New York is leading the charge for whole child support with over 600 signatures so far! Will it be the first state to reach 1,000 signatures? How is your state doing? Help reach the goal by forwarding the petition to stakeholders you know. When your state has reached its goal, we will deliver the petition to your state board of education. It's time to tell your state board of education that it must do more to educate the whole child.
April 2009
Donalyn Miller, author of The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child, readily admits she is not a reading researcher. But this 6th grade teacher from Keller, Tex., knows how to successfully engage kids while still providing a challenging academic environment: Each of Miller's students is required to read 40 books during the school year.
Not only does Miller teach her students to read, but she also provides the "reading freedom" for her students to explore and develop a love of reading. She says:
Our students...begin each school year filled with hope that this year will be more interesting and engaging than the last, and yet, the drudgery that surrounds reading continues, year in, year out. It takes time for students to get to know me and trust me and then to believe that they have as much reading freedom as I claim they do.
Beyond allowing her students to choose their own books, Miller also provides time for in-depth discussion about topics related to reading. Her book includes a multitude of classroom anecdotes, practical resources, and instructional tips on starting and sustaining reading discussions and activities.
Like her prolific Teacher Magazine blog of the same name, her passion for teaching bleeds through her writing. The Book Whisper maintains her argument that teaching reading cannot be isolated from engaging the learner:
...without considering students' rights to an engaging, trustworthy, risk-free place in which to learn, what we teach will always fall short. Students must believe that they can read and that reading is worth learning how to do well. We have to build a community that embraces every student and provides acceptance and encouragement no matter where students are on the reading curve.
What have you done to engage readers in your classrooms?
When students are meaningfully engaged in their school and community, their voices are not only heard but are also responded to. Learn more about how schools can actively engage students on May's Whole Child Podcast: Changing the Conversation About Education. Tune in Thursday, May 7, to hear more from our guests.
Do the cultural norms and values at your school support student voice? What practices do you or your school and community implement to support students' voice?
Can seemingly simple writing exercises significantly impact achievement among African American students? A new study published in Science seems to suggest that they might.
The controlled, randomized study, which was reported on by Education Week blog Curriculum Matters, followed groups of students in three schools and tracked their performance for two years following a series of writing "affirmations," in which the students reflected on their personal values and interests.
The results are encouraging: African American students who participated performed more strongly than those who did not, and the difference was even larger for low-performing students. The authors hypothesize that the affirmations helped increase confidence and counter stereotypes.
In other words, as we know around here, emotionally healthy students are more able to be successful—and these interventions provide a promising approach to educators looking to support their students.
How have you been successful in supporting the self-confidence of your students, particularly those who have struggled in class?
The 21st century demands a highly skilled, educated workforce and citizenry unlike any we have seen before. The global marketplace and economy are a reality. Change and innovation have become the new status quo. We live in a time that requires our students to be prepared to think both critically and creatively, evaluate massive amounts of information, solve complex problems, and communicate well.
How can we help our students meet these challenges? Here are a few ideas from authors and experts that you can watch, listen to, and read now to get you thinking:
- Watch educator Cheryl Lemke talk about using social networking tools to engage students.
- Listen to a special edition of the Whole Child Podcast outlining the stimulus plan for education and describing how the funds can be used for school improvement activities, including capacity-building professional development.
- Download and read ASCD's new e-book, Engaging the Whole Child: Reflections on Best Practices in Learning, Teaching, and Leadership, a collection of articles about how to inspire trust and confidence, deepen students' thinking, instill the desire to achieve, build on student interests, and more. (This e-book is available for free download from April 15, 2009, through May 6, 2009.)
After watching, listening, and reading... how can we start doing? Share your thoughts, ideas, and tips in the comments.
Whole Child Partner Coalition for Community Schools advocates for community schools as both a place and a set of partnerships between the school and other community resources. Its integrated focus on academics, health and social services, youth and community development, and community engagement leads to improved student learning, stronger families, and healthier communities. Schools become centers of the community and are open to everyone—all day, every day, evenings, and weekends.
Using public schools as hubs, community schools bring together many partners to offer a range of supports and opportunities to children, youth, families, and communities. Partners work to achieve these results:
- Children are ready to learn when they enter school and every day thereafter. All students learn and achieve to high standards.
- Young people are well prepared for adult roles in the workplace, as parents and as citizens.
- Families and neighborhoods are safe, supportive and engaged.
- Parents and community members are involved with the school and their own lifelong learning.
Watch U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan discuss the impact of community schools on children, families, and neighborhoods in a recent appearance on the Charlie Rose show (below), and read NBC Political Director Chuck Todd's thoughts on his "light bulb moment" of understanding President Obama's vision for education programs.
