Falling in Love with Bank Street…and Out of Love with “Education”

posted by Fred Baumgarten ‘84, writer/musician/naturalist/father

Twenty-five years ago I earned my master’s degree in pre-service teaching at Bank Street, squeezing by on a rather thin thesis five years after I first enrolled in the program, fresh out of college, and a year before I would leave teaching for good.

I was ill-prepared to be a teacher, not because of Bank Street, but because I had a poor sense of myself and what I wanted in life.  In my confusion, I struggled uncomfortably through my year of coursework, my thesis, and my brief teaching career.

I didn’t “get” Bank Street.  In my naivete, I remembered only my own traditional public school education and thought, “I turned out to be a decent student.  What’s wrong with traditional education?”

Now, a quarter-century later, not only age and (perhaps) wisdom have changed my perception.  I have grown up and had children and watched my two girls make their way through elementary school.

It would not be an overstatement to say that my perspective has done a complete reversal.  I must have absorbed everything I learned at Bank Street by osmosis.  As a practical matter, that means I spend a good part of my day wishing I could magically transpose my daughters from the school they’re in to Bank Street or one of the many schools inspired by the Bank Street model.  (Not a very productive pursuit, admittedly.)

I see and grasp what a real education can be.

Yet life circumstances preclude any imminent change in my daughters’ schooling.  Ironically, the public school they attend is in a tiny town two hours from New York City, with tiny class sizes.  Yet the curriculum and teaching could have been imported wholesale from the New York City public school I attended more than forty years ago.  A factory model predominates.

Undoubtedly, larger pressures are at work: No Child Left Behind, relentless standardized testing – the results of which affect school district funding – and the national pendulum swing toward “basics,” “standards,” and “accountability.”  But that can’t possibly be the whole story.

It can’t explain social studies lessons that are ripped right out of mass-produced textbooks, or a mathematics curriculum that is an endless parade of facts and operations devoid of any meaningful context or joy in numbers and patterns.  It can’t explain the unending stream of homework assignments that consist of inane worksheets, random spelling words, and rigid reading assignments – never reading just for pleasure.

It can’t explain why, even though our school is located adjacent to a wetland and a forest, with even a desultory nature trail right behind the ball fields, my children have never set foot anywhere close to these areas. It can’t explain why my daughters get 20 minutes for lunch – often not enough time to finish a single sandwich – and 20 minutes for “recess,” on a full (or semi-full) stomach, one assumes.

For my older daughter, now technically in “middle school” in grade 5, the problems grow acute.  The daily schedule is built on the old-school model of a bunch of fragmented 45-minute periods.  Typically a good student, she is already struggling under the weight of 90 minutes of homework a night, including weekends.  Worst of all, her love of learning is being extinguished, particularly in math.

I went to talk with the principal about some of the problems.  In the waiting room was a copy of John Holt’s classic “How Children Learn.”  If only they would read it, I thought.  All the flaws in the traditional paradigm Holt wrote about 25 years ago are still true.  Nothing has changed in our little corner of the world.

Now I face the problem of trying to improve my children’s educational experience without becoming a pariah in the community.  I would welcome ideas and hearing about others’ similar experiences.

Fred Baumgarten is a writer, musician, and naturalist, and is presently Director of Foundation, Government, and Corporate Relations at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, NY.  Fred was previously at Bard College and before that he spent 20 years at the National Audubon Society.  He lives in Sharon, Connecticut. Fred would be thrilled if you click “Add Comment” below.

The Occasional Paper Public Forums

Participate in person or live on the web!

These forums are available online, live and after the events, at www.bankstreet.edu/gs/op.

