Learning About Diversity

Over this past year, my school has embarked upon an ongoing discourse in diversity.  Looking at many forms of diversity — ability, socio-economic, race, gender, sexual orientation, class, religion, ethnicity, and agism — our school community asked EDGE (Educators for Diversity, Growth, and Empowerment), a group of educators in New York City independent schools, to help facilitate discussions among faculty and staff.  Our focus was on understanding diversity in our community and how we can best work with the children and families we serve.

EDGE also worked with our trustees, engaging them in how to build a diverse school going forward.

Our spring faculty and staff diversity gathering will be led by the Rev. Robert Thompson, Chaplain at Phillips Exeter Academy.

Newbery & Caldecott Medal Book Winners

Each year The American Library Association (ALA) honors the best young adult books and the best picture books with two coveted awards.  This year's Newbery Medal goes to The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (Harper Collins Children's Books) and the Caldecott Medal goes to The House in the Night illustrated by Beth Krommes and written by Susan Marie Swanson (Houghton Mifflin Co.).  

To learn more about the medal books and the honor books, click over to the ALA site.

Rethinking the “F” Word

The Fall 2008 issue of Independent School featured this article I wrote in the Independent School Parent section.

The other day I selected a book from my bookshelf because I wanted to remind myself of the last time I read from it to our Elementary and Middle School children. The book, The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank (1976), is a collection of funny, meaningful stories about families, raising children, and life’s challenges, told only the way Erma Bombeck could write. The story I read was “Ralph Corlis, The Coach Who Played to Lose” and is about a father, who after the death of his wife, moved to the suburbs to carve out a new life for his two sons and himself. The part that is most meaningful to me is when Ralph is confronted by two Little League coaches who are trying to understand why he coaches his team to lose games. Ralph replies, “It’s hard to explain, but kids go all through their lives learning how to win, but no one ever teaches them how to lose. Just think about it. Most kids don’t know how to handle defeat. They fall apart. It’s important to know how to lose because you do a lot of it when you grow up. You have to have perspective — how to know what is important to lose and what isn’t important.”

I find that my years of experience as a father, educator, and individual have taught me that it is, in fact, failure that motivates and forces us to get things right, and yet we work so hard to protect our children from it. What originally drew my attention to the Bombeck story emanated from a paragraph from my last letter to the parents at my school, which talked about the “f” word. The paragraph stated “One word that would most assuredly not appear on any list [that describes children] and is one of the most helpful character builders for children and adults is ‘failure.’ Unfortunately, we shy away from using that word with children and each other, and yet, it is a word we have to live with our whole lives. For some, failure serves as a roadblock, for others it is an obstacle to navigate around to a higher ground, and still for others, it provides the inspiration to get it right.”

Imagine how life would be without trial-and-error. Sir Ken Robinson, an internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation, and human resources, and professor of education, expressed this concept and belief best during his lecture at the 2006 Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference when he said, “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.”

Robinson cites Dr. Maria Montessori in his lecture’s bibliography. Coincidentally, in Montessori Today, author Paula Polk Lillard states “It is psychological security, engendered in part by a properly structured environment, which gives children the impulse to try harder to face the unknown, including the unpleasant facts of life. The goal is to help children use their human energies to deal with the failures and disappointments of their lives and not be destroyed by them.”

This past fall, Dr. Howard Gardner spoke to the faculty and staff at my school about his theory on multiple intelligences. By placing emphasis on intelligences and abilities beyond the traditional understanding of intelligence, he broadens the scope of how we assess ourselves and our children. So, rather than focusing solely on linguistic and quantitative reasoning intelligences, he posits that human intelligence goes beyond the two and includes artistic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and kinesthetic intelligences. Gardner helps to diffuse the definition of failure, and offers more avenues for children — and adults — to diversify their abilities and move beyond stringent definitions of success and failure. In his closing to those assembled, he displayed a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson “Character is more important than intellect.”

In the 2008 winter issue of this magazine, the article “Brainology” highlighted the value of trial-and-error in child development. (You can navigate to www.nais.org to see the full article). Author, Carol Dwek, researched the differences in children who have a fixed mindset versus a growth mindset about intelligence. Children with a fixed mindset believe “that intelligence is fixed, that each person has a certain amount and that’s that” while children with a growth mindset “believe that intelligence is a potential that can be realized through learning. As a result, confronting challenges, profiting from mistakes, and persevering in the face of setbacks become ways of getting smarter.” Dweck’s article went on to say that “[children] understand that Einstein wasn’t Einstein until he put in years of focused hard work.”

