an informational meeting. They were outraged at the way it was handled and so I asked them, “What can you do about this?” Their collective reply was “nothing”.

Photo Credit: http://www.funnytimes.com

They felt they did not have a voice in the policy at Kenyon College even though they entered 2 years prior with a very real sense of what the cost would be for the 4 years. I talked to them about a Grandfather Clause and what they might be able to do. This tuition increase was a major hit to most of these kids and yet the overwhelming consensus what that they did not feel empowered, they did not believe they had any voice; they did not believe that anything they might do would matter.

And so, in my not so subtle manner I started asking questions and suggesting ways to let their voices be heard. By the end of the meal they were fired up and had grand plans to set up a table during parents weekend to bring attention to this issue, as parents were never formally informed and would not even know until the tuition bill arrived in the mail. And while they had visions of posters and signs and standing up for their rights…none of this actually ever happened. Why? Because ultimately they did not believe it would matter.

Isn’t college the perfect place to get involved in make change? Have we lost this generation to the cow towing and conformity that they have had a steady diet of? Or have they just not yet discovered the power of their voices? Or, are they right?

Looking again at that last line…I get a different feel. We will gather to “mobilize resistance” and it hits me, these are wartime words. These are the words of troops and lieutenants. And I wonder…have we really come that far? Is this an all out war?

I don’t know the answer to these questions. I do know that I have such passionate discourse about what is happening and that while blogging about it has helped me to research further and write down my thoughts I realize it is not enough.

I want to join the collective voice of others at the rally. I want to begin the process of change with like-minded people who are not going to just sit at the table and watch this happen. I want to join with the forces that believe we CAN and WILL do something. I want to show this younger generation that there is power in numbers and activism and alternatives to just accepting whatever comes down the proverbial pipeline. I want to model that they too can have their voices be heard.

Photo Credit: teacherscount.wordpress.com

So…here I go…off to the Big Apple. Perhaps I will dig out one of my old Indian skirts, find a complimentary embroidered shirt and sandals for the occasion….and had I thought of it earlier I could have even gotten a perm, “Wonder Tomasen…activate!”

For more information on this conference check out the blog http://reclaimingconversation.blogspot.com It will also be live streamed.

The Goody Bag Generation: Conformity, Performance and Privileges in State Testing

Posted on April 18, 2013 by conversationeducation

These past 7 months have been some of the craziest of my life in a long time. This past fall my daughter became depressed while away at school in Ohio. Helping her through her difficult time from 800 miles away via the telephone was challenging…to say the least. Then my father, now 84 became very ill and almost passed away at Christmas in the midst of their trying to sell their condo and buy a new house. Then February 1^st, I get a frantic phone call from my Dad telling me they are across the river watching their condo burn up in flames. That night they moved in and stayed for 6 weeks. The day after my parents moved out my son crashed my new car and it has been in the shop ever since. And then my dear friend Karen lost her son, Jimmy to cancer.

And yet here I am 7 months later and my daughter has made some very difficult and adult decisions to improve her life and is doing fabulously. My Dad recovered miraculously and is doing better than ever. My parents have moved to their little house up north and although my car is in the shop, it is all good. What is not so good is my friend Karen. How does one even begin to live after losing a child? I don’t know. I honestly don’t know.

It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.

~Epictetus

And so here I find myself evaluating what really matters in life when I receive a letter from my son’s High School punctuating, yet again what really matters in our public school systems.

The first paragraph states that several years ago our 11^th grade students were not performing well on the State Test, NECAP. It goes on to say that the “Data Strategies Team” (don’t even get me started here!!) investigated and interviewed students to understand their lack of motivation. This study revealed that our students got smart and stopped performing on state tests because they realized these tests had nothing to do with their futures because they did not have anything to do with their class ranks or GPA’s. (I was on the school board at this point in time and remember celebrating these students and how smart and courageous they were!)

The second paragraph goes on to say that after these findings they decided to create a big fat carrot in the name of senior privileges for those juniors who achieved a score of “proficient” or above in all three areas of reading, math and writing on these state tests.

The third paragraph tells me “You are receiving this letter because your son or daughter will be allowed Junior Privileges beginning April 29^th”. This means that my son can leave campus during unassigned periods and it allows him the freedom to “go to various destinations within in the building.” It is his get out of jail card and all because he was able to perform FOR them.

I am outraged by this…what are we doing hanging out carrots for a one time test? What about those kids who may not test well? What if those same kids who bombed the test are stellar students working hard each and every day? What about students with Special Needs? WHAT are we rewarding here? And why?

Why? I will tell you why…because these tests have nothing to do with our kids, how they learn or their futures…it is all about feeding the big number crunching machine to demonstrate that our schools are not failing.

Well…I would argue the opposite. School is failing my son miserably and yet he gets these privileges because he conformed and performed and did what was expected of him…NOT because he was learning, thinking, creating, wondering, exploring and discovering the joy of learning. What is the greater message we are sending here?