Teacher Leaders: Transforming Schools from the Inside ~ Special Guest, Eric Nadelstern, Chief Schools Officer, NYC Department of Education.  Authors will speak about the process of becoming teacher leaders and transforming the schools in which they work.
Monday, November 16, 2009, 5:30-7:00pm at Bank Street College

Classroom Life in the Age of Accountability ~ Editors and authors spoke about the impact of NCLB, high stakes testing and audit culture on the emotional lives of teachers and children in today’s classrooms.
Thursday, October 29, 2009, 5:30-7:00pm at Bank Street College

On the Shoulders of Ted Sizer

posted by Alisa Algava ‘08, leader of a small Hudson Valley progressive school

I cannot teach a child well, whom I do not know well. How can I teach that child well, if I do not know her enthusiasms or why she makes mistakes or what seems to be out of sorts for her at a given moment, or what is behind her at home? And no two of our children are alike. ~Ted Sizer

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. ~Isaac Newton

We sat in couches and chairs in his living room on the East Side of Providence, 15 college juniors and seniors, sharing our writing with each other.  The week before, we had driven together with Ted Sizer and his wife, Nancy, to visit a high school outside of Boston.  Each of us, including our two professors, had “shadowed” a student for the entire day, trying to experience and understand the school through the eyes of that teenager.  Everyone had photocopied and passed out a one-page “portrait” that we had written, a description of one moment or interaction we had observed during that child’s day.  And now we were all discussing what we had learned.

Ted Sizer, education reformer, school leader, teacher, visionary, was one of the most kind, humble, and forward-thinking individuals I have ever known.  He was my advisor, teacher, and mentor in college and beyond.  My sister worked with and for him after she graduated from college.  I decided to go to Bank Street after a conversation I had with him.  Ted’s work and ideas are a big part of how I think, what I believe, and who I am.  When I read about the current small schools movement, I think about Ted.  When I hear about instilling habits of mind in kids, I am reminded of Ted.  When I work to hold students accountable for their learning in authentic ways (not through standardized tests), I credit Ted.  When I think about creating communities of adult learners in schools, I am deeply inspired by Ted.

Ted Sizer’s work has affected countless students and educators.  In regional and national school reform efforts, he continually focused on the importance of each community identifying its own needs and defining ways to better serve its children.  In the early eighties, he founded the Coalition of Essential Schools, a network of teachers, leaders, students, and schools.  Guiding each school, whether elementary, middle, or high school, is a set of Common Principles, not dictates or rules, but shared values.  Learning to use one’s mind well, knowing each student, believing that less is more (curricular depth over coverage), creating a tone of unanxious expectation, and modeling democratic practices are some of the principles that are envisioned in CES schools and are exemplified in Ted’s own life. Ted’s integrity, hopefulness, and generosity of spirit guided both his interactions and his vision of equitable schools, schools that inspire every child to learn how to learn.

In the mid-nineties, Ted and Nancy helped found a charter school in Massachusetts where they later served as acting co-principals.  Whenever Ted was asked to give a talk at a conference or university, he brought high school students with him.  When Ted sat and listened to a twelve-year-old, he spoke with the exact same tone, interest, and gentle questioning as he used when meeting with an education world bigwig.  He believed that schools should be places of decency and trust for everyone, and that is how he lived his life.  Last week, Ted Sizer died at the age of 77 after a long fight with cancer.  Ted was a giant for me.  I know I will continue thinking of him as I learn so much every day about collaborating with colleagues, working with families, spending time with children, keeping a school.

If you have thoughts to share about Ted Sizer, please add a comment below or submit an Alumni Blog posting through Your Voice.

For more about Ted’s life and work:
The New York Times
The Coalition of Essential Schools
The Forum for Education and Democracy

Alisa Algava graduated from Bank Street’s Leadership for Educational Change program last December. For the past 14 years, she has taught and learned in public, private, and charter schools in NY, NJ, and RI. She has written a handful of postings on the Alumni Blog about her experiences leading and learning in a small progressive school. Alisa loves learning. She loves moderating The Alumni Blog. And she really loves her nephew.

