Friday, July 26, 2013
Teaching Artists: The Power of Crafting Learning Objectives
I just spent a four days teaching at The Wade Edwards Foundation and Learning Lab. It is a center for high school kids who want to work on academic and life skills. They have a computer lab, conference room and a large classroom.
I've done some storytelling for them during the school year when the place is used for a drop in center, but this week, I was teaching there. I had seven kids signed up for my workshop entitled "Stand and Deliver"
Four days, I made the trek out to Raleigh to spend three hours each afternoon with six students from age fourteen to seventeen. (one of the kids decided this wasn't for her after the first day)
I'm always nervous right before I encounter a group of students. I am more nervous teaching than anything else. I worry about everything. What if I don't have enough material? What if they are bored? What if I can't explain what I want them to do? What if I can't reach them? What if I don't like them? What if..... I'm certain the problem I have is that I have no control over the students. I can't make all of them articulate, focused, eager to learn or anything else.
It always makes me sit down and think about the fact that I really dislike teaching. I do. That doesn't mean I don't do it. I do. That doesn't mean I'm horrible at it. I'm not. That doesn't mean it is fun. It isn't. The thing about it, though, is that I kind of love going through it.
I love the transformation. I love watching people who were sure they couldn't do something discover that they can. I love watching people nail something and exalt. I love watching people feel confidence where they were certain they would never be confident. I love the process of watching people unfold. I like being part of that. I like lots of things about teaching, but I don't necessarily like to teach.
This last week, my six students made amazing strides, well, they couldn't help it. One was there because her mother made her come. One was there because she was curious about the subject content. One was there because he was starting to give more presentations and he wanted some tips. Three were there because they were terrified about standing up in front of an audience. If that is the starting point, well, the only way to go is up.
We did a combination of learning their personal foibles when speaking, getting acquainted with the other members of the class, practicing to not do the things that are likely to trip them up while presenting, and playing games. The first five minutes of class the first day I found out what they fear most, and then I made them go to the front of the room and introduce themselves. They were terrified and they all looked like deer in the headlights. The last exercise of the week is they had to go to the front of the class, introduce themselves and say something. The first day they thought they are going to die for that five seconds. The last day, they made two minute extemporaneous speeches without prompting and they did it very well. I was impressed and tickled. They had a great time. The seventeen year old told me afterwards that he recommended they have me back every year. It was lovely.
I had a swell time. I loved the process. I loved working with the kids. I would do it again, but that is neither here nor there, because, you know, I hate teaching.
However, if you cannot get away from teaching, I have a single tip that helps me through
Create Teaching Goals/Objectives for Each Day.
Teaching objectives are wonderful. They are a way of stating what you want the students to accomplish over the course of the day. The goals must be active goals and not passive. Stay away from phrases like 'will learn', 'will watch', 'will understand', because you can't actually be sure any of those things happened. Each objective should be measurable. Below is a list of possible goals.
Students will articulate the three different parts of a story.
Students will participate in a short story creation exercise.
Students will choose colors for their maps.
Students will create islands in small group.
Students will speak for one minute on their chosen subject.
Students will color one apple.
You get the idea. Each exercise the students do should be articulated by your goals. If you can't articulate why a student is doing something, or understand how it relates to your overall workshop goals, then perhaps you rethink your exercise or how you run the exercise.
I tend to create two levels of education goals for each workshop or residency. One set is the overall goals of the workshops.
Each participant will be able to tell one story.
Each participant will be able to model proper breathing techniques.
Each participant will be able to create non-pedestrian sound.
After I decide what I want the participants to be able to do at the end of my workshop or residency, I figure out what I need to do to get them to that end goal. I build my exercises into the teaching time with an eye to helping participants achieve what I want them to achieve. Some exercises have other applications, and that is fine.
My attitude about teaching is that you cannot teach anyone anything. You can facilitate learning, but that's it.
Below is an example of two days of a five day residency about space.
Overall goal: Students will explore the solar system in creative drama space.
Day 1: Earth is in Jeopardy
objectives:
Students will participate in discussion
Students will work in small group settings
Students will research planets in the solar system
Introduction; I will come in and tell the students that I am from NASA and that we have come to a crisis. We are in a death spiral and the adults can't come up with any new ideas. We've come to them because we need people to think of things we have not. We have the ability to build their technology, but we need to have new brains thinking of things.
Questions?
Activity 1 - Why is the earth in jeopardy? Discussion
We will discuss the various things that cause problems on the planet. We might discuss everything from global warming to war. We talk about poisons in the environment, and unsustainable farming. We discuss the population of the earth and the fact that there are lots of hungry humans. Students are encouraged to use whatever they are talking about in social studies as well as anything they've read or even heard.
Activity 2 - Study groups
Students will research various bodies in our solar system
Students are put into groups of four or five. They discuss the various planets in our solar system and talk about their atmospheres, whether humans could live there, and what sorts of interventions we would need in order to survive there. Students are encouraged to see if there are any resources in the room to help them make their decisions.
After they finish their research and their discussion, each group must decide if they are going to try to leave the earth or if they are going to try to stay on the planet. Each group, regardless of their choice needs to start making plans to survive the environment.
Day 2: Plans
Activity 1; Recap of the day before. Students get to work planning their next moves
Students will create plans for interstellar transportation
Students will create technology to terraform whatever planet they wish to occupy
Students will begin to make lists of supplies
Students staying will plan how to deal with the upcoming natural disasters i.e. flooded coastlines, extreme hurricanes, volcanic activity, earthquakes etc.
As you can see, each day there are goals. The activities are designed to make them do what we want, which is research space, which they will have to do if they wish to travel through it and establish a colony somewhere else. The students who decide to stay will discover, on day three that they cannot save everyone and they have to leave the planet anyway. They will be two days behind everyone else and will have to scramble to make plans. Either way, by day four, they are in the process of figuring out how to get off of the planet. They all give us their reports about the plant they are choosing and how they are going to transform the planet and how they are going to get there.
Quick side note: I had a blast teaching this residency...the kids and teachers did as well. Still, don't get any funny ideas, I don't like to teach.
So, my tip for successful teaching even if you don't like it? Clear cut goals. Obtainable objectives. Fun that encourages learning.
So, Good Luck and Happy Teaching!
Monday, July 1, 2013
Writing: The Terrifying Act of Converting Your Thoughts to Print
I do this on a regular basis. I sit down and attempt to make the swirling miasma that runs through my head sit still long enough for me to quantify it. Sometimes, this is a non-starter. I just stare at my thoughts, and they stare back, and there is no meeting in the middle. Sometimes, they are yelling at me, but my body is too antsy for me to stop and listen. Sometimes, my thoughts and I come together, and I write furiously, only to discover some hours later that it isn't worth keeping. Then, there are the moments when it all comes together, and I write something I think is worthwhile. Then, I submit it and sit back and wait for the rejection letters!
