Florida Another Look
Electronic Edition # 3
Florida Educational Leadership Electronic edition
- Another Look -
In case you forgot, the cover on this issue of the electronic edition of FEL is the picture that appeared on the first cover of FEL—The Inaugural Edition in 2000.
This and future electronic editions of FEL —Another Look will mostly be composed of articles from past issues of FEL. Recent members will not have had the opportunity to read these articles and those who have will see how many of these writings have withstood the evaluation of time. We may also include new articles that may not have fit in the annual printed edition of FEL in the Fall. We anticipate that FEL—Another Look will be produced every quarter during the year beginning with this first issue in July. Issues are planned for July, October, January, April of each year.
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This first issue of FEL—Another Look features articles from the first issue of FEL in September, 2000. We have selected several articles from this issue as well as a few current book reviews. Enjoy. W. James Popham: Not Happy With Florida’s School-Grading System? Then Fix It ! P. 3 It is interesting that this article, written at the dawn of the FCAT is as pertinent today as it was when it was published. Most of the suggestions that Dr. Popham presents in the article can still be initiated. Makes one wonder what would have happened if Florida educators aggressively took the actions he suggested. Susan Jones: Masterful Instruction: Wiring The Brain P. 7 Susan has presented her ideas for improving instruction at many ASCD conferences over the years. This article deals with the content, process and product of learning. Contrary to the emphasis on passing the test, she emphasizes the need for students to become actively involved in the learning process.
Jeffrey S. Kaplan: Are We Teaching Our Children to Play? P. 10 Dr. Kaplan has been an associate editor and contributor to FEL since the first issue. This article stresses the fundamental of need to play as a vital ingredient to learning. What has happened over the years. Free play time has diminished in the schools, with recess a major casualty. This article presents the need for children to have structured creative lessons centered around playfulness. Mary Kay Morrison: Humor Is A Funny Thing P. 13 Research on humor in the classroom is not extensive, but compelling. Similar to other articles in this issue, the author proposes that humor can be used to make the classroom more conducive to teaching and learning. That is a large help in these days of drill, drill, drill. Jennifer Deets: Research Matters P. 15 Dr. Deets proposes a different approach to research saying that it need not always be the strict by-thebook format required for a doctoral dissertation or a formal presentation of ca arefully controlled study. Her primary suggestion is for all to maintain a journal. This will help provide a framework for understanding curriculum change and educational reforms. Book Review: Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. John Taylor Gatto In the first of two books Gatto criticizes public education from the inside. He was a New York State and City Teacher of the Year. P. 17 Book Review: Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher’s Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling. John Taylor Gatto In this book, Gatto takes on the established form of schooling. You won’t agree with all he says but there is much to think on. P. 18 Items of Interest Editorial Staff & FASCD Officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Back cover FASCD Membership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 12 Writing for Florida Educational Leadership Journal . . .Page 6 Thanks to Johanna Lang, Broward County Schools, for the cover photo. Page 2
FEL—Another Look
From Issue # 1, September 2000
Not Happy With Florida's School-Grading System? Then Fix It !
W. James Popham
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lorida's educators are currently saddled with an invalid school-grading system. The chief determiner of a Florida school's annual A to F grade is the performance of students on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). Yet, based on students' 1999 performance, an atypically high correlation exists between students' FCAT scores and students' socioeconomic states (SES). Such a strong correlation constitutes prima facie evidence the FCAT may be really measuring what students bring to school, not what they learn there. A school-grading system based primarily on a test that is significantly confounded with students' SES is certain to yield misleading estimates of a schoolstaff's effectiveness. Teachers who serve an affluent group of students will look good even if their instructional efforts are only so-so. Teachers who serve a low SES set of students will appear to be ineffective even though they might be doing a superb instructional job. If students' FCAT scores are heavily correlated with factors such as their parents' income and educational levels, it is wholly inaccurate to grade school Page 3
using an evaluative model dominantly influenced by FCAT scores.
Consequences of an Invalid School-Grading System There's little doubt that Florida's educators are under considerable pressure to boost their students' FCAT scores. Few people like to receive low evaluations, and educators are no exception. Besides, there are meaningful contingencies linked to a Florida school's annual grade. As a consequence, in most Florida districts the superintendent will usually encourage the district's principals to boost their school's FCAT scores. And, thereafter, most principals will
encourage their school's teachers to boost FCAT scores. It's only human nature. We all prefer to receive high rather than low marks. But remember that the FCAT is a heavily SES-linked test. This means that educators in schools serving low-SES students will really have to engage in extraordinary score-boosting efforts to escape the grades of D or F that will almost certainly be awarded to their schools on the basis of the student's FCAT scores. So what do such educators do? They drill, and drill, and drill. They drill their students on content apt to raise children's FCAT scores. Curricular content that hasn't been Tallahassee-sanctioned by inclusion on the FCAT will be deemphasized or abandoned altogether. As a result, many of Florida's children are now being forced to endure a dull, repetitious and devalued instructional experience. Talk to almost any Florida educator about what's going on in school to prepare students for the FCAT and you'll hear tales that will make you squirm. Some schools essentially shut down any instruction other FCAT-prep for weeks, or even month, prior to the test's February (now in April) administration. And in many schools, truly worthwhile curricular content has long since been elbowed out by FCAT-tested content. What's taking place in many Florida's schools is a form of instructional corruption seriously short-changes the state's children.
All right, I've tried to suggest that Florida's schoolgrading system is seriously flawed and, as a consequence, is leading to FCAT-pressured instructional practices that are doing educational harm to the state's students. What's to be done about it?