Folding Paper, Constructing Meaning, and Following a Child’s Lead

posted by Alisa Algava ‘08, leader of a small Hudson Valley progressive school

“We know only what we do, what we make, what we construct; and all that we make, all that we construct, are realities.”
~ Naum Gabo, constructivist artist, 1890-1977

Folding and flying paper airplanes has got to be one of the greatest things about being a kid.  You can take the simple, traditional five-fold approach; you can follow instructions from paper airplane books; you can even design your own.  During the past few weeks in the Upstairs (that’s what we call the place/program where the kindergarten through 4th grade groups are at my school), paper airplane folding has been HOT.  In the morning, I often walk up the stairs and find someone standing at a table, a piece of paper already creased and on its way to becoming airborne.  There are test flights – for distance, tricks, turns.  There is artistry (with scissors especially).   And there is collaboration.  This is the kind of work and play that inspires younger and older kids to work together.  Last week, Jordan came into the 2-1-K room looking for Liam so that he could teach him a new design.  And then Liam passed it on to someone else.

Last Thursday, I was lucky to spend an hour or so with the K-2nd grade group after lunch.  We came in from Outdoors Time and they explained to me that this is the time they usually read or draw quietly.  I know that after-lunch-time-of-the-day well — it’s a time to engage in activities that help us slow ourselves down, do some quiet work, feel ready for the rest of the afternoon.  Some of the 3rd and 4th graders had been flying planes outside.  As soon as we arrived in the room, one of the 1st graders immediately began folding an airplane and, naturally, wanted to keep working on it.  I suggested maybe we could draw some planes instead.  Jerry stapled together a few papers to make a book and brought it to the table.  He started with a title, and together we sounded out how to spell FLIERS!  PAPER!  AIRPLANES! (The “upside down i’s” at the end of each word were his idea).  I thought he was simply going to draw the planes that he had already folded or even the ones he might imagine.  Jerry’s first drawing was a rectangle with a line drawn down the center.  When I asked him about it he told me that it was the first step.  We then realized that an instruction manual would be a great project.  It wasn’t always easy for him – drawing the lines and shapes, showing with arrows how to fold, sounding out words, writing letters – but Jerry’s determination and deep interest allowed him to create one of the most amazing step-by-step manuals I’ve ever seen (by a first grader or anyone else).

It’s a beautiful thing, to be able to see a child’s interest and help him use what he cares about in a “school” kind of activity or project.  As Jerry worked on folding his airplane and creating his manual, he was developing and strengthening his spatial and sequential ordering skills, his letter-sound recognition, his fine motor abilities.  Did he know that?  Probably not.  But we see him, we see what he can do, we see how he can reach and stretch, and we help him along the way.  And, at the school where I work, there is a structure to the day that allows children to delve into what they care about, to extend their thinking, to construct their own meaning from their own experiences.  I’m so thankful that I happened along at just the right quiet time.

Alisa Algava graduated from Bank Street’s Leadership for Educational Change program last December. For the past 14 years, she has taught and learned in public, private, and charter schools in NY, NJ, and RI. She has written a handful of postings on the Alumni Blog about her experiences leading and learning in a small progressive school. Alisa loves learning. She loves moderating The Alumni Blog. And she really loves her nephew.

Owen and Mzee Motivate Reluctant Writers

posted by Barbara Silver ‘80, literacy consultant and former NYC first grade teacher

The second and third grade teachers at one of the Jewish day schools where I work as a literacy consultant for AUSSIE (Australia & U.S. Services in Education) were comparing notes one day about their students as writers.  All six teachers were interested in finding more creative ways to motivate the students to enjoy writing more and take risks in their writing.

I had recently read about a student teacher’s special project in her Florida school that was intended to involve families.  Since there are alligators in their community, she decided to create a take-home project involving a stuffed alligator and a book about them.  That description reminded me of the stuffed animals that had been donated by Craig Hatkoff, the author of two books about a baby hippo rescued from the 2004 tsunami, and a 130-year-old tortoise.  Mr. Hatkoff visited the school two years ago after receiving letters from the students about his first Owen & Mzee book.  The books, which were also donated by the author, are: Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship and Owen & Mzee: The Language of Friendship.

With the help of the principal, teachers, and office staff, we collected six backpacks and created a take-home project for each class, which included the stuffed animals, Owen and Mzee, one of the books by Craig Hatkoff, and a writing journal for students to record their experiences during the two-night visit.

