Day 5 Green Deeds EVALUATION

I'm interrupting the flow of Green Deeds with this post on evaluation.  Teachers are constantly being evaluated.  The most recent was one in which students filled out evaluations on their teachers (don't even get me started on what I think of asking kindergartners whether they like being at school or not).  We all do best when we believe we are held in high regard by our superiors and colleagues.  Even when we are not doing great the belief that others hold us in high esteem propels us toward what John Wesley would have called "perfection." 

When I arrived at school on Friday morning, later than usual because of a tornado warning, I was surprised.  I pay no attention to things like School Librarian's Day and while April is National Library Month, I usually am too busy with teaching projects to do much in the way of honoring libraries. I was unaware that Friday April 4th was School Librarian's Day -- until I walked into the library where I found a delicious continental breakfast waiting. Then I was flashmobbed by Ms. Foster's 2nd grade singers, and then deluged all day by cards and letters to tell me that what I do matters.

It was impossible to focus on work with so much joyful chaos around me.  My school is filled with outstanding teachers who love and care about their students, who lose sleep over them, who come in on weekends and stay late at night only to hear that they are failures --that our schools are failing.  I'd like to deliver a message to education commissioner Huffman and Governor Haslam.  Perhaps the measures that evaluate student and teacher performance are hopelessly flawed.  I am not convinced that we understand what we want to evaluate.

Maybe there needs to be a question on the evaluation form for children, "My teacher throws the best tea parties" with radio buttons for yes, no and maybe!
 

Green Deed Day 4

Paige stood in front of the circulation desk as kids checked out their books at the end of he day.  I looked up, "What cha need, kiddo"
"I want to wait 'til they are gone she whispered secretly."

Green Deeds are growing.  Pun intended.  It is delightful to watch the students think of ways to respond to the challenge to behave responsibly toward the environment.  Each day students remind me just how creative they are with a new green deed I had not thought of. 

Today on WMES morning news the 4th grade news team took on the cute little light-up Puffer Chick for spring.  This is one of those toys kids love for a few seconds before abandoning it for the next cute thing.  It is squishy and stretchy and when you squeeze it it lights up with flashing pastel lights.  Cute as it can be this is a truly fun and cheap toy.  What could be wrong about that?

The team discussed the ramification of the battery inside the chick and its potential destination in a landfill.  Then of course there is the issue of plastic abandoned in a landfill and where it can ultimately end up.  Paige proposed that her 4th grade class help solve the problem of batteries in landfills  They did some research learning that there are places to recycle most batteries.  Batteries Plus and Radio Shack both have programs to keep batteries out of landfills. So on tomorrows news Paige will announce that students may bring old dead batteries to the library for recycling.  They have designed a fanciful shoebox to collect them and will take them to the center themselves.

I adore the fact that kids are coming up with things to do on their own!

Green Deed Day 3

This is turning out to be as instructive for me as it is for the children.  I began the day by checking on the Bluebird box near the music portable. A sparrow had co-opted the box ( My bluebird expert friend, Sam Jones told me to remove the nest, clean the box, and cover it with plastic to make it temporarily inaccessible).  As I walked back I picked up a piece of plastic which had been shredded by the lawn mower, two magazines, a pen, and several other items.

Was I just unaware before?  Did I really not see trash that was right there?  Maybe I just saw what I expect and now that I am actually looking I am seeing trash in the environment.  As I traveled the road to work I noted that the further I moved toward Westmeade the less trash I saw.  The observation made me wonder why the areas around Antioch have a greater density of waste than those in Belle Meade. 

Later that day first graders came to explore energy and conserving it.  They went on an  energy scavenger hunt and found 25 different things that used energy in the library.  It was great fun!  The challenge for them over the next few weeks is to think about caring for our earth by finding ways not to feed the energy vampires.  They will be thinking about energy as it relates to recycling and building for conservation.  Last summer I met Helen Hall, whose sister lives here in Nashville.  Helen had written a set of books for primary students about energy consumption.  I purchased a set so that the children could read the works chorally and we have been planning this unit for some time as a combination of science and social science culminating in service education. 

It will be interesting to see the many ways the students find to conserve and recycle.

Green Acts Day 1

My green deed for today unfolded naturally but unexpectedly as Kindergarten arrived for their weekly visit. I offered the Green Deed Challenge, and they were excited about winning prizes for doing good.  Once they heard what a green deed was they were curious and interested.

