Last week as I sat on the porch swing on Saturday morning taking a moment to drink my coffee during my morning devotional I was caught off guard by her. I usually sit in the swing to watch the birds, but today I knew I didn't have unlimited time so I just sat with the intent of reading my scripture, writing briefly in my journal and getting back to work cleaning house. That is the rhythm of the school year with just two days to catch up on all that slips by during the harried Monday-Friday of school.

 I noticed that though there was no breeze, there leaves on one of the plants was strangely stirred. Trying to reason where the breeze was coming from I suddenly realized that I was sitting at an angle which made it impossible to see the hummingbird feeder. It was hummingbird wings!! The little bird made enough wind to disturb the plant far below. Its presence went unnoticed by the bees collecting nectar nearby. In the dim early morning light another bird approached the feeder, an imposter who could not sing, yet there he was drinking the nectar. It was a sight I had never before seen.

A flock of Titmice hopped near to observe me sitting fixed in the swing. He had hopped the length of the hose and observed me from not more than two feet away when the movement of my pen gave me away. He is telling me something which would be so clear if only I spoke the language of the birds. As I sat there the gold finches returned to the feeder. They had been absent for a long time....then a little yellow sulfur butterfly....entered the scene prompting the poem above.

It has been a busy and wonderful spring in the garden.  The wonder expressed by children has indeed inspired and kept me fresh, but as summer begins I have been working with my group of friends who are working for a world where life is more natural and our actions do less environmental damage.

I found this TED Talk via a movie, Ethos.  It will take only 18 minutes of your time, but explains so much so clearly and without the usual political bias.

Invictus - William Earnest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Are we indeed the captains of our souls? Certainly, a great deal of our rhetoric suggests that we are.

For me things are never so cut and dried, and it seems to be human hubris to suggest that we truly choose our fates. Certainly we respond to our circumstances and make choices about how we will react, but we do not decide where we are going to be in 40 years and take a clear path toward that. If things were this straightforward and one could see into the crystal ball of the future I seriously doubt that there would be some of the social problems that exist in our world.

We are masters of our souls only to the extent that we can choose our response to external events and these choices often times are made in ignorance of consequence as well.... so I say.....let us choose to support one another rather than hoard our riches and believe that our less fortunate brothers as Dickens eloquently suggests are not "below us but as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys."

We need to have compassion --- Being a captain is based in power! I watch many of my parents who work hard to keep their heads just above water as the income, pensions, health care are endangered species! Whether you are the garbage man or the CEO you work hard for your money.

All PEOPLE should have a living wage for the work they do. All people should have a 40-hour work week so that they have the opportunity to invest in their families for that is the backbone of our civilization. We celebrate increased "productivity" which actually means we celebrate people working longer hours for the same salary so that fewer people are employed. Is this the world we want to live in? Such a world benefits the bottom line of profit for "investors" but what of the workers? Are the workers the captains of their soul?

It's for your Tooth Fairy!

Matthew, a bright little 1st grader with a shock of red hair and freckles to match, walked up to the circulation desk at the busiest time of day. He was clutching a baggie with my name scrawled across it--misspelled in red marker. It contained some bills and coins. Since we had just finished the book fair I figured he was bringing me money to pay for something he bought and that I had paid for. I frequently make up deficits when kids are short a little cash. I always tell them how much they owe and that they can bring it in later --- some of them remember and bring it in even if its only a few pennies. Others forget and I wind up writing a check to cover those kids.

"Matthew, is that for something you got at the bookfair?" He looked surprised. "No, don't you remember my tooth?" This was not the response I was expecting. I racked my brain as I went back to our last conversation. "Oh, yes," I said. "You lost your tooth and the tooth fairy brought you $3.00."

"Yea, and you said when you were little the tooth fairy only brought you a quarter." "That's right," I said, looking puzzled. "Well, this is to make up for you -- for your tooth fairy!"

For a moment I sat stunned by what I was hearing. This sweet young boy felt deep empathy for me and wanted to make up for the poverty of my tooth fairy. It was a moment of priceless beauty in the midst of a hectic busy morning in an average elementary school library. Such a generous gift. My immediate response was to hand him back the envelope telling him I couldn't accept such a gift from a student, but that didn't feel right either! Such generosity had to be honored and accepted. "Why, THANK YOU."..I stammered. You are very thoughtful, Matthew."

The baggie remained in my purse until Christmas Eve. As I hurried past the Salvation Army Bell ringer I knew, exactly what to do with such a gift. I placed the contents of the baggie in the kettle.....keeping the baggie.....as a treasured memory!

Timberlake Christian Church Youth worked like dawgs!

Timber LakeWhat makes working with teens so is fun? It has been a while since I was a high school librarian, but it all came rushing back. It's their growing love of irony in humor, playfulness, extreme sense of fairness, constant probing for new ways to do things, and incredible optimism.

