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daniel- Life is crazy!!!! Too tired to even think. Looking forward to a long summer. Multiple IEP case studies to still complete. Training my replacement—who is mousy at best. No experience and not my candidate choice, but her husband works at my shitty principal's favorite private catholic school where her kids attend. Struggling a bit to leave the PreK world [she took a 3rd grade position nearer her hometown]. I'm not one for being sentimental, but I yo yo between not being able to wait to get the hell out of there and wondering what is to become of my PreK kids. PreK staff is good. Their main focus right now is to copy everything I have in the next 2 weeks. I am not a selfish person, and I want them to have my resources, but some how it is rubbing me the wrong way that they are basically stealing my life's work for the last 12 years. At least I can be thankful that I am not facing all of this mayhem with the additional hormonal change of pregnancy. The kids [she has 3, infant toddler, and 8-year-old] are delightful—most of the time, and the huzbend is doing his best. Turned 33 today. Feeling about old, but looking sassy and in smaller sized clothing than before babies. Of course I know this is due to a raging thyroid nodule that I need to get looked at again, but I thought I'd wait until pool season is over to gain the 20 pounds the meds will cause. Hope spring semester went well, and you are looking forward to a relaxing summer with the kids. Talk to you soon, J
seeing the kids • as layers of mystification and obfuscation are peeled away, as the student becomes more fully present… experiences and ways of thinking and knowing that were initially obscure become the ground on which an authentic and vital teaching practice can be constructed. (To Teach, p. 25)
labels (good and bad) always limit kids • labels one-dimensional • a label (even an accurate one) emphasizes one dimension at the expense of many others • labels emphasize differences between kids • emphasizing differences limits kids • valuing similarities frees kids • the goal of good teaching is a community of children, each with many identities and indefinite possibilities
how to learn to see kids • begin to understand how kids are viewed in this culture—explore the beliefs and values we hold about kids • pay close attention to kids from as many perspectives as possible, in as many contexts as possible • strive to glimpse the possibilities, knowing that the more possibilities we see, the more we create • be humble—understand that no matter how closely we look we will only be scratching surfaces
see kids as unique and rare, • but not as completed, rather as having with many and unknowable potentials. • without defining them in terms of their differences from others
the great (American) cultural (teacher) myth • others • may prejudge kids • may bring preconceived ideas about kids • be influenced by what others say or believe about them or about kids in general, • but I see kids for who they really are
mediation • we do not act directly on the world—no person, thing etc. is directly accessible • all our transactions with the world—people, things, relationships—are mediated by • cultural beliefs, values, expectations, • experience, knowledge, and so on.
some initial premises • kids have many selves, many identities, many dimensions, often depending on contexts • the more selves, dimensions etc. one sees in a kid the more possibilities for connecting with the kid • the more selves, dimensions etc. one sees in a kid the more possibilities one creates for the kid
kids spend much time sharing who they are with other kids. • they spend much energy being like each other, talking like each other, dressing like each other, and so on. • so why do we as educators spend so much time emphasizing the differences between kids. • what would it be like if we spent as much time and energy looking at what kids share, at what they have in common?
environment • your challenge is to construct a laboratory for learning—sufficiently broad and varied to challenge a range of interests an abilities, and yet focused enough to offer kids some coherent rhythms and goals
the environment more than the physical—it is a complex living mix of values, beliefs, and expectations • two schools, two classrooms can be identical in all physical aspects yet provide markedly different environments for the kids (and teachers) • the most important environment is not visible—rather what is valued, what is accessible, what is expected, and so on
becoming a teacher (ideas from Bill Ayers) • practice: take many risks, make many mistakes • surround yourself with people you can talk with • read teachers, e.g., Paley • stay alive in your mind as an adult: develop passions and continue to pursue them • explore the invisibility of good teaching • build a strong relationship with your mentor; direct her/him to be a better mentor; look at the classroom together • take moral responsibility for your education • don’t ask kids to do what you don’t do, e.g., make a summer reading list • not only realistic to hope, necessary to hope
in lesson study teachers • explore long-term goals of schooling, eg, love of learning, respect for others • explore goals of a particular subject area, unit, or lesson • plan and conduct a research lesson • carefully observe student learning, engagement and behavior during lesson • discuss and revise the lesson based on these observations
research lessons • 3 groups (9 or 10) • plan & teach a 40 minute lesson to the rest of the class (2/14; 2/19; 2/21) • lesson—first of a 3-lesson unit on the topic • 2 or 3 people teaching, the remaining 6 or 7 observing and taking notes • after the lesson, a 30-minute discussion by the research lesson planning group on the lesson, revisions etc (others observe) • ending with short 5-minute recap by an outside observer