That is, in essence, what it means to be a writer. Even established writers get rejection letters every now and then.
In the last couple of months, I've watched a couple of people who don't usually write, sit down and do some writing. I was surprised. Not because they were writing, writing seems rather second nature to me, but at how nervous they were while doing it. I guess I'm so used to dumping my brain out into print I rarely realize how personal, revealing, intimate and naked you get when you write something. Your words always say more about you than whatever subject about which you happen to be writing.
I get really deep in some of my projects. So deep, in fact, that when I resurface, I doubt anyone cares as much about what I'm doing as I do. it makes for disheartening work, sometimes.
The key to dealing with the discomfort of writing, is to write. The key to dealing with the discomfort of sharing your writing, is to share it. Sometimes it is horrible, and you will be embarrassed. Sometimes it is brilliant and you will be joyful. Sometimes it is 'meh' and you will be frustrated. The key, is to keep at it.
Writing is one thing at which you can get better if you keep practicing it. This is something I have to remind myself when I get frustrated. It is something I have to keep reminding myself when I get lazy about the work. it is something I have to keep reminding myself when I am on fire and can't stop writing.
There are many people who tell me they think they want to write a book. There are people who are certain that the book they want to write is better than anything out on the market. I say, go for it. Write. We need more people who have brains wired for this sort of activity. We need more people trying to remake the world one literary word at a time.
Words have power. Sometime they have too much power. Some words get no notice and have very little power.
Recently, I was talking to a good friend of mine about this series of satire books I'm writing. She laughed as I explained what they were. She said to me, "They will be well written, and most probably fascinating, but because of that, they aren't likely to be popular. Why don't you just crank out some schmaltzy, light pop fiction with a hunky teenage monster boy and a waifish girl, or something like that?" We had a good laugh and then I went back down the rabbit hole of this bizarre idea I've got floating around in my head.
Oh well, we are what our brains make us, and sometimes our brains do not tread into popular culture. Mine certainly doesn't. I have always been an 'outlier' when it comes to what most people enjoy. When my brain belches forth ideas, they come from that reality. I love what I do, and most of the time I enjoy what I am writing. Understanding it may not be popular doesn't stop me from bringing it forth.
If you love it, then just go for it. Who knows, there may be at least one other person out there as goofball, and off the wall as you are. Even if they are the only person who buys your book, well, then you found one person to touch. That's better than if you never wrote anything at all.
Then again, you could always win the Pulitzer. Anything is possible.
Happy Writing
That is, in essence, what it means to be a writer. Even established writers get rejection letters every now and then.
In the last couple of months, I've watched a couple of people who don't usually write, sit down and do some writing. I was surprised. Not because they were writing, writing seems rather second nature to me, but at how nervous they were while doing it. I guess I'm so used to dumping my brain out into print I rarely realize how personal, revealing, intimate and naked you get when you write something. Your words always say more about you than whatever subject about which you happen to be writing.
I get really deep in some of my projects. So deep, in fact, that when I resurface, I doubt anyone cares as much about what I'm doing as I do. it makes for disheartening work, sometimes.
The key to dealing with the discomfort of writing, is to write. The key to dealing with the discomfort of sharing your writing, is to share it. Sometimes it is horrible, and you will be embarrassed. Sometimes it is brilliant and you will be joyful. Sometimes it is 'meh' and you will be frustrated. The key, is to keep at it.
Writing is one thing at which you can get better if you keep practicing it. This is something I have to remind myself when I get frustrated. It is something I have to keep reminding myself when I get lazy about the work. it is something I have to keep reminding myself when I am on fire and can't stop writing.
There are many people who tell me they think they want to write a book. There are people who are certain that the book they want to write is better than anything out on the market. I say, go for it. Write. We need more people who have brains wired for this sort of activity. We need more people trying to remake the world one literary word at a time.
Words have power. Sometime they have too much power. Some words get no notice and have very little power.
Recently, I was talking to a good friend of mine about this series of satire books I'm writing. She laughed as I explained what they were. She said to me, "They will be well written, and most probably fascinating, but because of that, they aren't likely to be popular. Why don't you just crank out some schmaltzy, light pop fiction with a hunky teenage monster boy and a waifish girl, or something like that?" We had a good laugh and then I went back down the rabbit hole of this bizarre idea I've got floating around in my head.
Oh well, we are what our brains make us, and sometimes our brains do not tread into popular culture. Mine certainly doesn't. I have always been an 'outlier' when it comes to what most people enjoy. When my brain belches forth ideas, they come from that reality. I love what I do, and most of the time I enjoy what I am writing. Understanding it may not be popular doesn't stop me from bringing it forth.
If you love it, then just go for it. Who knows, there may be at least one other person out there as goofball, and off the wall as you are. Even if they are the only person who buys your book, well, then you found one person to touch. That's better than if you never wrote anything at all.
Then again, you could always win the Pulitzer. Anything is possible.
Happy Writing
Round up July 1, 2013
Well, it has been almost a month since the last time I got around to posting in this space, and, as usual, my brain just wouldn't allow it.
I have a number of fascinations that keep me from my blogging duties. They include science, politics and family. When all of those things hit me at once, blogging is impossible
I will not go through all of the various political things going on in NC or Texas or in the Supreme Court. This is not a space for that, though I am beginning to think I need a space for that. So, since I haven't been in touch lately, I thought I'd do a quick round up of the stuff that comes through my email box.
First up, I want to give a huge shout out to Mark Goldman. He is a fantastic source for all sorts of info about storytelling in his neck of the woods, tips, ideas about working with kids and fun. Not only that, he offers coaching. If you want a great resource, click his name above and sign up for his newsletter. He gets one out on a regular basis.
The Montgomery County School System in Maryland is now taking orders for the catalogue they send to schools. They also are in the process of auditioning artists if anyone cares to check it out.
The North Carolina Arts Council is forever keeping us informed of various events both live and virtual to get us ready for the school year. Here are the most recent. http://stemtosteam.org/, http://www.realvisions.net/theartsbook.html,
I have a number of fascinations that keep me from my blogging duties. They include science, politics and family. When all of those things hit me at once, blogging is impossible
I will not go through all of the various political things going on in NC or Texas or in the Supreme Court. This is not a space for that, though I am beginning to think I need a space for that. So, since I haven't been in touch lately, I thought I'd do a quick round up of the stuff that comes through my email box.