My compost from home sat on my desk in a clear plastic container --- They wanted to know, "What is that?"  We talked about what was in the jar.  They had fun guessing. They were getting excited and started sharing instead of questioning.  It is always difficult to get Kindergarten to understand the difference between a question and a good story.   Like good raconteurs they want to share something from their experience.   Getting to questions requires a discussion of what a question is. We go through the Who, What When, Where, Why and How before we settled back into take questioning.

"Why do we need to recycle?"  A good direct question deserves a simple strait-forward answer.  We need to take care of the earth if she is going to tae care of us.  Suddenly there was a remarkable response. One of them said, "could we save our left overs from lunch for the compost?"  I had not thought of that, but it was a great idea so we talked about what we could put into the compost.  I gave them one of the big plastic containers that I had from candy from an AR party and they proudly returned it to me for the compost! Their first green act the collection of the waste from lunch for our compost bin, but what was even more amazing were the questions and thinking they exhibited.

My second Green act was to pick up the coffee grounds at Starbucks for our compost!  Today was a twofer!

Tuesday will be the first day of April and the beginning of a month long group of activities at school that will revolve around Earth Day.  I helped organize the first Earth Day at my college in 1970.  We were certain that once people understood the impact they were having on the earth they would eagerly change their behavior.   Ever the eternal optimist, I continue to believe that and so I continue to do small acts to live out my belief.  This year I am issuing a challenge for students to be conscious about doing one green act every day this month.

As I got out of my car as I ran an errand on the way to school Saturday I was framing how I could do this.  The first thing I saw was a cigarette butt on the ground next to my car. I did not pick it up, but I did think about the fact that a butt lasts in the environment for 5 years.  They also contain chemicals that get washed into the water supply.    I headed toward Starbucks for a rare treat from one of the children at Christmas.

The car directly in front of mine was a luxury SUV.  Next to it sat a large Starbucks cup neatly set down and left for someone else to pick up.  Ah....my first green act!  I picked it up and carried it into Starbucks.  Looking around I saw no recycling container.  I hunted up the manager.  "You do recycle don't you," Starbucks did not recycle but they would throw the cup away.  I regularly bring my plastic home to place it in Curby, but I did not want to do so with a cup of questionable origin.  The employee took it and threw it away.  Not so green an act, I thought, but at least I did take it out of the waste stream of Richland Creek. 

Never fear multiple opportunities in that same parking lot awaited.  I left with my coffee and headed to Katy's Hallmark to purchase a gift for one of my favorite little two year olds when the sound of something approaching from behind caught my attention.  The breeze pushed a coke bottle, empty with lid in place, briskly past me.  Ah, my green act I thought as I chased it finally down the hill trapping it against the curb.  But then trying to find a recycle bin once again thwarted me.    Our city won an award for being green, but when I looked for a bin like those I saw all over Europe I found none. Green Hills wasn't so green with only a dirty old trash bin and once again, I had no opportunity to exercise my virtue!

When I carried the bottle into Katy's I asked them if they recycled.  No.  On the way back to my car I found an apple core near my vehicle.  Ah well, I thought, At least this will decompose in just a few weeks and if an animal eats it there would be no harm!  So in the space of 15 minutes I had the opportunity to pick up four things littering the environment.  So I challenge you to commit one green act a day for the next 30 days. 

Then be sure to let me know what it was either by responding her or sending me an email at karen.mcintyre@mnps.org so that I can keep track of all our good deeds.

We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid

I have always seen technology as transformational, but of late I am beginning to wonder just what that transformation will be!  Just this morning I was reminded of the frustration and tension that technology introduces in education and daily living.   The title of this piece is purported to be a quote from the wise and sagacious Ben Franklin. Prior to using it, I wanted to have the citation for this wonderful quote.  Where and when did Franklin say these words? 

Honestly, it occurred to me to question the veracity of the quote because I think Franklin might more likely have said,  "We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain so."  I was unsure as to the use of the word stupid in the 18th century, and wanted confirmation that he said these words.  After 30 minutes of searching, I had found hundreds of references to this quote, but not one of them with an attribution!

The quote is good, you might say, what difference does it make whether he actually said it or not.  The gospel of Luke says, "If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities." (Luke 16:10)  We would do well to respect this as we use technology.  Dishonest, misleading, or plain stupid all result in the same end.  Intention means little.  How can democracy survive in a world where accuracy and validity are not valued?