How our children persevere challenges and overcome failure determine how successful they will become later on in life. I think Ralph Corlis had the right idea when he said, “It’s important to know how to lose because you do a lot of it when you grow up.”

Reading History to Middle School

Today, on the morning of the Presidential Inauguration, I read to our Middle School students, as I often have occasion to do. On this memorable morning, I chose to read excerpts from President John F. Kennedy's 13 minute January 20, 1961 inauguration speech to let students make comparisons to the speech that they would hear at lunch by President Barack Obama.

I was their age when I heard President Kennedy's speech, and I can distinctly remember the same hopes for change that now fill their adolescent lives. Along with "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country." our 35th President prophetically stated in reference to other countries "But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom—and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside."

Similar to President Kennedy's words, how wonderful that our students heard President Obama's inauguration speech declare "Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America." and "To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West—know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy."

Dreams and Changes

At Friday's school assembly, students helped faculty, staff, and parents understand an era of our country's history, by reading from Dr. King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail and from President Elect (very soon to be President) Obama's New Hampshire, January 8, 2008 "Yes We Can" speech.

Students gave their own beautifully inspirational dreams and changes they hope for.

Country Garden

I often stream WCRB Boston on my computer while I am working. It plays light classical music.

Recently, while listening, I heard a favorite that is perfect for helping young people appreciate classical music. Percy Grainger's "Country Garden" became popular in the beginning of the 20th Century and helped make him famous and financially secure. See what you think of the piece.

On Middle School Children and Their Parents

This article first appeared in M: The Magazine for Montessori Families in January/February 2007.

Do any of these voices sound familiar to you?

“Why are you always checking up on me?”
“I can do it myself.”
“I’m not on the computer. Don’t you trust me?”
“Stacey’s mother lets her go by herself.”
“Give me a break. I’ll do my homework.”

“I don’t think you should be at the movies by yourself.”
“No way young man. You’re not being honest with me.”
“This has gone on long enough. Clean it up.”
“Don’t use that kind of language in this house.”
“What was that I found in your drawer?”

Conversations with your middle school child ebb and flow, often depending on her/his frame of mind, a.k.a. mood. The middle school years — say, ages 11 to 15 — are the most difficult years in a human being’s life. Fraught with anxiety, confusion, rejection, and desperation and yet, balanced by elation, rapid growth, bounding confidence, and determination, these years are often the roller coaster ride of life that establish patterns that solidify the critical developmental years of high school and college. Over the past 30 years, I have worked with middle school children and parents and have seen patterns emerge — patterns based on observations, parent and child conversations, reading, professional development, and personal life experiences. The more I see and hear about the vagaries of raising middle school children, the more I am convinced that no matter how society changes, events during these tough years are fairly predictable. Unfortunately, predictability lessens with increased personal and family complexities.

Here are a few patterns I’ve observed over the years:

• How adults manage their lives provides important modeling and foundations for middle school children. Parents and their relationship with each other, friends, and children can provide the anchors for erratic middle school mood swings and nagging uncertainties.

• For the most part, the sixth grade to seventh grade transition is the toughest for girls, while boys’ toughest transition begins in the eighth grade . . . some of it because of the increased attention given to them by girls.

• When they are left on their own, middle school children want answers, and when they can’t get them from their parents they go directly to their peer group and draw opinions and notions from the media.

• Regulating the use of technology in the home has presented innumerable challenges to parents and schools and has presented, yet, one more point of contention in raising the middle school child.

• Parents and teachers often resort to blaming each other when the middle school child’s behavior is erratic, unpredictable, or disruptive to the family or classroom.

• It’s not all hormones that cause the vagaries of preadolescent children. The latest research on brain development demonstrates an inextricable link between behavior and development. (Read Barbara Strauch’s The Primal Teen to learn what is being discovered about brain research in teens.)

