We Don't Believe You, You Need More People

So . . .

I would like to welcome the one or two folks that may have read this blog at some point; thanks mom! (jk - she has not read it yet) 

A great deal has happened since the last post. The students from my first advisory have graduated and moved on to the next phase of their life. New students have entered The Met School in Providence, RI - wide-eyed and confused about what we actually do. I've developed professionally to the point where I am now a professional development provider for Ford: Next Generation Learning (Ford NGL). In order to not bore you with all the details, I'm just going to post some recent thoughts with the hope that readers can put the pieces together along the way.

My work around the country as a professional development provider (PDP) with Ford NGL and as an advisor at The Met School in Providence, RI continues to sync quite perfectly. The combination affords me the opportunity to bounce in and out (and around) the micro and macro perspectives of public education. After recently completing my third job as a PDP, I find it utterly disturbing the way some of the media have been portraying teachers as whiny, lazy, part-time workers who are earning more than they deserve. The teachers I've met in Detroit, MI, Philadelphia, PA, Daytona, FL, Mobile, AL, New York, NY, and (of course) Providence, RI have ALL been passionate, mindful, determined and diligent teachers who strive to do what is best for students. Am I visiting incredible schools with a unique plethora of supreme educators? Some of these schools are "failing" or are known as low performing schools. (According to the test scores, which is a whole other blog) Maybe, I'm continuously meeting the best teachers from these schools, or some of the media have a different agenda. Maybe, the educators are great at talking and learning about teaching, but when it comes to “game time” they collapse. I'll be doing follow up classroom observations to find out what the real deal is. No doubt I have many things to work on as an educator, but feel I have lots to offer to teachers that are attempting effective reform practices.

Teachers tend to truly care about their students. According to Dan Hargrave at The Sawyer School in Florida," In my observation the teacher that shows they care about the students, tend to have higher achieving students BECAUSE of the level of trust and engagement." Dan later elaborated, stating, “This did not mean students are enabled and can do whatever they please. It simply means those successful teachers truly listen to, respect and genuinely care about the young people in front of them.”

This leads to empowerment, which is all too often not the case because of various reasons, including conflicting agendas outside of the classroom. Politically, people want to see and hear the great headlines about test scores and "student achievement" (which seems like it would drastically vary using multiple assessments, but I digress . . .). This is good, as long as it fits the goal of the individual combined with assimilating to the existing society.

To quote one of my recent alumni, and valedictorian speaker of The Met School in Providence, RI, “Education’s purpose is not to have a person fit into the mold of things that already exist; no! The purpose of education is to empower a student to explore different opportunities, which allows them the chance to devise a plan on how they will enter the adult world," Sometimes that fits into part of the mold and sometimes it does not. Either way, every human should have the chance to decide. Entering the mold seems easier (and historically is), and most people will lead successful, happy lives doing so. However, we cannot eliminate the freedom of young people to pursue something else. This individual choice (and freedom to do so) will be the future of public education.

The lack of choice and freedom is one of the many underlying causes for inequity. This is partly the cause for a "gap" that needs to be filled. It will aid in "setting up our students for success" and all the other buzzwords flying around the country at this time.

When we (as small communities) acknowledge and act on the fact that humans should have choice, and challenge themselves intellectually within that choice, I believe many of the issues negatively affecting the economy, crime rates, judgments and even daily person to person interactions, etc. will steadily be minimized.