Everyday information is disseminated that is not validated, yet it is spoken as though it were the GOSPEL truth.  Sometimes who says something is as significant as what is said.  The chamber of commerce, members of our legislatures, our state commissioner of education, and the news media suggest education fails.  I advise that you do a quick search of thoughts on education over the millennia.  If you do you will find that every age has condemned educators and education.  

As I spend this snow day at home working on improving my technology skills to help students and teachers, I wonder if it is not time to challenge the invalid statistical data that is being bandied about.  It is time to challenge the evaluation tools being deployed to prove that teachers are failing.  It is time to challenge the notion that teachers should be held accountable for another individuals willingness or unwillingness to learn.

I'm thrusting my head out the metaphorical window and crying out, "I'm not going to simply smile and take it anymore." 

Truth Told by a Violet

Corlyss knew about time.  When she was a young bride in the Philippines her husband of just a few months contracted polio and died.  She climbed into the military transport to accompany his body home.  Her life was over, time had come to an end, but an odd thing happened.  The sun continued to rise and the world went on.  If she wasn’t going to die of grief, she decided she wanted to live for something important.

Corlyss knew about time so, as the scripture says, she took the time God had given her to apply her heart unto wisdom.  She studied, becoming a missionary to China.  After serving her tour she returned home with her adopted Chinese son.  She married had a family, and taught school.   Corlyss knew about time, so she organized work crews to go to Sager Brown, covenant groups, taught Disciple I, II, III, and IV, Sunday school, and tutored children.  Corlyss would have told you she didn’t have a story….that her life was ordinary. 

Corlyss knew about time so when I met her even though she had all the friends she needed she took time to reach out and encircled me.  Her wide ranging intellectual interests and love for bridge brought her a diverse group of friends, and for the last six years I have gone to her home once a week to learn about things as old as the Iliad and as new as the latest research on the human brain.      

Though she was 83 years old, she never seemed “old” to me, and So it was quite shocking to learn that on the day following our regular group meeting that she’d entered the hospital for tests.   Two days later, after school,   I drove to Vanderbilt.  As I peered around the corner into her room, she was sitting up wrapped in a purple and white feather boa.  That seemed perfectly normal.  She was always ready for a celebration.  She motioned me into the room.  ”Come in, we are planning a funeral”  she announced.  “Who died and when is the funeral, I asked.

Corlyss knew about time. "It’s my funeral, and I have anywhere from two weeks to two months to plan it." she said matter-of-factly.  Then she waved a yellow legal pad in my direction. “I want you to read this poem at my funeral and I want you to tell a story.”  There was an authority about her that said, “No point in arguing ---   just say yes.”   Within a day she was moved to hospice and for the next two months I learned about time

My old red  99 Saturn quickly learned the shortest distance from school to hospice, and took me there three times a week, like clock work.  I don’t have that kind of time in my schedule, but we aren’t talking about my time here.  We are talking about God’s time and somehow there was always just enough time in the day for a visit.  When the call came, two weeks ago that she was gone, I kept my word and read the poem on the legal pad, as directed.  But,  I wanted to learn the story behind the poem.  

I called its author, Lynn,  Corlyss’ sister.  She had written the poem after the death of their father.  ‘You see, she began  I had received an African Violet as a gift.” Like most of us Lynn felt responsible for keeping it alive.   She carefully removed dead leaves, fed and watered it. Years came and went.  

Still, it refused to respond.  Then in the last week of her father's life, a single paltry purple bloom appeared.  Corlyss and Lynn left to take their father’s body back to their childhood home town to be buried next to, their mother. They were gone exactly three days.  Upon returning Lynn opened the door to her house bone weary and hung her coat in the closet.   Too tired to change out of her good clothes she set about making a cup of hot tea.

It wasn’t until she sat down at the table and began dropping the amber honey into the steaming cup that she looked up and saw the violet miraculously transformed.  There in the window  it was covered with a profusion of purple blooms.  She picked up a pen and wrote the poem “Truth Told by a Violet.”   I don't imagine she thought that the poem would one day be read at her sisters funeral, but I was what Corlyss wanted.   Our pastor, Michael Williams said,  “At 83, Corlyss died too soon,  but had she lived to be 103 I think I would say even then, that she had died too soon.”   Corlyss knew about time….God’s time - Just as the violet bloomed in God’s time so did Corlyss.

Why tests do not tell you what a child knows!