• Middle school children need understanding and latitude, especially when they are challenged by their peer group. Likewise, failures along the way are inevitable and challenge children repeatedly. (Read Blessings of a Skinned Knee by Wendy Mogul and “A Nation of Wimps” by Hara Estroff Marano in Nov/Dec 2004 Psychology Today Magazine to gain some important perspective.)

• Growing/changing bodies are an excellent barometer for children’s increasing self-consciousness about their looks, what they say, and how they are perceived by others; their world becomes magnified. They are particularly sensitive to criticism throughout these years.

• Uncertainty abounds as children and parents grapple with boundaries, freedom, affection for each other, and how to continue to love one another during this difficult time.

• Parents often defend their child with the statement, “My child always tells the truth.” but inevitably question this statement and constantly vacillate between supporting their child and finding the truth.

• Parents, particularly when it is their oldest child, are daunted by the struggle between giving up the attachment to their child and holding on for a little bit longer. The child’s friends and school are often the scapegoat as the parent searches for reasons why their child is initiating and persistent in the separation process.

Our adult, parent world is so different than a middle schooler’s world. Often our impressions of their world are based on our own personal experiences tainted by today’s media. So, accepting the patterns above can give us a better understanding of what is happening to our children and provide perspective in how we raise our children.

Based on the stated patterns above and to help us engage in positive, less emotional, and thoughtful conversations with our middle school child, here are a few basic suggestions to consider:

• Like Brer Rabbit’s briar patch tussle with Brer Bear in the movie “Song of the South,” the middle school child begs for freedom and no discipline but this is exactly what the child needs . . . AND wants. How much easier it is for them to say, “My dorky parents would kill me if they caught me smoking.” and be silently grateful in the end when they don’t have to engage in an activity they know is inappropriate.

• The middle school child’s fight between self-centeredness and being thoughtful of others’ needs is an on-going battle. Parents need to appreciate this battle and be flexible. Innately, middle school children are good, frightened, and gain strength from helping others. (Read “How to be Popular” by Dierdre Dolan in the April 24, 2001 New York Times Magazine to see how one eighth grade class proves this.)

• Preparing an environment that is structured and predictable with flexibility and freedom to explore can provide the optimal setting for the middle school child. Two examples: 1) Without parental prompting or badgering, children must have their weekend homework completed before Sunday dinner. Progress can be monitored by parent-teacher communication, progress reports, and periodic inspection of graded work. 2) Children attend the movies or shop at the mall accompanied by parents, but once inside, the children can move about on their own, checking in with the adult at periodic intervals.

• Understand that there are nature AND nurture forces working on your middle school child. Unfortunately, there often is no predictability to what works when.

• It is especially important to be a good observer and to listen to your child. We, as parents, often want to give our children the answers — our answers, but all they really want is to have someone hear their story. Through observations and listening, establish a baseline for your child’s behavior, then use that baseline as a barometer for measuring subsequent behavior. When their behavior is not in line with the baseline, extend your antennae for closer observations and listening.

• Use all available resources to give you perspective. Teachers, other education professionals, other parents, and pediatricians are important, readily available advisors. Read, read, and read all that you can about preadolescent and adolescent children. Good young adult books can be very insightful. (Read Kira, Kira by Cythia Kadohata, which is the latest Newberry Medal winner.) Outside perspective can give you the confidence, rationale, and conviction you need to deal with your child.

• The behavior you see today will not last forever. Deposit your child’s good behavior in the bank, and get ready to make withdrawals repeatedly, always trying to maintain a positive balance.

• I believe that we need to embrace two assumptions when raising a middle school child: 1) they are good people and they are trying their best to please their parents and teachers; 2) our children at one time or another will distort the truth as they make their way from childhood to adults. It is up to us to carefully guide our discussions and actions with our children so that they are not forced into positions of having to be untruthful to us AND themselves. Avoid placing undue pressure on them. (Read The Pressured Child by Michael Thompson.)

• Above all, provide unconditional love for your middle school child — even when it isn’t warranted. Know that you have to set aside your own desires to feed their voracious needs. They must know that they are the most important people in your life. One fool-proof way to demonstrate this importance and love is to have your evening meals together as a family — no excuses . . . for anyone.

