Nancie Atwell, a teacher of literacy in Maine, won the Varkey Foundation’s $1 million prize as the Global Teacher of the Year. This is like the Nobel prize of teaching. She was interviewed on CNN about teaching, and she talked about encouraging children to read and write, following their interests and passions. She is donating the $1 million to her school, which needs a new furnace and other improvements. When one of the interviewers asked her what she would tell a young person interested in teaching, she said she would tell them to go into the private sector, not into public school teaching. The interviewers were taken aback. Atwell explained that the Common Core and the testing that goes with it had turned teachers into “technicians,” making it hard for them to teach the best they knew how. She would urge them to find an independent school where there is no Common Core and no state testing.
Please forward this interview to your legislators, your governor, and especially to Arne Duncan.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Remember: “reformers” send their kids to private schools. Wonder why? Too bad her message is defeatist. Forwarding her message to “reformers” is just more confirmation to them that they are correct–destroy public education–it stinks! (Even though it stinks because of them!) A crazy world.
Thank you, Steven. I am so disappointed in her response. It makes me want to burn all of her books that I’ve purchased over the years. 😦
That’s a very powerful statement by Ms. Atwell. Hopefully somebody is listening.
Am I understanding this correctly? In the interview, it was stated that she founded her own school, she is not a public school teacher? The million dollars will go to improve her private school? Or am I totally mistaken? Her remarks about public school teachers are spot on.
She won the million and is choosing to give it all to her school. She could have kept it for herself, but she said she doesn’t need anything.
The Center for Teaching and Learning is a private school – and not your tony, elite private school either. It is a demonstration school of renown excellence, where teachers come from across the country for internships and attend workshops to learn how to teach by her methods. I am a public school advocate and I would have my children there in a heartbeat.
There is a diverse student population, ethnically, racially, and socioeconomically. Many attend on scholarships. Tuition is kept low (1/3 that of comparable private schools) specifically to allow more students from diverse backgrounds to attend.
Nancie Atwell won this award for her innovative teaching methods, which, boiled down to their simplest forms, consist of teaching children to love reading by allowing children to read books of THEIR choice, at their reading level. I have seen her program in action and it works phenomenally well. My child, a very reluctant reader, became a skilled, avid, joyful reader as a result of her work, as have countless thousands of other children.
Take a peek: http://c-t-l.org/about-ctl/
Links to the NY Times article about her work that got so much attention in 2009: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/books/30reading.html…
Her video response here: http://www.heinemann.com/authors/109.aspx
Diane Ravitch is right. Parents and teachers need to let state legislators, education leaders and Mr. Duncan in on the secret sauce that is Nancie Atwell. What my child’s teachers learned from Ms. Atwell is teaching practice that is no longer supported in public schools. There is no script. No worksheets. No bubbles to fill in. No app. No software. No points. No prizes. NO PROFIT.
Just books, reading and skilled teacher guidance. As a parent, it was simply amazing to see children wake up to the power of words on paper, and to the power of their own choice in the matter.
If the powers that be are not very careful, it’s not just teachers that will be leaving public education, but all manner of parents as well. To hear them talk, you wouldn’t know it, but perhaps that is the point of education “reform”.
#TeachersMatter
#PublicEdRevolution
“If the powers that be are not very careful, it’s not just teachers that will be leaving public education, but all manner of parents as well. To hear them talk, you wouldn’t know it, but perhaps that is the point of education “reform”.”
Yes, privatization is most definitely “the point of education “reform” today Leaders in both political parties support neoliberal, free market economic policies and privatizing public schools is very much a part of that, as first promoted in the 1950s by economist Milton Friedman. He was against regulation and also wanted to abolish minimum wage and building codes, as well as privatize virtually everything, as he did in Chile in the 70s. That resulted in a highly stratified society there, which is still trying to recover, after massive student protests calling for a restoration of public education.
For more info, please read Naomi Klein, such as “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism,” and Diane’s book, “Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools”
http://www.amazon.com/Reign-Error-Privatization-Movement-Americas/dp/0345806352
You are correct. She founded her independent school in 1990. Her prize will go to her school. She is “donating” it. Her remarks about public school teaching is an insult. It’s a state’s leadership that determines the testing that takes place. Just read about the mess Indiana has been in this year with standardized testing and it has all come from the governor’s office. It’s not the teachers. It’s the “system” that governs education. The system is currently doing all it can to make public education look bad, so they can privatize education and make it profitable for owners and investors using public funds – taxpayer dollars.
Dianne, I don’t think that Atwell meant to insult public school teachers. She was railing against the constraints placed on their freedom to teach by federal mandates.
I think that “donating” to her school is rather misleading, when she is putting the money into HER BUSINESS. She mentioned needing to buy a new boiler and that she has some needy students. I wish I’d heard her say something about how her faculty might benefit.