Carping or Correcting? If you share my concerns about Florida's ill-conceived scheme for grading schools, it seems to me that you have two basic options. Once choice is to sit back and complain. You can bemoan the unsound evaluative system thrust on the state's educators by misguided Page 4
policymakers. Go one step further, you can even question the motives of the school-grading system's architects by asserting that this kind of accountability approach will (A) yield political capitol, (B) be a vehicle to establish a statewide voucher system, or (C) both of these. But carping about a flawed enterprise, or the motives of those who created it, rarely leads to genuine improvements. I suggest, therefore, if you believe that Florida's school-grading approach is unsound, you set out to correct its shortcomings. I'll be suggesting three specific activities in which the state's educators might engage that, if successful, could lead either to the elimination of Florida's school-grading program or to its meaningful improvement.
A Modified Program School-grading systems are not intrinsically evil. Indeed, if a defensible school-grading system is installed in any state, then the citizens of that state will be able to determine which school-staffs are doing a decent job and which school-staffs are falling down on the job. As a consequence, the state's students can then be more effectively taught because successful school-staffs can be applauded while unsuccessful school-staffs can be supplied with instructional support. So, my first suggestion is that those Florida educators who are dissatisfied with the state's current schoolgrading system cooperatively develop (at the district, regional, or statewide level) a more defensible method of grading Florida's schools. There are many legitimate indicators of a school's quality. Test scores, certainly, must be an important component. But there are other sorts of tests than that represented by the FCAT. And there are numerous non-test variables that even skeptics will regard as credible. For example, suppose a school's staff collected anonymously supplied student responses to attitudinal inventories that, over the course of a school year, showed students' interested in learning had increased as well as their confidence in being able to read or to present oral reports. Such evidence, if carefully gathered, is one important indicator that the school's staff is performing well. Or imagine that a school's staff had collected startof-year and end-of-year writing samples, coded students' responses so the pretests could not be distinguished from the posttests, mixed them together, then had the writing samples evaluated by parents. If such blind-scored writing samples indicated that students' skills had substantially improved, in other words, the pre-test-to-posttest data showed that teachers were really helping children learn how to write well, that's clear evidence of a school's success.
And, of course, there are other non-test indicators such as reduction in absenteeism, tardiness, and vandalism. Important variables similar to these could be judiciously incorporated in an improved school-grading system. The point I'm trying to make is that it is professionally irresponsible to reject any kind of school-grading model. But, after thoughtful consideration, significant improvements can be suggested for Florida's schoolgrading program. Actually, given the wretched quality of the current program, significant improvements can almost be suggested even without thoughtful consideration! The state's educators need to have one or more markedly improved school-grading models ready to substitute for the current system. Ideally, the more educators who support any such improved models, the better. Thus, relying on professional organizations or some other collaborative entities, the states' educators could devise one or more improved school-grading models, then make them available to the state's legislators. Most of the state's policymakers really want what's best for children. Any new proposal for a school -evaluation model must be demonstrably superior to the current FCAT-dominated model.
Nonpartisan Reviews of the FCAT Most of the concern with the state's school-grading approach stems from its heavy reliance on FCAT scores. The high correlation between students' FCAT scores and the SES certainly suggests that many of the items on the test are more apt to be answered correctly by high-SES children than by the low-SES counterparts. But that's only an assumption. The FCAT needs to be scrutinized, one item at a time, by a group of citizens who have no axe to grind regarding this issue. What proportion of FCAT items actually contain content that is clearly SES-biased? What proportion of FCAT items are actually intelligence-test items concealed in an achievement-test costume? What proportion of the FCAT items truly measure the Sunshine State Standards on which they are supposedly based? Do FCAT items reflect the state's content standards well enough so that, if a teacher is effectively promoting students' mastery of the content stand on which an item is based, the teacher's students are likely to answer the item correctly? Florida Department of Education officials will contend that the FCAT items have already been reviewed by committees of Florida educators during the time that the FCAT was being developed. But at what level of intellectual rigor were those item reviews conducted? The FCAT was created by a well-established commercial test-development organization - but an organizaPage 5
tion whose long suit is the creation of norm-referenced achievement tests, not standards-based tests that the original indented use of the FCAT was not to evaluate schools. Thus, it is unlikely that any Department of Education item-reviews were carried out in the context of such an application of FCAT scores. In December 1999, officials at Pinellas County twice requested permission to carry out a nonpartisan review of FCAT items, or even a sample of those items, under state-monitored security conditions. In both instances, Commissioner Tom Gallagher rejected the request for an impartial review of the FCAT items. If it turns out that the FCAT is, at bottom, merely a proxy measure of students' SES, then there needs to be some sort of statistical adjustment procedure installed in the school-grading system. Such adjustments are necessary so low-SES and high-SES schools have an equal opportunity to earn high grades. So, my second suggestion is for Florida's educators to corral sufficient support for an independent review of the FCAT's items, but a review that will be rigorous rather than self-serving. I do not know how such a review would turn out, but in view of the available evidence, I fear that a good many FCAT items would not withstand such scrutiny. The state's policymakers need to know whether this is so.
Promotion of Parents' Assessment Literacy Educators who protest the use of a test-based accountability system will be regarded by the public as hopelessly partisan. Would educators have much confidence in the protestations of any other profession group that appeared to be dodging public evidence of its members' competence?