Keeping in mind all of the above and with understanding, patience, patience and more patience, middle school children and their parents can have conversations using:

“Thanks for understanding. I get it now.”
“I’m sorry but I am so unsure. Thanks for agreeing with Dad on this.”
“You’re right. I shouldn’t have jumped the gun.”
“Can we talk about this later?”
“I do trust you.”
“I love you.”

Children and Bow Ties

I love to see children’s faces when they look at my bow tie. You can see the quizzical look as they grapple with the tie’s unconventional appearance, and you can almost make out their lips as they say, “Hey, buddy, get a life. What’s with that thing under your chin?” Well, I should heed my little friends’ wisdom and think about changing to traditional ties. This all came through loud and clear to me one day . . .

The Head of the Middle School and I were standing by the front door one morning, greeting parents and children, when I noticed two behemoth sanitation trucks parked where our buses pull up to the curb to drop off our children. Knowing that the trucks' drivers were probably around the corner in Bagel World, I said to my colleague that I would be right back. As I trundled around the corner, I did give thought to the fact that I was wearing a bow tie and my sanitation engineer friends might not take kindly to my interrupting their coffee break with an irksome request. Anyway, I moved toward the entrance to Bagel World and was caught short as soon as I stepped into the shop. Directly to my left, sitting at the corner table, were four men clad in green NYC Sanitation Department sweatshirts; they were engrossed in conversation, enjoying their morning coffee and breakfast treats. “Excuse me,” I said in a somewhat squeaky voice. “Could you move your trucks? They’re blocking the area where our busses drop off our children.”

It was the hefty, buzz-cut gentleman who looked at me and mumbled “&*$@#” - which I think meant something like what my young friends were trying to tell me. I backed away and smiled, hoping that they took me seriously and moved their vehicles. I sauntered back to my station to continue my greeting duties. As I explained my experience to Bill, our facilities manager, he made very clear to me in a fatherly way but with a chuckle, “Dane, bow tie or no bow tie, this is New York. You have to speak up if you want something done.”

They did send the junior member of the crew out to move one of the trucks. I chalked up their response to the fact that because children were involved, they did acquiesce to my appeal. In the end, I did resolve to continue to wear bow ties because I like them; give greater credence to the advice of my little friends; and send Bill the next time a message needs to be sent to a sanitation crew.

Mindset: Dr. Carol Dweck Part 3

Dr. Dweck sets the tone of her book right from the beginning when she writes “A little note about grammar. I know it and I love it, but I haven’t always followed it in this book. I start sentences with ands and buts. I end sentences with prepositions. . . I’ve done this for informality and immediacy, and I hope that the sticklers will forgive me.” 

I believe this is what makes this book so accessible for so many readers. Shame on those fixed mindset thinkers who cannot get past the documentation, research, and data crunching that go along with scholarly books.

Using athletes and business leaders, Dweck offers example after example to help the reader understand the differences between fixed mindset and growth mindset and how the latter will prevail in the lives of those who are more likely to experience long-lasting satisfaction and success in life.

This is a must-read book for anyone who is in education, a parent, or looking for a new outlook on life. Also, visit the website specifically devoted to Mindset — the concept and the book.

See other Dweck posts below dated Thursday, July 10, 2008 - "Dweck on Intelligence" and Friday, April 18, 2008 - "Get to Know Dr. Carol Dweck."

Withitness in Teaching

"A teacher's communicating to the children by her actual behavior (rather than by her verbally announcing [instructions]) is educational researcher Jacob Kounin's definition of "withitness" that Malcolm Gladwell talks about in his New Yorker article "Most Likely to Succeed."

Gladwell draws upon the techniques used in identifying college quarterbacks who would be good in the NFL to assess teachers who can find success in today's classroom.  

Bottom line in the article for me - "Teacher effects dwarf school effects: your child is actually better off in a 'bad' school with an excellent teacher than in an excellent school with a bad teacher."

Getting a Handel on Classical Music & Kids

Water Music and Concerto in B Flat for Harp are two of George Friderick Handel’s (1685-1759) most famous compositions that have garnered my attention, pleasure, and musical appreciation. During the holiday season, my wife and I attended – for the first time – Carnegie Hall to hear Handel’s Messiah performed by The Masterworks Chorus and Orchestra.

The $25, third row tickets I bought through tdf (Theater Development Fund) were an added surprise treat.  tdf is the non-profit organization that operates the tkts booths in Times Square, Brooklyn, and South Street Seaport.

