Catherine YOU are one of the reasons I have so much hope for our schools and our children. On my first reading of To Understand, I realized that here was a thoughtful and provocative work...but as I reread for the listserv, I begin to see it as bugle sounding...a wake-up call, for all of us who work with children. It is actually quite subversive! :-) But...it sounds to me that you have long heard this bugle call and have already responded to it. No wonder this chapter resonated with you so deeply. What so many people don't understand, is that the creation of thinkers and deep readers requires us to teach responsively to our students...to capture their interests, their imaginations, their HEARTS! Those trips to the nature center...building your student's understanding of their world is exactly how we improve test scores...but that is just the beginning. Helping kids see that, in spite of the challenging and sometimes even frightening environment immediately surrounding them, there is wonder in our world, something worth exploring and learning about.This is the engine that should drive education. These trips you took were not "interruptions" or "distractions" but a crucial way to help kids see why school is relevant to them and why reading could help them understand their world. I recently participated in a faculty room discussion with a long-term substitute who taught half the year in our school and just heard she will remain on our staff next year...she got a contract. We were all thrilled for her...so much enthusiasm and a drive to help kids. :-) One of my colleagues told her that next year would be so much easier since she has already taught nearly a year. I kept quiet, but there was a part of me that wanted to say "Well, yes and no." I never have been one who has been able to pull lesson plans out of the drawer and use them year after year. I sometimes am still poring over student's sticky notes and rearranging planned lessons the next day at 5:45 in the evenings while so many of my colleagues have been at home for several hours already. I thought first, "well, the best teachers are always learning and for some of us it never gets all that much easier!" Then when I recalled this part of chapter six where Ellin writes that we ought to be out experiencing life so that we can bring that joy of being a Renaissance learner into our classrooms I start feeling conflicted! There needs to be more balance in my life...so that I too, can model the life of a Renaissance learner! Jennifer In a message dated 6/13/2008 9:52:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Now Ellin has us learning from the great thinkers and artists of the Renaissance. On p. 137 she writes, "I worry that with schedules driven by different subject areas, curriculum created around tests, and a society that demands perfect completion of everything kids attempt , we are unwittingly contributing to the demise of the Renaissance person-creating our own medieval age." How sad but true. It's called the age of NCLB. . I feel that Ellin is trying to tell us, those that will listen, those that are here, that it is up to us Renaissance teachers to take students beyond what the tests measure. Over the past several years I have gravitated towards like minded people. I have belonged to the Mosiac listserve because no one at my school does book studies. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable writing here because of my lack of book study experience. But, I learn in the process and continue to read other's posts. These are good teachers, they do their job but, I don't see the passion of learning in their students. Yet, these same teachers often look at me as if I'm off my rocker. While the school's behavior problems escalated in spring, we were working as a community of learners. Others started to notice. The literacy coach realized that content can and should be integrated into literacy instruction. Our partnership with a Wildlife Refuge came through and a week before school was out I facilitated a Saturday fishing trip for 40 students and parents. So, I want others to know that you too CAN be a Renaissance teacher. Find colleagues that are also interested in learning new things. Start with them. By having a few close colleagues that I could bounce ideas off of kept my enthusiasm going throughout the year. It's hard to be this kind of teacher in the day of NCLB but I believe Ellin knows we are out there and that we can show our students how to live more fully in this world. It's not enough that we are Renaissance learners, we must rise to the challenge of being Renaissance teachers and taking our children along on this journey. Ellin closes this amazing chapter by saying, "When you start to worry that you're not doing what your district demands, think about Michelangelo. Imagine the form of a slave straining away from the stone and feel confident in the knowledge that children need to strain away from the stone as well--focus on the idea that you may be teaching students who are now infused with the desire to understand, who will give birth to the world's Renaissance." Thanks Ellin for believing in us. **************Vote for your city's best dining and nightlife. City's Best 2008. (http://citysbest.aol.com?ncid=aolacg00050000000102) _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
