Play!

"Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. 

But for children play is serious learning. 

Play is really the work of childhood."

~ Fred Rogers ~ 

It's unfortunate that many children today will not have the same experiences with Mr. Rogers that my children and I did, unless they catch him on Netflix.  We spent a lot time in the land of make-believe with Mr. Rogers, wondering what Lady Elaine Fairchild and Daniel Striped Tiger might do next.

It is also unfortunate that some schools are cutting back on or eliminating altogether recess and unstructured play time for students. 

During my school finance course our groups researched the implementation of all day kindergarten in several suburban school districts.  I was shocked to find that St. Louis Park had eliminated all unstructured play time for kindergarten students, instituting instead "purposeful play" do be directed and supervised by adults.  How does this teach or encourage self-direction?  Kindergarten classrooms in Shakopee were stripped of their toys, including their play kitchen sets.  Teachers were upset by this new policy, but could do nothing about it.

"Play is the work of the child."

~ Maria Montessori ~

According to Montessori, the essential dimensions of play are:

• Voluntary, enjoyable, purposeful and spontaneous
• Creativity expanded using problem solving skills, social skills, language skills and physical skills
• Helps expand on new ideas
• Helps the child to adapt socially
• Helps to thwart emotional problems

I heard this often when I was a kid, "Go outside and play!"  I am amazed and I love it when I see children in my neighborhood running or biking or playing kick-the-can in the park.  Surely this is good for kids.  Surely this helps kids learn valuable life lessons.

Lest we lose heart completely, here is a story about a group of Florida parents who are fighting to keep recess in their children's public schools.  They will not go quietly, and I support their efforts!

 

Leadership

I've been on a leadership journey for a long time, and currently I am also on the student student side of educational leadership.  Through the University of St. Thomas I am earning my education specialist degree and an administrative license.  As part of the learning activities for my latest class I created the video below. 

 Check it out!

 

Leaning In

You've probably heard of Sheryl Sandberg.  She is the Facebook executive who wrote the book "Lean In" about women and leadership.  Her basic premise is that too many women do not pursue leadership - they lean back instead of leaning in.  A quick Google search will confirm that there are many, many, many more males than females in CEO and other upper level management positions of major companies.  You probably don't need a Google search to tell you that, but it will.  

I am an educator, and I tend to look at things through an educator's lens.  I'm also a progressive, and try to be socially conscious as well, and tend to seek ways to understand the social implications of politics and policy.  I'm also a woman, a mother of daughters, a soon-to-be-grandmother, and a wife.  All of these roles inform and impact everything I do.

I recently watched Sheryl Sandberg's TED talk: "Why we have too few women leaders".  I found it compelling.

She suggests that the the answer to this issue is to "keep women in the workforce".  I have been in the workforce for nearly all of my adult life, full time in a retail career, part time doing church youth work, and full time in education for the past twelve years.  I've also been an adult learner, charting a new course for my professional life halfway through; I earned a degree in education, a masters in education, and right now I'm working toward a specialist degree and admin license.  I'm not really sure that simply keeping women in the workforce is the solution.

Ms. Sandberg states that women need to do three things if they want to stay in the workforce:

1.  Sit at the table.  Not behind the guy sitting at the table, but chin up to the table as equals.

2.  Make your partner a real partner.  She's talking about your partner at home, and if you are a working mom with a partner, you understand how in a lot of cases, you get the larger share of housework and child duties.

3.  Don't leave before you leave.  As in, stay fully engaged until you walk out the door, especially if you are anticipating a maternity or other kind of leave.

I was struck by the tone of her message, and here is where my socially conscious radar went up.  When acknowledging how hard it is to go back to work after having a baby, Ms. Sandberg said, "that job you return to better be rewarding, challenging, and make you feel like you make a difference" because it is hard to leave your little one.  I thought, she must be talking to women of privilege who can make a choice to go back to work or not.  

What about the majority of women in the workforce for whom staying home is not an option?  What about the women in the workforce trying to support a family on minimum wage, or the women who have to work more than one job?

There was a time in my life when I didn't have to work and I had the luxury - yes, I thought it was a luxury - of staying home with my three daughters, caring for them and for our home.  It was a wonderful time and I treasured it because I knew I was doing important work.  I also remained fully aware that I was able to do that because my husband earned a lot of money.

I reject the notion that there is something wrong or that it is in some way,  less than total fulfillment when a woman chooses the "mommy track", for lack of a better term.  I reject the notion that women are letting down their career-minded sisters  when they make a choice to stay home, to work part-time, or to put family first.

