The mind of a progressive educator

By Maureen Kelly Rossi, seasoned educator and parent

Editor's note:  This post is a response to today's earlier post, "This guy oversees the lives of children?"

The attitude of Ben Chavis (educator) is almost comical. It reminds me of a conversation I had with my son just this week. Joe -my 20 year old, college sophomore, snowboard-loving son- took a terrible fall while in Killington, Vermont three weeks ago. The ER doctors assured him his injuries would heal in a few days, and he should just take it easy. Upon returning to NY, I took him to an Orthopaedic doctor in Stony Brook who immediately cleared his schedule for the next morning to operate on his severely shattered clavicle--one broken piece of bone was embedded in his pectoral muscle and the other end was prodruding on the top of his shoulder a good inch. His stage 3 tear of his MCL was diagnosed in Vermont as a sprain. "How," Joe asked, "can two different professionals come up with such different diagnoses????" My short answer was, "closed minds, Joe." I have been there before with doctors, teachers, colleagues, friends and family members.

Of course, I am older and possess more experiences--so I knew to take him to the top as soon as he returned to NY because of past experiences - namely his brother's horrifying health crisis two years ago.

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This guy oversees the lives of children?

I had an unfortunate run in yesterday with Ben Chavis who uninvited, plopped himself down to pick a fight during a private conversation I was having. I was speaking with the mother of a teen about to be interviewed about the decision taken by a growing number of teens to opt out of school so he could take control of their life and learning.  

At the time we were discussing with another woman the benefits of later starting age for school (like in Finland) verses Universal Pre-K or other options (such as funding home care for young children). However, regardless, I shared I believed every child should have access to educational models like Montessori and Reggio Emilia (which was the model this woman choose for her children). The woman (who I also didn’t know and who also joined the conversation uninvited) said if parents want that for their kids, they should figure out a way to afford it. Turns out this is the sentiment quite a few outspoken education activists have. I asked why all children should not be given opportunities even if they happened to be born to parents who were not able to provide such options.
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Random thoughts about first year teaching

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When your child says, "Go to hell!"

The following post is excerpted with permission from Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life, by Peter Gray.  Available from Basic Books, a member of The Perseus Books Group.  Copyright © 2013.

Purchase your copy at this link.

"GO TO HELL.”

The words hit me hard. I had on occasion been damned to hell before, but never so seriously. A colleague, frustrated by my thickheaded lack of agreement with an obvious truth, or a friend, responding to some idiotic thing I had said. But in those cases “go to hell” was just a way to break the tension, to end an argument that was going nowhere. This time it was serious. This time I felt, maybe, I really would go to hell. Not the afterlife hell of fire and brimstone, which I don’t believe in, but the hell that can accompany life in this world when you are burned by the knowledge that you have failed someone you love, who needs you, who depends on you.

The words were spoken by my nine-year-old son, Scott, in the principal’s office of the public elementary school. They were addressed not only to me but to all seven of us big, smart adults who were lined up against him—the principal, Scott’s two classroom teachers, the school’s guidance counselor, a child psychologist who worked for the school system, his mother (my late wife), and me. We were there to present a united front, to tell Scott in no uncertain terms that he must attend school and must do there whatever he was told by his teachers to do. We each sternly said our piece, and then Scott, looking squarely at us all, said the words that stopped me in my tracks.
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Don't hide your online self when applying for college or career

According to a study by Internet security company AVG, two thirds of HR managers will browse social media profiles of candidates. When it comes to college about 24% of admission officers admit to tracking applicants on various social media sites to check an applicant’s digital footprint, according to a 2011 Kaplan Test Prep survey. Those that snooped typically found something that hindered the applicant’s chances of acceptance, including photos of alcohol and drug abuse, vulgarity, and evidence of a plagiarized admission’s essay.

In response to this, it is common to hear students applying for college or a job say before doing so, they plan to take down their online profiles or change their name to something unidentifiable. Innovative educators know this is not the best strategy. Instead our job is to support young people in creating a responsible digital footprint that, rather than hinder, would attract colleges and employers. Knowing how to do that is the job of educator’s today.

Here are some do’s and don’ts that will help students not only clean up their online presence, but actually update it to represent the “me” they want the world to see.  
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The hottest posts everyone is reading

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog this week. Below you’ll see the top weekly posts along with the number of pageviews. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you.  If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired, share it with others and/or leave a comment.

Finally! Research-based proof that students use ce... Feb 16, 2013, 10 comments	5949
Think twice before limiting screentime Feb 21, 2013, 13 comments	4263
An unscholarly professor comes out swinging at #St... Feb 24, 2013, 9 comments	3220
5 reasons less is more when it comes to STEM Feb 24, 2013, 2 comments	2968
5 Ways to Build Lifelong Readers Feb 19, 2013	2869
5 ways to connect with parents using Poll Every... Feb 20, 2013, 4 comments	2517
At the feet of the Math Lord, the Rooster will Cro... Jun 18, 2010	1504
6 Principals of Secondary Education Feb 26, 2013	1322

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Children of the Core: American Students at Risk

Guest post by Kris L. Nielsen

There are innovative educators in thousands of classrooms all across America.  I have talked to many of them.  They are frustrated because the policies put in place by Race to the Top are strangling their drive and desire to be the innovative class leaders they grew to be.  Even worse, the Common Core State Standards, by design, have squelched the ability to allow students to be creative and innovative themselves.

This is why I wrote Children of the Core.  We--parents, students, and teachers--were promised a revolutionary new system that would narrow the achievement gaps in reading and math, create environments for deeper and critical thinking, and prepare our students for life, career, and college.  What we’re finding is that none of this is true.  It’s all totally opposite.  

Children of the Core was written with parents in mind, and with students as the inspiration. Teachers need allies in the fight to save our public schools.  Parents need allies in the fight to save our kids’ futures.  And, most important, students need all of us to be willing to stand up for them and tell the corporate education reformers and government leaders that they can’t treat us this way.

This is my first release.  Thank you for reading, and please leave honest ratings and feedback.  It will help me make my next release even better.

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