As I prepared myself to listen to this renowned score, I scanned the packed house to see how many spectators were, say, below the age of 30. . . not many. . . certainly, no one under 10. My initial reaction was, “Too bad.” Even after hearing the chorus sing the familiar “For Unto Us a Child is Born” and “Hallelujah” I realized a three-hour performance is too long for any child to develop an appreciation for this great music.

As a lover of classical music, which by the way, I did not begin to fully appreciate until half way through college, I have always believed that children should be exposed to it from birth and in appropriate doses. Also, children will let you know their listening pleasure. It’s always good to listen to music with your children/students, be it classical, rock, international, musicals, etc. together.

He's 7?

Ethan Bortnick has been playing the piano since he was three years old.  Well, now he is seven, and you should hear him play.

You can also listen to a charming interview on NPR's Weekend Edition.

Jon Scieszka

I first met Jon Scieszka (pronounced SHEH-ska) when I discovered The True Story of the Three Little Pigs; how I enjoyed reading it aloud with a tough Brooklyn accent . . . and that was before I moved to the outer borough. I can remember reading it to a New Heads of School cohort in 1992. This Simpsonesque story is witty, lovable, and perfect for reading to children and adults.

Just about every Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m. I am tuned to NPR’s Weekend Edition, hosted by Scott Simon. And on one recent Saturday, I was captured by a delightful interview with Jon, talking about his new memoir Knucklehead. (Click on the recent review of Knucklehead.)  During the interview, the 54-year old author and the nation’s Ambassador to Children’s Literature stated that the key to getting children to read is letting children read what they like - comic books, magazines, graphic novels, etc.

Here's a YouTube interview about this wonderful guy who began teaching in a Manhattan school. You may know Jon from some of his other popular books - The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Fairy Tales, Math Curse, The Frog Prince, and Science Verse.

In Context

Helping a child understand the use and importance of contextual clues when reading has always been a fascination of mine. Knowing whether the word “wind” refers to what you do to a watch (old-fashioned, that is) or what keeps a kite aloft on a blustery spring day can only be understood by looking at the words around “wind.” For this concept a lesson presented itself when I least expected it . . .

. . . my office is situated on a hall that leads the two-year olds to the rooftop play area. Each day in the fall and while at my desk, I would wave to them as they sheepishly walked past, heads focused straight ahead never venturing the thought of exchanging a wave. By December, one or two would walk by, look in and timidly lift a hand in an attempt to acknowledge my flapping gestures.

Well, by February, the teachers cannot move them past my office because they all have to stop, wave vigorously, and say “Hi Dane.”

The other day I was standing outside of my office and the twos were making their way back from their daily venture to the rooftop. I was excited; now I could be close by and exchange a happy hello instead of the behind-the-desk wave. Hovering close to the hall wall, anticipating my office, three children prepared themselves to crane their necks around the door jamb to offer their daily greeting when they looked up at me and quickly shied away as if to say, “Hey, who are you and what are doing here?” They wanted nothing to do with me. Then it dawned on me that I was out of context. I immediately said, “Oh. Wait a minute. I’ll fix this.” I ran to my desk and began waving. Without a hitch, their faces beamed, hands started flapping and the “Hi Danes” took over as if I were always there.

By the way, it isn’t only children that need contextual clues. Last weekend, my wife and I were at the green grocer and a parent gave a hearty “Hello Dane.” I smiled and wondered who that was. A minute later, when it was too late, I realized that it was a parent . . . but without his child and not walking through the front door of the school. Like the twos, I, too, needed contextual clues.

Overparenting

In the November 16 issue of The New Yorker magazine,  Joan Acocella's article "The Child Trap" reviews four books on parenting.  I think that you will find the piece interesting, balanced, and helpful in understanding books on the market regarding today's parenting versus the previous generation's styles.  See what you think.

Success?

What does it take to succeed?  Of course, that depends on how you choose to define success.  

So, how do we keep our own baggage from interfering with our children?  Do we have the discipline to let our children discover what success means to them?

Here are some resources for perspective:

1) Malcolm Gladwell's November 10 New Yorker article "The Uses of Adversity" opens with the rags-to-riches review of Sidney Weinberg who - as Gladwell states - was Goldman Sachs.  