First up, I want to give a huge shout out to Mark Goldman. He is a fantastic source for all sorts of info about storytelling in his neck of the woods, tips, ideas about working with kids and fun. Not only that, he offers coaching. If you want a great resource, click his name above and sign up for his newsletter. He gets one out on a regular basis.
The Montgomery County School System in Maryland is now taking orders for the catalogue they send to schools. They also are in the process of auditioning artists if anyone cares to check it out.
The North Carolina Arts Council is forever keeping us informed of various events both live and virtual to get us ready for the school year. Here are the most recent. http://stemtosteam.org/, http://www.realvisions.net/theartsbook.html,
TEACHING ARTIST HANDBOOK: Tools, Techniques and Ideas to Help any Artist Teach.
Written by and for teaching artists and arts educators this book can be used as a complete guide to developing one's own teaching practice, and also as a reference or professional development text that covers wide range of questions and issues of teaching artist work.
The book is available now through University of Chicago Press. Special offer: 40% discount ($11.97 per copy) to staff and artists affiliated with state arts agencies, and to agencies that wish to purchase copies of the book for their teaching artists through August 30, 2013.You can purchase the book directly here: http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/T/bo15630740.html. To obtain the 40% discount enter this discount code at checkout: [TEACHING13] This code is good through Aug. 30, 2013. To place a bulk order with a purchase order, or if you require an invoice please contact Lauren Salas at the University of Chicago Press,lsalas@press.uchicago.edu.
USING CHOREOGRAPHY TO REMEMBER BUSINESS CONCEPTS
Check out how Marlon Torres adapted seven categories of analytical questions in order to “have them in my bones, sort of speak.”https://www.dropbox.com/l/BaT2LKtVreGkfSD8Mpa4o32
CHUCK CLOSE ON LEARNING THROUGH THE ARTS
Check out this short interview with Chuck Close, painter, on NPR, talking about how he survived school by learning through the arts:http://www.npr.org/2013/04/16/177507491/chuck-close-reflects-on-learning-school-lessons-through-art
INTERSECTION OF ART AND EDUCATION
This NPR interview speaks to the need to measure creativity and its importance in learning:http://www.npr.org/2013/04/17/177040995/more-than-50-years-of-putting-kids-creativity-to-the-test
Sheila Kay Adams got it going on! Congratulations!!!!
The National Endowment for the Arts named Sheila a recipient of the National Heritage Fellowship, recognizing her artistic excellence and contributions to our nation's traditional arts heritage. I am so proud of my long time friend! And I am delighted that honoring Sheila Kay also shines the light on Appalachian culture and storytelling.
Connie Regan-Blake sends out a lovely newsletter to fill everyone in on what's going down in her world. it is lovely and something worth reading and perusing. If you would like to receive, Story Windows, go to her facebook page and leave her a message. She sent info about Hawk And Ivy, and posted a wonderful video
Elizabeth Ellis sent out her newsletter, which tells you how to reach her and what she's up to, but most importantly, her new book From Plot To Narrative came out and it is just waiting for you to snag a copy.
The NSN conference in Richmond, Va is fast approaching and I will need someone else's eyes and ears since I won't be able to go this year.
So, there's the round up. Now, I will go on trying to post other stuff!
Thursday, June 6, 2013
A Storyteller at the Creation Museum - Sacred Stories Are A Touchy Subject
I travel from Durham, NC where I live, to Evanston, Il for work about three times a year. Anyone who has made this trip knows that you pass by the exit for the Creation Museum when you head around Cincinnati. As a storyteller, I have always been fascinated by creation myths. I've also been confused by them. I understand that they are at the center of our understanding of culture and identity, and I absolutely love them, but it galls me that they are used to justify the most ridiculous, vile and inhuman behavior. People also use them to divide 'us' from 'them' and prove that their beliefs are somehow the 'right' ones while others are obviously wrong.
"Mythology is what we call other people's sacred stories."
-Joseph Campbell
He also said:
Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble.
Joseph Campbell
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/joseph_campbell.html#jIA0m52lykcdjKYo.99
"Mythology is what we call other people's sacred stories."
-Joseph Campbell
He also said:
Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble.
Joseph Campbell
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/joseph_campbell.html#jIA0m52lykcdjKYo.99
I grew up with the stories from the Christian Bible. My parents are originally from Texas and the stories of creation were a big part of my understanding of the world. I met my first atheist when I was in third grade. It was a huge thing. I was living in Seoul, Korea at the time, surrounded by army, navy, air force, marine, and expat kids heading to Seoul Elementary School on a big, yellow school bus. I remember this kid sitting on the bus with his lips clenched tight, staring at nothing as all around him the other kids taunted him and told him he was going to hell. In hindsight, I realize this wasn't much of a threat to him because he didn't believe in hell.
I was not one of the taunters that day. Not because I wasn't shocked, but because I had never in my life encountered someone who didn't believe in God. I didn't even know that was possible. The idea had never entered my head. I spent the entire bus ride in silence, contemplating how he could be walking around without getting struck by lightening. A year later, I found out about Judaism. I had no idea there were people in the world who didn't believe that Jesus was the virgin born savior who died so everyone could get to heaven. It was pretty amazing. Not long after that, I learned about the Buddha, but I didn't realize it was a religion with tenants. In fifth grade, my entire family converted to Catholicism. In sixth grade I encountered the Greeks. This was not my first brush with their stories, but it was the first time I understood that once, many years ago, it was a living religion. Then, in seventh grade, my world went spinning completely out of control and it never really recovered in terms of my understanding of religion.
On one of my parent's bookcases, I found a copy of the Bhagavad Gita. I admit to being attracted to the lovely blue man on the front cover. I read it. Somewhere in the reading I figured out I was reading a spiritual text. It was fascinating and much racier than anything I remembered about the Catholic teaching I'd embraced. So, when I finished the Bhagavad Gita, I read the Bible for the first time...cover to cover. Then, I read stories about the Buddha. I came to a conclusion that I was certain would confine me to the deepest depths of Dante's Inferno. As much as I enjoyed the stories and found wisdom and truth in them, I was fairly certain that they had as much actual chance of having actually happened as Cinderella's trip to the ball. I was reading stories. Beautiful stories. Powerful stories. Deep, soul altering stories. Interesting stories. Scary stories. Stories.
I became concerned that perhaps I had stumbled all unwilling into a secret that I alone knew. How could I possibly bring this up with anyone? Would I be stoned? Would I be turned out and disinherited? How would my parents ever be able to look at me again now that I'd become...become...what had I become?
