Only a few weeks until the release of my new book!

My mother taught me that being a stay at home mom was a very noble profession but that working outside of the home was sometimes necessary and could also be a good decision, especially when there was a Grandma nearby. When I was about four years old, my mom went to work part time, but I had my Grandma to spend time with me.

My grandmother’s parents had been bakers in the city many years earlier and they taught their daughter Clara all the family secrets. Grandma went to public school for three years, and then at her father’s direction, left school to help full time at the bakery. As a young child, she delivered bread and rolls to families in the neighborhood and as she grew older she started baking.

That experience, along with her desire to feed her family of seven, paved the way for me and her other grandchildren to reap the benefit that her years of practice provided. She made the most extraordinary bread, rolls, and pasta. Even today the aroma of fresh baked bread signals some of the best childhood memories that include watching Grandma’s strong and weathered hands mix the flour, eggs, and warmed yeast on her homemade wooden board and then knead and punch the dough several times after rising. She showed me how to form perfectly shaped rolls and place them on the cooking pan to bake. I could barely wait until they came out of the oven, golden and absolutely delicious.

I remember sitting at our kitchen table smelling the rolls baking, coloring and pretending to read, while Grandma ironed. I watched how she “dampened” the laundry to prepare it for ironing then tightly roll each piece and place it in the basket. As she unraveled a rolled shirt, she pressed the hot iron firmly on the fabric until it was smooth and clean and ready for the hanger. She often ironed my dresses and would regularly ask me to pick the one I wanted to wear when I woke up from my nap.

She kissed me, tucked me in bed for a quick nap saying in Italian, “vai a dormire” which I knew meant go to sleep now. When I’d wake up from my nap, she helped me put on my freshly-pressed dress of choice tied at my waist with a crisp bow, then she’d comb my curly hair and pin it with a pretty little barrette or bow. That signaled to me it was time to go. Hand in hand we started our short walk up to the busy Walnut Street just a few blocks away.

Watching Grandma, I learned how to be a caring neighbor.  A regular stop along the walk was Indovina Market, the corner Rexall Drug Store, and of course Lutz’s Bakery.  Spending a few minutes at each stop, Grandma would ask about families and their health and she would remind me to smile and say thank you for our purchases. I learned the value of money from my Grandma. She never seemed to have very much, but she always made sure she placed several coins into my little hands so I could buy penny candy or a drink at the soda fountain.

The stop at Indovina Market was always the last one, since we left with bags full of specially selected tomatoes that Mrs. Indovina prepared just for my Grandma. Later, I heard Grandma refer to these tomatoes as “touched” which I found out were ones that had been there a few days. She bought other produce like greens for soup and fresh vegetables and fruits but Mrs. Indovina knew that my Grandmother made sauce every week and these tomatoes were perfect for sauce. I often wondered how we managed to carry all those heavy tomatoes all the way back home, but my Grandma was very strong and so was I.

When Grandma made bread she had me guess how many dozen of rolls we could make from the dough. She played math games with me by telling funny stories about how many rolls came out of the oven, how many were gone by the next day and how many were left.  She would lay coins out on the table and ask me to count the money to determine how much I had and what I could buy or save in my piggy bank.

Grandma and I rolled meatballs together and because of the fun she created in counting, when I am making meatballs today I find myself counting as I roll them in my hands, …one, two, three, rather silly at my age but I do it with automaticity.

Sometimes Grandma took me to a nearby neighborhood about ten minutes by “street car” or taxi where we’d go to the Regent or Liberty Movie Theaters. We’d stop for lunch at Anton’s or for ice cream at Isaly’s. Other times she took me shopping at Woolworth’s where she always found a real bargain on something she needed. We never left the store without a little lollipop or Beeman’s gum for both of us.

I learned which buses went where by their numbers. When we took a taxi, I watched Grandma tip the taxi cab driver with coins from her coin purse. Grandma always gave a generous tip and seemed to know all the bus and taxicab drivers by name. They knew her as well greeting her with a huge smile and  the usual, “how are you today Mrs. D’Andrea?”

My Grandma also gave money at church, on the street to homeless, and to the firemen in our neighborhood. She said that if you have money, you should give it away to those who need it. She often gave me coins to give away as well.

I loved listening to the familiar Italian words spoken by my grandmother whenever she visited us. It seemed as though she could not speak unless her entire body was involved in the process. When she told a story her hands and arms involuntarily waived in the air as she delivered every detail with intentional emphasis.

When I had her all to myself, I can remember sitting on her lap and listening to her sing our favorite Christmas song, “Tu scendi dalle stelle.” I can hear my Grandma’s voice singing this beautiful traditional Italian Christmas song even today. We sang this song together especially during the Christmas holidays, but Grandma would sing this on demand even in July.