Saturday morning the Youth of Timberlake Christian Church from Lynchburg, VA arrived at the garden with their adult advisers and set to work. An added blessing was that one of the adults was an aborist so I got a two-fer! I was able to ask questions and he knew far more than I did about the garden which was wonderful!

The kids weeded, pulled out the old broccoli bed, laid down mulch, trimmed bushes, moved dirt, and all the while they provided me with a refresher course in teen humor and thinking in addition to a big dose of hope for the future.

The pastor, was obviously the kind of guy to stay focused and kept the kids on task as the temperatures soared. All three adults had a great rapport with the kids, and it was wonderful to see the before and after.....Thanks, Timberlake!

Ripening Summer at the West Nasvhville Farmer's Market

Saturday morning and a real farmer's market. Not the giant one downtown which has farmers from Kentucky, North Carolina and other nearby states, but one that has farmers and growers that are right here in Nashville.

I found three of my children from school, or rather they found me. There was a singer, folks doing yoga, makers of natural herbal soaps, lotions and other things in addition to food/caterers, farmers of vegetables, fruits, makers of cheese, local honey, flowers, meat from places which raise the creatures humanly on grass (as God intended), candle makers, friends....

I felt as though I had been transported to a medieval fair --- except there was no juggler or jester! Noelle and I wandered around making small talk and finding delightful things to put in our basket she found wonders to photograph (including the basket above). You can see her photos at Photography in a Different Light.

I realized how wonderful commerce can be when it is between real people. Folks with the flowers were bartering for merchandise as everyone wanted some sunflowers or daisies to brighten up their booths! I saw others bartering services and I felt somehow diminished that I was engaged in the gross exchange of mere money!

Check them out if you live on the west side! It was a beautiful morning filled with the joy of ripening summer!

Inch by Inch, Row by Row, Gonna Watch the Garden Grow!

Green with envy was I yesterday as I visited my friend's garden. Joann has been using Bokashi in her composting and her church has created a community garden.

O.K. I know that I have a lot less experience and our children and parents do also --- but that is what a garden is really about growing and learning as we do so.

When Tennessee Volunteer Gardener contacted us to be part of a program on school and community gardens, I hesitated. We do not have a lot of outside support, so our garden is not as beautiful as the one pictured here. What we have is an honest in process garden where we are all learning to become more independent in our production of the food we consume. We are learning and it shows in things that have not worked so well.

When I think about where we were just two years ago, I can see how far we have come, But when I look at Joann's garden I think of how far we have to grow! This week we are adding a few more perennials to the butterfly garden, some companion plantings to keep bugs out of the tomatoes, harvesting broccoli, cucumbers, weeding and mulching the strawberry bed's, staking up the pole beans, and spreading mulch on the butterfly garden! Come join us!! call Karen at 361-0446 or leave a message at 353-2066.

Hands Down Great Cooks--160 Aprons say so!

You never know when you make a small contribution to a conversation what can happen! That is how I felt Saturday as adult volunteers put the finishing touches on the 160 aprons for the cafeteria workers in Metro Nashville Public Schools with school gardens.

How did I get into the business of producing aprons? It was the outgrowth of a comment I made at a Nashville School Garden Network meeting. It went something like this, "I don't want our cafeteria ladies to view those of us in the school garden as the enemy. I think sometimes they feel we are saying that they are not doing a good job because the food they serve is not up to the healthiest standards. It isn't their fault. They do all that they can to make our lunches palatable. I think we need to acknowledge them in some way. Everyone needs to know that they are wonderful once-in-a-while."

The next thing I knew I was hand-lettering aprons all last week "Hands Down -- Great Cook"and on Friday -- every kindergartner in the Westmeade came through the library to put their hand prints on those aprons! They hung drying across the computers, over the book shelves and on chairs. The library looked like one of those homes that the wealthy close for the season covering the furniture with sheets!


In the overall scheme of things -- this may not do a lot of good. But hopefully it will warm some hearts as the cafeteria ladies head home for the summer break!

Salad for 500

The thought of preparing strawberry spinach-salad for 500 was daunting. Luckily I have people! Martha Stamps, chef extraordinaire, was consulted for a recipe for dressing that young tastes would welcome! Her husband, Shayne of Good food for Good People was able to find a flat of locally grown strawberries. The two of them gave me courage to believe that I could carry it off.

Garden helpers appeared at 12:00 noon the day before excited as usual to go outside in the garden. One of the young charges noticed the rather large knife I was carrying with me.
He recoiled, "That's dangerous." he pointed out. "Yes, it is, but it is the right tool for the job at hand." I said. As this weeks garden helpers strode out among the plants giddy with excitement, they learned some knife safety and proceeded to use the imposing tool to harvest the spinach. This brought me much stress as I reminded them at each moment how to carefully handle a knife. A hundred years ago the children would have probably been able to wield an axe by this age.