I locked my shocking thoughts in my heart and decided I'd take them to my grave. It wasn't until many years later that I found out I wasn't the only one to hold these thoughts. I watched an interview where a very put out famous television preacher decried those who kept claiming that the Bible was a collection of folklore from early Jewish people instead of a...you know, I don't recall what he actually called the Bible, but it boils down to a book inspired by God that was wholly true.
Well, you might wonder, what does any of this have to do with storytelling or visiting the Creation Museum? As a storyteller and writer, I always try to understand different points of view. I try very hard to make characters as real as possible by getting beneath their skin and trying to see what they see. I try not to judge what it is I see, but understand what it is I am seeing. Understanding what someone believes doesn't mean you accept what they see as fact. One of the things I have found most fascinating is the belief that the Bible is one hundred percent true. I haven't believed that since I was nine or ten years old. For me, the literal interpretation of the Bible went out with Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. Though, to be fair, I continued to hang on to the belief in unicorns longer than most people. It is hard for me to understand an adult who believes in the worldwide flood or two of every animal in the world on a boat, or talking snakes, or turning into a pillar of salt.
In order to get a handle on this difficulty, I spent two years submerging myself in Christian talk radio, literal Christian websites and discussions and trying to figure out how the world must look to someone who believes in the literal truth of a seven day creation. The culminating event of this research was my visit to the Creation Museum.
I have to admit that I felt very uncomfortable there. I felt like a fox in the henhouse. I felt as if I were sitting with people who were there to worship the cornerstone of their reality and I was just there as a gawker. I felt like an invasive species. I was silent for the entire two hours I was there. I listened to people talk about the exhibits. I realized I wasn't the only gawker. I realized that there were lots of people who felt they were seeing history, but lots who thought it was ridiculous. I was relieved to realize I didn't think it was ridiculous, but it did occur to me that now that I was seeing the Bible laid out like a museum that I still didn't understand how somebody could believe this in a literal way. To my eye, it looks even more like a story when you bring it to life.
My trip to the Creation Museum gave me an insight I did not expect. It gave me a reverence for sacred stories that I do not think I had before. Whether you believe in a sacred story or not does not matter. Handle them with care. Honor them for the power and change they have wrought to others. I have learned the hard way that if you challenge people's sacred stories, even in the pursuit of conversation, you will blow holes in yourself long before you get them to consider their beliefs are stories. So, if you decide to tell a sacred story, here are a few suggestions.
1) Find out about the culture that originated this story. Is there something in particular you should say or do before you tell it?
2) Make sure you are not telling a story that would offend the people who hold it sacred.
3) Make sure your audience understands the context for the story.
4) Get permission when possible.
5) Honor the story
As a storyteller, not telling sacred stories is only half the battle I fight to not step on sacred toes. I have been given very explicit instructions over the years before I ever got to the stage.
At a school in the mountains of North Carolina I was informed that I should under no circumstances tell stories where animals spoke.
At a school in Tennessee, I was informed that I should not tell any stories where something living transforms into something else.
At numerous religious schools I have been informed that I must not tell stories that come from any other religion other than the one they believe. i.e., in a Jewish Day School I was told not to tell any Christian stories. At a Catholic school I was asked not to tell stories from Islam.
I used to find these restrictions ridiculous. I'd think to myself, why are you so threatened by stories? That was before my visit to the Creation Museum. That was before I went back through my own life and realized that stories are what set me on the path I follow today. I understand why stories are threatening. I understand why they are scary.
Sacred stories answer the big questions. Who are we? Why are we here? What are we supposed to be doing here? Why do things happen here? How did we get here? Where were we before we got here? What happens when we leave here?
We are made of stories. At the center of it all is the sacred story. That is what makes sacred stories so powerful. We build our reality upon them. They make us feel whole. They tell us where we belong. Losing them is frightening.
Many sacred stories are no longer parts of living religions. That doesn't matter. There are many sacred stories that you will not believe in. That doesn't matter. There are many sacred stories that seem outlandish. That doesn't matter. Treat all of them with respect, because once, these stories were the living embodiment of someone's soul.
Happy Telling.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Shameless Plug for A Great Book
I finally got a copy, actually a couple of copies, of Social Studies in the Storytelling Classroom by two mensch, Jane Stenson, and Sherry Norfolk.
This book has gotten high praise in some amazing places.
"Accessible, inspirational and practical plans that make storytelling a portal to faceted insights about culture, history, geography, and identity".
Janice M. Del Negro Ph.D. GSLIS Dominican University
"I found this book a must for anyone teaching social studies."
Harry Ross, Ph.D. Associate Professor, National Louis University
There are more, but you get the drift. Social Studies is a subject ripe for creative drama, storytelling, creative play and twenty first century learning and thinking skills. Every social studies classroom in the country should have this book.
Social Studies in the Storytelling Classroom is full of lesson plans. Yes, to anyone who doesn't teach and doesn't want to, this sounds very boring, but for teachers and artists who teach, this is a dream come true. The subjects, covered in creative, insightful and helpful ways, run the gamut from appreciating cultural differences, to exploring religions, the civil war, immigration, geography, and constructs of cultural norms. There are many templates that could be used in multiple settings and over whatever period of time the instructor needs.
This is a fabulous book. I don't say that just because I have two pieces in it. I say it because I learned a great deal from reading it. Thinking about social studies through storytelling makes sense because social studies is a recounting of the stories of how our society and other societies moved through history. History, I might point out, is just that, a story. The interesting thing about social studies is who gets to tell the story.
When I was a kid, the story of who we are as a nation was very skewed. I only got one side of it and a very cursory side at that. We, as a nation, are getting better at telling the story of who we are, but we still shy away from understanding what it means to be a huge, diverse country. The cat is out of the bag. We are not monolithic.
Elizabeth Ellis writes a fantastic article about why we need to explore diversity and the strength we have when we go forward as a group of people who understand each other as opposed to a group of people who are being taught there is only one way to think or believe. There is more than just one side to any story, as anyone who has ever written or worked on a fractured fairytale will tell you.
There are too many amazing essays, lesson plans and ideas to put them all in this review, but Jane and Sherry got some impressive artist teachers to give them a hand. The list of all star contributors is staggering. There are essays and lesson plans from Bobby Norfolk, Noa Baum, Tim Tingle, Alton Chung, Beth Horner, Susan O'Halloran, Andy Offut Irwin, Carol Birch, Willy Claflin and that's just a partial list.
Pick up a copy of this if you work as an artist teacher. Many of these exercises can be adapted for Language arts and English. It would also make an excellent gift for a social studies teacher in your life.
Happy Reading Everyone!
This book has gotten high praise in some amazing places.
"Accessible, inspirational and practical plans that make storytelling a portal to faceted insights about culture, history, geography, and identity".