Why are there too few women in leadership?  I still don't have an answer to that question.  But I don't think it's wrong to find fulfillment in a balanced life. 

So lean in.  Commit to your important relationships with renewed depth.   Use all your senses with heightened awareness when you experience the world around you.  Make it a goal to stretch yourself and learn something new every day.  Leaning in is about so much more than staying in the workforce.  It's about contributing, sharing, loving, leading.  I'm leaning in right now.

Passionate for Public Schools

An article landed in my news feed one morning earlier this Spring: "I Was a Voucher School Parent".  If you know me, you know that I am passionate about public schools, so I immediately wanted to get to the bottom of the writer's little three-letter "was".  What caused her to put the voucher school behind her?

Here's the definition of the type of school her daughter attended: voucher school: "a private school that uses taxpayer dollars to subsidize tuition without the oversight and accountability of public schools".  Granted, some might say that the phrase "without the oversight and accountability" suggests that  oversight and accountability are  good things, and that if a school operates without these things it's not good.  I happen to think that oversight and accountability (in many ways, thought not all) are good things.  Too much oversight belies a lack of trust and can be stifling, but everyone should be accountable in appropriate ways.

The graphic above shows what I think about vouchers.  

When states give vouchers to families so that their children can attend private schools, they take money away from public schools - the very schools that are charged with providing each and every  student with "FAPE", a free and appropriate public education.  All students are entitled to FAPE - typical students, special needs students, gifted students, nice students, naughty students, poor students, privileged students - ALL students.  

Many people do not know that when states give vouchers to students so that they can attend private schools, those private schools are not charged with providing education to "all" students.  They don't accept all students; that is why they are private.  Most private schools are not equipped or staffed to serve the needs of special needs students or English language learners and therefore, they do not take these students and are not by law required to take them.

Many people do also not know that when states give vouchers to students so that they can attend private schools, those private schools are not required to administer state-mandated standardized tests.  While I do not support using standardized test scores to measure  teacher effectiveness, the tests do provide some measure of student learning, albeit a snapshot.  

I am a public school teacher, and I believe in the notion of a social contract that ensures education for all children.  That contract includes funding public schools from the taxes that everyone pays.  I also believe that people are free to enroll their children in private schools, but when they do so, they are responsible for paying the private school tuition over and above the taxes they pay that go for public education.

Public schools educate ALL children, and as citizens of this country, we should work hard to ensure that they are funded at levels that will make this possible.

No one, especially teachers who love children and hold their profession close to their hearts, wants to hear stories about "failing" public schools.  But when funds for these public schools are taken from the school and given to families so they can enroll their children in a private school, there is no guarantee that the private school will provide the education they are looking for, and students in the public school are hurt.  The best thing to do is to adequately fund public schools.

 

Go Outside and PLAY!

I was driving down the street on my way home tonight and I paused to watch some neighborhood kids as they were playing a game.  They were running and shouting, making quite a ruckus, and it was AWESOME!

The article "Why Free Play is the Best Summer School" challenges adults to give children the freedom to play.  

Consider this quote: "Unscheduled, unsupervised, playtime is one of the most valuable educational opportunities we give our children. It is fertile ground; the place where children strengthen social bonds, build emotional maturity, develop cognitive skills, and shore up their physical health."

Do you know kids in your neighborhood that have unscheduled, unsupervised playtime?

When I was a kid I couldn't wait until summer because we had free time every day.  My mom and grandma used to tell us to go outside and play, and we did!

We rode our bikes and raided the clothespin bag and stuck playing cards in the spokes to pretend that they were motorcycles.  We ran screaming "Red Alert" through the backyard chased by an imaginary rabid dog all the way to the swingset and climbed up to the top.  We climbed trees and made forts.  

We played outside in the dark with flashlights.  We had fashion shows with dress up clothes, acted in plays with scripts we improvised and lip-synched to our favorite groups on LPs.  We baked cookies and made our own lunches.  We decided what we wanted to do and we did it.

 When the weather was bad we watched reruns on TV or daytime dramas ("stories" as my grandma called them).  Even then we made up our own game - the "Commercial Game" where we competed to see who could call out the name of the advertised product before they said it or displayed the name.

I worry about today's generation of kids who are missing out on unstructured play time because they are scheduled within an inch of their lives.  Play dates carefully monitored with plenty of hand sanitizer to pass around, store-bought individual snacks, and parents stepping in to ensure that toys are shared and turns are taken seem to be the norm.

