Teacher Leadership Today

Amplifying Expert Voices: Teachers' Letters to Obama

TLN Forum member Anthony Cody authors the blog Living in Dialogue, hosted at the Teacher Magazine website. In early November, Cody used his bully pulpit to post an open letter to President Obama, in which he described himself as "one of the millions of teachers across the USA who actively supported your candidacy." Cody said he "took heart" when he read these words on then-Senator Obama's campaign website:

Obama believes teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests. He will improve the assessments used to track student progress to measure readiness for college and the workplace and improve student learning in a timely, individualized manner. Obama will also improve NCLB's accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them.

Cody, a National Board Certified teacher who coaches science colleagues in Oakland CA, then challenged the President to compare these words with the announced plans for Race to the Top funding. The proposed reforms, he contended, "do not enact the vision you have put forward." He went on to make his case that the RttT proposals would leave teachers "demoralized and sidelined...We will remain the subjects of change rather than agents, and our creative vision will be missing." He concluded:

It does not have to be this way. Teachers are ready for change, ready for mutual responsibility, ready for better assessments of student learning that honor our classroom practice and our students' capacity for critical thinking. We are ready, but we are still waiting to see these things.

Cody then invited teacher-readers of his blog to join him by signing his letter or writing one of their own. Encouraged by the response, he soon established the Facebook page "Teachers' Letters to Obama," which garnered more than 500 members (and over 100 letters) in a month's time. Cody continued to build his viral campaign with cross-posts of sample letters at his TM blog, ultimately shipping nearly 100 letters to the White House. More have continued to flow in. In early December, Teacher Magazine editor Anthony Rebora opened a discussion group at the TM website to allow visitors to debate all sides of the issues raised by Cody.

Various signs point to the fact that Education Secretary Arne Duncan and others in the Administration are aware of the letter campaign. Education Week plans to publish a January 2010 op-ed article prepared by Cody which will include excerpts from a selection of teacher letters. And the Facebook community continues to grow.

Throughout this exercise in what web-trends expert Clay Shirky has termed "the new social media," Cody and many other letter writers have taken on the role of the "loyal opposition" — recalling Obama's vision of hope and asking the President and his education policy advisors to recognize the need to engage America's accomplished teachers as full partners in school reform — to listen more closely to the ideas of classroom professionals with a track record of quality teaching and student achievement.

Cody's ability to harness Web 2.0 tools to engage teacher colleagues across the nation in amplifying teacher voices on matters of great concern to their schools and students offers further proof — to paraphrase Shirky — that principled educators no longer have to settle for the role of consumers of change, they can be producers as well. In a world where the term mass communication has taken on an entirely new meaning, "the (networked) audience can talk directly to one another," says Shirky. "(T)he complexity of the network is actually the square of the number of participants. Meaning that the network, when it grows large, grows very very large."

Imagine that.

Once You're Stuffed with Turkey and Dressing...

Once you're stuffed with turkey and dressing and Uncle Earl has begun to repeat stories from his oh-so-distant childhood, push back from the table, excuse yourself for some "Internet research," and partake of these recent writings by teachers in the Teacher Leaders Network. 

Cindi Rigsbee gives thanks for being "Called to Teach" in this Teacher Magazine essay from 2008, which we've asked our Education Week partners to repost during the Thanksgiving holiday. Cindi, one of four finalists for 2009 National Teacher of the Year, is currently a middle school literacy coach in Orange County, NC.

High school English teacher David B. Cohen offers tongue-in-cheek thanks to those teachers from his past who ignored his "whole child" in favor of rigor and regimentation in "A Rigorous Thanksgiving." You'll find his essay at our companion blog TLN Teacher Voices.

In case you missed them, two recent Teacher Magazine contributions from the Teacher Leaders Network feature dialog excerpts from our never-ending TLN Forum conversation. In "The Experience Factor" (11/11), TLN members from the Baby Boomer generation explain why they'll postpone retirement to reap the benefits of their hard-won knowledge and skills. And in the article "Should Teachers Sell Their Classroom Materials?" (11/18), our members offer a variety of opinions about a recent New York Times article reporting on teachers who sell their lesson plans and other intellectual property via the Internet.

