Problems in American Education - Part 2: More about where I am coming from
Credibility in this exchange needs to be based on trust in the author as a person and as an educator. I wrote the following statement of philosophy a few years ago when I was still hoping to extend my career in application for various administrative posts. It should tell you a bit more about my perspective and beliefs.
Most of my friends know that I just love to talk philosophy of education. My experience has been that educators either relish the opportunity to look at that philosophical forest or look at it with disdain, preferring to study the individual trees and emphasize the practical side of working with kids. One of my cornerstone beliefs is that a successful educational program needs a philosophical vision and a mission statement that is constantly in the focus of that vision.
This in no way implies any personal desire to chase windmills while practical realities are ignored. I feel strongly that any comprehensive educational institution must pay close attention to day-to-day needs and always put great value on a rigorous, practical, challenging, and individualized program for all of its students. One of my great fears in education, however, is that we too often get caught up in the necessities of every day survival. If we are not careful, that can lead to a very pragmatic approach to teaching in which vision, or a sense of direction, is lost to legitimately practical concerns that serve the moment, but not future. By working to build trust (and that can only be done by demonstrating that you are true to yourself), an educator provides the opportunity for growth and collective achievement, thereby providing the foundation for adherence to an educational vision.
When I look back at my career as an educator, I think of three areas of accomplishment that make me feel proud and reflect my most basic philosophical tenets and vision. In no particular order, the three areas of accomplishment are: (1) my advocacy for and active promotion of a middle school philosophy for twenty-one years in the school where I spent most of my career while teaching and leading on both the middle and high school levels, (2) my involvement in the same school district’s Senior Project movement and program during the 1990’s, and (3) my efforts in starting a charter school for at-risk, inner-city students in Hartford.
Plain and simple hard work was very much a part of those accomplishments, and it is not too old fashioned or trite to claim that leading by that example was important. I am passionate and committed in the way I approach my work, and everyone around me knows it. Healthy disagreement and different points of view are always accepted in that environment; but I have found that students tend to trust and follow those they admire for their commitment. The balance of tolerance for differences is implied in the atmosphere I am promoting; but so is the tendency to rally behind the leader who shows commitment to an ideal.
As noted, one of the highlights of my career was the development of a Senior Project program on the high school level during the early to mid-90s. A performance based assessment program that received national recognition, the Senior Project program was a celebration of the human spirit and gave students the opportunity to demonstrate that they had mastered the requisite skills, in a real-life situation, to take their place as effective and skilled adults in the community. It was controversial, but Senior Project was a great achievement for our high school, and it provided a direction for that school’s future and, I hope, for other schools of the future.
The Senior Project movement was the direct result of the school's commitment to the published competencies it developed for graduation and the strenuous requirements of performance based assessment. By definition, it was a reform for grade 12, but its impact traveled all through the high school and the middle school. One of our original goals for Senior Project as a grade 12 program was to create an exit image that could become a model for performance assessment throughout our program, grades 6 through 12. In many ways, Senior Project borrowed from the middle school model in the manner in which it valued process without diminishing the importance of content. In retrospect, it fit everything I came to believe when I broadened my approach to teaching in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, while translating those beliefs to an end product developed in the year of high school graduation. The history of the successful struggle to make Senior Project a requirement for graduation gave great romance to the mission, and the tremendous bond among the team of teachers and administrators who fought for the program added yet another level of satisfaction in what was accomplished.
My struggle to establish a charter middle school for disadvantaged children in Hartford tends to speak for itself. I am very proud of our attempt to overcome great odds to provide something special for those children. When I think of the middle school notion of providing a nurturing, caring environment where self-esteem is a crucially important ingredient, I think of that initiative, and the attempts to help those children, the neediest I have ever known.
Quite honestly, there were not many visible and obvious successes in the program; but I do believe there are times when success has to be defined in different ways. That thought is very much a part of what I believe comprehensive educational philosophy to be. The accomplishments described here all played key roles in helping me to understand the nature of successful education.
Most of my friends know that I just love to talk philosophy of education. My experience has been that educators either relish the opportunity to look at that philosophical forest or look at it with disdain, preferring to study the individual trees and emphasize the practical side of working with kids. One of my cornerstone beliefs is that a successful educational program needs a philosophical vision and a mission statement that is constantly in the focus of that vision.