Janice M. Del Negro Ph.D. GSLIS Dominican University
"I found this book a must for anyone teaching social studies."
Harry Ross, Ph.D. Associate Professor, National Louis University
There are more, but you get the drift. Social Studies is a subject ripe for creative drama, storytelling, creative play and twenty first century learning and thinking skills. Every social studies classroom in the country should have this book.
Social Studies in the Storytelling Classroom is full of lesson plans. Yes, to anyone who doesn't teach and doesn't want to, this sounds very boring, but for teachers and artists who teach, this is a dream come true. The subjects, covered in creative, insightful and helpful ways, run the gamut from appreciating cultural differences, to exploring religions, the civil war, immigration, geography, and constructs of cultural norms. There are many templates that could be used in multiple settings and over whatever period of time the instructor needs.
This is a fabulous book. I don't say that just because I have two pieces in it. I say it because I learned a great deal from reading it. Thinking about social studies through storytelling makes sense because social studies is a recounting of the stories of how our society and other societies moved through history. History, I might point out, is just that, a story. The interesting thing about social studies is who gets to tell the story.
When I was a kid, the story of who we are as a nation was very skewed. I only got one side of it and a very cursory side at that. We, as a nation, are getting better at telling the story of who we are, but we still shy away from understanding what it means to be a huge, diverse country. The cat is out of the bag. We are not monolithic.
Elizabeth Ellis writes a fantastic article about why we need to explore diversity and the strength we have when we go forward as a group of people who understand each other as opposed to a group of people who are being taught there is only one way to think or believe. There is more than just one side to any story, as anyone who has ever written or worked on a fractured fairytale will tell you.
There are too many amazing essays, lesson plans and ideas to put them all in this review, but Jane and Sherry got some impressive artist teachers to give them a hand. The list of all star contributors is staggering. There are essays and lesson plans from Bobby Norfolk, Noa Baum, Tim Tingle, Alton Chung, Beth Horner, Susan O'Halloran, Andy Offut Irwin, Carol Birch, Willy Claflin and that's just a partial list.
Pick up a copy of this if you work as an artist teacher. Many of these exercises can be adapted for Language arts and English. It would also make an excellent gift for a social studies teacher in your life.
Happy Reading Everyone!
Saturday, April 27, 2013
A short, heartfelt, frustrated rant about personal narrative
I have yet to write something on this blog that I thought might get me in trouble, but I think I've just arrived at that point.
I have spent the last couple of months listening to an endless string of personal narrative. That seems to be the prevailing trend in storytelling.
Hey, did something horrible happen to you? Tell it on stage.
Hey, did you ever go to third grade? Clearly you need to tell it on stage.
Hey, did you ever get your heart broken? Tell it on stage.
Hey, did your uncle ever say something inane? Tell it on stage.
Hey, did (take your pick) ever happen? Tell it on stage.
Hey, guess what? Personal narrative is without question one of the absolute hardest types of telling to master or even do well.
Guess what?
Most of the ones I hear aren't crafted well.
Most of the ones I hear are really self indulgent.
Most of the ones I hear have nothing to do with the audience, they are about the teller.
Most of the ones I hear don't have a good story arc.
Most of the ones I hear have terrible phrasing.
Most of the ones I hear don't produce lasting images.
Most of the ones I hear mean a great deal to the people telling them and little or nothing to the members of the audience.
Most of the ones I hear need some serious editing.
Not everything that happens to you or your uncle or your grandmother is worth putting on the stage. That seems to be something we have forgotten. There is a serious quality control thing going on with stories. There are always some lovely ones in the midst of the ones that are bewildering, boring, overly self indulgent, confusing, or just run of the mill.
We have become a nation of people who put our whole lives on facebook and twitter and every single thing that happens to us seems like something we should broadcast to the whole world. We seem to have lost the line between private and public. Stories that belong around our kitchen table and at the family reunion are on stages all over the country.
This seems to encourage others who think any random event in their life is worthy of a story. It is not, unless you find a way to take it to the universal. Unless you make it a story about us instead of a story about you, we don't care. Sadly, that is true of most of the personal narrative we encounter.
There can be magic and wonder in stories. There can be joy and discovery in stories. There can be laughter and hope in stories. There can be ironic twists and turns. There are so many things we can find in stories. They ought to fly. They ought to sing. They ought to....
Wait. Have I lost my mind? Who am I to say what a story has to be? Who am I to say what we all should be doing? There has to be a place for this type of random, windblown story in our society, since this is what people want. Plus, how much research do you really have to do to tell your own story. A few literary allusions here and there, and bam, instant story out of having breakfast. Why not? The short story on stage. We are all just actors in our own play, why not put it on stage?
There is a place for personal narrative, just as there is a place for traditional stories. This has always been true. Perhaps those of us who follow the path of crafting and honing and working a story until it's bones are our bones, are threatened. Perhaps we feel our extinction. Perhaps we feel that the world holds nothing but the end for us.
Well, that is as it may be. Still, I don't think I would mind personal narrative so much if the people who told them worked as hard to craft them and make them sing as they do trying to find random events in their life to put on stage.
End of rant.
I have spent the last couple of months listening to an endless string of personal narrative. That seems to be the prevailing trend in storytelling.
Hey, did something horrible happen to you? Tell it on stage.
Hey, did you ever go to third grade? Clearly you need to tell it on stage.
Hey, did you ever get your heart broken? Tell it on stage.
Hey, did your uncle ever say something inane? Tell it on stage.
Hey, did (take your pick) ever happen? Tell it on stage.
Hey, guess what? Personal narrative is without question one of the absolute hardest types of telling to master or even do well.
Guess what?
Most of the ones I hear aren't crafted well.
Most of the ones I hear are really self indulgent.
Most of the ones I hear have nothing to do with the audience, they are about the teller.
Most of the ones I hear don't have a good story arc.
Most of the ones I hear have terrible phrasing.
Most of the ones I hear don't produce lasting images.
Most of the ones I hear mean a great deal to the people telling them and little or nothing to the members of the audience.
Most of the ones I hear need some serious editing.
Not everything that happens to you or your uncle or your grandmother is worth putting on the stage. That seems to be something we have forgotten. There is a serious quality control thing going on with stories. There are always some lovely ones in the midst of the ones that are bewildering, boring, overly self indulgent, confusing, or just run of the mill.
We have become a nation of people who put our whole lives on facebook and twitter and every single thing that happens to us seems like something we should broadcast to the whole world. We seem to have lost the line between private and public. Stories that belong around our kitchen table and at the family reunion are on stages all over the country.
