It’s a Big World and We’re Only Here For a Little While - Rani Arbo

2. It’s a Big World and We’re Only Here For a Little While - Rani Arbo

3. can We do all Three?

4. Middle School is Not a Building Goals Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment 1. All middle level learners participate in challenging, integrated, real world, standards based curriculum that promotes conceptual understanding, 21st-century skill development, and knowledge acquisition. 2. Instruction is engaging, personalized, and differentiated to meet individual student learning needs. 3. Student learning is measured by appropriate assessments, resulting in continual learning and high achievement. School Organization and Community 4. Organizational structures and a school culture of high expectations enable all middle level students and educators to succeed. 5. Relationships for learning create a climate of intellectual development and a caring community that includes having an adult advocate for each student. 6. Ongoing family and community partnerships provide a supportive and enriched learning environment for each middle level student. 7. A supportive, safe, and healthy learning environment advances learning and promotes overall student and educator well being. 8. A democratic system of continual collaboration by all stakeholders allows for authentic student voice and a shared vision to guide decisions. Teacher Education and Development 9. The recruitment, hiring, and preparation of teachers and administrators is based on knowledge of the developmental characteristics of young adolescents, strong content knowledge, and the ability to use research based instructional strategies and assessment practices appropriate for middle level students. 10. Research is generated, disseminated, and applied to identify and implement practices leading to continual student learning and high academic achievement at the middle level.

5. John Downes Mary Sullivan Vermont Publication 1964

7. “mastery of basic skills stressed, flexible grouping, teachers as guidance/advisors, curriculum integration, cooperation and collaboration, depth of knowledge is encouraged through mutual planning time for teachers, multiple teachers are concerned with a student’s overall progress and guidance”

8. “Good Teaching provides a variety of activities related to real life.”

9. “Creative experiences and instruction are provided in art, music, dramatics and the dance.” “Use of the school library is an essential part of their work.”

10. “This too, is good education.”

11. “…it is incumbent upon the schools to foster the values and skills involved in democratic living. These include valuessuch as respect for human dignity, equity, freedom, and social responsibility, as well as skills like critical thinking, problem solving, collaborating, information and data gathering, reflecting, participatory planning,and the like.” - James Beane 2013

12. “The move to focus education policy on global economic competition, labor force skill needs, and international test score comparisons began in earnest with the publication of the federal report, "A Nation at Risk" (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983). Thirty years later, it is the dominant theme of the Common Core State Standards.” -James Beane 2013 “Contrary to the general opinion, popular education has always been rather largely vocational” -John Dewey 1916

13. Integrated Curriculum- subjects are optional, learning is natural, Knock Down The Walls! Democratic Classroom- social justice, equity, student voice and choice, no tracking, value diversity, build community Democratic Core Curriculum- What questions or concerns do you have about yourself and the world?-Let’s Explore!

14. Progressive, Democratic Education John Dewey University of Chicago Laboratory Schools 1896 Lucy Sprague Mitchell Bank Street School 1916 Jessica Howard Prospect School, Hiland Hall 1965 1991

15. Emergent Learning- Curriculum emerges from student interest and the teacher and student participate in that exploration together Organizing Civilization- Humans must be taught how to respect the stranger in our midst-how to interact with the “other”-the school structure, time, organization and culture should focus on the skills of citizenship and the collaborative expectations of civilization. Three-legged Stool of Progressive Education The interests of the individual combines with participation in the school community, which combines with the expectations and opportunities of societalstandards. -Jessica Howard 2007 Progressive Education 3 Societal Standards Individual Interests 1 School Community 2

16. Democratic Education and the Common Core in 1966 Activity Time, Pirates, Jacques Cousteau and the Surveyors

17. The Conundrum of Democratic Education Choice and Challenge

18. Shoebox Diorama

19. “Authoritarian & UndemocraticCommon standards and assessments were conceived and developed in an undemocratic and authoritarian manner, and have minimized our freedom to have an education system that empowers its citizens to a life that is rooted in progressive ideals. “

20. So was the Constitution…Read the Document!

21. “The kinds of progressive values that I think should be fundamental to educational reform are missing from the top-down reform that is consuming American education. George Lakoff, a cognitive scientist, who studies why the mind makes meaning, has written extensively about progressive values and how they impact politics, and our way of life.” “Dr. Lakoff uses the metaphor of the family to talk about two kinds of ways to organize : the strict father family, and the nurturing parent family. The strict father family is a conservative view of order, while the nurturing parent family is the progressive view of order.” Conservative Metaphor: The Strict Father Family vs. Progressive Metaphor: The Nurturing Parent Family

22. IS IT A ZERO SUM GAME? Phonics vs. Whole Language Functional Linguistics vs. Common Core New Math vs. Arithmetic Connected Math vs. Traditional Math Spiral Science vs. Discipline Science Red States vs. Blue States Common Core vs. Democratic Education

23. IS IT ONE OR THE OTHER? Confucius @490 B.C.E “virtue is found somewhere in the middle” Heraclitus @490 B.C.E. “there is a unity of opposites-one does not exist without the other” Dalai Lama 2011 C.E. “The Middle Way transcends opposites”

24. All that we have in common allows us to honor our differences, and makes us a community. -Peter Straub, Team A

25. We are a problem solving, pattern seeking, storytelling species who look to understand in a sometimes chaotic world. We traverse through life attempting to make meaning of our relationships with ourselves, with one another, and with the circumstances that come our way. -Scientific American 2009

26. Education is understanding relationships.George Washington Carver, Tuskegee Institute-Mary Sullivan, Team ADo we have anything in common?Do you care about me?Do you care about my future?Can you guide me there?