Well, that's why it's time to provide parents with a level of assessment literacy so that they can decide themselves whether an FCAT-dominated method of grading schools is good or bad for their children. What I am suggesting is that Florida's educational community provide many opportunities for parents to pick up a reasonable degree of measurement moxie. In short,
Florida's educators should encourage and nurture parents' familiarity with the necessary nuts and bolts of educational assessment. Having done so, however, educators simply need to bring the attention of assessment-literate parents to the specifics of the state's school-grading system. At that point, educators should exit completely. If parents choose, by themselves, to mount a meaningful political protest against the current school-grading system, this should be their choice alone. if they opt to leave the school-grading system in its current form, then that's their choice. If an assessment-knowledgeable parent group is seen to have been co-opted by "self-serving" educators, then the conclusions of the parent-group will be (and should be) suspect. In a June 19, 2000 article on high-stakes education testing, Time magazine indicated that in at least 36 states there have now been stop-the-test groups established. Perhaps Florida needs a formidable parent group to protest the states' school-grading system. I am confident that independent parent groups who are knowledgeable about the uses and misuses of largescale assessments such as the FCAT will exercise warranted political muscle to remedy an invalid evaluative approach.
All of the Above Although an "all-of-the-above" option is never suitable for multiple-choice questions, in this situation I think there is sufficient merit in each of the activities so that the state's educators may wish to tackle all three. I realize that each of these three undertakings will require a nontrivial expenditure of effort. But, if you agree that the state's FCAT-based scheme for grading schools is as educationally unsavory as I think it is, perhaps you'll come up with that energy.
W.James Popham is an emeritus professor in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. E-mail: Wpopham@ucla.edu
Footnote: Dr. Popham was the keynote speaker at the 41s Annual FASCD Conference in Miami October 12 - 14, 2000.
Writing For Florida Educational Leadership While this is an electronic issue of FEL featuring articles from previous print editions, we still publish a print issue in the fall of each year. If you want to submit an article for the print edition, here is some helpful information. Florida Educational Leadership is a peer-reviewed journal for its major articles. Articles are solicited for distinct sections of the journal: Perspectives: Articles which focus on contemporary issues and hot topics. We are looking for a variety of viewpoints on these issues and topics, including historical perspectives. Some ideas could relate to the grading of pre-k-12 public schools, new standards for teachers, new teacher induction, new standards for students, vouchers or charter schools. Voices from the Field: Articles which share ideas, opinions, activities of teachers, administrators, or teach educators and can inform others. Articles can be stories, perceptions, observations, or opinions. They can be essays on successes or failures, but most importantly they share with others who are “working in the fields.� Student Voices: Essays from students in K-12, college or universities are invited and will be considered. Research in Practice: Articles which focus on research in classrooms, colleges, universities. What can we learn from research activities? Both qualitative and quantitative studies on single subject or large population studies will be considered. Writers should avoid standard formal research paper format. Instead focus on writing that will attract and interest all Florida educators. Abstracts, complicated tables, figures and statistics or overly long articles are not appropriate. Technology in The Schools: Articles focusing of the use of technology in classrooms, colleges and universities can describe new ways to use technology to motivate students as well as frustrations and successes with technology. Florida Educational Leadership will also accept book reviews and short informational items. The deadline for submission of materials is July 1. All manuscripts, book reviews or other items should be sent to: Florida Educational Leadership Editors
kysilka@bellsouth.net Page 6
FEL—Another Look
From Issue # 1 September, 2000
Masterful Instruction: Wiring the Brain
Susan Jones
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uman brains adapt to the environment in which they exist, meeting challenges and coping with peculiarities. This adaptation is manifested in the creation and strengthening of networks, memory traces, and communication lines which empower the brain to function. Each time the human brain is forced to go beyond standard connections existing within its architecture, it literally grows connections or synapses to form the new lines of communication and intertwine networks to expand meaning and ability. As orchestrators of environments, educators must create classroom activities that grow brains for these new connections. . . If futurists are correct, the 21st Century is indeed going to be a thinking century. Projects and tasks will reach levels of complexity requiring the collaboration and creative solutions of many skilled people—so the simple repeating of information to prove mastery is no longer adequate. Workers will need to apply an expanding body of information in new, unique scenarios: to strategize and discover solutions to arising dilemmas. This takes skill to a new level: one of problem solving and collaborating. How do we develop this ability in young people? This intelligence that enables students to dig into a deep repertoire of personal experiences, sort out those with application, recombine them to solve the dilemma at hand? How do we impart to our students the skills and abilities to function beyond the classroom, and in the workplace of the 21st Century? How do we Page 7
turn-out students from our institutions that are good problem solvers, flexible workers, plus effective in teaming and communication skills? Professional educators must orchestrate learning environments that entrap children: from which they cannot escape without learning. In the eyes of the student, there must be authenticity and meaningfulness to tasks. Processes and scenarios need to engage the human brain, motivate human behavior, and cause it to learn because there is a reason to do so. The entire process results from careful approaches to instructional delivery, with an acceptance of the role of content versus process versus product. It is a classroom environment that alters and sets the wiring of the human brain to that which allows for desired cognitive functioning.
Content The traditional classroom has too long focused on a demonstration of mastery in formal assessments of content, or application of knowledge and skills. There is generally a pre-conceived notion of the form, correct idea, proper manner of reasoning, or appropriate appearance in teaching and assessment. A consistent call for replication and uniformity exists. In such an approach, content is an “end,” rather than a means to an end: there is a commitment to a body of basic information and skill to provide all components of solutions needed to function in society. It is static and defined. Yet with today’s exploding quantities of new information, mastering information that can be quickly obsolete is both futile and unproductive.