This seems to encourage others who think any random event in their life is worthy of a story. It is not, unless you find a way to take it to the universal. Unless you make it a story about us instead of a story about you, we don't care. Sadly, that is true of most of the personal narrative we encounter.
There can be magic and wonder in stories. There can be joy and discovery in stories. There can be laughter and hope in stories. There can be ironic twists and turns. There are so many things we can find in stories. They ought to fly. They ought to sing. They ought to....
Wait. Have I lost my mind? Who am I to say what a story has to be? Who am I to say what we all should be doing? There has to be a place for this type of random, windblown story in our society, since this is what people want. Plus, how much research do you really have to do to tell your own story. A few literary allusions here and there, and bam, instant story out of having breakfast. Why not? The short story on stage. We are all just actors in our own play, why not put it on stage?
There is a place for personal narrative, just as there is a place for traditional stories. This has always been true. Perhaps those of us who follow the path of crafting and honing and working a story until it's bones are our bones, are threatened. Perhaps we feel our extinction. Perhaps we feel that the world holds nothing but the end for us.
Well, that is as it may be. Still, I don't think I would mind personal narrative so much if the people who told them worked as hard to craft them and make them sing as they do trying to find random events in their life to put on stage.
End of rant.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
What is school for anyway?
I am always astonished by the lack of funding for education. I am always frustrated by the lack of funding for arts positions in the schools. I am always flabbergasted by the extreme ignorance our politicians seem to display when cutting willy nilly at our children's and therefore our nation's future. I grow despondent about the whole thing. I don't understand this lack of willingness to educate children, of course, those cutting services do not think they are unwilling to educate our children. They claim to be making education better.
Now, I do understand the argument from the side of the slash and burn folks who think that there is too much waste in education spending. They complain that more money doesn't seem to make better outcomes. They complain that teachers make too much money. They complain that education needs to have more stringent rules. They complain that there need to be measurable outcomes and penalties when those outcomes are not met.
When I hear arguments like this I always want to roll my eyes. Our politicians aren't complaining about how much bankers make and punishing them for crashing our economy and making off with the cash, but they will be punitive to teachers. Our politicians aren't pointing out that there is tons of fraud and waste in the private prison systems so many of them are embracing, yet they want to fire good teachers if they can't force the children to perform at the rate they think they should be performing. They don't require every sixth grader to be able to dunk a ball. They don't require every fifth grader to be able to tap dance. They don't require every third grade to throw a tight spiral on a football pass. They don't require every seventh grader to be able to hit a curve ball. Why do they think every single child will have the same educational outcomes?
The argument that more money doesn't help is patently foolish. You spend more money in impoverished areas to educate children because the parents in those areas aren't able to do as much for their children.
If you added up all the money a middle class or upper class family spends on their children's general education and add it to the amount of money the school has to spend to educate the children, you would discover that the tab far outstrips the educational money spent on children who are in poverty. The playing field is not level. I am not a rich person, and both of my children have taken lessons, played, or been exposed to piano, gymnastics, dance, soccer, basketball, karate, the theatre, symphonies, ballet and museums of all sorts. Both my husband's and my parents have some extra money. My kids have travelled all over this country and up into Canada with their grandparents. They went on a photo Safari in Africa with grandparents. They may very well head to Australia with a set of grandparents in the next couple of years. My kids are competing with the kids who have never been out of their neighborhoods. My kids are also competing with the kids whose parents take them to Europe every summer, Asia over spring break, to South America for the weekend and over to Italy for a pizza. The playing field is not level. Putting more money in communities where the poverty rate is high doesn't begin to address the discrepancies. Cutting funding to a school in an at risk area is like deciding to use a teaspoon to fill up a fifty gallon bucket because the tablespoon wasn't making enough headway.
Which begs the question: What are schools for Anyway?
Are schools supposed to erase the monetary discrepancies in our society and create a level playing field where anyone can get a good education? Some people think so. Others believe that it is not the government's place to do more than the basics. Still, there are others who believe the government has no business educating people at all. The federal government should stay out of it and state governments should be able to abolish the education system if they feel like it.
There are many different things education can, should and does do. How many of them are measurable by a test? Very few.
Here are the measurable ones
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children the basics of the United States, geography, history and basic governmental structure.
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children about the state they live in and its history
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children the basics of reading the English language
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children the basics of mathematical computation
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children the basics of rudimentary science
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children the basics of writing the English language
This is what elementary schools are required to teach children. Nothing more. Somewhere in the fear of falling behind the Chinese or the Russians or whoever, we forgot that these are not the only subjects to teach and these are certainly not the only ones that matter in the life of a person. K - 5 education can do a great deal more than this. It should do a great deal more than this. Well, the testing industry knows this and they know that they will get called on it sooner or later, so some things have been added. Many places are now going to test your arts readiness in the same dry way they test your basic knowledge.
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children the basics of theatre arts
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children the basics of visual arts
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children the basics of dance
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children the basics of speaking in public
I am certain if they come up with a way to test something else, it will be added to the pantheon of what children are supposed to be taught. The problem, as I see it, is that education is so much more than these tests. It is so much bigger than drawing a pencil mark in a bubble. It is so much more complicated than this. The good, the bad and the ugly of schools is that it they are a microcosm for the places they sit.
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children how to deal with lots of different personalities
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children about friends
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children about competition
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children about authority
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children about enemies
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children about racism - not always in a constructive way
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that adults can be very wrong
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that things change over time
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that not everyone believes the same things
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that everyone's culture is not the same
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that people's families are not the same
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that bugs can be very cool
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that even boys dance
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that some children are smarter than others in some things and not as smart in others...nobody is perfect
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that teacher's pets exist
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that people wore funny clothes and men used to wear wigs
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that ducks are waterproof
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that you won't like all of the people in charge
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children to work with others
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children about adventures beyond what they know
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children learning can be fun...at least it should teach them that
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches kids that not everyone has to be a doctor or a lawyer
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches kids that girls have gone into space
Elementary Pre K - 5 should inspire kids to dream way beyond their current situation...it should
There are tons of things that happen from Pre K - 5 that nobody ever tests for, but are nevertheless important. Field trips into the world are an amazing way to look at new and different things, but that is not a testable quantity, so schools don't fund them much anymore. What a loss for education and students and teachers. The arts are also defunded at a terrifying rate, though people are finally beginning to see that they have some merit. Of course, instead of funding more arts positions or getting more artists into the schools, they simply require classroom teachers to add it to the various things they have to teach.
Here's a quick shout out to Joe Radner for this link she sent me.