This in no way implies any personal desire to chase windmills while practical realities are ignored. I feel strongly that any comprehensive educational institution must pay close attention to day-to-day needs and always put great value on a rigorous, practical, challenging, and individualized program for all of its students. One of my great fears in education, however, is that we too often get caught up in the necessities of every day survival. If we are not careful, that can lead to a very pragmatic approach to teaching in which vision, or a sense of direction, is lost to legitimately practical concerns that serve the moment, but not future. By working to build trust (and that can only be done by demonstrating that you are true to yourself), an educator provides the opportunity for growth and collective achievement, thereby providing the foundation for adherence to an educational vision.
When I look back at my career as an educator, I think of three areas of accomplishment that make me feel proud and reflect my most basic philosophical tenets and vision. In no particular order, the three areas of accomplishment are: (1) my advocacy for and active promotion of a middle school philosophy for twenty-one years in the school where I spent most of my career while teaching and leading on both the middle and high school levels, (2) my involvement in the same school district’s Senior Project movement and program during the 1990’s, and (3) my efforts in starting a charter school for at-risk, inner-city students in Hartford.
Plain and simple hard work was very much a part of those accomplishments, and it is not too old fashioned or trite to claim that leading by that example was important. I am passionate and committed in the way I approach my work, and everyone around me knows it. Healthy disagreement and different points of view are always accepted in that environment; but I have found that students tend to trust and follow those they admire for their commitment. The balance of tolerance for differences is implied in the atmosphere I am promoting; but so is the tendency to rally behind the leader who shows commitment to an ideal.
As noted, one of the highlights of my career was the development of a Senior Project program on the high school level during the early to mid-90s. A performance based assessment program that received national recognition, the Senior Project program was a celebration of the human spirit and gave students the opportunity to demonstrate that they had mastered the requisite skills, in a real-life situation, to take their place as effective and skilled adults in the community. It was controversial, but Senior Project was a great achievement for our high school, and it provided a direction for that school’s future and, I hope, for other schools of the future.
The Senior Project movement was the direct result of the school's commitment to the published competencies it developed for graduation and the strenuous requirements of performance based assessment. By definition, it was a reform for grade 12, but its impact traveled all through the high school and the middle school. One of our original goals for Senior Project as a grade 12 program was to create an exit image that could become a model for performance assessment throughout our program, grades 6 through 12. In many ways, Senior Project borrowed from the middle school model in the manner in which it valued process without diminishing the importance of content. In retrospect, it fit everything I came to believe when I broadened my approach to teaching in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, while translating those beliefs to an end product developed in the year of high school graduation. The history of the successful struggle to make Senior Project a requirement for graduation gave great romance to the mission, and the tremendous bond among the team of teachers and administrators who fought for the program added yet another level of satisfaction in what was accomplished.
My struggle to establish a charter middle school for disadvantaged children in Hartford tends to speak for itself. I am very proud of our attempt to overcome great odds to provide something special for those children. When I think of the middle school notion of providing a nurturing, caring environment where self-esteem is a crucially important ingredient, I think of that initiative, and the attempts to help those children, the neediest I have ever known.
Quite honestly, there were not many visible and obvious successes in the program; but I do believe there are times when success has to be defined in different ways. That thought is very much a part of what I believe comprehensive educational philosophy to be. The accomplishments described here all played key roles in helping me to understand the nature of successful education.
posted by Friar4 at 5:50 AM
2 Comments:
I've just been to NECC in Philadelphia. I missed the keynote speaker, David Weinberger, but thanks to the marvels of technology, I got to listen to and view his whole address via streaming video. His views certainly support what "the old friar" has put forth in this first blog on educational philosophy.
To hear David Weinberger - "The New Shape of Knowledge," log on to http://www.kidzonline.org/nec/agenda.html and click on his keynote. It is inspirational and adds to what is started in this blog. Don't miss it. It is a 75 minute investment, but the Windows Media navigator allows you to fast forward.
Enjoy,
C
Carolyn,
I tried to go to that site but was unable to do so. It may have been taken down by now.
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