Are we doing a disservice to children when we set up their summer schedules and supervise their every movement?  I think so.  Classrooms are filled with students who have trouble monitoring their own behavior, with students who have trouble prioritizing and problem-solving, who can't handle small setbacks and disappointments because their parents - no doubt with good intentions -  have sheltered them from having to do this for themselves.  It's only natural that we don't want our children to get hurt or be disappointed, but I think we serve them better when we give them the space they need to exercise their creativity and let them be in charge of themselves.

This summer, let's tell kids to go outside and play! 

Divergent Teacher

Are you a divergent teacher leader?  I am and I bet you are too!

I am finally getting around to reading the Divergent series by Veronica Roth and I am fascinated by the rigidity of the society she describes.  It would be very hard indeed to be identified by one strength area and then be pigeonholed and have to live your life surrounded by others just like you.  So much for "variety is the spice of life"!  

The article "A 'Divergent' Path: Tips on Becoming a Teacher Leader" by Cheryl Redfield (linked here) describes  connections that can be made between the concepts Ms. Roth writes about in her novel and the ways that teacher leaders use their talents and skills every day as leaders.  Which of Ms. Redfield's five divergent qualities do you find in yourself?

Struggle Power

Are you familiar with the principle of "productive failure"?  I read the following  article on a blog I follow:  Bigger Gains for Students who Don't Get Help Solving Problems.  What a cool idea... let kids struggle and figure out stuff on their own!  We want to do what 's best for our students, but what if what is best is to allow them to struggle?

The article discusses students working on math problems, but the concept transcends the content.  

 
Americans don't like failure.  How many times have you heard, "Failure is not an option"?  Too many American parents don't like to see their children struggle and they go to great lengths to protect them from any sort of struggle, pain, or disappointment.  I wonder what might happen if we were able to shift our paradigm to accept that struggle produces growth.  It's that butterfly thing... if you don't allow the butterfly to build its strength as it struggles to escape its cocoon, it may be never strong enough to fly.  If you want to read more about Western v. Eastern cultural perspectives on struggling click here.  They are quite different.

Edison's view of failure.

Embrace Discomfort!  I served on my district's science curriculum committee for many years and I brought that phrase into our work as our group struggled together to incorporate the Next Generation Science Standards into our own thinking and into our course structure and curriculum maps.  We both experienced and embraced a lot of discomfort, let me tell you!

The article I referenced brought many educational connections to mind as I read.  Struggling to put something together without help isn't just something husbands do because they don't like to read directions, it's a critical component of constructivist theory (Piaget).  When you make meaning on your own it is deeper and longer lasting.  I think back to a student teaching experience I had (shout out to District 112's awesome Angie Lawrence) with a levers and pulleys lesson.  Students "explored" (edu-speak for play) with the various pieces and constructed things that could lift other things.  They gave each of the pieces of their structures a name and all the groups shared with the big group what they did and what they called it.  Only later did we "teach" the basics of a lever and pulley system.  The learning was actually deeper for students because they'd already had hands-on experience with the pieces and understood the basics of how the systems worked.

When students have to struggle with something that is truly beyond them, when they cannot make progress on their own, they may simply shut down and stop trying.  The opportunity to learn is lost.  This is where the notion of "scaffolding" comes in.  Expert teachers and coaches know their students well and understand where their zones of proximal development lie (Vygotsky).  These teachers are able to provide the appropriate amounts of help and encouragement that give the students just enough of what they need in order to keep going.  Students combine what they learned through their own struggle with the scaffolding the teacher provides and they move forward in their learning.

Growth Mindset brings all of these ideas together (Dweck).  When you have a growth mindset you see struggle as an important part of learning.  In fact, you may see learning itself as something that only happens when you engage in struggle.  When you have a growth mindset you come to see failures the way Edison saw them, as opportunities for learning.  When you have a growth mindset you understand the power of the word "yet".  "Yet" speaks to possibility.  "I don't know it... yet."  "I can't do it... yet."  "Yet" implies that whatever it is, it's on a continuum and I'm moving toward it.

As teachers, we often talk about setting up our students for success.  How about setting up our students for struggle?  If we understand that struggling leads to learning, then let's create the kind of learning opportunities for our students that allow them to struggle successfully.  In doing so, we will make sure that our students - like the butterfly - are strong enough to fly.