New research bulletin is out from the Arts Education Partnership -- those of us who work in schools or WANT to work in schools might be able to use this:
PREPARING STUDENTS FOR THE NEXT AMERICA: THE BENEFITS OF AN ARTS EDUCATION offers a snapshot of how the arts support achievement in school, bolster skills demanded of a 21st century workforce, and enrich the lives of young people and communities. It draws on the research in AEP's ArtsEdSearch.org, the nation's first clearinghouse of research on the impact of arts education on students and their school communities.
You can download the .pdf free at http://www.aep-arts.org/publications-store/#id=1&cid=720&wid=401
I could make more lists for what middle school students are supposed to learn and high school students, but before we get too crazy here, let us answer the question that we have not yet managed to address:
What is school for anyway?
Is it to make sure you can make lots of money at some point in your life? For some people that is a yes.
Is it to make sure you can be a responsible tax paying adult? For some people that is a yes.
Is it to find your passion? For some people that is a yes.
Is it to expand your horizons and show you what is out there? For some people that is a yes.
Is it to get a job of any kind? For some people that is a yes.
Is it a babysitting service so the parents can be rid of the little darlings? Sadly, for some that is a yes.
Some people only send their kids because it is the law.
This is another endless list. There are as many wants for schools as there are people who send their kids to school.
Education in this country has changed drastically over the years, and what is expected of our children has also changed. What we teach and what we do not teach has changed. How we teach it has changed. What people expect from our society has changed. What people expect from education has changed.
What is school for anyway?
There are some political things that go into this as well.
Are we supposed to be out engineering Germany?
Are we out computer programming Japan?
Are we out researching the Netherlands?
Are we holding our own with the rest of the first world nations?
Do the French know more about genetics?
I haven't even begun to talk about addressing learning styles...visual/aural vs. oral/experiential vs. logic/oral/experiential vs. intuitive/visual/aural vs. oral/visual/experiential/physical and so forth, and how you incorporate activities in the classroom to accommodate all of these various needs.
Oh, I know, let's throw in ideological nonsense, just to make things more interesting!
Children should not be taught about evolution because of religious objections
Children should be taught creationism is science because of religious beliefs
Children should not be taught about the civil rights movement because it makes some states look bad.
Children should be taught about the civil rights movement because it is part of our history.
Okay, let's teach about civil rights, but let's gloss over it.
Children should not be taught about slavery because it is a touchy subject
Children should be taught about slavery, but we'll say it wasn't that bad
Children should not be taught about contraception because it makes some grown ups uncomfortable
Children should only be taught about abstinence even though there are lots of studies that show this is not the most effective way to prevent teen pregnancy
Children should be given age appropriate comprehensive sexual education
Children should not be told homosexuals exist
Children should be able to ask about homosexuality in their sex ed classes
Children should not be told they cannot harass homosexuals
Children should be told that bullying is bullying regardless of the person's sexual orientation
Children should not be taught that Columbus didn't really discover America
Children should be taught Columbus really did discover America
African American children should have their own clubs
Latino children should have their own clubs
LBGT children should have their own clubs
Caucasian children should have their own clubs
African American clubs are racist
Latino clubs are racist
LBGT clubs are wrong
Caucasian clubs are racist
Children should not be taught we are a Christian nation
Children should be taught we are a Christian nation
Homeschooling is wrong
Homeschooling is necessary
Homeschooling is mostly done by Christian loonies
Homeschooling is best for students with difficult learning styles
Homeschooling is the best way to educate everyone
Homeschooling is done because people don't like their public schools
Teachers are greedy
Teachers don't get paid enough
Teachers are lazy
Teachers work very hard
Teachers don't try hard enough
Parents aren't involved
Parents should help with homework
Parents are doing their kid's homework
Parents are more invested than the kids
We need free school breakfasts for these kids
Parents should feed the kids
We need better lunch programs
Parents should feed these kids
We need computers
We need books
We need (Fill in the Blank)
Don't even get me started on the rush to create for profit schools!
What is school for anyway?
Well, it depends entirely on who you ask. For me, school should be about creating well rounded individuals who see possibilities in their future lives. Yeah, I know, it is squishy, philosophical, and completely unmeasurable.
One thing is sure though, school is no longer for kids.
Now, I do understand the argument from the side of the slash and burn folks who think that there is too much waste in education spending. They complain that more money doesn't seem to make better outcomes. They complain that teachers make too much money. They complain that education needs to have more stringent rules. They complain that there need to be measurable outcomes and penalties when those outcomes are not met.
When I hear arguments like this I always want to roll my eyes. Our politicians aren't complaining about how much bankers make and punishing them for crashing our economy and making off with the cash, but they will be punitive to teachers. Our politicians aren't pointing out that there is tons of fraud and waste in the private prison systems so many of them are embracing, yet they want to fire good teachers if they can't force the children to perform at the rate they think they should be performing. They don't require every sixth grader to be able to dunk a ball. They don't require every fifth grader to be able to tap dance. They don't require every third grade to throw a tight spiral on a football pass. They don't require every seventh grader to be able to hit a curve ball. Why do they think every single child will have the same educational outcomes?
The argument that more money doesn't help is patently foolish. You spend more money in impoverished areas to educate children because the parents in those areas aren't able to do as much for their children.
If you added up all the money a middle class or upper class family spends on their children's general education and add it to the amount of money the school has to spend to educate the children, you would discover that the tab far outstrips the educational money spent on children who are in poverty. The playing field is not level. I am not a rich person, and both of my children have taken lessons, played, or been exposed to piano, gymnastics, dance, soccer, basketball, karate, the theatre, symphonies, ballet and museums of all sorts. Both my husband's and my parents have some extra money. My kids have travelled all over this country and up into Canada with their grandparents. They went on a photo Safari in Africa with grandparents. They may very well head to Australia with a set of grandparents in the next couple of years. My kids are competing with the kids who have never been out of their neighborhoods. My kids are also competing with the kids whose parents take them to Europe every summer, Asia over spring break, to South America for the weekend and over to Italy for a pizza. The playing field is not level. Putting more money in communities where the poverty rate is high doesn't begin to address the discrepancies. Cutting funding to a school in an at risk area is like deciding to use a teaspoon to fill up a fifty gallon bucket because the tablespoon wasn't making enough headway.
Which begs the question: What are schools for Anyway?
Are schools supposed to erase the monetary discrepancies in our society and create a level playing field where anyone can get a good education? Some people think so. Others believe that it is not the government's place to do more than the basics. Still, there are others who believe the government has no business educating people at all. The federal government should stay out of it and state governments should be able to abolish the education system if they feel like it.
There are many different things education can, should and does do. How many of them are measurable by a test? Very few.
Here are the measurable ones
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children the basics of the United States, geography, history and basic governmental structure.