These children had no idea of how to handle a knife or use it to free the spinach from its stalk. They also had no idea how to gather the ripe berries. Things I grew up knowing without being taught through the example of my parents or grandparents, theses students had not experienced. They had to be taught to pick the ruby red strawberries and to remove the ripe ones without injuring those which had not yet matured.
They had to be encouraged to eat the fruit straight from the garden..."is it clean?" one asked. "We haven't used fertilizer or pesticides and it has been washed with rain water....do you think it is all right?" The answer was a red berry in a happy mouth!

We picked slightly more than two bushels of spinach -- but I confess we did not succeed in picking many berries, for most of those went into waiting mouths. One of the youngest students announced, "I do not like strawberries, but these are good. "Red-ripe strawberries sweetly warmed in the sun and delightfully juicy yielding to gentle pressure are different from those we buy in the store which have been engineered to be hard enough to ship, red enough to look ripe, but lacking in the real taste of a strawberry.

It was 12:30 before I got to bed last night. I had begun washing and tearing the spinach. I had bravely announced a SALAD DAY for Friday. But upon reflection, it was daunting. That is when your friends come in so handy... On Friday our gifted teacher, who had been displaced came early to help me cut the berries and two of the moms seeing that I could use extra hands stayed on to help toss and serve the salad......Salad for 500? Piece of cake with a little help from your friends!

Here is the recipe for the dressing -- it makes a quart - 2 cups oil, 1 cup red wine vinegar, 3 cloves of garlic chopped fine ( I used a garlic press) 1 teaspoon of salt, pepper to taste, and emulsified in a blender.

REAL SCIENCE for REAL KIDS - a school garden

In order to understand why a library would sponsor a school garden, you must have some idea about why school libraries exist.

We support the curriculum, and helping kids become independent readers, but far more than that we support the ultimate goal of formal education; to create life-long learners who are curious and able to develop answers to their own curiosity! Since much of what happens in the classroom is based on the outcome of passing the tests school libraries can stand in the breech!

I wish you could experience the moments of unbridled, undirected, curiosity and growth that happen in our school garden! Because we have too many kids for one session a week, we divide into two groups. One is for 3rd and 4th graders and one for kindergarten through 2nd grade. It has been such a busy week I didn't have time to dream up any formal ideas of what we would do. Since the second group of helpers has a parent volunteer it is helpful to have a good plan in place, but this week would be informal.

Sometimes there is great value to learning on the fly. Let me explain. When I don't have a goal of what I want to cover -- the children create their own lesson plan! As students filtered in with their garden helper passes, both groups were excited by how much (6 inches in a week) the paperwhites and amaryllis bulbs had grown. Then I directed their attention to the windowsill of experiments they created several weeks earlier. I realized that the soil we planted in (taken from our butterfly garden and hard as rock because it is primarily clay!) was far too hard for these tender indoor plants which we had rooted from cuttings to thrive.

I could hear opportunity knocking! I quickly put out soil samples ( one from the butterfly garden, one from the peat of the pots in which we had planted the bulbs and one with soil mixed with compost, sand, earth, and perlite). We compared these by touch, smell, and by looking at the plants we had planted in each kind of medium --- We planted our cuttings in plastic cups so the kids can see the roots and even the act of adding water to these --- brings excitement as the kids see how the water drains down through the soil changing the soil's color as it goes!

We had experimented with my old hoya and cut off a section of it --- one part we had stuck into water and one we had just laid on top of the soil in another pot --- When we dug that one out --- we could see how the plant had put roots into the ground wherever it touched the earth! One of the little girls said, "that is really creepy" To which I replied --- "yes it is --- that is why vines are sometimes called creepers! They creep along the earth and start new plants wherever they touch!" "No she said, I mean it is creepy like monsters!" I guess she was thinking about how weird it is --- maybe thinking about people lying on the ground and starting new people or something!

You never be certain what they are thinking because you never know what their experiences have been! We potted the plants which had now established root systems-- and they left thrilled after having a science lesson which they had actually paid for with their hard earned 'dragon dollars'! A lesson they will probably remember and relate to the science kit that comes in 3rd grade -- that has them planting seeds and watching them grow through the entire cycle from seed to seed.