My grandmother’s Italian culture shaped much of my upbringing and learning. I observed and internalized a multitude of family traditions that I share today with my children and grandchildren.

My grandmother often told me that she was not smart, because she had not gone to school. She longed to finish school but under the circumstances was not able, so much of what she learned she taught herself. She taught herself quite well, and she taught me too!

I highly recommend having a Grandma, we can learn so much from them. If you don’t have a Grandma, maybe you might borrow one.

http://qz.com/704723/to-be-more-self-reliant-children-need-boring-summers/

There is a strange phenomenon that frequently occurs in the summer that really intrigues me.

It is when I hear kids saying, “I’m bored!”

I don’t recall hearing my own children ever say that, but maybe they did and I just don’t remember. Age has a way of tricking us like that.

Sometimes I think we have enabled that thought process in our children by cramming so much into their days, that when there is a moment or two of complete silence they panic. They think they have to be “doing” something all the time. ALL-OF-THE-TIME!

Filling their every waking moment with non-boring activity, threatens to rob them of important benefits that boredom provides; like deep thinking, daydreaming, and imagination. According to this article, being bored is okay.

“While there’s a good chance children might mope around for a while and be bored, it’s important to realize that this isn’t wasted time.”

Our inclination is to rescue those suffering from this incurable condition by offering them ideas on what can be done to address the problem of boredom. Kids revert to their phones, texting, gaming, T.V. and other technology fixes. Adults tend to offer kids more beneficial and practical options such as chores, outdoor play, and summer type activities. Either way, boredom for its own benefit, is not usually considered a great option.

This article puts the onus on the child to address the boredom issue. It also provides a great idea for parents who are tired of hearing. “I’m bored” all summer long.

Enjoy the article!

NPR article on Chronic Absenteeism

Every time I read a report on chronic absenteeism I look for the reason why.

Typically, these reports lump excused and unexcused absences, and even suspensions into their calculations. They talk about how students will fall behind, need remediation, and be at a greater risk for dropping out of school altogether. They discuss the damaging effects of prolonged absenteeism, often seeking support from parents who they say are ultimately responsible for addressing this problem. Most reports don’t mention the adverse effect chronic absenteeism has on the school district itself. When kids aren’t in school, the district loses money.

Reports rarely tell us the raw truth – a lot of kids hate school. Why is that so?

They may hate it for various reasons, but what they have in common is an overwhelming sense that school is not a positive or worthwhile place to be.  Their reasons may include bullying, lack of belonging, little to no student input into decision that are made, and just flat-out lack of interest or boredom with the curriculum. Incidentally, students may or may not be able to clearly articulate these reasons to adults who may ask, but they are nonetheless true.

Apart from staying home due to illness or other allowable excuses, kids are regularly held captive in school five days a week, 6-7 hours a day, in a place that sometimes looks and feels like a prison, especially the older they get. Many feel controlled and coerced, bribed and programmed in the form of grades, GPA, homework and testing. I hear it all the time, maybe you do too.

As one may assume, not all students feel this way. Some have learned and accepted the system’s programming and have adjusted accordingly. However, a great many have not, and those students tend to be the ones that find little value in coming to school.

We tell them to just suck it up, get with the program, and go to school anyway. We recycle the familiar excuse that it was good enough for us, so it is good enough for them. We tell them not to question school authority, unless we believe there has been an injustice. This offers little hope for those middle school and high school students who may be searching for the real meaning of school.

There is hope for this chronic absentee problem. It has to do with a long-held, only one-way to do school, paradigm. If we could only think outside that BOX, amazing learning can happen.

I am waiting for the day when we discover that learning is a personal journey propelled by personal interest and motivation. I am waiting for the day when we fully embrace diversity in learning as the norm and not a questionable alternative. I am waiting for real learning to be anywhere, anytime, without the confines of a place called school.

Until then, we may have to deal with a general lack of interest on the part of our students who find themselves skipping school, dropping out, or suffering from an unknown illness that keeps them home.

Click here for the article on emotions and learning

The book, Emotions, Learning and the Brain, by Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, suggests that in order to motivate students for academic learning, produce deep understanding, and ensure the transfer of educational experiences into real-world skills and careers, educators must find ways to leverage the emotional aspects of learning.

As in typical fashion, I have questions. How does one do that? How do teachers “leverage” emotions and what does that look like?  Is there a quick formula, or a handy three-step guide to keep on the teacher’s desk? Are there professional development modules available that someone no doubt has already created for purchase?

