Teaching Hope in a Climate Crisis

Today I was on the Kojo Nnamdi show! Live radio is an exhilarating and terrifying experience – not least because now everything is recorded for the podcast and sent out via Twitter.  Check out the show here. The topic was teaching about climate change and justice as a strategy for giving young people hope in the current climate crisis.  Since joining Whittle School and Studios, I have received incredible support for incorporating this topic into our curriculum and it came together beautifully for our 7^th graders this past fall.   

It is known that the Thursday before winter break is NOT the time to be ambitious.  If there is ever time for a movie or a pajama party, the days leading up to a two-week vacation are it.  But at Whittle, we are constantly trying to defy conventional educational wisdom, so of course, the Thursday before break we were being ambitious. 

Our 7^th graders had been working hard towards their culminating project:  a simulation of an Indigenous climate summit where they would represent the perspectives of Indigenous people from around the world.  The goal was to prepare a set of resolutions to “send” to the UN outlining the climate challenges global indigenous groups were facing and the solutions needed to mitigate those challenges.  

This project brought together a STEM study of deep time and extinction level events with the examination of early American history through an Indigenous lens that we did in humanities.  We always try to incorporate arts education practices and the performative nature of a simulation added that element.  We also invited the model UN instructors in to conduct workshops on diplomacy, negotiation, and consensus building.  

In groups students researched environmental crises such as desertification, ocean acidification, sea level rise, glacier melt, deforestation, drought, and uranium mining.  They also studied the cultures of the Indigenous groups on the front lines of these problems, people whose ways of life are being threatened and who are also fighting back in myriad of admirable ways.  They learned to care about caribou, coral, and cancer rates.  Now it was time to put all this learning to use.  

The greatest teaching moment of my life came two hours into the simulation.  My 12 and 13 year-old students had been presenting, discussing, and debating vigorously - and they weren’t done yet.  I was prepared to drop it.  The majority of the experience was complete, and I wasn’t sure I could ask for more.  But they weren’t done yet and needed more time.  I offered the free study period scheduled for the next morning. Sure enough, the next day, without prompting, all 19 of them trooped in, arranged their tables, and got back to work.  Winter break was mere hours away.  

What was happening?

I was experiencing the holy grail of teaching – an intrinsically motivated classroom.  Students who were working hard because they were invested in the content and the task at hand.  Because they felt a sense of purpose.  Because what we were doing mattered. I’d come close before, but that day I saw the real deal. 

To whom do I owe this career defining experience?

Certainly, my students, who are some of the most talented young people I have had the privilege to work with.  I recently asked them what they remembered and what they learned:

That many people are now turning to Indigenous People for help and inspiration when it comes to helping the world and having more sustainable goals.    ~Chiara

I think preparing for the climate change summit gave a whole lot more information about topics regarding climate and preparing and researching these topics gave me a lot of insight into Indigenous perspectives. I had to study solutions for the Inuit Arctic people's climate problems, so I really also had to research what their problems were as well.   ~Logan

I am also truly inspired by the education model we are building together at Whittle School and Studios.  Our mission is to reimagine education through interdisciplinary, experiential, project-based learning.  Not everyone believes this will work.  After that day, I know it does.

Additionally, I am so grateful for the support of partnerships with awesome organizations located right here in Washington DC.   Teaching for Change, Rethinking Schools, and the Zinn Education Project have so many awesome teaching materials like the ones that inspired and informed our study.  Local land and water protection groups like Everybody Grows and Anacostia Watershed Society do this work every day and provide hands on access to gardens and rivers.  Smithsonian institutions like the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Museum of Natural History are investing in incredible experiences that connect our classrooms to larger conversations and communities.

 

My job as a teacher of history and the humanities is to develop deep empathy which includes the ability to listen.  Throughout our study, my students learned to listen to others who have different and equally valuable stories to tell.  They learned to listen to the past so that they learn from and do not repeat mistakes.  They also learned to listen to marginalized voices who have the skills and knowledge to turn climate change around and make this world more just for all. 