2) Horatio Alger's Ragged Dick and Fame and Fortune.  If you have not discovered the Alger experience, take a weekend and grab on to one of his  wonderful, turn-of-the-century novels.

3) Frank Loesser's famous "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" is a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning play from the same bootstraps vintage.  Remember how actor Robert Morse plays J. Pierrepont Finch and works his way from window cleaner to the top of the company?

Seeing What You Heard

On two separate occasions, I stumbled upon instances where people were initially assessed by their voice, and when the voice did not match the imagined person, rejection followed.

The first instance was when I read a New York Times article "Princeton Honors Ex-Judge Once Turned Away for Race" by Karen W. Arenson. The reporter tells the story of New York Supreme Court Judge Bruce M. Wright who applied and was accepted to Princeton in 1939, but when the young black man arrived on campus to begin school, he was turned away.

The second instance came as I listened to a "Studio 360" interview with the talented Sarah Jones in "Sounding Black." I witnessed, again, a story of a black person being turned away because the voice that was initially heard did not match the person. This fascinating piece is actually an interview between Jones and author John McWhorter discussing his recent book Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold Story of English.  Click here to read the NYTimes Review of the book.

“. . . thoughtful responsible . . .”

Whenever I hear Susan Stamberg, guest commentator/host for Morning Edition and Weekend Edition on NPR, my ears perk up and I take note. Her matriarchal voice and grandmotherly commentary inevitably catch me listening with intent often while hanging out in my car or in a room longer than I would otherwise choose. Listening to her, captured in idyll thought, I must frustrate those people 90 degrees from me at an intersection as they wonder why I gave up a green light.

I can still remember. . . several years ago, while driving in my car she was doing a piece, which was a follow-up on a recent appeal that was made to listeners where they were asked to write in their own experiences with random acts of kindness. Touching and extremely thoughtful with story after story, I found my eyes welling up listening to these various kind gestures on the part of anonymous people. One story was of a woman who clearly remembered when she was 13 years old and her parents had just divorced and the upcoming holidays were looking pretty grim. On Christmas morning there was a knock at the back door and upon inspection there was no one there but there were ten huge bags of presents and food. To this day she does not know who did such a kind deed.

A California woman spoke of the time when her family was on a picnic and they were about to dig into mom’s famous potato salad when mom excused herself with her heaping plate and walked 20 feet toward a man who was picking through the trash. She handed the man her plate and walked back to our family. Years later, I asked my mother if she remembered the incident and she replied, “Not at all.” The daughter went on to say, “My mother’s act was a touchstone of what good deeds became in my life.”

These stories never fail to restore my faith in people and inspire me to do something good for another person. No matter how young or old, everyone appreciates kind acts whether received or given. Imagine how powerful a kind act given to a child is. You not only help the child with the deed, but you also model for him/her to pass on the kindness to another person. Not a particularly popular movie but a personal favorite, "Pay it Forward" staring Haley Joel Osment, as a seventh grader, Helen Hunt, as his mother, and Kevin Spacey, as a social studies teacher, speaks to this idea eloquently.

If you happen to be in front of a computer looking for something to do, go to the NPR site and listen to Susan Stamberg’s piece, “Stories of Good Deeds.” I assure you that it will be well worth the seven minutes and seven seconds it takes to listen to the piece, and while you are there, give thought to our very own mission statement where it says “Our children learn to be thoughtful responsible citizens of the School and the world around them.”

The Earliest Years of Life

When I first read Dr. Montessori's book, The Secret of Childhood, I was awed by how she described the absorbent mind of the child — infant through age three.  I agreed with her analysis based only on my experience as a parent and an educator's intuition.

Now, having read Chapter 6 "The Impact of the Earliest Years on Students' Success" in Clayton Christensen's Disrupting Class (see November 13 and 19 posts below), research confirms Dr. Montessori's theories and work. Essentially, the book states "[Todd Risley's and Betty Hart's] particular strand of research is teaching us that a significant portion of a person's intellectual capacity is determined in his or her first 36 months." Their research presents "extra talk" and "business talk" in "language dancing" as being instrumental in a child's language acquisition.