Pardon my sarcasm. It may be due to my upteen years of hearing and reading about impactful research that, if applied to classrooms, would change the education world as we know it, but then offers little to no practical value. By the way, we already knew about the connection between emotions and learning. Smart teachers have understood this for a very long time. So what’s up with this new promise to make things better for the learner?

A few quick  article bullet points in quotes and then my thoughts below:

• …”we need to find ways to leverage the emotional aspects of learning in education.”
  • Leveraging the emotional aspect of learning in a school paradigm that honors conformity, coercion, and a disproportionate emphasis on the cognitive domain is an exercise in futility. 
• …”meaningful learning is actually about helping students to connect their isolated algorithmic skills to abstract, intrinsically emotional, subjective and meaningful experiences.”
  •  It is the precise lack of interest and meaningful learning in the school that isolates students into a world of algorithmic skills in which they see little if any value.
• “Though supporting students in building these connections is a very hard job, it appears to be essential for the development of truly useful, transferable, intrinsically motivated learning.”
  • It is a hard job because it is not natural and assumes that students are blank slates on which we have to write meaning and value for them. Useful, transferable or intrinsically motivated learning is determined by the student not those holding power over them in the form of grades and scores. As long as those elements are involved learning will never be purely intrinsic or motivational. 

Generally, students are motivated to learn anything that interests them. Find out what they are interested in first, and then plan lessons with that in mind. It is a great place to start.  Planning lessons with students themselves is even better, but school as we know it doesn’t usually allow for that kind of “out-of-the-box” approach.

Maybe some day, in a galaxy far, far away?

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/K-12_Contrarian/2016/05/the_trouble_with_grit.html

A current but not so new buzzword in the educational arena, recycled for 2016, is GRIT. Angela Duckworth, a recognized “expert” on the subject has published her book detailing successful examples of grit. It’s catching on quickly.

Whenever writers hone in on research studies about the effects of a certain character trait on learning, it piques my interest. I am curious to know the correlation between what the research says and exactly how that looks in a classroom. Often, I am left scratching my head wondering.

Once these “research-based” discoveries take hold in the schooling world, we often see the following:

1. Publishers produce and advertise the ideas in expensively canned, “research-based” books, articles and curriculum.
2. Professors, consultants, and various educational entities/organizations produce and advertise the ideas in pricey “must-attend” conferences.
3. Districts and schools then consume the expensively canned, recycled ideas and pass them on to teachers and staff as mandatory Professional Development.
4. Teachers and staff sit and listen trying to make sense of the expensively canned, recycled ideas deciding how or if they are useful in their work with children.
5. Less than one percent of the teachers and staff utilize the expensively canned, recycled, research-based ideas within a few weeks of hearing about it.
6. Within a month or so, life returns to normal in the classroom until the next big buzz word appears.

How do I know all of this? I speak as one who has not only experienced it as a teacher, but also promulgated it as an administrator. I am not proud of that fact. I have learned from my mistakes. There are great and not so great ideas. Some are not worth the time, energy, and money we give them. Some have been discredited, yet continue to be cited as valid research. 

I disagree with those who believe that grit can be taught. Grit comes through experiences in life. It may come at various times in unique and highly personal situations. It may come in varying degrees. It may not come at all. Grit cannot be measured, tested, or evaluated. Grit cannot be boxed into a formula for school or future success in life.

Grit comes and goes depending upon our interest. When one is wildly curious and deeply passionate about something, a certain amount of perseverance, determination and even grit may come to play. Where this kind of curiosity and passion is nurtured and validated, there is a greater likelihood that these character traits may surface. Generally, these conditions are not evident in school.

What third grader, for example, willingly displays grit when memorizing the multiplication tables? Those who find numbers and their relationship to one another simply fascinating may be the ones who find the grit to crack the code. Others…not so much.

What Duckworth is saying: “Doing well in school and attaining advanced education are essential to overcoming any obstacles, and the key to succeeding in school is grit, effort and perseverance.”

What Rogers is saying: “Grit, effort and perseverance are only worth the exertion when there is passion, purpose, and personal power behind the learning.”

There are some things in life that have little to no value…things like stopping at a stop sign when you are the only one at the intersection or spending a whole year of your life diagramming sentences.

I spent the greater portion of fifth grade standing at the chalkboard drawing lines and hoping my words landed in the right place. I was embarrassed more than once.

We were told that this would help us to better understand the use and structure of grammar and the English language. I personally believed that it was a devious conspiracy to keep some of us in a perpetual state of perplexed puzzlement.  Beyond the simple sentence, I never did quite figure out how to complete the puzzle. I suppose I learned enough to pass the test, but soon forgot most of it and have never used it again.

