A Dream Deferred

One of my favorite movies is Field of Dreams. If you are unfamiliar with the movie, Ray and his wife Annie buy a farm and raise their chid in the middle of Iowa. One day Ray begins hearing voices that urge him to do something seemingly crazy. If you haven’t seen the movie, I won’t reveal the ending. However, early in the movie, Ray is woken up by this mysterious voice saying, “If you build it, he will come.” I had a similar, less scary awakening this morning. I woke up with this quote from Langston Hughes on my mind.

A dream deferred is a dream denied.

All children have many powerful visions of the world. They see many ways which can change the world. Often, though, adults defer their dreams rather than help them achieve it… until you finish school, until you go to college, until you get a good-paying job… Adults see this as helping, but often this “help” decreases the imagination and creativity of students. Students begin to think school is the only way to fulfill their dreams or the only way to be successful.

Does American public education simply defer dreams, or do public education teachers make dreams possible? Can we do the latter by helping students realize their potential at a young age? I think we can. In fact, I think we must. Rather than defer dreams, we need to unlock dreams and help make them possible. Teachers need to be dream cultivators, schools need to be innovation cultivators.

Let us unlock the dreams of students. Students have access to highly-educated teachers, a professional social network, local community contacts, and a chance to inquire and shape their learning. Let’s not stand in their way! Students have access to more knowledge today than ever before. Public education should not restrict access to using the information. Teachers and schools should encourage using it.

I cringe when I hear teachers talk about reform claiming the Common Core, and its focus on “College and Career Readiness,” will change our education model. I do not care if my students go to college. Any path to success that includes a multiple choice gateway is a bad path! I want to help all my students realize their dream. If college is their dream, I want to help. If entrepreneurship is their dream, I want to help. If students want to travel the world, join the armed forces, work for their parents, apprentice as a skilled laborer… I want to help. I want to be a dream cultivator for my students. Let us get out of the way and help our students realize their dreams.

A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

My First EdCamp: #edcampPhilly Reflections

Four years ago, a group of Philadelphia educators brought the “unconference” movement to education with a new model for professional development called EdCamp. Mary Beth Hertz (@mbteach) provides a more thorough overview for Edutopia.

Today I attended my first #edcamp meetup in Philadelphia. At first I was overwhelmed. I had only talked to many of these individuals on Twitter; what if they didn’t like the real-life me. Or worse, in real life, you are more accountable for your ideas. Would I be as bold to share my thoughts on education?

Experienced edcamp-er Lisa Butler (@srtalisa) welcomed me to the process, and I was captivated. I attended sessions and shared ideas with many awesome individuals. If you are bold, check out the #edcampPhilly hashtag and see our stream-of-conscious ideas from the day. I walked away with a gigantic take-away though.

Modern education is NOT about a sage dispensing information. Education has not really been about this since the widespread use of the printing press and increasing literacy rates. Rather, education is about the lowering of barriers; barriers to information, barriers to service, barriers to success, etc.

Angela Maiers (@angelamaiers) spoke about students connecting with real opportunities to help others in their communities and around the world with Quest2Matter. Let’s lower the barriers and allow students to follow their human desire to help one another. Teachers can then embed learning within these projects and promote inquiry-based, problem-based learning that is completely authentic and creates a closer global community.

Sean Junkins (@sjunkins) and Christine DiPaulo (@ckdipaulo) inspired educators to allow students to innovate using free materials on iTunesU to learn in subjects of their interest. iTunesU provides free content from top universities worldwide. Such access lowers barriers to learning. Students now have access universities of content online. As educators, we need to allow them this opportunity.

Tom Murray (@thomascmurray) and Kristen Swanson (@kristenswanson) led teachers to think about what a model professional development program might look like for educators. In short, professional development must model good teaching. Good teaching, using digital tools, allows students and teachers to connect to content and learning in unfathomable ways.

My day, the various sessions I attended, and the MANY conversations I shared helped me realize we live in a world with lowered barriers to knowledge. With these new connections followed by group action, change will happen more quickly than ever. I am excited about my profession, though teachers face many challenges. We stand on the precipice of fundamental change to the educational system. Learning and knowledge are no longer locked in institutions. These fundamentals of society are everywhere.

Let us, as teachers, lower the barriers to accessing this information. Let us lower the barriers to student success. Let us leverage our connectedness and technology to move the world.