That was fantastic. An incredible woman and teacher. And a teacher with credibility! And a knee-jerk anti-teacher commenter could never say about her that it’s not all about the kids. Her explanation about the “constraints” on public school teachers from CCSS and tests couldn’t have been more concise, rational, and intelligent.
From the CTL web site: The Center for Teaching and Learning is a K-8 independent demonstration school. Founded in 1990 by educator Nancie Atwell and certified by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, CTL has 501(c)(3) non-profit status, serves a population of approximately 75 students, and draws from over twenty towns and villages to create a loving, close-knit community of midcoast families who are committed to excellence in education. http://c-t-l.org/about-ctl/
Not only is it private, but it looks like this K-8 school is a voucher school, because it’s listed amongst the schools that are “PRIVATE SCHOOLS APPROVED FOR THE RECEIPT OF PUBLIC FUNDS FROM MAINE SCHOOL UNITS” here:
http://www.maine.gov/education/data/tuitionrates/tuit10/ptuit10.htm
And Maine repealed their requirement that private schools receiving public funds submit an annual audit.
http://www.maine.gov/education/forms/misteam/efm240/efm240law_pl2011.htm
Also, on the school’s Enrollment page, while claiming that they don’t discriminate, they also say “…Nor do we seek gifted students, those who will be “easy” to teach, or children who have particular styles of learning or family backgrounds. We do, however, recognize our limits. CTL is a small, non-profit school without financial resources to provide a special education teacher or separate program for children who may require such services.”
This means they are claiming it’s an undue burden for them to provide services to kids with special needs, which is an out provided to small businesses under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
It sure sounds to me to me like they are screening out kids on IEPs who may need added guidance and supports from someone who is skilled in working with special populations, even though they are taking public money for tuition.
Perhaps with the million dollars that will be donated, the school can afford to hire special education teachers for years to come and update their enrollment policy. The limits have just been removed.
I’m sorry. But you are completely ignorant of Nancie’s work, CTL and Maine schools by reading your posts. In fact, there are towns in Maine, a rural state, that do not have any schools in their system. In fact, the residents of those towns (only two in the state), can chose to send their son/daughter to any school of their choice by which the town reimburses the chosen school, public or private, at a rate the state sets. So for those two towns, with a combined population of 900 people, you could call it voucher system but to use that word, loaded with political innuendo to a tiny school just recognized by an international community as stellar, is ignorant in the least, certainly irresponsible. If you’re a teacher, I suggest you apply to the intern program to see for yourself what education should be in this country. It works everywhere too, I’ve used Nancie’s methods in East Harlem, Queens as well as rural Maine.
I’ve been teaching for a very long time and have worked in many diverse locations and schools. I would suggest you learn something about how corporations and politicians in both parties have aimed to privatize public education across this country, by promoting charters and voucher schools, including ALEC: http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/Privatizing_Public_Education,_Higher_Ed_Policy,_and_Teachers
There are a variety of ways that public schools serve children in rural areas. I think it undermines public education when voucher kids and public funds are sent to your private school instead of the public school that is just down the road and in the same town as you, Eddy School in Edgecomb, ME.
Nancie Atwell has long been famous in English teacher circles for her books, especially In the Middle, and her advocacy of authentic reading and writing. Sad to say that she is absolutely correct that teachers who care about those things will be completely frustrated these days in most public school settings. It is wonderful, however, that she has received this global recognition. Maybe someone will listen to her.
The trustees of the Varkey Foundation are: Sunny Varkey, Dino Varkey and
Jay Varkey. Bill Clinton is the honorary chairman. So we have some multi millionaire (billionaire?) setting up a million dollar prize for innovative educators.
https://www.varkeyfoundation.org/about
Per USA Today, “Education Secretary Arne Duncan tweeted congratulations.”. Per the Center for Teaching and Learning website: $8,600 per year for Kindergarten to attend the school.
My guess is that no special needs or poor or English language learners need apply.
So she won the award teaching at an elite private school with hand picked small classes and we should listen to her advise to our kids who want to become teachers and help ALL kids?
And we should forward this to Arne Duncan and our local political representatives…many of which are in favor of vouchers already?
I’ll pass.
Not true- she serves special ed and poor students (thus needing the money for the scholarships she gives out). She doesn’t have ELLs because Maine, by and large, doesn’t have ELLS.
She has been an incredible influence on my teaching career and that of many others. I recommend you read her work.
Thanks for the info…I did not see that on the school website about special ed
That’s because the school’s website effectively says the opposite on their Enrollment page. It says, “We do, however, recognize our limits. CTL is a small, non-profit school without financial resources to provide a special education teacher or separate program for children who may require such services.”