A letter was sent home to the parents explaining the project; then the teachers got the ball rolling as they each took the backpack home first and modeled recording in the journal.  Excitement was in the air!  Students eagerly took home their “guests” and the writing flowed!  There were many drawings accompanying the writing and some photos as well.  Families learned of this remarkable story along with the students and were delighted to participate.

Here are some comments direct from the student journals:

“I was so happy when Mrs. D. chose me to be the first one to have and do the project.  I took them with me to After-School and showed them to my friends.  I told everyone that they will sleep with me when it is my bedtime.”

“I love Owen & Mzee.  I had a lot of fun with Owen and Mzee.  We had a big sleepover with popcorn.  I also ate dinner with them. And we are acting out the story together.  And I was the reader.  And my parents also liked them.”

“We read the book.  My mom and I were shocked that Mzee lives for 130 years.  Also I never heard that a hippo and a tortoise could be friends.”

“I liked this book because it teaches me stuff about Owen and Mzee.”

“Stay one more night please!”

“I think the hippo felt sad at first in his new home.  Then I think he felt very happy for his new friend and new home.”

“Owen and Mzee were having so much fun and me and Owen and Mzee were watching a movie.  We were eating and me and Mzee and Owen were making a puppet show with all my toys.  It was the best time ever.  We draw and paint.  The book was amazing too.”

“Thank you for this unforgettable story.”

“My brother read the book with me.”

“Owen asked me, “Are we going to see you again?”  “Maybe”, I said.”

“Tonight I read the book Owen and Mzee to my little sisters.  They said they loved the book Owen and Mzee.  They told me to read it again.”

“If I was lost like Owen I would feel frightened because if I was separated from my family I would feel terrible and upset.”

“One thing is when I was playing with Owen and Mzee my bear Saro was mad that I did not play with her and I said what happened Saro and she said that she was mad because you are not playing with me.  Oh, I am very sorry.  I had to take care of them.  We’ll all play together OK.  So we played and had fun.”

“I think it is good that friends are together and friends should listen to each other…… I think it is a good idea to do this project.  I read the story.  It was sad and fun.”

In addition to all the eating, playing, watching movies and reading together, one student wrote about how Owen and Mzee helped her study for a spelling test.  In her words, “they really helped me a lot.”

This project was successful on so many levels:

• The goal of motivating writing was achieved.
• Students practiced reading over and over.
• Families were thoroughly involved.
• Everyone learned about a very unusual friendship.

In the words of Caroline Kennedy, whose remarks appear on the back of the first book:  “This heartwarming story shows the power of a single friendship to transform a life, and inspires us all to look at the world around us and reach out to others.”

In the words of the authors, “We hope the incredible story you are about to read inspires you as much as it has us.  It shows how connected we really are with everyone and everything.  It is also a vivid reminder that even when the world seems its bleakest, we should never give up!”

Barbara Silver has been actively involved with Bank Street’s Alumni Association for almost three decades. She was a NYC public school teacher for more than 25 years, and now works with teachers and children in Jewish day schools throughout the city.  For more information about Owen and Mzee, visit their website at www.owenandmzee.com.

A Few Announcements…

2009 Commencement Photos

Photos are still available online for viewing and purchase.

Please visit http://web.sendtoprint.net/proofbook/login.asp
And enter Event ID#: BSCclassof09

Election of Alumni Officers

Congratulations to the elected BSCAA Officers for the July 1, 2009-June 30, 2011 term.

President: Jesse C. Pugh ‘76
First Vice-President: Ada Rosario Dolch ‘94
Second Vice-President: Whendy Carter ‘03
Treasurer: Labiba Abdur-Rahman ‘93
Secretary: Jim Clay ‘88

Alumni News from India: Touching Hearts and Still Seeking

posted by Preminda Langer ‘97, teacher trainer

Not an article, a letter…

I am one of Harriet Cuffaro’s girls – graduated summer of ‘97. I have been back in India for 11 years now. I’ve retired from classroom teaching – because my husband has a transferable job, one year at a place. I am now a teachers’ trainer. Believe it or not, I did 4 days of 6 hours each in Muscat – that’s 24 hours! And the teachers say I touched their hearts and ticked their minds. It’s all what I got from you. I have done over 150+ workshops all over north India. And I remember Bank Street, Harriet, my wonderful professors and my dear, dear advisement group every time, not to mention The Roosevelt Island Day Nursery, and the two wonderful Bank Street inspired schools, Manhattan Country and PS 184 where our children bloomed and grew.