There is nothing more rigorous and worth studying than the problems adults haven’t solved yet.   Climate change is one of those problems.  If you would like to teach about climate action and justice in your classroom or include Indigenous voices here are some more resources I found invaluable:

https://www.zinnedproject.org/campaigns/teach-climate-justice

http://thisiszerohour.org/

https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360

https://www.ienearth.org/

https://www.indigenousclimateaction.com/

POCC Presentation: People of Color Using Stories in the Classroom

So much fun presenting with my colleague and friend Thu Nguyen at POCC 2019 in Seattle Washington. Check out our presentation below.

 

Relating Objects to Pedagogy: Challenges and Opportunities

This summer I am a Teacher in Residence at the Freer Sackler, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art.  I, along with two colleagues, am working on a project to think about how we might best promote the museum's collection of Chinese Art objects to an audience of teachers, while providing materials that support the objects’ integration into curriculum and instruction.  It has been a wonderful opportunity. First, it is such a luxury to simply be in a museum surrounded by gorgeous, thousands of year old art everyday.  I casually walk by gilt buddhas and jade bi and bronze bells and silver platters served in the courts of Persian kings. Secondly, I began my teaching career as a museum educator and at a particular point decided I could do my best work in schools - how many chances do we get to walk the road not taken? Third, I love standing somewhere in the middle between museums and schools thinking about the needs of both institutions, their relationships, and how they can best serve each other.  The following essay examines trends that present opportunities for museums to engage schools beyond content standards, and in doing so, perhaps make themselves and their objects even more valuable.

Any survey will show that teachers have varying degrees of autonomy in designing curriculum, which can be determined at the classroom, school, district, or state level.  The majority of teachers have guidance on what they should teach from a supervising authority and some control over how they teach it.  Materials should show sensitivity to the many angles from which teachers may approach them.  They may be looking for an exciting way to start a social studies unit or to provide the context for an experience with a specific art medium or to heighten students’ critical thinking skills in preparation for a design project.  Whether a generalist or a specialist, teachers must maximize each minute of instruction.  There is never enough time to complete all that teachers want or are expected to.  Lessons that allow them to achieve multiple goals are very attractive.  In addition to considering current national and state standards there are a few other trends that could, and perhaps should, impact this work.

First, there is increased conversation around culturally responsive teaching and relatedly, the need to educate for global competency.  Culturally Responsive Teaching is a pedagogy that recognizes the importance of including students' cultural references in all aspects of learning.  Global competence is “the capacity to examine local, global and intercultural issues, to understand and appreciate the perspectives and world views of others, to engage in open, appropriate and effective interactions with people from different cultures, and to act for collective well-being and sustainable development” (OECD).  The cultural distance from which students approach objects varies greatly.  These frameworks might lead to questioning how the collection serves as window and a mirror. How might students recognize themselves in the collections?  How do the collections help them better see and understand the culture of others?  How do objects in the collection relate to the modern issues facing the world’s people and the solutions they will need to create? These frameworks might center the relationship the viewer is making to the object rather than the object itself.  In this case, the objects might be selected for their potential to foster connection or to widen the viewer’s perspective by challenging commonly held assumptions. 

Teachers are also prioritizing tasks that incorporate Social Emotional Learning practices.  In what ways can interacting with objects in the collection help build empathy, self-regulation, communication, and cooperation? When students are asked to listen to one another, to put themselves into the shoes of someone else, or to share a story, they are practicing essential life skills.  How might our objects help students build stronger relationships to one another? To a culture? To the past? How might learning about the struggles and accomplishments of people long ago increase resilience and creativity? How might it inspire inquiry, conflict resolution, or teamwork?   Viewing encounters with objects as opportunities to build these critical competencies means the experience will have lasting effects far beyond the lesson or visit. 