Accessing content, thinking with content, and manipulating with content is the skill combination of the future. Brain Friendly Scenario
part of educators that their student master them. They form the framework for the accomplishment of an assigned task — in the form of expectations or guidelines toward the accomplishment of some product or demonstration. These can be contentbased or skill based, but they are essentials. Assessment of the final product will be based upon the mastery of these, via a pen-andpencil summative assessment, a rubric, a performance rating or a combination of means. The process or “work stage” of an effective learning scenario, on the other hand, is multifaceted and evolving. It is here that real instruction, real manipulation, and real learning occurs. Students must strategize to determine a way to meet all teacher-demands in order to produce the assigned product. There will be a need for information and resources (obtained through acquisition of research skills or practice of skills already mastered, building and reinforcing earlier learning), instruction from the teacher and information acquired from primary and secondary sources other than the teacher. Inherent in the process will be: generation of new ideas creative, divergent thinking to determine what “pieces” are needed to accomplish the task collaboration between the student and others to acquire knowledge and skill the “putting together” of pieces in a workable fashion manifestation of the work in a desired product (displaying the assigned evidence of mastery).
In orchestrating extended learning scenarios involving authenticity, there should be a defined framework and plan that is clearly understood by students. A task requiring a final product is assigned, and clear criteria for excellence of the final product is set. This may entail the sharing of exemplars, explanations, and rubrics governing assessment; but in any case, the students will have no doubt as to what mastery must include. Students are given a specific time period for completing the work, as well as requirements and rules that must govern their process in completing the The importance of Product product. They are given the mandate that this product can be in any form they choose, as long as In doing this, students go well beyond the lower they follow the “rules” and demonstrate mastery of level thinking skills of Bloom’s Taxonomy of the the skills/content detailed by the teacher. cognitive domain—far beyond simple application. The product assigned includes evidence of They must take information and analyze it, determastery as defined by the teacher through those mine which bits and pieces are applicable to the rules. The educator must first have a clear underdilemma (assignment) at hand, and arrange these standing of curriculum requirements appropriate through synthesis into a new combination approfor the grade level or discipline being taught. Perpriate to a chosen solution. The final product must haps these are drawn from then be viewed in its totality state standards, benchmarks, or . . . Humans tend to engage —to determine its worth school district mandates. But themselves with things that have and value, according to the they are not negotiable, and criteria set in the initial importance for them . . . . there is accountability on the teacher mandated rules. Page 8
Choice, then, becomes the springboard for the brain’s creativity . . . . Now the student has carried thinking and action through all higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy: to create a product using content as a vehicle, skills as an enabler, strategizing as a planning tool, formative assessment to “diagnose” progress and allow for fine-tuning along the way, and evaluation of mastery. Does any of this belittle the product, so long held in high esteem by educators as the most important part of the learning process? No: it only recognizes its role in the entire scenario. Product is the snapshot proof, the manifestation of all trials in the process. Most importantly, product grows selfesteem: for self-esteem comes from accomplishment.
draw new components for novel combinations to solve problems. From an environment orchestrated by the teacher to grow intelligence! Accessing content, thinking with content, and manipulating content is the skill combination of the future. Note that all three have to do with producing — with doing: not the replication or repeating back of content. And it is all possible in a learning scenario that forces brains to grow new connections while producing within the confines of a rigid framework. It is a scenario that forces brains to go beyond standard connections and rote memory -- to develop and demonstrate mastery! References
Keys to Excellence But as professionals engaged in the empowerment of young people, the process segment of the learning scenario is far more important. Inherent in this process stage is choice. Choice is foundational to any creative process that involves strategizing and divergent thought. Its presence improves positive brain activity, with cognitive processing in the frontal lobes of the cerebral cortex, as well as emotional centers of the brain. It increases problem solving ability, as it is in reality the practicing of problem solving — sculpting the brain through formation of connections enhancing proper communication of appropriate networks. And it increases intrinsic motivation, as selfselection of avenues for such processing reflect the emotional and attention preferences of the person(s) involved. Such bonuses for learning in the classroom! Choice, then, becomes the springboard for the brain’s creativity — to enable one to become a problem solver, to think divergently with a challenge that limits resources and/or time. It requires more than simple imagination; it requires knowledge -- plus judgment based on teacher/studentgenerated criteria. This is where the brain is forced to grow beyond standard neural connections, to form new connections and networks to comprehend and solve. This is where the brain’s architecture is changed through adaptation to demands of the environment. This is how a human’s repertoire of experience becomes a deep pool from which to Page 9
Walker, Decker, “Technology and Literacy: Raising the Bar,” Educational Leadership, Volume 57, No. 2, October 1999, p, 18. Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, VA. Brooks, Jacqueline Grennon and Martin G. Brooks, In Search of Understanding the Case For Constructivist Classrooms. ASCD, Alexandria, VA, 1993. DeLisle, Robert, How to Use Problem-Based Learning in the Classroom. ASCD, Alexandria, VA 1997 Harris, Douglas E. and Judy F. Carr, How to Use Standards in the Classroom. ASCD, Alexandria VA, 1996. Herman, Joan L., Pamela R. Aschbacher, and Lynn Winters, A Practical Guide to Alternative Assessment. ASCD, Alexandria, VA, 1992. Lewin, Larry and Betty Jean Shoemaker, Great Performances: Creating Classroom-Based Assessment Tasks. ASCD, Alexandria, VA, 1998. Sternberg, Robert J., Successful Intelligence. Simon and Schuster, NY, 1996. Torp, Linda and Sara Sage, Problems as Possibilities: ProblemBased Learning for K-12 Education. ASCD, Alexandria, VA, 1998. Wiggins, Grant and Jay McTighe, Understanding by Design. ASCD, Alexandria, VA,1998.
Susan Jones is an independent consultant. She was a member of the FASCD board of directors and was elected president of FASCD for 2002-2003. She currently lives in Little Rock, AR. E-mail: sjjones@aug.com
FEL—Another Look
From Issue # 1 September, 2000
Are We Teaching Our Children to Play?