Further, Christensen goes on to state "There is a strong connection between what neuroscientists are learning about how the physical brain functions and the observations that extra talk, or language dancing, leads to keen auditory skills, which in turn leads to improved learning capacity."

Reading this chapter alone is worth buying the book. There is much much more that you will learn beyond this one chapter.

Sculptors

Unity 

by Ray A. Lingenfelter

I dreamed I stood in a studio
and watched two sculptors there.
The clay they used was a young child's mind,
and they fashioned it with care.

One was a teacher; the tools she used
were books and music and art;
One was a parent with a guiding hand, 

and a gentle, loving heart.

And when at last their task was done,
they were proud of what they had wrought.
For the things they had worked into the child
could never be sold or bought.

And each agreed she would have failed
if she had worked alone.
For behind the parent stood the school
and behind the teacher, the home.

Disrupting Class to Improve Education

While reading Clayton Christensen's Disrupting Class, I could not help but draw a number of similarities to what he writes about innovation and education today to the Eight Principles of Montessori Education.

Several Christensen points:

• schools may be able to switch to a student-centric learning mode
• teachers must help individual students progress by being a guide on the side, not a sage on the stage
• project-based learning is a highly motivating way for many students to synthesize what they are learning

Here are the eight Montessori principles:

1. Movement and cognition are closely intertwined; movement can enhance thinking and learning.
2. Learning and well-being are improved when people have a sense of control over their lives.
3. People learn better when they are interested in what they are learning.
4. Tying extrinsic rewards to an activity negatively impacts motivation to engage in that activity when the reward is withdrawn.
5. Collaborative arrangements can be very conducive to learning.
6. Learning situated in meaningful contexts is often deeper and richer than learning in abstract contexts.
7. Particular forms of adult interaction are associated with more optimal child outcomes.
8. Order in the environment is beneficial to children.

Here is a clip of brief comments from Christensen.

The List Goes On

At last week's NYSAIS Heads' Conference, I heard Shawn Achor (Check him out by seeing the post before this one. He was excellent.), and I am in the middle of reading Disrupting Class by Clayton Christensen (see next post for more on the book). It dawned on me that I am hearing, seeing, and reading the same names in education over and over.

Carol Dweck

Robert Sternberg

Ted Sizer

Howard Gardner

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

and there are also Daniel Pink, Sir Ken Robinson, and Malcolm Gladwell.

Christensen and the above educational innovators keep talking about moving away from the usual "mindset" of people having a fixed, two-dimensional intelligence and away from "sage on the stage" to "guide on the side" education. I am convinced that changes have to occur in teaching if we are going to have any hope of moving forward. It would seem to me that the timing for this to happen is prime with a new President in the White House. His background, education, and family are perfect for this kind of change to take place.

Positive Psychology & Happiness

I had the good fortune to attend the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) Annual Heads' Conference this past week. One of the speakers - new to me - was Shawn Achor. He teaches the most popular course at Harvard, "Positive Psychology," and is the winner of more than a dozen distinguished teaching awards at that university. From the very beginning, the entire room was enthralled with his smile, delivery, and what he had to say. For example, he cited the following findings gathered from his research:

• 50% of Harvard students are below average.
  
• Grade point average does not correlate with happiness.
  
• Only 25% of job success is based on IQ.
• The ratio of negative to positive research is 17 to 1.
• Happiness is a precursor to success not the result of it.

See for yourself. Click on this video and listen to him for nine minutes, and if you get the chance see him deliver his important, uplifting message in person, be sure to attend.

With Help From My Little Friends

I’m on to you closet subway map-readers and so are my school children.

It dawned on me one day as I was riding on the number 2 subway train that I was a bit reluctant to perform a surreptitious quarter-head turn and check the glass-enclosed map to see if the train I was riding on would stop where I intended to go. I have never seen a veteran subway rider check a subway map; I have only witnessed obvious tourists gawking at a map in public view.

I notice onlookers with their faces crinkled and eyes rolling up displaying a message, “Sheesh, tourists, they’re so obvious.” But when I catch the eye of children riders, I inevitably see them with a look that says, “Hey, I can help you, I ride this train all the time.” That’s one of the beautiful characteristics of a child - no hang-ups, no pretense, always a willingness to engage, help, or interact unconditionally.