Another impactful trend is Backward Design. This process begins with assessments as opposed to curriculum.  First, the specific skills and knowledge that are being assessed determined and the level of rigor students are required to reach in those areas is defined. Then the most effective way to assess student performance is determined.  Lastly, instruction and learning activities are designed to align with the assessment.  In these cases, teachers will be looking for activities (and objects) that align with predetermined outcomes.  These are more likely to be related to widely applicable skills and understandings rather than specific facts or narrow contexts.  Focusing on the broader implications of an object's material or cultural nature enhances the likelihood of a teacher making those connections.

A fourth important trend is the ongoing conversation about 21^st Century Skills.  Teachers are very focused on delivering an education that is relevant to and prepares students for an unknown future.  A persistent question should be how might educators use objects from the past to meet 21^st century objectives?  The objects selected and presented might then be evaluated for their potential to engage teachers and students in experiences that foster the necessary learning, literacy, and life skills.

Overall, there are many opportunities to connect experiences with objects in the collection to the concerns and requirements of today’s teachers.  Centering the experience of the viewer and their ability to connect and extend that experience into various contexts will make it more likely that both teachers and students readily accept an object’s importance.  From a teaching perspective, relevance is in the eye of the beholder.  Teachers and schools are attempting to respond to dynamic changes in the educational landscape.  Museums and their objects can and should choose to be extraordinary resources that support those efforts.

Private Schools with Public Purpose

Long time!  This week I am presenting at the Private Schools with Public Purpose Conference.

"The 2019 national Private Schools with a Public Purpose Conference at The Spence School on March 7-9th will be focused on the theme Collaborating in the Spirit of Justice:  On the Intersections of Equity and Service. This will be the 12th year of the PSPP conference, which draws teachers and school leaders from across the nation who are interested in service learning, equity, and summer learning programs. Our hope is to help schools envision how to partner with and support programs in their communities as a means of creating more equitable learning environments and opportunities for all students."

I first attended this conference in 2017 when it was in Washington DC.  My colleague and I held a workshop called "Sowing Seeds" about our 6th Grade Food Justice study.  It was really fun and helpful to talk to like-minded colleagues about our interest in growing our students understanding of food justice.

This year I am presenting "What Feels Like Seismic Shifts" about the challenges of doing this work over multiple years and the strides that we have been able to make.  35 people are signed up!  I will let you know how it goes.

Mendocino Poems

These are poems inspired by a place, Mendocino.  It is a small town on the northern coast of California.  My family has been going there every summer for over 50 years and now I take my son.  It's really special. 

Coastal

It is possible that there are
cliffs like these in other places but
I refuse to believe they are as beautiful.
That anywhere else the sky forms
a more elegant tapestry.
That those other waves crash as symphonically
against such perfectly carved rocks.
That the song the sea foam sings on other shores
is as sweet as the lullaby I hear right now.

The Show

You can pay $18.50 for a ticket to the planetarium 

or you can sit in a field unpolluted by lights 

during the Perseid meteor shower.  

The crickets will narrate 

instead of Morgan Freeman.

The temperature in the theater 

is subject to change without notice

and since the footage is unedited 

your patience is required. 

Still, you can be quite certain 

that the universe extends beyond the ceiling

that the infinity of stars are twinkling in real time and 

that the one you just watched has not already 

been used up on some other person's wish. 

Ars Poetica

I don't call myself a poet, but I do write quite a bit of poetry.  I have been teaching it for the last seven years and it has become my preferred method of documenting and discussing my personal and inner lives.  I have never liked journaling, and while I suppose blogging could be considered a type of journaling, I don't cringe at my past words here like I do on paper.  I am learning to offer myself the same compassion I offer my students and their writing.  These are a few of the poems I've written recently that I like.

Green

Spring did not come easy that year
and neither did her happiness.
Both were wrought from cold hard ground,
after a tough as nails winter,
faces into belligerent gusts of wind
and relentless rain.