Jeffrey S. Kaplan
"I want to be a tree." "Can I be the horse?" "Want to see me bark like a dog?" Are these the voices of crazed souls? Or happy children at play?
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or the sake of this column, they are the sound of happy children at play. And the reason I bring these voices to your attention is that they are voices that are often unheard in Florida's public schools. Or, at least, according to our state's accountability laws. True, the Florida State Standards speak about the value of creative play in our public schools. There is mention of the need to make imaginative learning an integral component of our students' instruction. The Florida State Standards for theatre lists as one standard the ability for students "to create imagined characters, relationships, and environments using basic acting skills." Still, students are not tested on these skills. Instead, the Florida Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills specifically addresses students' ability in reading, writing, and mathematics. Thus, Florida's teachers and students are left to assume that imaginary instruction is something that is best taught when everything else has been accomPage 10
plished. When our students have learned to read, write and figure, - then, and only then, - should there be time to play. Wrong. Play is a vital ingredient to learning. When people love what they do, they do it well. The key to loving your work is a passion for your job. Dedicated teachers speak long and intensely about their work with their students, often discussing their students as if they are members of their own family. The legacies of Dewey, Piaget, Vygotsky, Feuerstein, Gardner, and Diamond reflect elegantly the significance of the teacher as the creative, inclusive, and compassionate architect of instruction. Dewey advocates learning in experience (Dewey, 1938). Piaget's work influences constructivist practices through discovery learning (Piaget, 1970). Vygotsky proposes learning occurred through social interaction and the internalization of experiences (Vygotsky, 1978). Feuerstein's work with Holocaust victims reveals that emotional de-
velopment depends on intense and guided intervention through discovery learning (Feuerstein, 1980). Gardner defines intelligence as multidimensional involving all of the senses (Gardner, 1983). Finally, Diamond, a neurobiologist, speaks of the richness of the environment in engaging development of "magic trees of the mind" (Diamond & Hopson, 1988). Similarly, polished professionals devote their time to their tasks and commitments with a fervor that is often unheralded and unnoticed by the ordinary passerby. And in each instance, this unbridled passion or devotion to their life's commitment is underscored by a fierce and intense desire to make their tasks a playful and joyful expression of themselves. Too often, though, play is relegated to the back room. We push aside any aspects of joy and playfulness in a valiant attempt to say to our better selves, "Hey, this is important. Listen up!" Rigidity and standards replaces easiness and flexibility, confining our students' understanding of knowing to the memorization of factual material. When Florida students take the FCAT - the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Tests - they are held accountable for their basic knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetic. For. months on end, elementary and secondary students spend hours in preparation for examinations that, as of this writing, are used to determine graduation requirements and teacher performance. Yet, when testing is tied to accountability, many ethical and educational dilemmas result. And Florida is just beginning to see the windfall of problems associated with such rigid regulations. But more to the point, the time devoted to studying for the state examinations takes away from the time that young people can be learning about "real life." Young people need to learn those skills that will not only provide them with comprehension of the basics, but also a fundamental understanding of what it means to express their whole being. They need to know what it feels like to stand before their peers and express who they are and what they Page 11
want. This active working of their imagination is vital to their maturing into whole human beings. And when educators dismiss casual and imitative conversation as frivolous, they ignore the richness of creative and imaginative learning. As scientists study learning, they are realizing that a constructivist model reflects their best understanding of the mind's natural way of making sense of the world (Feldman, 1994). Progressive or constructive educational practices believe that instruction is basically an active process. New learning involves combining new and previous experiences to the foreground. "Each new fact or experience is assimilated into a living web of understanding that already exists in that person's mind" (Abbot & Ryan, 1999,67). Often, teachers, especially secondary, are afraid to let students leave their seats and "act goofy" or even, "speak in front of the class," in fear that they are inviting chaos. Yielding control of the classroom means that teacher-centered instruction becomes studentcontrolled and the next thing, you know, some kid is playing with the light switch and "all hell breaks loose." But, it need not be that way. Structured creative lessons can center around playfulness as easily as they focus on conformity. Teachers can establish times in their daily lessons where students stand before their classmates and talk about their work. An excellent resource is "How to Use Creative Dramatics in the Classroom," (Johnson, Childhood Education, Fall, 1998). In this informative piece, Johnson argues for teachers to set aside time for students to read their papers aloud or engage in lively and engaging class discussions. If students are studying the American Revolution, could they not pretend to be central figures in that struggle between American patriots and British soldiers - and improvise a scene whereby these two historic figures meet and discuss their immediate concerns? Or, better yet, if they are studying a math problem, could not students rise from their seats and become the math problem? "You be 'x,' you be 'y,' you be the 'plus sign,' and you be the
answer ' 12.' Now, students, what could 'x' and 'y' be?" The possibilities for using creative play in the classroom are endless: The potential benefits are limitless. Instead, Florida teachers trudge along, diligently preparing students for paper and pencil examinations, designed to measure their intellectual knowledge. The intention is to make every Florida student literate and proficient. Yet, along the way, we ignore that our students prime method for learning is not paper and pencil or abstract figuring, but just plain talking. Young people talk endlessly to parents, teachers, friends and the rest of the world, all in their daily struggle to define themselves. They laugh, argue, tease, and shout in their valiant attempt to come out of themselves and address their true and unassuming nature. Thus, students and teachers together need to create an environment where they feel safe, respected, and free to be themselves (Calkins, 1991). When teachers realize the power of simple talk, they will begin to set aside time in their hectic schedules to allow students to come into their own, by speaking in personal and powerful voices that can both inform and amuse. This is the power of true instruction. This is teaching children how to play.