Is it just me? I am sure that some parents might be celebrating his or her child’s ability to test well and “earn” these special privileges. The letter is written on beautiful school stationary to be framed and hung on the wall. Another badge of honor to be worn by parents to show their child measures up. But not me.

It is just another reminder that it is not about our kids and their learning. What matters is that our students consistently conform, perform and then get a goody bag for doing so.

Photo Credits: www.visual-learners.com, douglasemerson.blogs.com,

Miss-Interpretations of The Common Core and Teaching Writing: Dumbing Down with Ridiculous Rules, Mortifying Myths and Loquacious Lies

Posted on March 6, 2013 by conversationeducation

I am just home after meeting with some very talented and knowledgeable 6^th grade teachers. Our goal, to discuss the Common Core standards and get a feel for where they were in planning for their upcoming insurgence.

Part of the discussion was that in writing a persuasive piece of writing that the use of “I” is forbidden. I asked by whom it was forbidden and they both looked at me like, “everyone” knows this. And in walks the infamous “They” that makes these rules. Who is the “they” in this arena? And while you can find that in certain places the use of “I” is frowned upon it is not in others. What about the fact that some of the best persuasive pieces ever written have a very capital and strong sense of I!!

For instance, if you read through my blog entries, how would you classify (for lack of a better word) what kind of writing it is? What box would you put it in? Persuasive? Argument? Narrative? Informational? Fiction? Non-Fiction? Opinion? Or is it a brand new genre called blogging? Or are there strands of each and all of these?

Or is it just ranting from a girl who lives in the grey areas of life navigating through a world of black and white…forever bumping into the boundaries set by others; hard and fast rules that become the letter of the law lacking any theory to back it up.

I envision it as writing my own newspaper column each week. Where would that fit in?

I see it as a place where I gather my thoughts, opinions, and ideas and then attempt to support them with the thoughts and ideas and opinions of others. Sometimes they are simply ideas of my own that I attempt to connect to begin to make sense of what I am thinking about. I write for the surprise that Donald Murray always wrote about. Does this change what “kind” of writing I am writing on each and every attempt? Or does it even matter what “kind” of writing is if my readers are reading it and it is making them think and wonder and respond?

Donald Murray

And why do we insist on creating “new” kinds of writing that only exist in the world of school? Have you ever seen or read a book report in the “real” world? What about the whopper of a 5-paragraph essay? When is the last time your boss came to you and said you need to write up a 5-paragraph essay, due on my desk by Monday? NO, you have not because the idea of 5 paragraphs is another myth created in the world of education in an attempt to dumb down the process of writing.

These teachers showed me a template for a persuasive (yes 5 paragraphs in this one too) where the students could essentially fill in the blanks and create a piece of writing that would fulfill the requirements of the Common Core Standards. I have to SHOUT out here that I really don’t believe these are the intentions behind the CCSS. This narrow thinking goes back to what Don Graves speaks about as teaching writing in terms of painting by number. All of the writing in these mythical genres look the same, feels the same, reads the same. BORING!!! BUT, as the teachers respond, if we do this then all of the standards will be met and we will be able to point out specifically in different colored pens which parts fulfill which standard. This leaves teachers in an impossible stance. They have to choose whether or not to do what they are told or to teach what they know is good writing. Wouldn’t you think they would be the same thing?

Donald Graves

Our car is making a horrible noise. (Using a story/narrative strand here to make my point) There is a screeching sound that just makes your ears quiver when you turn the wheel. We need to take it to the mechanic to get it fixed. When it arrives he will listen to it, diagnose it and make the necessary changes. Imagine another world, say the world where school meets auto repair and instead of relying on the mechanic there is a checklist that says he must add some simile, a bit of metaphor as well as a heave dose of dialogue to fix and complete this engine repair. When done he can return it to us with all the things he can check off the list, but still with a broken car.

Taking the person OUT of the process only creates nonsensical ridiculous and completely absurd moves. There is NO sense in it and yet this is exactly the response I am seeing to the CCSS. It is about coverage and covering one’s ass, if I may be so blunt…but who cares if your ass is covered if you are turning out broken down cars and students? Taking the writer, the “I” out of the process is not going to create confident writers who know and understand when and where to use a writerly move if they have never had the opportunity as writers to make those decisions. (Using compare and contrast to drive my point home)

I do not start writing thinking; I will use metaphor, simile and dialogue in this piece. I start out with an idea and then as I write there are opportunities where these moves may or may not be useful to make my writing what I envision it to be. I may even remove my car metaphor before this piece is formally posted on my blog. The point it that these decisions are made my ME, the writer, so that I can create something that makes sense and that will engage my readers (hopefully) and allow them to think about something in a way that maybe they had not thought about it before.

My daughter sent me a link the other day about some middle schoolers involved in inquiry projects and created controlled experiment and then wrote it up and submitted it to various scientific journals to share their findings. Many of the journals, while they praised the work of the students and it’s originality were not open to accepting the work of these student because their report started with “Once upon a time”, in other words it did not follow the “rules” of the scientific genre.