Uncle Earl still telling the one about chasing the Thanksgiving turkey around the barnyard with a hatchet? Keep your seat – we've got more! Among the blog offerings at our Teacher Leaders Network website:

Nancy Flanagan (Teacher in a Strange Land) believes that "It's a good week for thinking about what makes us happy--and how we, the village, can raise our collective children to pursue the kind of happiness that matters, while simultaneously being aware of and grateful for their many blessings."

Dan Brown (Get in the Fracas) acknowledges that "Keeping a sharp eye on what isn’t entirely working is a crucial piece of the reflection process, and an indispensable facet of teaching well." But this is a week, he says, to celebrate "the good classroom moments, the tiny breakthroughs, [that] are everywhere…."

Renee Moore (TeachMoore) offers her own selection of good Thanksgiving weekend reading, as she enumerates "A Few of My Favorite Things" -- in her case, committed colleagues. "Contrary to myth, there are many successful educators among us, some of whom are pointing us toward a promising future."

Ariel Sacks (On the Shoulders of Giants) has been reading the recent research about the attitudes of today's teachers toward their profession -- and "questioning whether I fit into the contented, idealist, or disheartened category of teacher." She suspects she's leaning toward "disheartened" and would be thankful for any and all advice.

Bill Ferriter (The Tempered Radical) is not thankful when faced with "blocked websites, antiquated tools, or technology decisions that are not aligned with a new vision for teaching and learning…" But he's determined to be Digitally Resilient on behalf of his students, for as long as he can stand it.

Finally, your delicious reward for reading this far: A series of blog posts detailing the Pow Wow unit taught each year at Chets Creek Elementary in Jacksonville, FL. You'll find it at the blog of Dayle Timmons, TLN member and former Florida Teacher of the Year. She recounts:

About six years ago Kindergarten teachers became uncomfortable with their generic "Indian" Pow Wow celebration around Thanksgiving where all the little "Indians" wore brown pillowcase garb with feathers and pounded homemade drums. The teachers began researching Native American tribes as a professional learning community and decided that each class would research a specific tribe and bring those traditions to our annual Pow Wow celebration.

Dayle's commitment to capturing the instructional life of her school is unmatched, in our opinion. Follow this link to a collection of Pow Wow posts and see for yourself. You can begin with this year's first entry (Nov. 10) or view posts from the very beginning in 2007.

Happy Thanksgiving! Is that slamming car door we hear the sound of Uncle Earl heading home? Wonder if he ate all the dessert?

Dan Brown Tells All

In a new interview at the TeachersCount website, TLN blogger and teacher-author Dan Brown tells of his early teaching experiences in inner-city New York, his decision to write a well-received book about his first year, and his eventual move to the District of Columbia, where he teaches English/LA at SEED, a public residential charter school with open enrollment. Here are several excerpts:

On charter schools:

Every public charter, by definition, is its own little bubble universe. Of course, all publicly funded schools share state standards and the state exams, but otherwise I see charters as individual, self-contained environments. This can be wonderful or terrible. For example, some charters are started up by people in over their heads, and you've got bedlam. It's unbelievably hard to build a successful school. Other charters are great ideas when conceived, but they can't draw students or a workable site.

I love my charter school, because I see the school environment as liberating and an improvement over the DCPS norm. My classes range in size from 11 to 15 students; that alone is a ringing endorsement. I also get a lot of autonomy in shaping my curriculum. My colleagues are great and the atmosphere of the school is generally positive. However, despite my positive experience, I don't see charters as a panacea for education reform; they're an alternative option for some parents. Across the country, the regular public school system still serves the overwhelming majority of students and that's not going to change.

On writing a book about his first year:

At first, I wrote for the eyes of my compatriots. I felt like we had been through something dramatic and important together, and I had the tools and the time now to set it down on paper and tell the tale. I banged out 60 or 70 pages in less than a week. My fellow Fellows were so positive about it that I convinced myself that this story could find a readership. For one thing, it had all the ingredients of gripping high drama and it was all real. Also, I could find very few teacher memoirs in the bookstores. There are very few book-length unfiltered accounts out there of what it's really like to teach.