References Abbot, J., & Ryan, T. (1999, November). Constructing knowledge, Reconstructing schooling. Educational Leadership, 57(3), 6669. Calkin, L. (1991). Living between the lines. Portsmouth, N.H. : Heinemann. Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Macmillan. Diamond, M., & Hopson, J. (1998). Magic trees of the mind: How to nurture your child's Intelligence, creativity, and healthy emotions from birth through adolescence. New York: Penguin Putnam. Feldman, D. (1994). Beyond universals in cognitive development. Norwood, NJ: Ablex. Feuerstein, R. (1980). Instrumental Enrichment: An intervention program for cognitive modifiability. Baltimore: University Park Press Florida’s Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). http://www. Firm.edu/doe/sas/facta.htm Florida’s Sunshine State Standards. Theater. http://www/firm.edu/ doe/curric/prek12/thester3/htm Gardner, H. (1983) Frames of Mind: The theory of multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books Johnson, A.P. (1998,Fall) How to use creative dramatics in the classroom. Childhood Education, 75(1), 2-7 Piaget,J. (1970) Piaget’s theory. In P. Mussen (Ed.) Carmichael’s manual of child Psychology. New York, Wiley Vygotsky, L.S. (1978) Mind in society: The development of higher psychology processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Jeffrey S. Kaplan is asst. prof. of Educational Foundations, College of Education, UCF. E-mail: jkaplan@mail.ucf.edu
FASCD Membership This issue of Florida Educational Leadership: Another Look is being sent to all members of FASCD as part of their membership benefit. We have also distributed this issue to other leaders in Florida education. If you have a colleague who is not yet a member they can join the many Florida educators in the one organization that is “For all who teach and learn.” If you are a member, just print this page and give to your colleagues. Help FASCD grow !
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FEL—Another Look
From Issue # 1 September, 2000
Humor Is A Funny Thing
Mary Kay Morrison
T
he movie "Patch Adams" portrays the true story of a medical student who believed in the importance of humor in the healing process. There is a growing body of research in the medical field about the benefits of using humor.
The Humor and Health Journal is dedicated to "humor and communicating its relationship with health and well being." One of the first humor research studies was done by Norman Cousins. In his book, Anatomy of an Illness "Cousins (1979) relates that when he was diagnosed with a life-threatening collagen disorder, he checked out of a hospital and into a motel room to watch funny movies and to LAUGH! The disorder disappeared. Additional research from the medical field supports the relationship between the use of humor and improved health. Some research shows that humor can boost the immune system and other studies indicate that humor can even provide an aerobic workout. But does humor have a role in the educational process? Page 13
The research on humor in the classroom is not as extensive, but nevertheless compelling. Recent work in the field of brain research indicates the critical role that emotions play in the learning process. There also is a growing body of research in the area of culture and climate that supports the importance of using humor to create a positive learning environment. The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin (Volume 65-3) devotes most of the Spring 1999 issue on the "Impact of Humor on Education and Learning". How often do we see humor used as a skill in the educational process? If we observe humor in the classroom, is it a purposeful use of humor or is it considered just happenstance? Humor not only makes a classroom more enjoyable, it makes a classroom more conducive to teaching and learning. This is what I have learned:
Humor can facilitate learning. Humor can change behavior. Humor promotes healing. Humor reduces stress. Humor increases creativity. During the past several years, I have facilitated many workshops on humor. I often ask educators to describe how and when they use humor. The responses have been varied. Many use humor frequently, as part of their teaching style. One educator uses humor as part of a celebration before state standardized testing. Students tell their favorite jokes or prepare a humorous skit before the assessment to relax the mind and body, increasing the likelihood of optimum performance on the assessment. The purpose is to eliminate as much tension as possible. State testing is considered a celebration of student learning. When assessments are completed, there is a
source on the topic. Included in this book are many humor techniques for use in the classroom, as well as a wonderful section devoted to understanding humor style. Identification of personal humor style is an important beginning step to understanding how educators can further develop their own humor skills. Positive emotion can, and does, play an integral role in enhancing learning. As we continue to gain an understanding of the impact of all emotion on learning, surely we will find humor a critical tool to foster the process. As comedian Steve Allen has said: "It is bad to suppress laughter, it goes straight to the hips!" References Cousins, Norman.(l979). Anatomy of an illness. Bantam Books. Cousins, Norman. (J 990). Head first: The biology of hope and the healing power of the human spirit. New York and London, England: Viking Penguin. Dunn, Joseph. (1999). "What is a Sense of Humor?" Humor and Health Journal. Dunn: Publisher. Marchi April, 1999 (p.p 18). Loomans, Diane, & Kolberg, Karen J. (1990). The laughing classroom: everyones guide to teaching with humor and play. Tiburon, California: H.J .. Kramer, Inc. 1993.
Mary Kay Morrison Mary Kay
party with balloons and food! Humor can be used when there is a behavior problem. Laughing together can decrease the tension and open the door for creative problem solving. Some teachers have found that humor can be a strategy to diffuse tense situations and minimize behavior problems. Humor allows everyone to win. It is not always appropriate for discipline situations, but it can be an effective tool that teachers can use. Some educators feel uncomfortable using humor. They admit not knowing how to use it to facilitate learning. Others have expressed fear that administrators will hear laughter and assume that the students are not "working" -- and therefore not learning. The Laughing Classroom written by Diane Loomans and Karen Kolberg (1993) is a great rePage 14
is founder and director of Humor Quest. She has doen many training sessions for the Illinois State Board of Education. In 2008 she worte a book “Using Humor to Maximize Learning� (Rowman and Littlefield). E-mail: marykay@questforhumor.com.