The second group of 3rd and 4th graders came on Friday --- Denise walked through the garden with them looking at the plants after the deep freeze of the past week --- miraculously the peas are still alive though the kids observed that the tops had some clear frost damage. The plants that appeared to have done best --- were the herbs --- we will be exploring another question --- what makes these herbs withstand the cold better --- these questions which seem so obvious to us --- are real mysteries to them. I do not want to explain and teach too much as I want them to question productively --- I must keep quiet and let them struggle. I want them to develop skills to observe and draw their own conclusions which they must then develop experiments to confirm or debunk. Next week we will make notes about the differences between the peas and the herbs, to see what they actually do see.

We will begin keeping our gardening journals --- But even that will require some thought for them to see why they need to keep a journal --- otherwise it would seem too much like school. If we don't write our observations down -- we can't possibly remember them when we need to refer to them we won't have the information we need to help us make decisions! I'm wondering if I can sell the idea to them. We will store the journals for now in between each visit in the library -- we will write in the journal when they come back in to observe what changes they see in what they have planted.

Their ability to reason is limited by their limited experience! For example -- we cut the sweet potatoes and watched as droplets of water formed on the surface of the potatoes -- we compared and contrasted them to the white potatoes we eat --- The kids came up with the fact that potatoes have sugar in them to make them sweet -- which I thought was pretty sophisticated reasoning!

But when they stuck toothpicks in the potatoes I realized that sophistication in one area is not necessarily cvarried into another! One third grade boy stuck his three toothpicks all on one side of the potato and when he tried to balance the potato on the clear plastic cup --- his turned over and the cut side went in the water --- that resulted in trying to figure out how he needed to rearrange the toothpicks to keep that from happening -- this was far more difficult I thought it should be -- the hypothesis they developed were mostly wrong! It took about 5 minutes to figure out and I actually had to give away the answer away! I had not thought about turning that into a math lesson with 4 toothpicks -- versus three and dividing into thirds or fourths and the concepts of balance and symmetry! It also generated an opportunity to talk about "curing" drying off the potato before we put it in water -- mold-- rotting---

We discussed leaving the potatoes in the library over the holiday so I could make sure they don't dry out! Then I asked them where they would put the potatoes while we wait for them to develop roots. The unanimous answer was "IN a window" so that it gets lots of light!" But then I threw this out --- "If we were planting these in the ground -- would they be getting any light? LIGHT BULB MOMENT! So we put some of the potatoes in the dark and some in the window to see if it makes a difference --- REAL SCIENCE for REAL KIDS!

I didn't know grown-ups did that

At dismissal I stand at the door making sure children don't leave the building before their parents cars pull up to a full stop. We use a park bench to hold one of the doors open as the cars move in a rhythm established by teachers who direct their movement in a ballet that lets us load cars with children in just 15 minutes.

As the time stretches on I sit on that "doorstop." Since I injured my back, I find it difficult to just stand for long periods and especially on a day like today the bench beckons! The sky is that remarkable shade between cerulean and cobalt with puffs of white and dancing yellow leaves dotting it. When I first began sitting on that bench at the beginning of the year, I noticed how sitting results in more frequent personal interaction. Something about being at the same height as the children inspires them to come up and hug me, and share little secrets as they stand in line waiting for the cars to stop.

A quirky little girl stopped to tell me she was having a problem last week. She had come up early, not waiting to hear her name spoken, so that she would be invited to sit and chat. Usually I send them back if they are breaking the rules and coming before they are called, but something in her demeanor made me invite her to sit next to me. As I listened, I thought there might be more to her story than could be resolved by short visits at the bench. It might be helpful for her to talk to our school counselor, a beautiful black woman who inspires trust.

Trying to think of a way to invite such a conversation without stating outright that she needed to talk to a counselor, I told her that after all the cars have gone Lee, who calls the childrens' names as the cars form into two lines, often comes and sits next to me. "Sometimes I pour my heart out to her about things that might be troubling me." I said. " You know sometimes we just need someone we think is wise to listen to us , and they will help us sort things out."

" I didn't think grown-ups did that." She looked shocked. "Oh, honey. I remember when I was your age, I thought grown-ups were finished, too. I looked forward to being finished someday, myself. But what I have found is that I am always learning and changing and growing, I still make mistakes in working with people and have to ask for forgiveness. Even now, that I am 60 years old I am still growing, learning and changing."

Her eyes grew bigger, "You're 60?!" she said incredulous. "I thought you were 40." Just then her car pulled to a stop and she had to leave before we explored the issue of my advanced years! For this nine year old, I was as old as Methuselah! She left with lots to ponder....and I got up from the bench feeling very ancient indeed! I found myself hoping that the people in that car line had access to a great article from PBS about how to talk with you kids about school. http://www.pbs.org/parents/goingtoschool/talk_child.html

The World is sort of FLAT & Cuba is next to Africa

4th graders had just arrived to do "research." They each had an explorer. I had created WebPages at various reading levels (3 & 4) that answered all the questions their teacher had given them. I wanted to insure their success and believed the WebPages would make their reading easier. Each page had two graphics - a portrait of the explorer and a map showing their explorations.