On the challenges disadvantaged students face:

When students start the race several years behind, frustration follows. That frustration can manifest in oppositional behavior ("I don't care about school!"), fear of failure and lack of trying, and low self-esteem. Then the students can't catch up because they're really down on themselves and on school in general. Even if they were fired up, they may also have lousy access to the resources needed to make such an intense academic leap

Of course, this is not at all the case for all students, but I think the large-scale effect of unequal access (based on income) to academically supportive environments for young people foments an opportunity gap.

On improving teacher and teaching quality:

I'm worried that policy-makers are out of touch with the realities of classroom life. If you don't spend time in classrooms with students and teachers, it's too easy to push an ideology of more and more high-stakes testing, which is what's happening. It's gotten to the point where "test scores" and "student performance" are used interchangeably.

Teachers ought to have more of a voice in crafting accountability tools. Unfortunately, our culture does not respect teachers enough to demand that they receive this seat at the table…. It takes a village to truly boost student achievement, and teachers have a major role to play in that, and they should be held accountable for their work. Regrettably, it's not so easily quantifiable to measure short- or long-term teacher effectiveness once accepting the truth that test scores only don't equal the sum total of student achievement. We're nowhere near figuring out that kind of authentic measurement.

Read the entire interview at the TeachersCount website.

Will Retiring Teachers Take All They Know with Them?

Here's one of a dozen comments posted on a recent Teacher Magazine article contributed by the Teacher Leaders Network. "The Experience Factor" features several older teachers talking about why they continue to work in the classroom. The comment below was contributed by Anne Jolly, a former science teacher and Alabama teacher of the year. Read other TLN essays at Teacher here.

Do you know what I think the biggest problem is with the Baby Boomers retiring? I think it's the Mrs. Kellys of the teaching world.

Mrs. Kelly was a wonderful language arts teacher. Kids flocked to her like iron to a magnet. In her classroom, ordinary students morphed into creative geniuses who wrote amazing short stories and became eager readers. But Mrs. Kelly turned 65 and retired . . . and when she retired she took all of the knowledge, skill, and insight she'd developed over her 40-year teaching career with her.

During her long teaching career there was no regular time for her to share and work with other teachers. No regular time for teachers to meet, problem-solve, and learn with one another in teams. No opportunity for Mrs. Kelly to pass her wisdom to the current and new generation of teachers. How did Mrs. Kelly make such a difference for so many students? I taught three doors down from her, and I have no idea.

The problem with the retiring of the boomers is that such a considerable body of knowledge and skill retires with them. And that could be avoided if teachers worked together and grew together in teams throughout their careers. Looking at (a map of teachers over age 50), it's inevitable that lots of teachers will be retiring. What will they pass on to the generation who replaces them?

I remember cleaning out my room and meticulously organizing activities and lesson plans for the unknown teacher who would take my place. As I closed my classroom door for the last time, the knowledge and wisdom I'd gained during my teaching career rested in a dented metal file cabinet. It should have rested instead with caring colleagues, and incorporated into a collective body of knowledge about teaching and learning that we developed together as teachers.

Just think of the collective knowledge retiring in the next few years that we'll never know about.

TLN Book Reviews: Professional Literature for the Teacher Leader

Members of the Teacher Leaders Network regularly comment on professional books that may be of interest to colleagues. Below you'll find links to our most recent reviews, with brief excerpts. Click on a review’s headline to read the compete article. Publishers interested in submitting books for review should contact TLN moderator John Norton.

• • • • • • • • • •

A Compelling Case for Detracking Schools

Detracking for Excellence and Equity
By Carol Corbett Burris and Delia T. Garrity
(ASCD, 2008)

Reviewed by Sherry L. Annee
Biotechnology Teacher
Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School (IN)
Teacher Leaders Network

The authors’ coverage of detracking is so comprehensive that it leaves readers with far more answers than questions -- while simultaneously inspiring us to improve the educational opportunities for students at our local schools. Upon finishing the book, one is left cheering for Garrity and Burris as they claim, “By altering our methods of instruction in heterogeneous classes, we can accomplish what tracking never could – excellent educational experiences for all students.”