FEL—Another Look
From Issue # 1 September, 2000
Research Matters
Jennifer Deets
I
borrow the title for this column from Cornel West who, in 1993, wrote Race Matters and from Ruth Frankenberg, who wrote (also in 1993) White Women, Race Matters. The playful seriousness of these titles appealed to me, as did their assertions that race does, in fact, matter in America. I would like to assert here that research matters to people interested in education. In order to support that assertion, in this space I will offer for consideration educational research matters that arise from the practical experience of teachers, administrators, and future teachers enrolled in courses that I teach. I also assert that all educators have occasion to be both research users and research conductors. W1l3.t distinguishes credible research from that which yields doubtful results is the care with which a project is conceptualized and conducted. Good research starts with a question, a concern, a Page 15
problem, or an issue, not a purpose or an agenda. Good research continues by examining what is already known about the question. Many readers probably have conducted these two steps numerous times. Often we find our answer with no further inquiry. Occasionally, however, the existing knowledge about a particular question is inadequate or non-existent. Then we turn to more experienced colleagues or to "experts" in our field as well as in other fields. Asking these people about their understanding is one way of gathering data. Observing them in action or observing our own contexts with newly-informed eyes are other ways of gathering data. More data can be gathered by examining photographs, archival records, meeting minutes, movies, television programs or commercials, all varieties of printed matter, audio and video recordings, and internet-based materials. As we grapple with extant knowledge as well as the data generated from interviews, observa-
tions, and documents and other materials, we begin to make sense of all that we have uncovered we analyze our data. Finally, we bring our new understanding into our classrooms, our offices, our living rooms, our kitchens, into our very selves. This is interpretation and coming to conclusions. Although coming to conclusions based upon systematic inquiry is important, it is also important to share with colleagues what you have discovered. Florida Educational Leadership is a journal for Florida educators who care about the profession and the students whose lives they touch. I encourage readers to engage in research and to write what you have learned so that others interested in creating the richest educational opportunities for school children and the most exciting educational environments for all school personnel can benefit from your discoveries. Certainly, research projects路 vary with regard to their scope and sophistication, but good projects begin with real issues, issues like you and I and other Florida educators grapple with on a daily basis. Another aspect of this column will be to suggest easy to-implement strategies to make research a routine part of daily practice, whatever your responsibilities. My first, emphatic suggestion will be to maintain a journal. Your journal need not be fancy, a spiral notebook will do. If you write entries regularly and enthusiastically, your journal often provides a framework for understanding curriculum change or other educational reforms with the kind of clarity that memory ten years later tends to obscure or leave out altogether. As a profession, we need to be more mindful of our collective and individual histories. Our journals become data as we examine our own practices or seek to understand other changes over time. Another way to capture the sense of history that we miss by only focusing on the most recent educational "innovations," is to talk to veteran colleagues about their experiences. More important, however, is to record these conversations. At the University of Central Florida, we have a growing collection (currently more than 250) of audiotaped interviews with Florida educators (teachers and administrators) who each have more than 25 years of experience in education. These tapes soon will be available for circulation. Because I and a fellow professor assign an interview as a requirement for each graduate-level course that we teach, Page 16
the collection continues to grow. And, I invite you to consider using the tapes as you investigate education in Florida. And I invite you to contribute any taped interviews that you may conduct as you investigate local histories. In fact, many students, some who are themselves grandparents, have chosen to interview their elderly parents or other family members. These interviews are especially significant: they contribute to a general educational history, but they also contribute to family history. My major professor, the person who introduced me to the importance of oral histories and the person who supervised my doctoral work, waited too long to interview his father - let's not wait any longer to make research part of our day-to-day lives. A final dimension of the column will be a brief recommendation from the many excellent books available on educational research. My recommendation this time is Reading and Understand Research by Locke, Silverman and Spirduso, published in 1998 by Sage. This book reads as though the authors are sitting with you at a coffee shop talking. They talk about the reasons we should read more research, while acknowledging why so many of us avoid it at all costs. They outline logical, systematic steps readers of research reports can take to minimize wasted time and to maximize understanding of the results and of the methods so that we can critique what we read, not just take it at face value. Although the authors discuss how to read and interpret both statistically-oriented studies as well as more naturalistic, ethnographic studies, they are a bit more thorough in their coverage of quantitative studies. Nevertheless, they acknowledge the growing literate in qualitative research and offer very helpful suggestion on how to read it and use it. So, until next time, read a few studies, get going (or continue) with your journal, and give someone the gift of an hour's time to talk about themselves and their experiences.
Jennifer Deets currently teaches at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She is currently writing an ethonographic history of the first 30 years of the NC School of Science and Math. E-mail: jdeets@contextwriting.com
Book Review
Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher's Journey through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling John Taylor Gatto—New Society Publisher, 2008.