Admittedly, the questions they were seeking answers for were not interesting. They were things like --birth and death dates, the dates of their explorations, and locate two interesting facts. They were then to draw the explorers routes on a blank map provided by the teacher. The purpose of this was to learn material that will be covered on the TCAP tests, and to practice map skills.

Here are the results that four 4th graders came up with from my Cabot page.
http://www.westmeade.net/Library/EuropeanExplorers/Cabot.html

1. Cabot died in 1557.

2. Cabot got 10 pounds of fish for his explorations from the King of England.

3. He explored North America.

It made me aware, once again, what we understand is proscribed by experience.

The first child either read so poorly that she never saw that the ships sank on his 2nd expedition and he and his crew were never heard from again, or she apparently didn't realize that the article moved on to talk about John Cabot's son and his accomplishments.

The second child made a completely logical leap --- Cabot found an abundance of fish in the harbors of Newfoundland and the King rewarded him for his exploration with 10 pounds of fish. He had no idea that he knew so little that his assumptions would be completely false.

The third child had no ability to articulate in the specific what Cabot explored.

Adding to the problems of some of the children was the fact that the map they were using to draw the routes didn't have any of the Caribbean islands on it. This is a big problem for those who had Columbus or deSoto. I quickly penciled in Cuba.

When I returned to check on this group-- I found that one of the children had drawn deSoto's route from Madagascar to Florida. Even after a discussion of the fact that Florida was not in Africa the student still maintained that Madagascar was the only thing that look like Cuba on the map.....sigh......

Our little friends need much more exposure and much less testing for specific skills and facts over which we will judge their learning and judge the effectiveness of the teachers who teach them!

Race to Nowhere......

"If you haven't noticed, the parameters of public education are changing. Gone is the day of hourlong lectures that cover basic academics. Gone are the expectations that teachers only teach academics. gone are the standards that left Tennessee students among the lowest performing in the nation.
Now is the time for us to teach relevant, real-world skills that will keep students engaged in learning anad help them succeed in the 21st-century workd force. Now is the time we ask teachers to help students develop positive social emotional and physical behaviors. ........we are asking students to absorb more information; we are asking teachers to deliver more information...."
Dr. Jesse Register - The Tennessean Sept.10,210

These are stirring words, inspiring words, but when I reflect on their ultimate meaning I am disturbed by them. I believe we have gone too far in one direction and we continue to push....words about failing schools are every where. Failing by what standard? NCLB goals change every year making it very difficult to make "progress"toward a moving target. Even making strides toward that goal is questionable. What is it we are actually measuring? Up until this year the tests measured things that are easy to measure... computational skills, vocabulary and straightforward knowledge.

Dr. Register suggests that we need to do more than teach basics to teach "relevant, real-world skills" I couldn't agree more. That 'more' is often described as critical thinking and problem solving. So this year the tests were a lot more difficult. Not only did we test for discrete skills, but kids had to show their critical thinking skills to solve problems using those discrete skills! Still there was no time for developing those skills in a curriculum that forces constant measuring of skills....

This year we will be adding tests to 1st and 2nd grade....testing them at younger ages! And for what purpose? Are we robbing children of childhood? Between homework, and all the scheduled activities, soccer, choir, ballet lessons, scouts, and t-ball.....every moment is scheduled. And what about those kids whose parents can't provide that much support? How will they catch up and what will schools do? Well, according to Dr. Register, with the chamber of commerce's and the community's help we will be able to bring all children to this higher level of learning by third grade in time to meet the 2014 NCLB deadline.

We expect so much of children already. We expect it earlier and earlier --- Students are to enter 1st grade reading! Math concepts that we were not expected to understand until high school are pushed down to 4th graders who may not have the mental sophistication to actually grasp them. Teachers have chunked the computational parts into bite-sized bits that can be memorized and used without understanding and regurgitated. This has been what appeared on the tests! Now the new tests are geared to find out if kids really understand the concepts behind the computation. As these new tests are given we will appear to have fallen even further behind when the statistics come out.

My mother, a life-long educator, said "All children are gifted, they just unwrap their gifts at different times." The current educational landscape doesn't acknowledge this philosophy. all children are to be reading at grade level by third grade. No more Leo the Late Bloomers!

The question we should be asking is what do the tests demonstrate? There is no indication that pushing "information" down to lower and lower grades creates better employees, students or human beings. Such pushing doesn't allow children time to experience, process, develop and wonder about things. What does this kind of pressure do to kids and teachers who used to live as a community of learners --- who used to have reflective time to respond to literature and history!

Does it produce a better educated student by forcing a child to learn something earlier and earlier--- or does it make many children feel inferior, or stupid because they cannot perform what suddenly we suggest they should be able to do?