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A Book to Inspire a Culture of Trust and Build Teacher Community

Protocols for Professional Learning
By Lois Brown Easton
(2009, ASCD)

Reviewed by Michael Fisher
Instructional Coach and Consultant (NY)
Teacher Leaders Network

The protocols in this book help to inspire the atmosphere and culture of trust and collegiality that is necessary to open and maintain conversations among teachers. When there is a framework of understanding, and a foundation of value for everyone’s participation and unique voice, it helps everyone move forward.

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I Want to Belong to This Club!

A Sense of Belonging: Sustaining and Retaining New Teachers
By Jennifer Allen
(2009, Stenhouse Publishers)

Reviewed by Marti Schwartz
Teacher, Novice-Teacher Educator (RI)
Teacher Leaders Network

The plan of teacher support is frequent, intensive, individualized, and brilliant…. What Allen has given to all of us is a powerful model of strengthening the practice of novice teachers, in a book that is enjoyable to read and inspiring to emulate.

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You Can Be a Change Leader

Leading Change in Your School
By Douglas B. Reeves
(ASCD, 2009)

Reviewed by Elizabeth Stein
Special Education Teacher (NY))
Teacher Leaders Network

As I read this, I readily grasped the author's attempt to create an "I can do this in my school" mindset. This book is a great read for those who are new to the idea of becoming a change leader or for those who wish to extend their abilities. It is helpful for teachers or administrators who have already succeeded with a few ideas and feel the need to continue making positive changes.

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Multiple Intelligences in Your Classroom

Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom
By Thomas Armstrong
(ASCD, 2009)

Reviewed by Kenneth Bernstein, NBCT
High School Government (MD)
Teacher Leaders Network

One should be able to see how the book can be productively used for a somewhat narrow purpose, such as curriculum development, without having to absorb the entire volume. Or one can choose to browse through the various sections to grasp more fully the possible implications of applying Multiple Intelligences theory in a variety of ways, up to and including developing a school around the principles of MI.

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Inside a Hip-Hop Lit Class

Beats, Rhymes and Classroom Life: Hip-Hop Pedagogy and the Politics of Identity
By Marc Lamont Hill
(Teachers College Press, 2009)

Reviewed by John M. Holland, NBCT
Early Childhood Educator (VA)
Teacher Leaders Network

This is not a how-to book. It does not include planning sheets, suggestions for "texts" or discussion prompts. It is an incredibly well documented artifact of a successful experiment in bringing students' culture into the classroom and understanding that culture as a researcher and teacher. I recommend it because I learned things about myself, my students' families, and research.

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And Then I Got to Dewey . . .

Classroom Conversations: A Collection of Classics for Parents and Teachers
by Alexandra Miletta and Maureen Miletta
(2008, The New Press)

Reviewed by Marti Schwartz
Novice-Teacher Educator (RI)
Teacher Leaders Network

(T)hese articles, these thinkers, from Vivian Gussin Paley and Eleanor Duckworth advising us to listen and learn from our students, to Peggy McIntosh and Sonia Nieto who seek to open our eyes to the cultural realms of our students in order to help us to understand their needs — all have wise words for us.

PD Sourcebook Taps the TLN Wellspring

The Fall issue of the Teacher Professional Development Sourcebook from Teacher Magazine and Education Week includes content and comments from quite a few TLN Forum members.

Most prominent is Nancy Flanagan, who authors the article “Collaboration and Insight: Teacher Learning in Action,” describing a project that connects teachers in a rural NC school district with National Board Certified peers — using a virtual professional network. Flanagan shares some lessons she’s learned serving as an online moderator of teacher learning communities:

One of the pitfalls for facilitators in the online professional development age is the tendency to revert to direct instruction—to tell, to explain, to be the sage on the virtual stage. As we built learning modules for the ‘Return on Investment’ initiative, we learned to design open-ended prompts and flexible, safe opportunities to try ideas and ask for help.