“G
atto draws on thirty years in the classroom and many years of research as a school reformer. He puts forth his thesis with a rhetorical style that is passionate, logical, and laden with examples and illustrations.” ForeWord Magazine “Weapons of Mass Instruction is probably his best yet. Gatto’s storytelling skill shines as he relates tales of real people who fled the school system and succeeded in spite of the popular wisdom that insists on diplomas, degrees and credentials. If you are just beginning to suspect there may be a problem with schooling (as opposed to educating as Gatto would say), then you’ll not likely find a better expose of the problem than Weapons of Mass Instruction.” Cathy Duffy Reviews "In this book, the noisy gadfly of U.S. education takes up the question of damage done in the name of schooling. Again he touches on many of the same questions and finds the same answers. Gatto is a bold and compelling critic in a field defined by politic statements, and from the first pages of this book he takes even unwilling readers along with him. In Weapons of Mass Instruction, he speaks movingly to readers' deepest desires for an education that taps their talents and frees frustrated ambitions. It is a challenging and extraordinary book that is a must read for anyone navigating their way through the school system." - Ria Julien - Winnipeg Free Press John Taylor Gatto’s Weapons of Mass Instruction focuses on mechanisms of familiar schooling that cripple imagination, discourage Page 18
critical thinking, and create a false view of learning as a by-product of rote-memorization drills. Gatto’s earlier book, Dumbing Us Down, put that now-famous expression of the title into common use worldwide. Weapons of Mass Instruction promises to add another chilling metaphor to the brief against schooling. Here is a demonstration that the harm school inflicts is quite rational and deliberate, following high-level political theories constructed by Plato, Calvin, Spinoza, Fichte, Darwin, Wundt, and others, which contend the term “education” is meaningless because humanity is strictly limited by necessities of biology, psychology, and theology. The real function of pedagogy is to render the common population manageable. Realizing that goal demands that the young be conditioned to rely upon experts, remain divided from natural alliances, and accept disconnections from the experiences that create self-reliance and independence. Escaping this trap requires a different way of growing up, one Gatto calls “open source learning.” In chapters such as “A Letter to Kristina, my Granddaughter”; “Fat Stanley”; and “Walkabout: London,” this different reality is illustrated. John Taylor Gatto taught for thirty years in public schools before resigning from school-teaching in the op-ed pages of The Wall Street Journal during the year he was named New York State’s official Teacher of the Year. Since then, he has traveled three million miles lecturing on school reform. He was a teacher in New York for 26 years before quitting in 1991. He is a tireless advocate for school reform, has won numerous awards and his earlier book, Dumbing Us Down, has sold over 100,000 copies. Review and information courtesy of Amazon.com
Book Review
Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling John Taylor Gatto
New Society Publishers Second Ed. Feb 2002 Available in Paperback from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Dumbing-Down-Curriculum-Compulsory-Schooling/ dp/0865714487/ref=dp_return_2?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books#_
A
fter 26 years of teaching in the New York public schools, John Taylor Gatto has seen a lot. His book, Dumbing Us Down, is a treatise against what he believes to be the destructive nature of schooling. The book opens with a chapter called "The Seven-Lesson Schoolteacher," in which he outlines seven harmful lessons he must convey as a public schoolteacher: 1.) confusion 2.) class position 3.) indifference 4.) emotional dependency 5.) intellectual dependency 6.) provisional self-esteem 7.) constant surveillance and the denial of privacy. How ironic it is that Gatto's first two chapters contain the text of his acceptance speeches for New York State and City Teacher of the Year Awards. How ironic indeed, that he uses his own award presentation as a forum to attack the very same educational system that is honoring him! Gatto describes schooling, as opposed to learning, as a "twelve-year jail sentence where bad habits are the only curriculum truly learned. I teach school and win awards doing it," taunts the author. While trapped in this debilitative system along with his students, Gatto, observed in them an overwhelming dependence. He believes that school teaches this dependence by purposely inhibiting independent thinking, and reinforcing indifference to adult thinking. He describes his students as"having almost no curiosity, a poor sense of the future, are a historical, cruel, uneasy with intimacy, and materialistic." Gatto suggests that the remedy to this crisis in education is less time spent in school, and more Page 17
time spent with family and "in meaningful pursuits in their communities." He advocates apprenticeships and home schooling as a way for children to learn. He even goes so far as to argue for the removal of certification requirements for teachers, and letting "anybody who wants to, teach." Gatto's style of writing is simple and easy to follow. He interlaces personal stories throughout the book to bring clarity and harmony to his views, while also drawing on logic and history to support his ideas about freedom in education and a return to building community. He clearly distinguishes communities from networks: "Communities ... are complex relationships of commonality and obligation," whereas, "Networks don't require the whole person, but only a narrow piece." While Gatto harshly criticizes schooling, we must realize that his opinions do come as a result of 26 years of experience and frustration with the public school system. Unfortunately, whether or not one agrees with his solutions, he has not outlined the logistics of how these improvements would be implemented. His ideas are based on idealism, and the reality of numbers and economics would present many obstacles. Nevertheless, it gives us a clear vision and a direction to follow for teachers and parents who believe in the family as the most important agent for childrearing and growth. Reviewed by Patricia Bratton Originally published in http://www.amazon.com/DumbingDown-Curriculum-Compulsory-Schooling/dp/0865714487/ ref=dp_return_2?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books#_
Editorial Staff Editor Marcy Kysilka is Professor Emerita at UCF. She may be reached at kysilka@bellsouth.net
Associate Editor: Perspectives
Associate Editor: Voices From The Field
Vicki Zygouris-Coe is profes-
Jeffrey Kaplan is Associate Professor
sor at UCF. She may be reached at vzygouri@mail.ucf.edu
UCF. He may be reached at JKaplan@mail.ucf.edu
Associate Editor: Student Voices
Associate Editor: Research in Practice
Sherron Killingsworth Roberts
Ann I. Nevin, is Professor Emerita, Ari-
is Associate Professor at UCF. She may be reached at skrobert@mail.ucf.edu
zona State University. She may be reached at: ann.nevin@ asu.edu
Associate Editor: Technology In The Schools Mark Geary is asst. prof. at Dakota State University, Madison, SD. He may be reached at: Mark.Geary@dsu.edu
Officers and Board of Directors of FASCD
Alina Davis President
Pat Melvin President-Elect
Sallie Payne Vice-president
Johnny Nash David Magee Kim Pearson Past President
Treasurer
Directors: Ralph Barrett, Dona DePriest, Jason Flom, Marcy Kysilka, Lois Lee, Michael Mizwicki, Kelley Ranch, Paul Terry, Shelia Windom
Executive Director