A Dialogue with Kenneth C. Davis

Friday, March 15, noted author Kenneth C. Davis is coming to the Downingtown STEM Academy to dialogue with students about the modern American presidency. Mr. Davis is the New York Times bestselling author of the Don’t Know Much About® books, including Don’t Know Much About History, which spent 35 consecutive weeks on the bestseller list, and his most recent work, Don’t Know Much About the American Presidents.

Mr. Davis first interacted with students via Skype in October 2012, and he was so impressed with the students’ depth of Humanities knowledge in a STEM school that he agreed to come visit the STEM Academy. During his visit this Friday, Mr. Davis will tour the school and then meet with approximately 200 sophomore and junior students for a question and answer session about the American presidency, with strong emphasis on post-World War II history.

In an attempt to open this dialogue to many schools, I intend to live-stream the event via my UStream channel. The dialogue will last from approximately 12:45 – 2:00PM EDT. You are encouraged to join the conversation on UStream and ask questions via Twitter using the hashtag #KCD1. Please submit questions, and I will try to balance online questions with questions asked by Downingtown students.

If you have questions prior to our event on Friday, please reply below. I hope you are able to join us in a informative dialogue about the modern presidency!

The Little Book of Talent

If you are new to leadership, teaching, coaching, or parenting, you should pick up Daniel Coyle‘s book, The Little Book of Talent. I made the mistake of borrowing it from the library; you will want to buy a copy. You will speed through this book, but you will want to return to it often to remind yourself how important key ideas are.

This book is a collection of 52 short tips, each about two pages, on how you can improve your teaching and training to become more skilled at your practice. Throughout his tips, Coyle makes connections between sports, education, coaching, and parenting which make the research-based tips very easy to follow.  One of the tips that reoccurs through his book is slowing down a skill and practicing it until it is perfected. Slow down playing music, practicing a tennis swing, or reading a book. Reduce distractions and focus on the skill. Repeat the skill often, in slow motion, and create the memory of a perfect approach. Coyle uses multiple examples from “hotbeds” of talent (sports training facilities, schools of music, etc.) to show how this works. Coyle also includes research about why this works. What is great about the book is the examples and the research do not get in the way of the tips. Rather, they reinforce his point without weighing down the reading.

Coyle also reiterates breaking down a skill into its most essential component, then practicing that component slowly and repeatedly. For educators, this requires identifying exactly what a student needs to be successful and ensuring he or she masters that skill before adding new content. Even in high schools, a teacher must recognize mastery of basic skills is important before adding complexity.

Much like Jonah Lehrer and Carol Dweck note, talent (or creativity, or intelligence) is not something one is born with. Talent, creativity, and intelligence are skills one practices repeatedly, continually pushing into new levels of experience. Effort, hard work, and practice make one talented. Talent is not a natural gift.

The Little Book of Talent will be an easy read, but it is meant to inform your approach to learning. Much like Coyle suggests to cultivate talent, the reader must slow down and study, practice, and reflect on his 52 tips. Reading the book in one sitting and moving on will not make you a better cultivator of talent, but returning to his ideas and implementing them will. You will definitely want to buy this book.

An Evening with Rev. Dr. C.T. Vivian

“Leadership is found in the action to defeat that which would defeat you… You are made by the struggles you choose.”

What would possess an 88-year-old man to travel several hours, after a lengthy layover, to talk to a crowd about his life, I wondered, as I waited for the arrival of Rev. Dr. C.T. Vivian. I wondered if I would still be a leader into my eighties, or if people would show up to hear my words. Rev. Dr. C.T. Vivian is a Civil Rights icon, one of the last living leaders to connect us with an era of struggle known only to most students through history books and video clips. He came to Coatesville Area High School on Friday, February 22, to speak about his involvement in the Civil Rights movement and to share his perspective on America today. The format was an informal question-and-answer and Vivian was able to speak thematically about his experiences without having to retell chronological events of his life.

I was surprised how little he talked about himself or his connection with Dr. King, whom he called Martin. (I am ashamed to think Dr. Vivian would be so self-centered to talk mainly about himself…). He did speak very much about how the Civil Rights movement reflects society today.

Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
let our rejoicing rise,
high as the list’ning skies, let it resound loud as the rolling sea

sing a song full of faith that the dark past has tought us,
sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
let us march on till victory is won.