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children about the state they live in and its history
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children the basics of reading the English language
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children the basics of mathematical computation
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children the basics of rudimentary science
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children the basics of writing the English language
This is what elementary schools are required to teach children. Nothing more. Somewhere in the fear of falling behind the Chinese or the Russians or whoever, we forgot that these are not the only subjects to teach and these are certainly not the only ones that matter in the life of a person. K - 5 education can do a great deal more than this. It should do a great deal more than this. Well, the testing industry knows this and they know that they will get called on it sooner or later, so some things have been added. Many places are now going to test your arts readiness in the same dry way they test your basic knowledge.
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children the basics of theatre arts
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children the basics of visual arts
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children the basics of dance
Elementary education Pre K - 5 is supposed to teach children the basics of speaking in public
I am certain if they come up with a way to test something else, it will be added to the pantheon of what children are supposed to be taught. The problem, as I see it, is that education is so much more than these tests. It is so much bigger than drawing a pencil mark in a bubble. It is so much more complicated than this. The good, the bad and the ugly of schools is that it they are a microcosm for the places they sit.
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children how to deal with lots of different personalities
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children about friends
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children about competition
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children about authority
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children about enemies
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children about racism - not always in a constructive way
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that adults can be very wrong
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that things change over time
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that not everyone believes the same things
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that everyone's culture is not the same
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that people's families are not the same
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that bugs can be very cool
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that even boys dance
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that some children are smarter than others in some things and not as smart in others...nobody is perfect
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that teacher's pets exist
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that people wore funny clothes and men used to wear wigs
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that ducks are waterproof
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children that you won't like all of the people in charge
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children to work with others
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children about adventures beyond what they know
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches children learning can be fun...at least it should teach them that
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches kids that not everyone has to be a doctor or a lawyer
Elementary Pre K - 5 teaches kids that girls have gone into space
Elementary Pre K - 5 should inspire kids to dream way beyond their current situation...it should
There are tons of things that happen from Pre K - 5 that nobody ever tests for, but are nevertheless important. Field trips into the world are an amazing way to look at new and different things, but that is not a testable quantity, so schools don't fund them much anymore. What a loss for education and students and teachers. The arts are also defunded at a terrifying rate, though people are finally beginning to see that they have some merit. Of course, instead of funding more arts positions or getting more artists into the schools, they simply require classroom teachers to add it to the various things they have to teach.
Here's a quick shout out to Joe Radner for this link she sent me.
New research bulletin is out from the Arts Education Partnership -- those of us who work in schools or WANT to work in schools might be able to use this:
PREPARING STUDENTS FOR THE NEXT AMERICA: THE BENEFITS OF AN ARTS EDUCATION offers a snapshot of how the arts support achievement in school, bolster skills demanded of a 21st century workforce, and enrich the lives of young people and communities. It draws on the research in AEP's ArtsEdSearch.org, the nation's first clearinghouse of research on the impact of arts education on students and their school communities.
You can download the .pdf free at http://www.aep-arts.org/publications-store/#id=1&cid=720&wid=401
I could make more lists for what middle school students are supposed to learn and high school students, but before we get too crazy here, let us answer the question that we have not yet managed to address:
What is school for anyway?
Is it to make sure you can make lots of money at some point in your life? For some people that is a yes.
Is it to make sure you can be a responsible tax paying adult? For some people that is a yes.
Is it to find your passion? For some people that is a yes.
Is it to expand your horizons and show you what is out there? For some people that is a yes.
Is it to get a job of any kind? For some people that is a yes.
Is it a babysitting service so the parents can be rid of the little darlings? Sadly, for some that is a yes.
Some people only send their kids because it is the law.
This is another endless list. There are as many wants for schools as there are people who send their kids to school.
Education in this country has changed drastically over the years, and what is expected of our children has also changed. What we teach and what we do not teach has changed. How we teach it has changed. What people expect from our society has changed. What people expect from education has changed.
What is school for anyway?
There are some political things that go into this as well.
Are we supposed to be out engineering Germany?
Are we out computer programming Japan?
Are we out researching the Netherlands?
Are we holding our own with the rest of the first world nations?
Do the French know more about genetics?
I haven't even begun to talk about addressing learning styles...visual/aural vs. oral/experiential vs. logic/oral/experiential vs. intuitive/visual/aural vs. oral/visual/experiential/physical and so forth, and how you incorporate activities in the classroom to accommodate all of these various needs.
Oh, I know, let's throw in ideological nonsense, just to make things more interesting!
Children should not be taught about evolution because of religious objections
Children should be taught creationism is science because of religious beliefs
Children should not be taught about the civil rights movement because it makes some states look bad.
Children should be taught about the civil rights movement because it is part of our history.
Okay, let's teach about civil rights, but let's gloss over it.
Children should not be taught about slavery because it is a touchy subject
Children should be taught about slavery, but we'll say it wasn't that bad
Children should not be taught about contraception because it makes some grown ups uncomfortable
Children should only be taught about abstinence even though there are lots of studies that show this is not the most effective way to prevent teen pregnancy
Children should be given age appropriate comprehensive sexual education
Children should not be told homosexuals exist
Children should be able to ask about homosexuality in their sex ed classes
Children should not be told they cannot harass homosexuals
Children should be told that bullying is bullying regardless of the person's sexual orientation
Children should not be taught that Columbus didn't really discover America
Children should be taught Columbus really did discover America
African American children should have their own clubs
Latino children should have their own clubs
LBGT children should have their own clubs
Caucasian children should have their own clubs
African American clubs are racist
Latino clubs are racist
LBGT clubs are wrong
Caucasian clubs are racist
Children should not be taught we are a Christian nation
Children should be taught we are a Christian nation
Homeschooling is wrong
Homeschooling is necessary
Homeschooling is mostly done by Christian loonies
Homeschooling is best for students with difficult learning styles
Homeschooling is the best way to educate everyone
Homeschooling is done because people don't like their public schools
Teachers are greedy
Teachers don't get paid enough
Teachers are lazy
Teachers work very hard
Teachers don't try hard enough
Parents aren't involved
Parents should help with homework
Parents are doing their kid's homework
Parents are more invested than the kids
We need free school breakfasts for these kids
Parents should feed the kids
We need better lunch programs
Parents should feed these kids
We need computers
We need books
We need (Fill in the Blank)
Don't even get me started on the rush to create for profit schools!
What is school for anyway?
Well, it depends entirely on who you ask. For me, school should be about creating well rounded individuals who see possibilities in their future lives. Yeah, I know, it is squishy, philosophical, and completely unmeasurable.
One thing is sure though, school is no longer for kids.
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