While this may have served a student or two in their processing grammar, it was a welcomed relief for me when we no longer had to endure this cruel form of punishment.

Perhaps for some, this visual provided a clear picture of grammar usage and form. For those adept at memorizing, it was easy. For others it was a foreign language. Yet, the entire class was forced to participate in this exercise. We were tested on our ability to diagram correctly. Those test grades were averaged into our overall grade in English.

Something about this seems inherently wrong. It favors those who learn using that method but neglects to address those who learn differently and then punishes them in the form of a low grade.  I can hear some of you saying, “suck it up – it’s just part of the package” we all have to learn things we don’t like.  I respectfully disagree with that notion and here’s why.

Is the goal of learning to understand something better or to replicate a “one-way” process to arrive at an answer? 

For many learners that “one-way” process is a catch you scenario. It is equivalent to forcing a round peg into a square hole. It is painful and unnecessary. There are many ways in which to learn our glorious and confusing English language.

It is easier for a teacher to demonstrate the “one-way” method to a classroom of students rather than design smaller groups and even individual plans. It would take hours of planning and figuring out how to reach 25-30 or more students every day.  This continues to be one of the sad effects of school via economies of scale.

Envision if you will a small team of teachers/coaches (2-3) working with small groups of children (10-15) to discover exactly how they learn. Imagine teachers having a good portion of the day available for this kind of planning and strategizing.  Consider the results of such a design as this.  Sucking it up and dealing with content learning that is sometimes painful, now becomes a meaningful learning opportunity for every child.

I could go on and on about grading, grouping, class size, etc. but you’ll just have to read my book, Learning Unleashed to get the rest of the story.

Imagine

By Evonne Rogers Adapted from John Lennon’s Lyrics

Imagine educational freedom
it’s easy if you try
No forced agendas
or politics gone awry
imagine all the children
learning in their own way 

Imagine there’s no grading
it isn’t hard to do
nothing to score or average
and no SBAC/PARCC too

Imagine all the learners
breaking through the chains…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
so freed learning will come

Imagine no restrictions
I wonder if you can
No need for rigid mandates
Or learning in a can

Imagine all the children
whose eyes are opened wide…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
so freed learning will come

http://fairtest.org/more-500000-refused-tests-2015

MORE THAN 675,000 STUDENTS REFUSED STATE TESTS ACROSS U.S. IN 2015;

EVEN BROADER PROTESTS PLANNED FOR SPRING 2016 EXAM SEASON

GROWING OPT-OUT MOVEMENT SPURS ASSESSMENT REFORMS

This opt-out movement is a concrete example of coloring outside the lines and here are a few reasons why we should.

• Imprecise measure of real learning
• Waste of precious time
• Waste of precious resources
• A socio-economic sorter of the worst kind with no viable remedy
• Consumerism and profiteering at the expense of children
• Does not measure improvement over time
• Biased, flawed, and skewed to weed out different kinds of learners
• Restricts teaching and learning
• Inhibits creativity and imagination
• Parents, teachers, and other bright people…add your reasons here…

The standardization of schooling, the frenzied pursuit of accountability that leads to prescribed curricula, textbooks and relentless testing, was not driven by those most intimately involved in the educational endeavor – teachers, parents, or young people – but corporate CEO’s and powerful foundations and mass media.

Ron Miller – The Self-Organizing Revolution pg. 56

I colored inside the lines for a long time.

I was taught to do so and rarely questioned that directive. Why should I?  Who am I to question those who know best, those who have authority and power in the schooling world?

At an early but unknown moment in life, it occurred to me that I actually had a mind of my own. I discovered that I could ask  questions that most people in authority or power didn’t like – questions that often started with something like this: Why are we doing this?

As one in authority, I fielded those kinds of questions on several occasions. I provided, what I considered, thoughtful responses even when I didn’t always believe them myself. I safely stayed within the lines.

From time to time, I pushed the crayon beyond the normal limits hoping to share with others the exhilarating freedom that comes from reimagining the picture itself. With regard to school practices, I soon discovered that coloring outside the lines is akin to educational heresy. It is just not done, because, “we have always done it this way.”

Pushing the envelope of change is a major undertaking. Gathering consensus on issues as fundamental as the right to learn, is nearly impossible. That is why there are so many different school choices; public, private, charter, homeschooling, unschooling, etc.

I long for a time when learning is not legislated, forced, or wrapped in the same, “must-have” package for all children.

I long for the time when teachers, parents and young people can chart their own course for learning. A course not hindered by corporate CEO’s, powerful foundations with agendas, and mass media that serve up “fast food” school bites on a regular basis.

I no longer color inside the lines. The picture is far more impressive and stunning when I don’t.