We believe that schools and communities can work together to ensure that each student has access to a challenging curriculum in a healthy and supportive climate. What does a 21st century school look like to you?
Carl Walker-Hoover should be celebrating his 12th birthday today. Instead his family and friends mourn because Carl took his own life last week in the face of constant bullying. The kids at Carl's school called him gay. They said the football, basketball and soccer playing Boy Scout acted "like a girl." They teased him and threatened him and, according to his mom, little to nothing was done to stop the behavior.
Ironically, today is also when tens of thousands of high school and college students across the world will participate in the Day of Silence. Started in 1996 by students at the University of Virginia, and now officially sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), the day asks students to take a vow of silence while at school to draw attention to exactly the kind of harassment that drove Carl, who did not identify as gay, to suicide.
Three years ago, ASCD, GLSEN, whole child partner AASA, BridgeBuilders, the First Amendment Center, and the Christian Educators Association International (CEAI) endorsed a set of dialogue guidelines called Public Schools and Sexual Orientation. Perhaps an unlikely, or at least unanticipated, alliance between CEAI and GLSEN created a process for schools that is there to remind all that this is not an issue of faith or politics, but an issue of safety and support for all. If these guidelines are followed by schools and indeed communities across the world, there will be no need for the Day of Silence.
While student activists are silent today, we urge the adults around them to speak out so that each child in each of our communities is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. Carl should be celebrating today.
Are you depressed by the daily drumbeat of bad news from the newspaper industry? Blogger Adam Fletcher has some news to cheer you up. He's enthused about the widespread phenomenon of youth engagement with new media to report on and connect to their communities.
Fletcher points to "a raging underground energy running frenetically throughout the media/activist community, and that energy is the power of youth voice." He maintains a page listing organizations that host media programs to support these kids, including Just Think, "youth-produced informational media about topics ranging from hip-hop music to consumer rights," and HarlemLive, "a journalism, technology and leadership program that teaches students ages 13 to 21 how to run an online newspaper."
These sites are great examples of programs that channel new technologies into creative programs to support student learning and engagement. For text- and Twitter-happy students, these are clear paths to rewarding Web 2.0 work that can have real impact in their communities.
Do you have a story of student-led online journalism working in your school?
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The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus package, provides approximately $100 billion specifically for education programs. While the intent of the package is to stimulate the economy, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has indicated that he'd like education reform to be a major goal of this unprecedented federal investment.
This special edition of the Whole Child Podcast will outline the stimulus plan for education and describe how the funds can be used for school improvement activities, including capacity-building professional development. The episode will help educators understand and take advantage of the unique opportunities available to them and their students.
- David Griffith, ASCD director of public policy, will explain the timeline and intent for how the education stimulus dollars are being allocated. He'll describe how the money can be used to not only save teachers' jobs and keep class sizes down, but also to improve standards and assessments, enhance data systems, increase teacher effectiveness, and turn around low-performing schools.
- Ann Cunningham-Morris, ASCD director of professional development, will describe what capacity-building professional development is and how it can be implemented. She'll also explain how such professional development is critical to school improvement and its sustainability, which makes it an appropriate use of the education stimulus dollars.
This podcast episode is one of many free resources that ASCD is putting together for educators related to the stimulus package. Tune in to learn about further resources and visit our Education Stimulus Resource Web page for more information.
What questions do you have about the stimulus package? After listening to the podcast, tell us your thoughts on the Whole Child Blog.
Edited April 16, 2009: The special edition Whole Child Podcast on the education stimulus package is ready for download at www.wholechildeducation.org/podcasts
Tomorrow, tune in to our special edition Whole Child Podcast on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus package. The podcast episode will outline the stimulus plan for education and describe how the $100 billion allocated for education programs can be used for school improvement activities, including capacity-building professional development.
- David Griffith, ASCD director of public policy, will explain the time line and intent for how the education stimulus dollars are being allocated. He'll describe how the money can be used to not only save teachers' jobs and keep class sizes down, but also to improve standards and assessments, enhance data systems, increase teacher effectiveness, and turn around low-performing schools.
- Ann Cunningham-Morris, ASCD director of professional development, will describe what capacity-building professional development is and how it can be implemented. She'll also explain how such professional development is critical to school improvement and its sustainability, which makes it an appropriate use of the education stimulus dollars.
This podcast episode is one of many free resources related to the stimulus package that we're putting together for educators. Listen to the podcast to learn about our other resources, and visit our Education Stimulus Resource Web page for more information.