In times past I would not have tried to get children to fully understand Dewey Decimal organizaiton by 4th grade-- (there is a mathematical issue as well as one which presses us to grasp the sweep of human knowledge). Did you understand what history was when you were in 4th grade? Kids are still struggling to get states, cities, countries, and continents sorted out! But now we expect them to understand the overarching concepts of history including primary vs. secondary sources!

When I asked what history meant, one bright-eyed girl sitting at my feet said, "yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. That is why they call it the present." I don't know if she understood fully the meaning of what she quoted, but it touched me and reminded me why I find the push and pressure of educational policy so destructive of wonder....and such a problem.

Wouldn't it have been wonderful to take the time to go down that rabbit warren, to spur thought about the deeper experiences of history? Some of the children would not have related to the discussion, but seeds would have been planted. I didn't plant those seeds. Too much pressure to go on to the skills at hand. When we do this to meet the measures set out in standardized tests we are cheating the future!

This week we will challenge children to memorize the preamble to the constitution (the very same preamble that Rep. John Behner couldn't quote and confused with the Declaration of Independence in a speech last fall.....maybe we should administer the tests to house members) Many of our K-4th graders will be able to recite it in full by the end of next weeek. They will say it many times before they come to understand what it truly means! Like many things in education we must live with words and ideas for a time before they seep into our being.

I have been looking for others who believe as I do, in a power beyond that which can be measured and meted out. Others who believe that together we must change educational policy!
While I was searching I found such people here - http://www.racetonowhere.com. Please take the time to view this website and possibly help bring this film to Tennessee...there is begining an awareness that what we are doing is wrong. Some believe it is even distructive to children, community and humanity!

Creating a world as you like it!

“We see the world through the story we carry ....

Story can move us to love or hate through the power of words alone. To create the world we want. We need to tell the stories that make that world possible.To make peace possible

Start with a story.”

Storycatcher: Making Sense of Our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story

Christina Baldwin

Politicians have learned an important lesson, one that Christine Baldwin understood well when she wrote the words above! Paint the story you want people to experience and believe and it will reshape the world. Anecdotal evidence suggests that it doesn't have to be true. It only has to be something that we want to be true.

While statistics show that illegal aliens have been apprehended in record numbers recently with lower crime rates, the story that is being told is that we are being overwhelmed and 'invaded.' Inheritance tax becomes the death tax, the expiration of a temporary tax cut for the wealthiest among us inspires the story that one party is forcing a devastating tax hike, which will send us back into a recession and bring about the end of western society as we know it! How do we decide what story to believe?

What story do we need to tell to create a society where peace and social justice are the common threads? I am beginning to think that there is something innately satisfying about outrage and anger rather than peace and love. What do you think... What story do we tell to make the world safe for people, plants and animals?

Waiting for test results

Somehow seeing 700 years of graffiti on Great Britain's coronation chair last summer gave history a new and personal reality.

The chair, which for centuries was accessible to tourists at Westminster Abbey to sit in and touch, with its carved initials from thousands of tourists over the past 7 centuries was a remarkable experience. It reminds us that graffiti is not a recent invention. Cavemen left it behind, Napoleon's troops left it on the pyramids in Egypt, and gangs disfigure our landscape with it today.

Until recently people could sit in the chair and they loved leaving a bit of themselves behind. If you look at the picture you can see a stone built into the chair just under the seat. Legend says this stone was the stone Jacob used as his pillow in Bethel. Jacob's sons may have carried it to Egypt and eventually it found its way to England. (more than likely the stone is actually just a rock -- but then we come to another learning opportunity -- the importance of myth -- how true is history and what gets recorded as history depends on who survives?).

Every king and queen of England since the coronation of Edward II, 700 years ago has used the chair, as a way of claiming divine authority to the throne. This is the stuff that brings excitement and reality to a potentially dry subject....the combination of experience and knowledge to put a string of historical dates into perspective! Finding the time to reflect on facts like this in a teaching schedule which has a list of skills to be drilled into little brains is almost impossible. Instruction that might inspire a day dream or a life-long dream recedes into the 'if I have time' or 'enriching details' -- spot on the lesson plan.

We are all concerned about our test scores from last springs high stakes tests, but what the newspapers do not report is that 1) the tests may not actually test for what they think we are testing 2) the tests do not take into account the fact that children are ready to learn different information at different biological ages 3)scores include those of children who have learning disabilities or other languages as their primary language 4)we compare ALL our children to only a few kids in other countries who are college bound 5) the scores must rise each year--with 100% of students at 100% attainment by 2014. Perhaps if people knew these facts they might reasonably conclude that the job teachers have is impossible.