Exhausted they turned toward the sun
the moment it appeared.
The first bud was strong and sweet
paving the way for full bloom.
Tiny leaves gathered on the branch andsuddenly everything was green. 

Blackberries

For Allen

My favorite memory will be picking blackberries with you
on the way to Boyle's swimming hole.
The path was well lit and sunny and dusty
like I remembered.
There were no cattails but the reeds were as high as our heads.
Blackberry thorns pricked on both sides.
Ripe fruit was scarce but
I reached into the briars
risking skin and limb because blackberries
are your favorite
and I would do anything for you.

Ars Poetica

When I was 5, I stole a piece of candy from the grocery store.
When I was 11, with my throat burning, I confessed this sin
to my father, who tilted his head as he looked at me and said,
Why are you telling me this?

Years later I gave birth to my one dear son,
and when I whispered my hopes and dreams
in his ear, he looked at me just like my father did.
Again, I guess, I was not making any sense.

Sometimes, language is insufficient

When Young Mothers Die of Cancer II

Somewhere in Maryland a
young mother is dying.
Down in Houston her mother grieves.
In California her children play together,
as she would have liked had she
lived long enough to see it.

At night sometimes she comes to them,
her smell sweet and familiar,
her hug warm and longed for.
She wraps them tight in memory.

In the morning they say nothing,
afraid someone will tell them it wasn't real.

Philosophy of Education

The book from college that I remember reading is Neil Postman’s The End of Education.  He was the founder and chair of my program, the Department of Culture and Communication at New York University.  While at the time I had no intention of becoming a teacher, now that I am I think about this book all the time.  To summarize, he asked school leaders, educators, and students, “Why are we all here?” Why indeed. 

Once I knew I wanted to be an educator I attended Bank Street College of Education, a place where I could grow my practice without compromise.  The gods served by progressive education were in alignment with Postman’s perspective that schooling should be about “how to make a life, not a living”.  After 12 years in the field, I still wonder how we might focus the methods of education (the standards, the learning goals, the essential questions, the projects) on “meaningful” ends – the definition of which educators disagree. Ultimately, what do I wish my students? A sense of personal identity, cooperative interdependence with others, respect for our earth, a commitment to community, to peace, and to justice.  Such “soft skills” are not often in vogue and yet who can deny that the human experience is complete without them?

I have three mantras that center my teaching around achieving what I see as the end goal of creating capable and confident lifelong learners who are empathic and engaged citizens.  People who might know how to go out and make a life. When faced with a dilemma I can count on these words to bring truth to light.

Teach the whole child

This was my first teaching philosophy, captured in a Master’s thesis that still rings true today.  At that time, I wrote:

My priority is preparing students to become lovers of learning for life.  I want them to value their intellects and capabilities and have faith in their desires and their dreams.  I want to provide opportunities for them to bring their outside learning in, as well as opportunities for them to share what we learn together with their families, friends, and communities…I want to be a teacher who sees all of my students as whole people with whole lives.  I want to fearlessly jump into those lives and care.  I want to bring those whole children into the classroom and leave their emotional, social, intellectual, and moral selves better than when I found them.  

My yesterday self would be proud to know that these are still my priorities.  I still seek to provide authentic learning experiences for the unique students I come in contact with each year. I still try to listen and solicit their ideas and feedback.  I still try to offer choices and leave room for their inspired creativity.  The invisible curriculum where students are building identities and friendships, where they are testing the boundaries of integrity and authority, where they are developing a growth mindset understanding of risk, failure, and success, is just as important as what we read and write and calculate.  I try and remember that those are simply means to a much bigger end.

Teach what matters

Our sixth-grade curriculum feels important.  Quaker philosophy asks that we “Let Our Lives Speak”.  To let one’s life speak, one has to discover what it might say.  By making careful curriculum choices, I try to give my students room to uncover areas of interest and to develop talents that might be of use as they go about the business of living. We are motivated by the testimonies – weighty concepts like peace, integrity, equality, and stewardship.  Over several years, our team has infused these ideas directly into the curriculum through the lens of social studies. 