And yet, you can see here on this link to TED that the work of these students was eventually published and is now one of the most read scientific reports on the Internet. http://www.ted.com/talks/beau_lotto_amy_o_toole_science_is_for_everyone_kids_included.html

And here is a link to the actual paper that was published. http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2010/12/18/rsbl.2010.1056.full

So why are so many people reading this and watching this TED talk? I would argue (making this an argument piece now!) that they are reading it and listening to it because it is original and interesting and shows us what our kids CAN do if given the opportunity.

So what are we doing? In our efforts to do what is “right” we are forgetting to think about how kids learn, why kids learn and why they don’t. Why are kids so totally removed from their own educations, their own thinking, their processes of discovery and wonder and curiosity? Why? Why? Because that is exactly what we are asking of them. To fill in the blank, not to think about what they are writing, check it off the list and move onto the next genre. And the beat goes on…

Photo Credits: BLG Consulting Group, communicationissuccess.blogspot.com, http://unhmagazine.unh.edu, UNH Alumni, http://theclimatescepticsparty.blogspot.com/

Opt Out of Testing: Do We Dare to Bubble Dot That?

Posted on January 10, 2013 by conversationeducation

Well, the time has come for me to unleash the beast inside and ask you to look at, for yourself, your kids and your community the idea of opting out of High Stakes Testing. Up until last week I have steered clear of writing about The Common Core State Standards and the test that will follow and how I have seen the rise of testing in our schools over the past 11 years (thank you No Child Left Behind) has actually undermined and even damaged the education students are receiving by attempting to create a “one size fits all” mentality and leaving systems, professionals and teachers feeling they “MUST” teach to the test. Period.

Recently Frontline asked three educational reform leaders including Diane Ravitch, Margaret Spellings and Geoffrey Canada to watch and then speak back to The Education of Michelle Rhee, former chancellor of the DC public schools and a highly controversial figure in educational reform.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/education/education-of-michelle-rhee/how-do-you-measure-success-in-school-reform/#seg3

Margaret Spellings, former US Secretary of Education under George W. Bush and one of the architects of No Child Left Behind writes in response to Rhee’s work and the upcoming onslaught of the Common Core,

“But I still argue that NCLB’s ambition remains pretty modest – all children performing at grade level in reading and mathematics – the bare minimum any of us would want for our own children or grandchildren. And while having every student meet the new Common Core standards is a laudable goal for DCPS and all the states now pursuing “college and career readiness,” it is an empty promise if they’ve yet to meet NCLB’s more modest goals.”

And I shudder to think that if a proponent of No Child Left Behind believes that even those goals were moderate then perhaps what lies ahead may be more daunting that we even realize.

The question is do we dare? Do we dare go against the norm or is the fear of change and going against the norm too much to risk? Do we fear that by taking our own kids out of the testing world that it will somehow put them in a place of less importance than those who do test? Will it limit their options in terms of lifelong goals, colleges and careers? Without “measuring” our kids and putting them into little boxes will they become less significant in this world? Without their numbers pasted on their backs will they matter as much as those with numbers or even more importantly those with the highest numbers?

What does it mean to opt out? Opting out is defined by United Opt Out National, in three phases, the first of which is to change the public narrative that testing is good. These are the questions I am attempting to raise here. The second is to break the cycle of complicity, isolation, coercion and the third is to support alternatives through knowledge, collaboration and trust in the power of collaboration. I do believe that if we come together we can make a difference. For more details about opting out…

Check out this site that talks about what it means to opt out and how we can band together to do so. http://unitedoptout.com/flyers/what-does-it-mean-to-opt-out-2/

Or watch this video by Peggy Robertson, one of the founders of opt out, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bJlbkxnDVU where she and her two boys reach out to Diane Ravitch,historian of education at New York University and expert on school reform to join them in the national opt out campaign in DC this coming April 4 – 7 where we will unite to protest against testing. I am considering making this journey and would love to have others I know come with me or meet me there!! You interested? Here are more details.

http://unitedoptout.com/update-for-occupy-doe-2-0-the-battle-for-public-schools/

So it is time for action. Enough kavetching about it…it is time for action and trusting in the process of collaboration and the idea that if we band together we can make change happen. REAL change for all of our kids.

What do you think?

Do we dare?

Conversation Education

Talking through what it means to lead a literate life and beyond.

Tag Archives: testing

Letting Go: On Permission, Patience, Persistence and Possibilities…

Stupid is as Stupid Does: More on The Common Core

Ramblings on Lobsters, Testing, Brownstones and Poetry over the John

Alternatives and Activism: Reclaiming the Conversation on Education

The Goody Bag Generation: Conformity, Performance and Privileges in State Testing

Miss-Interpretations of The Common Core and Teaching Writing: Dumbing Down with Ridiculous Rules, Mortifying Myths and Loquacious Lies

Opt Out of Testing: Do We Dare to Bubble Dot That?

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