27. Common Core Standards Democratic Education • Classic myths and stories from around the world; • America’s Founding Documents; • Shakespeare • Foundational American literature • whole numbers; • addition; • subtraction; • multiplication; • division: • fractions; and • decimals. • -Common Core • 2010 • LEG 3 Social Responsibility- -enable students to mix self-interest with the concerns of the many . --give students the opportunity to critically assess problematic issues LEG 1 + 2 Relevance- -make learning relevant to real issues -create an environment where students learn together about a shared concern -James Beane Curriculum Integration 1997 critical thinking, problem-solving, collaborating, information and data gathering, reflecting and participatory Planning… apply mathematical ways of thinking to real world issues LEG 2 + 3 Co-exist and Complement

28. "Teachers are thus free to provide students with whatever tools and knowledge their professional judgment and experience identify as most helpful for meeting the goals set out in the Standards...The Standards should be recognized for what they are not as well as what they are... The Standards define what all students are expected to know and be able to do, not how teachers should teach...While the Standards focus on what is most essential, they do not describe all that can or should be taught. A great deal is left to the discretion of teachers and curriculum developers. The aim of the Standards is to articulate the fundamentals, not to set out an exhaustive list or a set of restrictions that limits what can be taught beyond what is specified herein." -from pages 4-6 Common Core State Standards

29. Common Core State Standards English/Language Arts • Reading • 1) focus upon comprehension • 2) Purpose- build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities and broaden student perspective • 3) use, but don’t limit reading to, classic /contemporary literature and informational text, including myths and stories from around the world, foundational U.S. documents, American Literature and Shakespeare • Writing • 4) construct arguments based upon claims, sound reasoning and relevant evidence • 5) research; both short and long-term focusing upon written analysis and presentation • 6) Types- argumentative, informational/explanatory and narrative • Speaking +Listening • 7) gain, evaluate and present complex information, ideas and evidence through listening, speaking and various media in small group, whole class, informal and formal settings • 8) focus upon collaboration to answer questions, build understanding and solve problems • Language • 9) vocabulary and English conventions extend across reading, writing, speaking and listening and require particular focus and integration in each of these areas • Technology + Media • 10) technology and media extend across reading, writing, speaking and listening and require particular focus and integration in each of these areas • -adapted from http://www.corestandards.org/resources/key-points-in-english-language-arts

30. Common Core Mathematical Practices and Domains • Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them-Students start by explaining to themselves the meaning of a problem and looking for entry points to its solution. (Relevance) • Reason abstractly and quantitatively-Students make sense of quantities and their relationships in problem situations. Quantitative reasoning is attending to the meaning of quantities, not just how to compute them. (Relationships) • Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others-Students can construct arguments using concrete references such as objects, drawings, diagrams, and actions. These arguments make sense and are correct. (Rigor) • Model with mathematics-Students can apply the mathematics they know to solve problems arising in everyday life, society, and the workplace using such tools as diagrams, two-way tables, graphs, flowcharts and formulas.In middle grades, a student might apply proportional reasoning to plan a school event or analyze a problem in the community. (Relevance) • Use appropriate tools strategically- Students are able to identify relevant external mathematical resources, such as digital content located on a website, and use them to pose or solve problems. They are able to use technological tools to explore, present and deepen their understanding of mathematical concepts. (Technology Integration) • Attend to precision-Students can give carefully formulated explanations to each other. They can examine claims and make explicit use of definitions. They calculate accurately and efficiently. (Rigor) • Look for and make use of structure-Students look closely to discern a pattern or structure. (Relationships) • Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning-Students notice if calculations are repeated, and look both for general methods and for shortcuts. (Rigor) • Pursue rigorous understanding of concepts and apply the mathematics to relevant aspects of student’s lives. Link the mathematics to student lives, but also, to major topics within the curriculum (Collaboration, Interdisciplinary units, STEM, etc.) • Grades 6 – 8 Domains: Ratios and Proportions, Number System, Algebraic Expressions and Equations, Geometry, Statistics and Probability (Heraclitus) • -adapted from http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice

31. Common Core Inferred Shifts for the Classroom • Embedded Technology • Balance of Content and Skills • Collaborative Responsibility

32. We can never step in the same river twice; and so it is with life. The water that defines the river we step in is constantly flowing and changing. It is that flow and change which makes the river constant. It is in changing some things that other things find permanence. What are you willing to change in order to allow other things to become more permanent? -adapted from Heraclitus about 460 B.C.E.