Dr. Vivian was asked numerous questions about today’s society and how to fight for what is right. How would one know when to stand up for injustice? One of his most poignant answers of the night, for me, came when he was asked about homosexuality. As a Christian minister, I was not sure how he would approach the answer, but his response was so remarkable because of its brevity and applicability to ANY situation. “Are they human? Then what’s the problem?” All civil rights should be approached this way. All interactions with others should be approached this way. Are they human? Then what’s the problem? Why wouldn’t you treat them as human? Why wouldn’t you fight for their equality. Vivian even made a more pronounced statement, which I cannot quote directly, but it went something like: Jesus did not say love everyone, except the homosexuals. Jesus said love everyone. No exception. Love will save us. To love through hate is difficult, but it will save you.

“What you are about is what you are born for.” Vivian was also asked in multiple questions how he was able to persist in his fight, in the face of fear and death. His answer always resounded back to, it was what you are born for. In St. Augustine, Florida, during a wade-in to open public beaches to African Americans, Dr. Vivian came his closest to death. As the Civil Rights leaders were walking toward the water, Vivian’s friend asked him if he could swim. Vivian said yes, though it was not exactly true. In his mind he knew he had no chance swimming in an ocean. He kept going. It was what he was born for. In the water, a KKK protester pinned Vivian beneath the surf, head in the wet sand below. He admitted he thought he would die in the water, but he was calm. This was what he was born for. Before long, a National Guard soldier pulled the Klansman off of Vivian. On a more broad scale, fighting for individuals’ rights is what we are all born for. We need to continue to fight for humanity. “We’re free, not for ourselves, but for everybody.” In applying this concept to guns in America, Vivian said, “We have some of the best preachers in the world [in American cities], but we aren’t dealing with it [gun violence].” Saving humanity, not for ourselves but for others, is what we are born for. What are we doing about it?

Two small children asked Dr. Vivian questions and his demeanor changed when they approached the microphones. First, an eleven-year-old girl asked how the whole Underground Railroad happened. Who started it? Vivian smiled and laughed, saying in brief individuals who care started such actions. He admitted his answer wasn’t complete. No one knows why individuals, in the face of overwhelming odds, step up to action. Vivian’s response to this young girl concluded with this: “Don’t stop asking those questions!”

A boy, slightly order and a bit more poised (I was sitting right behind him during the presentation) asked how communities heal, back then and now. AN AMAZING QUESTION. Vivian’s response was “It’s so easy to go to church and think that’s enough. We must all work at it.”

“Don’t stop with one good thing. See how many good things you can do.” Last, many of Vivian’s remarks were meant for the next generation of leaders. We must act to preserve and protect all humanity, no questions asked. We must never act on behalf of ourselves. Act for the redemption of humanity. Train for non-violent, direct action. Vivian said, about the Civil Rights movement: “To fight physically meant physical destruction. To not fight meant spiritual destruction.” We must prepare ourselves for a fight, a fight to save humanity. Without non-violent direct action, humanity is doomed. We must stand for those who are oppressed.

The evening concluded with about 50 community leaders on the stage, of all different ages and colors, who joined hands and sang “This Little Light of Mine,” a moving spiritual hymn popular during the Civil Rights Movement. I counted myself very lucky to witness and participate in a bridge from the Civil Rights era to present day. We are now all charged with continuing that journey, with our light, to secure equality for all humanity for all time.

Kenneth C. Davis Coming to the DASD STEM Academy

I am pleased to announce after months of organization and work, New York Times bestselling author Kenneth C. Davis will come to the Downingtown STEM Academy on March 15. Below is the press release from my school district.

Mr. Davis plans to visit our school in the morning to see our students in action. In the afternoon, he has agreed to speak to our students about the American presidency.

If all goes well, I plan to live stream the event and take questions via Twitter. I’ve never done that before, but I’m sure I can figure it out in the next month. I will fill in more details as we get closer to the event. I’d love questions submitted from classrooms around the world!

 

It's Official- We're Going to Space!

Reblogged from Downingtown STEM Academy:

Dr. Jeff Goldstein, the National Program Director for the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, has made it official. Ten or more communities have fulfilled the requirements to participate in Mission 4 to the International Space Station (ISS). With services provided by NanoRacks, our experiment will fy to the ISS on a NASA mission in October 2013, aboard a SpaceX rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Read more… 164 more words

My students get to send an experiment to space! I hope they are as excited as I am about this opportunity!