Thematically, we study global issues and sustainable solutions.  Sixth graders want to know what is going on in the world.  We watch the news, we read articles, we research hot topics. We build our media literacy and think critically about information that is presented.  We debate potential perspectives. Current events can be frightening, even to adults, but we establish our classroom as a safe place to feel authentic emotions and to ask questions.  We learn about the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals and the movement to make major headway on key problems by 2030.  We leave room for our interests.  Last year we studied ethical sourcing of raw materials for chocolate and cell phones.  The year before it was endangered manatees.   The exact issue is less important than going through the process of asking ever deeper questions, using multiple sources to answer them, listening to a variety of perspectives, and putting our research into action.  It is a process they can use their whole life.   I am especially proud of how our food justice curriculum is taking shape. It contradicts the notions that service-learning work is not “rigorous” and that its integration dilutes the academic program.  What is more rigorous that studying world hunger?  It is a problem that has not yet been solved. 

We culminate the year with a design-thinking project.  Students are charged with building scale model sustainable homes for well-researched client families from around the world.  This highly collaborative, interdisciplinary experience allows them to apply a wide variety of gained skills in a novel way.  They have to depend on one another and to be dependable, as it is too much work for any one member to shoulder.  They can visualize what it will take to provide sustainable lifestyles around the globe.  What others need.  What we must give up.  Most of all, students walk away knowing there is a role for them in creating this better life.  They are involved and they are invested.  

Curriculum design is one of my favorite aspects of teaching.  I love wrestling with content, resources, and activities to craft dynamic learning experiences based on the interests of that year’s cohort. I see first-hand how social studies allows students to grapple with the problems of those who lived long ago or far away. It is an empathic exercise.  Quaker philosophy also asks that we look for “that of god in everyone”, something that I think social studies helps us to do.  Through our studies what I really hope is that students build the cultural competence and vulnerability required to be in community with others.  Only together in true partnership can we work on problems that really matter and create solutions that restore justice and create a sustainable future for all.

Teach without ego

 I sincerely believe that ego is the nemesis of the teacher.  I define it as a projection of a self that is separate and different and special from the other selves in the world.  Left unchecked it can be divisive and a barrier to compassion.  It breeds insecurity, jealousy, and competition.  Ego can be a detriment to the practice of teaching. I came across this dilemma while exploring the concept of the teacher-leader.  As I seek to be an integral part of progress and evolution in my schools, I have to be really honest with myself about my intentions.  Am I propping up my self-esteem, trying to get ahead, or seeking to control a situation according to my own desires?  Am I operating on fear or resentment? With a fixed resolution or an open mind?  Am I acting in the interests of my students? Do I honor best practice? Do I uphold agreed up ethics? Am I present to talk or to listen?

When I first joined my current school, I entered into a team teaching situation that I greatly underestimated for its difficulty.  I came to realize that most of the angst I felt at work could be traced back to my ego.  Desires to be recognized, respected, and right can be strong. Self-preservation seems sensible and competition seems healthy.  A twinge of resentment over a close relationship or individually achieved success seems normal. Suspicion of new colleagues and initiatives seems expected. Giving priority to the activities and topics I prefer seems logical. But when these emotional responses interfere with my ability to focus on what is best for my students and their learning, my ego is the one that needs to back down.  In those moments, I am learning not to fight, not to defend, not to protect, not to promote.  I am learning to let go.  When "I" am at the center of my practice, the world my students and I are creating together feels fragile and destabilized, tilted in the direction of a self-concerned perspective.  When my students are at the center of my practice, our world seems infinitely more solid.

These mantras are evidence of my growth and continuing evolution as a teacher.  I acquired each of them during a particular time though for me they remain timeless.  With further reflection, my practice continues to deepen, proof that I am what I wish for my students, on a joyful journey of lifelong learning.