I taught for 9 years on my return to India, and though watered down, I’ve evolved, adapted, grown and am still seeking. Just to say thank you.

Love,
Preminda Langer

P.S. Harriet and Connie, if you see this, do write back – premindasworld@hotmail.com.

E-learning: Why, When, How for Teacher Preparation?

posted by Andrea Penny Spencer, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at Bank Street

The idea of on-line learning gets mixed reviews, even as on-line certificates, coursework and degrees proliferate. Key questions revolve around the effectiveness of e-learning in mastery of complex ideas and concepts as well as concerns that the intuitive and intangible elements of face-to-face relationships among teachers and learners will be lost.  Both of these are legitimate concerns – particularly in the field of teacher education and especially in the context of constructivist philosophy, which emphasizes learner-centered curriculum, real-life contexts for learning and collaborative construction of meaning based on authentic experiences.

Can these pedagogical tenets be translated to an on-line learning environment? Let’s start with learner-centered curriculum. A learner-centered curriculum assumes some awareness of the individuality of children within any given group or classroom. One of the most challenging aspects of education in the 21^st century, especially for those of us who work in urban schools, is diversity. Students in nearly every classroom represent diverse races, cultures, languages, and socioeconomic backgrounds. In addition, with the advent of inclusive educational mandates, students represent varied behavioral and cognitive profiles and abilities.  How does e-learning help aspiring teachers to prepare for such variability among learners?

The field has addressed this potential problem in several ways – through personnel arrangements such as Collaborative Team Teaching (CTT), through instructional strategies like differentiated instruction, and through a set of general principles articulated in Universal Design for Learning (UDL). It is this last set of principles of instructional design that provide strong support for e-learning as a practical and effective approach both in teacher preparation programs and in the eventual classrooms where our graduates teach.  Universal Design principles can be summarized as: (1) Multiple options for learners to take in new information; (2) Multiple ways in which learners can express or share their own learning and ideas; and, (3) Varied ways of engaging learners in the learning process.

The term Web 2.0 may be unfamiliar to many. It refers to an Internet that has become highly interactive, much more than an expanded on-line library.  Information is available to learners in visual, auditory and multimedia formats from on-line databases of all kinds to YouTube – providing the varied input options essential in designing instruction for diverse learners.  Learners also have at hand an increasingly rich array of tools with which to express ideas – from Powerpoint to podcasts. All together, the Web provides many opportunities to incorporate principles of Universal Design, making on-line learning accessible to learners with a variety of cognitive preferences and profiles.

Technology resources for the 21^st century offer exhilarating opportunities for engagement in a global, real-world context. Hal Melnick recently described the excitement of his New York City-based mathematics leadership class this summer. The group had spoken (via Skype video) directly with Jim Barta, an ethno-mathematician at his home in Utah, who had just returned from doing professional development work in Santa Avelina, a village in Guatemala.  The class learned about the “Bishops’ Six” universal activities (counting, locating, measuring, designing, playing and explaining), a set of elements upon which ethno-mathematics research is based. A collaborative paper may be forthcoming with one of Hal’s students co-authoring a paper on ethno-mathematics in collaboration with Dr. Barta.

From the other side of the world, Roberta Altman shared her experiences teaching child laborers in India with her conference group during the mid-winter college break, and has continued to maintain web-based contact with four Indian teacher preparation institutions in northern India since her return to the US.  Bernadette Anand, following her recent experience as a Fulbright Scholar at Alagappa University in Southern India, is working with Roberta and Indian educators Dr. Kiran Gera of Doraha College and Sonya Philip, Founder and Director of the Learning Matters Foundation, as well as Preeti Vasudevan, a classical Indian dancer (see www.dancingforthegods.org). Together, this group is exploring ways to link progressive education with the Indian national curriculum and culture.