The theme for this new edition of the PD Sourcebook is described by editor Anthony Rebora this way: “Can digital technology help break the decades-long hold of generic ‘sit-‘n-git’ professional development?” In an interview with Rebora, Harvard’s Chris Dede offers his answer: “Only if people use the tools well.”

In other stories, we see examples of teachers who are "using the tools well," building their own personal learning networks independent of any official professional development requirements. Writer Elizabeth Rich reports on the rise of teacher-instigated social networks — using the NING-based The English Companion (started by teacher-author Jim Burke) as one prime example. Rich includes quotes from TLN member and PLC consultant Anne Jolly at several points in the story.

Another article explores Twitter’s potential to support student and teacher learning and includes comments from TLN members Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Bill Ferriter, both popular edu-bloggers who write frequently about Web 2.0. Ferriter and Nussbaum-Beach cite Twitter as their favorite learning tool because it allows them to access a trusted network of colleagues more or less instantly when they need ideas, advice or resource suggestions.

Finally, the Sourcebook’s Blog Watch feature highlights TLN-sponsored bloggers Renee Moore and Ariel Sacks — Moore for a post at TeachMoore about the difficulty of disentangling individual teacher contributions to a student’s growth; and Sacks for a contribution to the Public School Insights blog a few months ago, where she shared ideas about increasing teacher retention in hard to staff schools by rewarding valuable teacher leadership.

More Great Start-of-Year Advice

In a recent Teacher Magazine essay, Maryland NBCT Ken Bernstein shares his Advice for New High School Teachers — underscoring the importance of developing an atmosphere of trust with students.

“High school students are often very much in search of identity,” he writes. “That includes how they relate to other people. They need points of reference. They need situations they can trust, particularly as they are challenged to grow, emotionally as well as intellectually.”

Although traditional teacher-education programs rely on veteran educators to invite student- or “practice-” teachers into their classrooms, many skilled professionals can be heard expressing some reluctance about sharing instructional responsibilities with green recruits. They may be concerned about their ability to mentor an inexperienced colleague effectively, or simply hesitant to relinquish control of instruction in an atmosphere of high-stakes accountability.

In another recent TLN contribution to Teacher, we've pulled together the highlights of a chat in our daily discussion group about The Art of Working with Student-Teachers. We think you'll agree its both revealing and thought-provoking.

Finally, in an article that continues to be the "most viewed" on the Teacher website, Oakland CA science coach Anthony Cody makes a strong case that teachers should not wait until classroom behavior is locked down tight before "allowing" students to engage in experiments, projects and other forms of hands-on learning.

"I have noticed that student behavior is often at its best the first few weeks of school," says Cody, a long-time inner-city middle grades teacher. "Students are a bit nervous—watching to see how we will react when things go sideways. We can take advantage of this window of opportunity to showcase the way we really want them to learn. This is our golden opportunity to share our highest expectations with them, and invite them to rise to meet the challenge."

Teaching in the 21st Century: EL continues to lead the pack

With its September issue focused on 21^st century learning, ASCD’s Educational Leadership has reaffirmed its status as the nation’s premiere professional magazine for educators and others interested in issues of teaching and learning.

The issue is chockful of articles presenting a variety of viewpoints about the “21^st Century Skills” debate and its implications for both students and teachers. The EL editors, as usual, also provide more practitioner-oriented pieces, like Marilee Sprenger’s “Focusing on the Digital Brain” and Susan Graseck’s “Teaching with Controversy.” Then there’s “21^st Century Scholars,” “The Students Have the Answers” and “Why Educators Should Care about Teaching with Games.” And many more.

This fall, ASCD is also offering a digital version of the magazine to members — it's a flip-thru interactive package with the graphics intact, complemented by active hyperlinks. Alone, it’s worth the price of admission, which can be as little as $29 a year for web-only membership.

Here’s the September Table of Contents. As always, a generous handful of articles are made available to the general public (something you won’t find at the sites of most other major education magazines) while others can only be accessed online by members.

This month’s public articles include:

What Would Socrates Say?

Peter W. Cookson Jr.

Do we need to craft a new model of education for the 21st century? It's a question worthy of Socrates.