She stood before me puzzled.  Clearly she had no idea what I expected of her.  I tried a second time.  You see, this is your reading range 5-12  (translate that beginning reader to about the first couple of months of 1^st grade). You need to choose a book between these two numbers.    She headed back to the shelves to look for a book with which she could practice reading.

Moments later she returned with another book with a 15 on the spine.  I was up for the challenge.  “Honey, does 15 come after 12?”   “No.” was the response.  “Let’s make a number line and see if 15 comes after 12”  As I drew the number line on a piece of scratch paper, I said, “You see,  you can choose any book that is between the numbers 5 and 12.  You can choose 5, or 6, or 7, or 8, or…..I waited and she hesitatingly said 9, or…..again a pause and with a little more assurance "10?”  She counted up to 12 growing ever bolder as she approached 12.   Believing she now grasped the concept, I said smiling, “You see this book is 15. It comes after 12 so you can’t take it for your reading practice book.”

She again looked baffled.  “You do see 15 comes after 12 doesn’t it?”  Still looking baffled, I asked, “What comes after 12?”  “13!”  She announced boldly.  Suddenly I understood.  “Of course 13 is exactly what comes after 12.”  She was answering what in her mind was a VERY specific question!
The number that comes immediately after 12 is not 15!

This is just one example of why tests are so poor at indicating the level of sophistication and knowledge of children.  They ask a question which the child may understand, but cannot articulate an answer in the format in which the question is presented.  The test mistakenly indicates that the child doesn’t have a certain knowledge set. Please someone out there --- TELL those who think they know what questions to ask to live with children for a while.

Nurturing

 

Like goldenrod they come up unbidden
           Weeds uninvited in the world

But, someone let them get a start and now,
           They grow on stocks that need no tending.

           Weeds unbidden, uninvited in the world. 

 Given elaborate names - constructed from glittering words

           Names so spectacular that no one could utter them

                       They speak strength, beauty and awe.

Such an audacious start

Without nurturing support ­or extravagance of spirit squandered on them they are left to sink roots into such soil as they find.
To make their way in the world.
 

I wonder ­

            Will the world be as kind to Jamyron and Vandasha as it is to the Goldenrod
                         Growing unbidden, uninvited in the world?
            Lavished with sunlight and showers, gentle breezes,
                          and  just enough space along the roadside to bloom. 
                                     And Jamyron?  And Vandasha?

Einstein, Higgs and Education

Higgs Boson Proof in collider

The new Smithsonian Magazine arrived yesterday and as I sipped my coffee sitting in my re-creation of the natural world nestled in my urban backyard,  I found myself reflecting on the interplay of complexity with our desire for simplicity and dominance in the race to educate.

The article that set me on this course was one relating to the discovery of the higgs boson, sometimes called the 'God particle.'  It begins with a young Albert Einstein sick in bed.  His father brings him a compass and Einstein's thoughts are transformed.  The magnetic field invisibly and without fail moves the needle.  Einstein wonders if the universe might be controlled by elegant invisible forces not unlike magnetism. The article then fast forwards to the story of a young physicist with similar thoughts about a "field" that fills the void between particles much as water fills a fishbowl.  He describes this field with a mathematical formula, but his initial attempt to publish fails because the idea seems, to the refereed journals, preposterous. 

As a 7th grader I was part of the guinea pig generation for "new math." It was a valiant attempt to teach math by teaching the principles behind it.  Our first foray into this mystical realm was the binary system.  The rising use of computers no doubt drove that.

It was fun to convert base 10 into binary. Performing ordinary operations in the binary system was frustrating.  It is like trying to read a color word in a box when the word is printed in a different color than the word. It sounds easy enough, but the brain seeing RED written as GREEN hesitates as it fights to read the word and not the color.  Working in another base is a bit like that.  Amazingly, the thoughts brought on by this simple exposure were wondrously deep and have changed my approach to life in a way Mr. Ryder could never have guessed.  These thoughts flooded through my 7th grade imagination....

• We probably use base ten because our primitive ancestors used their fingers for calculation and there are ten of those!  (HMMMmmm I wonder if aliens might be comfortable in base 12 if they had six fingers on their hands?!)
• Our understanding of our world is deeply rooted in our physical being.
• What if we could see the full spectrum of color--how would that change our perception of the universe?
• All our scientific formulas are just DESCRIPTIONS-- of perceptions based on our physical observations! REALITY IS SUBJETIVE!  We may never be able to reach that truly elegant level of scientific description because we are limited by perceptions.

