Welcome to Week 3 of Teachable Moments!
This is a week of thanks and reflection on our complex history and shared humanity.
We are thankful to all of you who are supporting us in the early days of this newsletter. As friends and colleagues, many of you have not only signed up to subscribe but have sent along personal notes of encouragement as well. Keep them coming!
One thing that seems to be clearly resonating is our focus on positive things that are happening in education. Here are just some of your comments:
I love the clear, knowledgeable approach, focused mainly on inclusive and caring education that meets every child's developmental needs. There is something exceptionally humane and loving in this idea.
There is SO MUCH good news to share in K-12 education, and I'm delighted that you'll be helping to lift it up!!
So on this Thanksgiving Day, we’d thought we’d start a column to share a few reflections, along with some good news that lifts us up.
From Dan:
This is a time of year where the calendar suggests that we take the time to reflect and be thankful. Educators may or may not feel appreciated or thanked for all of the important work they do. So I will thank those teachers in my life who have made a difference in hopes that it will inspire you to share with those in your life.
Mr. Rusnak, Milton High School social studies teacher. He was truly a man ahead of his time. I looked forward to his class as he made it interesting and he truly cared for his students. He’s the reason I became a social studies teacher.
Dr. John Clarke, education professor at the University of Vermont. He challenged us to see learning through the eyes of the student learning experience. He planted the seeds that have developed in me to build and foster student-centered learning.
Catherine Sullivan, assistant principal of Westbrook High School in Maine. She held me to the highest of standards as a new teacher. She promoted a very reflective aspect to my craft as a teacher. I don’t think I ever thanked her…. That is a truly missed opportunity.
My high school students that I taught during my years at Westbrook. They pushed me to constantly find ways to bring engagement, relevance and authenticity to my instruction. We were partners in learning. I thank them every time I see them in the community.
The staff and community of Gray-New Gloucester where I had the incredible opportunity to be the elementary principal. The trust and belief we developed enabled us to create an amazing learning community; a community that was shared throughout our state and even in certain areas of the country. It was all about the kids!!! I’m truly thankful for their trust in us with their kids. Many of them are out doing amazing things in the world. I could not be more proud.
I’m thankful for my parents. They taught me hard work, compassion and empathy, and they believed in my dreams and goals. I’m sure they are looking down on the good work we are doing for so many.
Lastly, I’m thankful for an opportunity to share positive work and stories out in the world of education through my eyes and experiences. I can honestly say that our profession needs to hear these words of thanks and praise.
From Nancy:
Among the many, many things I am thankful for are the countless people working day in, day out in schools and elsewhere across the country to raise up the next generation. I am thinking of them as I toggle between writing this post and “reading” a tiny, floppy book to my one-month-old granddaughter and wondering about all the other teachers who will enter and influence her life.
I have never actually taught in a classroom (unless you count the year I spent teaching English conversation to adults in Japan) so every time I go into schools I am amazed by how much work it takes and how educators are (mostly) happy to be back at it every day, energized by the children and teens around them.
I am thinking of teachers, paraprofessionals, school leaders, specialists and others, but also parents and other citizens who often serve for little to no pay on boards, or who volunteer their time to support young people and create learning opportunities for them.
I think of this huge, unseen village every time I read a “good news” story of progress in education.
So, in keeping with our mission here at Teachable Moments, we offer up a first in what we hope will become a periodic “Good News” round-up, curated from our own readings and from readers’ suggestions.
In New York State, a 64-member Blue Ribbon Commission on Graduation Measures has recommended overhauling the state’s testing and graduation requirements to make room for mastery approaches, real-world learning and performance-based assessments.
Parents and children reclaim the streets on their way to school – the rise of the “Bike Bus” makes me smile. See here, here, here, and here.
From a reader: Educators are personalizing instruction to meet the needs of newcomers.
Parents want schools boards to quit with the culture wars and get back to a focus on teaching and learning, education policy experts told the Christian Science Monitor.
Direct admissions to college is starting to be a thing. Will it reduce stress and free up time for more engaging student-driven learning in high school? How will these programs treat CBE transcripts? We’ll be watching this one!
What are we missing? What positive developments in education do you think should be getting more attention? Let us know in the comment box below.