I know you’re out there – those long-time riders who study the map at home, never in public view. It stands to reason that if you have to travel to Sutfin Boulevard in Queens from school, you have to use a map to navigate the G, to the A, to the J; heaven forbid you should look at a map along the way to check your progress. If you were a child (with parent in tow), you would just get to a subway, get on the train in the right direction, and then navigate to your destination using maps along the way. Why not?

To prove my point, the other day I saw what looked to be a 20 year resident of the City (I could just tell) saunter past a map – back and forth, back and forth – in the station catching glimpses of the map. After three passes by the map, he still looked perplexed. A nearby eight year old said, “Need help, sir?” He looked at the child, curled his lip in a way that said, “I know New York and I don’t need help using the subway.” I was proud of my little friend when she offered advice, saying “Be careful ‘cause even though this is a local Six track, the Two stops here on weekends while repairs are being made.” I could see the look of relief on the traveler’s face while he mumbled a reluctant “Thang ew.”

I wanted to give my little friend a “High Five” but thought better of it. Anyway, I couldn’t because I was fumbling with my overused subway map, trying to figure out if I was even at the right station!

Sarah Jones

I first saw Sarah Jones in 2004 when her one-woman show "Bridge and Tunnel" was performed in a small theater in the Village. At that time, I knew she would make it big. Her show made it to Broadway two years later.

Jones is a very talented woman with a clear message in what she believes.

Here is a UNICEF excerpt of Sarah Jones's presentation on violence against children.

Building School Budgets

While I know that we all come from different communities from around the country, take a minute to click on "What it Costs" by  Alexandra Lebenthal and read her article.  I must admit that I initially dismissed the piece because it comes from "New York Social Diary," but quickly became engrossed when I read it and realized that the article represents our school communities from our best benefactors (and their unfortunate investment debacles) to the nannies, service providers, etc.

Admittedly, the financial crisis is all relative to our diverse school communities.  I believe the article does provide a perspective that we may not be grasping at this point and how it all is impacting fundraising, tuition, enrollment, etc.

As our schools build our 2009-10 budgets, I believe we have to keep an open mind and prepare accordingly.

What is Your Parenting Style?

Are you permissive, authoritative, authoritarian, or neglecting in your parenting style?

This past week we hosted Dr. Angeline Lillard, author of Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius, who spoke to faculty, parents, and friends. Of the many topics she discussed regarding child development, I was most taken when she referred to Diana Baumrind's work on parenting styles. In the matrix above you can see the combinations of control and warmth that can lead toward four types of parenting styles.

If you review Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care, 7th Edition (1998), in the discipline section (page 428) you will find similar parenting style categorizations and predictable child behavior outcomes.

High Touch

Listening to bright, funny speakers like Daniel Pink is helpful and entertaining. Pink has a good outlook on society and what it wants from a product or service (See my March 30 post below). In his book A Whole New Mind he talks about "high concept" and "high touch."

By chance I came across Michael Vickers, a Pink-like speaker who talks about "high task" and "high touch." What he has to say about this topic is practical and can help in running businesses and schools and in relationships with customers and parents. I have not read his book yet, but see what you think about what he has to say by listening to his 15 minute video clip where he talks about his "Creating High Touch." While you are there, click on his other video, "Value Price Relationship"; it, too, is very entertaining and informative.

Urban Kids

On a beautiful fall day, we rode the Number 2 subway to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden with our Lower Elementary children (grades 1, 2, and 3). After exploring the lily pads, exotic fauna, and majestic trees, we gathered for lunch at nearby Prospect Park. Once we finished our park bench lunch, the children scattered to play in the open field.

As I made my way in and around the children, snapping pictures of their play, I found one first grade girl frolicking with several children. She eventually flopped onto her back and began to flail her arms and legs wildly. I pointed my camera directly over her and said, "You remind me of a fish out of water," to which she instantly replied, "No, I'm a cockroach on its back."

Gotta love kids - their quick wit and imaginations!

At What Reading Level Do Politicians Speak?

When is speaking on a lower reading level better?  Politics, where else.

Click over to "The Takeaway" and the October 16 clip "A linguist's take on the final presidential debate between McCain and Obama" (5:43) to hear this fascinating report.   "Guest Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst, The Global Language Monitor. Payack has analyzed language patterns of all the presidential and vice presidential debates."