When young people ask about going into my beloved and chosen profession I advise against it. In today's climate educators are a target for society's malaise and angst. I cling to the hope that we will return to being able to spend time exciting kids with facts like the one about the coronation chair, and I try to slip them in at every opportunity. It may not be a fact that will ever appear on a test, but it is the kind of fact that helps kids relate to the people who lived in the past, and to organize the data they need to acquire in order to understand the grand sweep of human history -- not just a list of facts and dates.

Asking the right questions...

Two books that I am reading this summer are coming together in an unexpected way. Diane Ravitch's The Life and Death of American Education and Jim Wallis' book Rediscovering Values are about seemingly very different topics, but as always the reader makes the meaning and I am finding that they share much in common.

Ravitch, one of the early education reformers, has concluded that not only were there problems with education, but there are even perhaps more problems with the proposed fixes. In the second book, Wallis is looking at current economic policy in our country as a moral issue, and one of the first things he suggests is that in order to learn what we need to know we must ask the right questions.

In fact, I think these two issues as well as those of environmental concern converge in the fact that our entire society has been asking the wrong questions and using the wrong measures for some time. For years we have used the GDP as a measure of national success. But a new measure has emerged in recent years, the GNH has raised in important issue. In this world should we just measure gross national product or commerce or should we measure gross national happiness?

Is it reasonable on a finite planet to believe that there is unending growth ahead --- is it reasonable that the world should all replicate the American model of every person having a mcmansion and several cars? AND did those things make Americans any happier? Many Americans are talking about sustainability and environmental issues apart from the simple question just posed. There is the small home movement, the slow food movement, the small carbon footprint movement.

There is a simplicity movement afoot (no pun intended) What is the value in life --- is it the hours we work per day, the product that we make--- in the evidence of our success by virtue of the stuff we own? One tribal person in South America who was hearing about the union fight in the United States to limit the work day to 8 hours burst into laughter. When asked why he was laughing he replied, "We only work 3-4 hours a day!" I guess it is all your perspective.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane: Insights from young readers

"How come they haven't made Edward Tulane into a movie." These and other questions and insights bubbled up from 2-4th graders. It was the last Lunch Bunch of the year. Lunch Bunch is an Oprah-style book club that we hold each month during the school year on a book chosen by students.

I had no expectation that students would be able to carry on a conversation at all since we are at the end of the year. Kids and teachers alike are exhausted, excited, and exuberant and that makes it difficult to focus a discussion. But they forgot all about the end of school, and getting out for recess after they finished. They forgot all about time entirely as we discussed The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane! Thinking that we'd have a very short discussion I began with very general short questions.

"What are some other books that Kate DiCamillo has written?" (Several students had read most of her works.) Discussion about how much we cherished Winn Dixie and the Tale of Despereaux... how one of those was very funny and the other was exciting....how her characters are often on the outside edge of the group to which they belong.....and these ideas, though I have expressed them differently than the children, were all initiated by the kids...I just asked the questions! "Who was the main character in this book?" I asked. Hands went up everywhere - so many details about Edward's life. What an unfeeling snobbish character he was at the beginning of that book. One of the deep thinkers, a sweet raven-haired girl of Indian parents said, "In the beginning all he thought about was himself! He didn't know how to love anyone." Sometimes they take my breath away with their insights and I have such hope for the future!

Can you think of other stories you have read in which the main character was a rabbit? Bunnicula, called out a tow-headed 3rd grader(he had read all the Bunnicula books -- he reads everything in a series if he likes it-- and he loved that one). Bugs Bunny, shouted another 2nd grade boy who tends toward Captain Underpants. The Velveteen Rabbit, said a tender 3rd grade girl. Peter Rabbit, the Tortoise and the Hare, and Brer Rabbit followed in rapid succession. "How were they alike?" Some were humorous, some not.....but they had something in common....I paused and still there was......nothing.....I am thinking of a word that 4th graders should remember that would have been a literature word....it starts with a 'P'......nothing...'Per'...." Light bulbs went on "PERSONIFICATION" shouted two students in unison with joy in being the first to remember something! Both of them love competition.

Then they started questioning me. One student wanted to know, "Why are movies always different from the book?" Others ventured very good guesses about why that would be. It would be too long they decided. The question of why Edward Tulane hasn't been made into a movie was discussed in-depth with such good insights....about whether Edward would have to be a animated character or whether he might be played by a person. Was there enough excitement in it to make it a good movie candidate? It certainly wasn't funny which was another indicator for making a good movie they decided. Did they think it was a sad story? Such good answers came....

After watching the author on the Internet discuss how she came to write...about how she felt like a failure...about how she had over her lifetime received over 500 rejections before she became a successful author.....about how she felt like a failure and an outsider. What a gift for kids to hear. Someone who is successful often feels like an outsider and a failure! So many of my thinkers and readers feel like outsiders. They need to know it is a heroic trait!