The point of this rambling is simplicity itself. I was blessed to grow up at the beginning of educational reform and insanity when there was still time for reflection and not everything was carefully monitored.  Today I would never have been in that math class which we would call AP math.  Math was not my forte.  But in those days I was in that class because of my scores on everything else!  Without that class, I might have missed a major life-changing insight!

Today education is focused narrowly driven by 'outcomes.'  We demand that kids learn certain things before they move on to others, without realizing just how NON LINEAR the universe is.  This focus on formulas and facts doesn't provide the possibilities or reflective time students needed to develop their own deeper universal meanings.  We don't allow children the opportunity to give voice to the ineffable beauty that God has surrounded us with. 

Our schools are being driven by people who are too inexperienced and too grounded in business culture to hear any of this and our teachers, who fear for their ever more marginalized positions, are not shouting this from the rooftops.   Point me to a rooftop please!

A Penny More a Pound

Immokalee workers and Nashville Friends

We were 50 people nearly half of whom looked like me ---  senior citizens.  One woman marched behind her walker.  We were met at the entrance of Pubix by a security force called in for the occasion which struck me as humorous.  I suggested to my friend  that  she should use her walker to hit one of the security officers over the head .  Were she willing to do that  perhaps we might have gotten some press coverage, but not a single T.V. channel or newspaper covered this protest.

We met at Vine Street Church of Christ.  We were United Methodists, Disciples of Christ, Friends, social activists all.  We listened to Immokalee tomato pickers, we lifted the 34 pound tomato buckets and contemplated spending the entire day on our hands and knees picking for 2 pennies a pound. 

We carried our signs and chanted and handed out literature.  Many people just giggled or ignored us. Older people who remembered the upheaval of the 60s had no patience with us.  When did we become a nation of people who can turn our backs so easily on unpleasant truths.  It is time, friends to acknowledge that all people who work need to earn a living with dignity and receive health care....I'll be giving an extra penny a pound when I buy tomatoes at Publix, but I will ask the manager to receive my pennies to remind him/her that many of us are more than willing to pay the increase we ask for the workers --- for fairness to our hard working neighbors in Florida.  

Teacher Appreciation Week!

This last week was teacher appreciation week. PTO parents, students and parents pampered us all week long.  As I wrote thank you notes to the children who offered their gifts with joy and anticipation of my response, it made me aware of the power, once again of positive expression.   

Our wonderful music teacher, who exudes enthusiasm for life and music, has taken to having the children who are seated in lines waiting to be allowed into their classrooms each morning applaud as  teachers walk down from the office to the classroom. 

I experienced this last week and what I FELT amazed me.  It gave me a sense of power to do the work of the day.  I felt great.  I realized how much our children need to walk through a cheering adoring crowd.  Sure they have to learn to behave and do the right things socially.  They need to have their inner compass set to moral North, but before any of that can happen they must feel that we are in their corner, cheering for them.  They must know that underlying everything we do is not a power struggle for control, but a safety net for them as they fail at tasks.

When I think about how I learn.  I am aware I learn more from my mistakes, but that only happens when I now that the person providing the course correction loves me and wants the best for me.  I was blessed as a student to have such teachers and later in the world of work I was equally blessed by administrators who exemplified this.    When someone criticizes my writing with specific points I can learn from that criticism, but first I have to believe that the person who is criticizing me cares that I ultimately succeed.  As they say on Star Trek, “make it so!”

Change the Story..Change History!

Jesus and the great rabbis knew the power of a story.  In Genesis, creation comes in the form of a story. We are a story formed community and what people who are desperate need most is a new story for themselves.

In the 32nd chapter of Genesis an angel wrestles with Jacob.   Jacob, a dishonest rogue who has outwitted his bother and his dying Father getting both the birthright and the blessing of the first born, is the kind of guy who makes millions through slightly devious means and still has the audacity to fight with the Lord God Almighty for even more.  He hangs onto the angel, though wounded, and in the end the angel gives Jacob a new name which gives him a new story ---  He will no longer  be the scoundrel but will be one of the Patriarchs.  This ancient story reveals the power we have both  in naming (calling forth the best in someone) and in creating a new story, one that takes us in new directions. 

Teachers know the power of naming a child.  There expectations and words shape the ability of their students every day.  Could changing out story change this miserable bellicose world?  We must share our stories with one another for only when we do will our  civic engagement have the necessary civility, mindfulness, place and connection necessary for real democracy and ultimate peace.