On still another continent, Virginia Casper, working with practitioners of the “under 3’s” in rural South Africa, kept colleagues apprised of her work helping them understand and apply principles of early development. Through Google Earth, Bank Street students, graduates and teachers can share digital photos and videos of their experiences embedded via GPS technology on a map that allows learners not only to share the perspectives of these travelers, but to see the context in which they work. They can see a picture Virginia has uploaded from a child care center in Limpopo, South Africa. They can also see photos uploaded by others that allow them to experience parts of Limpopo itself, in one town, the nearby countryside and the mountains in the distance. Each of these experiences provides a real-life context that not only helps to integrate theory and practice, but also provides a critical window into the perspectives and priorities of other educators around the world.

But what about collaborative construction of meaning? What happens to the relationship between teacher and learner and between learners within an on-line course? Again, the potential is increasing daily for interactive learning experiences that build on shared life experiences and education. Social learning networks like Ning, provide an important framework for shared learning experiences and development of on-line communities of learners in a format similar to the wildly popular MySpace and Facebook environments. Students and faculty can co-create and share research, proposals and projects through the wiki (as in Wikipedia) or Googledocs, tools that allow for shared authorship on-line without the inconvenience of e-mail documents back and forth.

Students in a course on emotional and behavioral problems review anonymous information about a child whose behaviors are challenging, research and share strategies for increasing that child’s success in the classroom. Other students collaborate in creating dynamic social studies curriculum, sharing on-line, digital and video resources from neighborhoods and communities that are diverse in every way. Still other students work together to create multimedia resources for training paraprofessionals and peers to better understand the children on the autism spectrum and others with special needs. Students in museum education share reflections on a museum exhibit via Voicethread, which allows both video and audio on-line collaboration. New applications continue to emerge as technology advances, each with possibilities for new, more exciting, more immediate and creative collaborative experiences.

Is e-learning the learning experience of choice in all situations? Not at all. Both faculty and students need to be ready. For faculty, this means a change of mind-set from being the “sage on the stage” to the “guide on the side.” Designing learning experiences that are as deep and rich as those provided in a traditional face-to-face course session takes extensive research, preparation, evaluation and revision. For students, on-line learning means a readiness to be a problem-solver when the occasional technological glitch proves frustrating. It means a tolerance for doing things differently, taking a risk in an unfamiliar teaching-learning relationship, and being committed to establishing communicative, collaborative relationships with peers that could involve an on-line chat or Skype conversation with someone across the continent at midnight.

What do students and faculty who’ve tried it say about on-line learning? Lots of different things – “It was great!” “It was frustrating, but I learned a lot,” “I had a terrific partner,” “I like face-to-face courses better,” “I loved it – I could work on my course after I had my kids in bed.” Like any course or educational program, there has been variability in the feedback, although on the whole, Bank Street students have been enthusiastic.

So how does on-line learning fit within the context of teacher preparation? Based on our current experiments and experiences, on-line learning has tremendous potential to meet the needs of individual learners, to provide a global context for learning, and to enhance the ability of our graduates to work collaboratively with colleagues anytime, anywhere. As technologies continue to evolve, educators must be ready not only to access their potential, but to transform it into 21^st century instruction for children that makes it ever more likely that each child will learn in ways that meet his individual needs and be prepared for a future as a citizen in a global community.

Penny Spencer collaborates with instructors and graduate students as Associate Dean of the Graduate School at Bank Street College in New York City. During her time at Bank Street, she has worked with students in their supervised fieldwork placements, taught on-line and traditional special education courses, and provided professional development to general education and special education teachers in elementary and middle schools in New York City school districts.

Welcome Back to School!

We hope the school year is already off to a wonderful start. Please visit the Alumni Blog often. New postings will appear 1-2 times each week throughout the school year. If you are interested in sharing your thoughts and experiences here, please visit “Your Voice.”

We hope you’re having a wonderful summer!

More postings coming soon…