We talked about how some of them might grow up to be writers, and about how Ms. DiCamillo became an observer in all the menial jobs she took, about keeping a writers notebook and writing about the things they see everyday so that they don't forget....... My heart was filled in a very messy library at the end of school amid the chaos of all that means!

Travel Fun....map

I just tried out a new website with lots of cool stuff for geeky folk like me. It lets you create a map that shows where you have been or where you are going......

Where I have been

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

Here is the web address....
http://www.bighugelabs.com/

One of the things Mr. Duncan said, was how excited he was about “young, new teachers.” I find young new teachers exciting also, but what about those of us who are seasoned, who have ridden some of the waves of change and reform? Education’s problems have never been solved by getting rid of everyone who is over 30! When I first finished my Masters, and encountered resistance to change, I remember professors who said you just have to wait for the “old guard” to retire. But the “old guard” did retire, and change didn’t come.

Every year starry-eyed new teachers go into education willing to do whatever it takes to make education work.

Mr. Duncan, the problem is

• deeper than the “old guard,”


• deeper than the curriculum,


• deeper than training teachers,


• deeper than what kids bring to school from their personal experiences,


• deeper than issues of merit pay (I would not and could not work harder or longer than I have worked...no matter what I was being paid. Most educators go into education because they are altruistic, not because they planned to amass a fortune).

The real problem is systemic. How can we move teachers into the coaching role when they are held responsible for each student’s mastery. Realistically, coaching implies that the student decides how much s/he will invest. When you coach students are allowed to wash out. There is no allowance in the current system for this.

If we want education to work better, most of our communities need to do the hard work of changing. It means changing schools, teachers, parents, students, and administrators. Indeed, it means changing everything. This kind of systemic change takes time and and requires long-term consistency. People must relate to one another in ways beyond pointing fingers and suggesting that if we just had better prepared and serious teachers things would be better, or better parents, or better …………

Before we can make it better we must know what we want education to be. We must be a village to raise our children --- we must have trust in one another. We must have shared understandings about the kind of world we are educating children for. Until we understand what we want and where we want to go we won’t even be able to tell if we have arrived!

Following Dean as he went to earn his Phd. I found myself in a small district in West Texas. I stood in the middle of a “library” that clearly offered many opportunities for my gifts, with a group of teachers and administrators who were promising to give me the tools I needed to make a difference in this school library! It was an offer I couldn’t refuse! I never looked back toward a classroom again.

My expectation that teaching quality in this dusty little town would be poor was altered by the reality. I found teachers who were passionate about math, science, history and art. Inspired by this and the students I met, I found myself working non-stop…. I worked at school all day, and came home and got online at night working to educate myself about possibilities on the Internet. It was 1993, and the Internet was new to public educators. It was a place filled with idealism, freedom, collaboration, encouragement and support.

I was pushed and pulled by the educational reforms of the day. The introduction of technology seemed poised to push the reforms in which the college of education had grounded me. Delight-directed education and the ability of students to do authentic research and publication of their thoughts! I wrote grants to gain funds to implement these lofty ideas. But looking back I realize that we are always under the gun of someone’s political agenda, and I do not see the reforms I so cherished were part of that landscape. Control of information is the ultimate goal of those in power. It keeps them in power and doesn't allow for a divergent world view to challenge theirs. As long as that is the case, I am not convinced change can take hold.

I think about this reform movement and how it came to be often since I am still in education and still in the midst of campaigns to change. We need to ask some questions.

1. What is driving "education reform?"
2. Are we comparing apples to apples when we look at our statistics and compare them to other countries?implementation.
3. What would a school that actually implemented change look like?
4. Is the goal of educating all children to the same level of competency achievable?
5. What does Mr. Duncan mean when he says that the tests have been "dumbed down?"
6. What is it we are testing for?
7. Has any of this recently driven standardized testing resulted in a positive improvement in educational outcome and how would we measure that? What would it look like?

Most historians pinpoint the beginning of the modern educational reform movement to the publication of A Nation At Risk, by the Reagan administration's conservative Education Secretary, William Bennett. But in truth it goes back much further all the way to the writings and experience of John Dewey. To understand the scope of all this you must also become familiar with the writings of educational psychologists like Piaget, who wrote at the early part of the last century. By the time I was on my path, we had already experienced the first round of the Bennett driven educational reform. This reform focused on standardizing American Education and standardized testing.

I should insert here, the commentary of my grandmother and mother – both of whom tried to explain to me that all educational reform is cyclical and that I would soon discover that the ideas I subscribed to, would fall from favor and I would then watch as educational reform worked its way through constantly like a snake eating its own tail.