In my travels, I have worked in five different districts, two k-12 districts and three k-8 districts in two different states. The underlying themes from the leadership in every district I have been in, we want the students to succeed and if they fall, figure out how to help them get back up. I've seen teachers give incomplete grades for a month after school ended, come in throughout June to ensure a child understood a concept. I have seen children lining the walls of swim pool, coming in at 5:30 in the morning to get extra assistance because they knew the coaches would help them in whatever content area they needed assistance. I've seen math teachers extend hours every single day after school and chase children down the halls to ensure they figured out how to multiply by the reciprocal. The reality at every single level of schooling is that for the most part teachers regardless of children's ages want the student to get it.
Lets start at the top and look at the university level. I have the opportunity to take a graduate level class this fall. The professor for the class has three students who's professional role does not match those of other students. Instead of requiring the exact same product, so that the grades and rigor can be the same, she is modifying products and learning experiences in order to meet the needs of the each constituency. She presents flexibility regarding when assignments are due but also requests two-way understanding that she also has obligations to complete. There are no lines in the sand being drawn but rather individuals listening to each other to maximize the learning and increase the value of the experience. Clearly present in the class is a sense of human worth and as such we all work to learn more and cultivate value in the class.
When applying to colleges, admissions departments brag about the wide-range of supports available to students. There are learning labs, tutors, flipped videos. You walk down the hall and three other people have taken the class. Sure there may be that one or two that has their "strict requirements" but generally, it is that individual that lacks understanding and the leadership, the person's colleagues, and just about everyone else knows its an individual's issue not the tone of the university. Go on tour some day on a college campus, you will be amazed at the level of supports available. Personally, I remember struggling in Calculus 1 and 2. I spent hours, week after week, meeting with Professor Fink getting support. I learned far more from him about how people support people than I remember about Calculus. His patience, his understanding, and his willingness to help me look at problems from a variety of perspectives has influenced me in so many aspects of my career. What must have been simple for him but was difficult for me, he explained through 16 different lenses. Those courses could have been, you need to toughen up, but instead they were ones of lets find the path.
In Downers Grove, we have both a k-8 district and a 9-12 district. The High School District has more than 15 feeder school districts. Each school is large, containing over 2000 people. They could be ominous places. However when you go inside they are full of energy and spirit. We meet regularly with leaders from the High School team. Our learning coaches meet with their coaches, their department chairs help us with our committees and learning, the leadership team and ours talk, share, and support each other. When we meet with them, the conversation is never we need you to have the children prepared for this, but rather this is what we are working on how is it similar to what you are doing. While we are truly two separate entities, we have more k-12 alignment than any place I have worked. The reason for this is simple, the high school believes that if you prepare and support children for the experiences they are ready to learn now, then they will be more than prepared to be successful in high school. Furthermore, if they stumble at high school there are a plethora of resources to support them there also. The math department chair, Jon, came in and willingly shared how they are focusing on deepening Math practices. He talked about how sometimes they don't get to all the content and that's ok. He shared that there are times a single problem is focused on for several days. His focus, deep understanding not a race to cover with stringent explanations. The English-Language Arts chair, Chris, came in and shared conversations regarding exploration, thought, revision, and reflection. He talked about having far fewer grades in the book and high quality work that requires personal exploration, deep thought, and revision prior to completion. While large in size, the feeling we left with was leadership desires personalization of practice.
And so the story goes, level by level, we need to understand that we don't need to prepare children for an ominous future of insurmountable expectations but rather meet them in the present. We need to give learning opportunities at their instructional level. Request products that encourage their development realizing that not every child needs to complete the same task but rather each child needs to forward their learning journey. Learning is not an exercise of power and control but rather a journey of discovery, synthesis, and communication. We need to stop worrying about preparing them for next year and provide the learning opportunities and expectations that are appropriate for today. By doing that, they will be ready for whatever the future brings when it arrives.
In Downers Grove, we have both a k-8 district and a 9-12 district. The High School District has more than 15 feeder school districts. Each school is large, containing over 2000 people. They could be ominous places. However when you go inside they are full of energy and spirit. We meet regularly with leaders from the High School team. Our learning coaches meet with their coaches, their department chairs help us with our committees and learning, the leadership team and ours talk, share, and support each other. When we meet with them, the conversation is never we need you to have the children prepared for this, but rather this is what we are working on how is it similar to what you are doing. While we are truly two separate entities, we have more k-12 alignment than any place I have worked. The reason for this is simple, the high school believes that if you prepare and support children for the experiences they are ready to learn now, then they will be more than prepared to be successful in high school. Furthermore, if they stumble at high school there are a plethora of resources to support them there also. The math department chair, Jon, came in and willingly shared how they are focusing on deepening Math practices. He talked about how sometimes they don't get to all the content and that's ok. He shared that there are times a single problem is focused on for several days. His focus, deep understanding not a race to cover with stringent explanations. The English-Language Arts chair, Chris, came in and shared conversations regarding exploration, thought, revision, and reflection. He talked about having far fewer grades in the book and high quality work that requires personal exploration, deep thought, and revision prior to completion. While large in size, the feeling we left with was leadership desires personalization of practice.
And so the story goes, level by level, we need to understand that we don't need to prepare children for an ominous future of insurmountable expectations but rather meet them in the present. We need to give learning opportunities at their instructional level. Request products that encourage their development realizing that not every child needs to complete the same task but rather each child needs to forward their learning journey. Learning is not an exercise of power and control but rather a journey of discovery, synthesis, and communication. We need to stop worrying about preparing them for next year and provide the learning opportunities and expectations that are appropriate for today. By doing that, they will be ready for whatever the future brings when it arrives.
No comments:
Post a Comment