The 21st Century Skills Movement

Paige Johnson

The chair of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills spells out goals.

21st Century Skills: The Challenges Ahead

Andrew J. Rotherham and Daniel Willingham

Why the 21st century skills movement could falter and key considerations that might strengthen it.

Why Creativity Now? A Conversation with Sir Ken Robinson

Amy M. Azzam

Creativity is a crucial skill, Sir Ken tells us.

21st Century Scholars

Terrence Clark

A district extends its school day, and the students applaud.

The Art and Science of Teaching / Six Steps to Better Vocabulary Instruction

Robert J. Marzano

Advice from the best practices guru.

Digitally Speaking / Taking the Digital Plunge

Bill Ferriter

New column by award-winning middle grades teacher

What Research Says About. . . / Encouraging Girls to Pursue Math and Science

Tracy A. Huebner

Use high-mastery teaching strategies.

These free articles are not included in the print issue but available on the Web:

Navigating the Cs of Change

J. Gregory McVerry, Lisa Zawilinski and W. Ian O'Byrne

Do your digital natives need instruction in reading online? Here's how to help. Includes a video of sample lessons.

How to Learn in the 21st Century

Rita Haugh Oates

Research tools have changed, necessitating new research skills.

Managing Messy Learning

Suzie Boss

To deliver on the promise of project-based learning, educators need project management strategies.

Leading for Global Competency

Fernando M. Reimers

How can we prepare the next generation for international understanding?

___________

ALSO: keep an eye on the ASCD Inservice blog during the month. Sometimes they feature an article and provide free access via the blog.)

Thanks, ASCD, for balancing membership needs and the organization’s public service mission and giving us all some thoughtful material to contemplate as the new school year begins.

Another Teaching Secret: Establish Your Professional Identity

We recently posted a collection of Teacher Magazine articles by TLN members — all aimed at helping novice teachers get off to a good start this school year.

We didn’t include this excellent essay by David B. Cohen, a high school English teacher in Palo Alto, CA, because his advice on how to “Establish Your Professional Identity” struck us as a little advanced for teachers who are still struggling to wrestle their first classrooms into shape.

But maybe we were wrong about that. And it’s certain that David’s article will be valuable to any teacher who is taking up residence in a new school. It’s all about getting off on the right foot.

“(A)lthough the students and the classroom are your top priorities,” he writes, “it’s never too early to think carefully about how early experiences in your career can help you establish a professional identity—about how you can collaborate with others and engage in the profession.”

It's smart advice we haven't seen anywhere else on the Web.

Celebrating the "Awakening Giant" of Teacher Leadership

This month at the Teacher Leaders Network, we're celebrating the newly published 3rd edition of the teacher leadership classic Awakening the Sleeping Giant with several features, including an interview with co-author Gayle Moller, a review of the enhanced new edition, and a personal reflection of the book's influence by TLN member Nancy Flanagan at Teacher Magazine.

When the first edition of Sleeping Giant appeared in 1996, Moller says, "there were few people who acknowledged that teachers could be leaders. At the same time, when teacher leaders read our book they said: 'You wrote about me!'"

In the last eight years, school system leaders have begun to acknowledge that they’re not getting the results they would like. And many realize that mandates and limited professional development are not effective ways to improve results. The perceptive district leader is now turning to teachers who are competent and can work with their colleagues at the school building level.

New teacher leadership roles — literacy coaches, mentors, and staff developers — are becoming commonplace. In addition, the National Board certification process has helped many potential teacher leaders realize how they can improve their own practice and help other teachers. External support systems, like the Teachers Leader Network, are encouraging teachers to move outside their “comfort zone” to interact with other teacher leaders.

Shall we declare 2009 the Year of the Teacher Leader? Maybe not quite yet — we still see too much evidence that teachers' expert opinions about effective practice are not highly valued, especially in policy circles. But as Moller and co-author Marilyn Katzenmeyer document, teacher leadership is on the rise. We're confident that as teachers continue to accept more ownership of their profession, frustrated state and national leaders will ultimately figure out where to go for viable policy solutions.