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has less stringent requirements for small businesses. However, the ADA does require that private schools address the matter of meeting disabled students’ needs on a case by case basis, as well as make reasonable accommodations. Private schools are not supposed to make blanket, across the board statements like this, because that would discourage a lot of families with Special Ed children from even applying.
When I was the principal of a small private school, this meant that I might have to make arrangements to provide an aide at least part of the day. We had a low budget so I often did that myself. I also worked with my local school district in order to bring supportive services onsite –which was at no cost to us. When you’ have to make decisions to do these kinds of things on a case by case basis, I think that should be mentioned, instead of what you don’t plan on doing for anyone.
I think it is a mistake to compare this award to a Nobel prize.
I would not send the interview to Arne Duncan, or anyone, because that would function as advertising for more investments in private schools.
The sponsoring foundation and its subsidiary enterprises are seeking profits from education, one of these GEMS.
Varkey/GEMS tried to open charter schools in the US with a dismal record, had a bit more success in the United Kingdom. The Wikipedia entry for Varkey is worth reading if you want to see a long trail of investments. Visit the Foundation website. The source of the money is private education in Dubai.
The foundation website shows Bill Clinton as an honorary Whoha, offers a global index of respect for teachers, and salaries. Teachers are, according to this index, most respected in China and least respected in Finland.
The family business is education for profit. Expansions in China and Africa are underway. There are some ties to UNESCO and offerings of International Baccalaureate programs. I was unable to determine the criteria or nomination process for the award. This is not to say the teacher is undeserving of recognition, but that the sponsors of awards need to be looked at. Consider the Broad Prize here in the US as an example of taking a look beyond the press.
Nancy is not a politician; she is an idealist. Her comments were not intended to be opposed to public education. She actually did teacher training in my school public district years ago. Her comments were aimed at the inhospitable climate for creative, dynamic teachers in public education today. She could have said more. In fact, the current climate for public teachers is toxic by design. Few young people will want to teach in public schools anymore. Can you blame them?
Sunny Varkey, the billionaire founder of Varkey Foundation – from Forbes: Son of expat teachers, Sunny Varkey created GEMS Education, the largest operator of private kindergarten- to-grade-12 schools in the world, with 50 schools and 140,000 students across the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia and North America. In October, he sold a 20% stake for an estimated $350 million in its emerging markets business, covering the Middle East, North Africa and East Asia to a consortium of investors which included Blackstone and Bahrain’s sovereign investment arm. Varkey stepped down as chairman, ceding spot to Sir Michael Peat, a former private secretary to Prince Charles. While GEMS’s first school in the U.S. has opened in Chicago, a plan to start a school in New York has been stalled by a lawsuit by a property developer who alleged that GEMS breached a tenancy contract. Passionate about fitness, Varkey works out daily. Dotes on his four grandkids.
http://www.forbes.com/profile/sunny-varkey/
Interesting guy, Sunny Varkey.
http://www.economist.com/node/2628740/print
Chalk, talk and customer service
Sunny Varkey plans to transform education with his budget private school business
Apr 29th 2004 | From the print edition
FEW people praise the state monopoly in education these days, in Britain, America or anywhere else. The main political parties in Britain support choice for parents, and some blurring of the line between state and independent education. Parents have rather more radical desires: a recent poll in Britain showed that 53% would opt out of the state sector if they could afford to, compared with just 7% who go private now. Alas for them, the existing private schools are horribly complacent. Rather than expand into the beckoning low cost market, they sit in their existing niche, offering expensive education to the lucky few.
This is where Sunny Varkey, a fabulously wealthy Dubai-based entrepreneur, sees an opportunity. His firm, Global Education Management Systems (GEMS), already runs a bunch of schools in the United Arab Emirates, which educate more than 40,000 children. Within five years, he wants GEMS to be running 200 schools in Britain plus a few elsewhere, including in Washington, DC, where he has recently acquired a 30acre site.
Fees at his British schools will start at just £6,000 ($10,700) a year—only a few hundred pounds more, incidentally, than the taxpayer currently forks out, on average, for a pupil in the state system. This is 25% less than the existing average cost for private education, yet he expects his schools to be not only less expensive, but better: more focused, more efficient and with superior customer care.
There is room for better results on all those fronts. Most independent schools in Britain (and elsewhere) are poorly managed. They are (nominally) charities, run by a board of governors, often appointed for their personal connections rather than managerial savvy. The headmasters they appoint are often excellent teachers but only rarely good managers of what are, in fact, medium sized businesses. Reporting lines are blurred. Costs inflate, productivity slides. The mix of goals that the school is trying to achieve—including the charitable purpose, educational quality, size, reputation or efficiency—is muddled.
By contrast, Mr Varkey’s schools boast central administration of everything from purchasing to human resources. Overheads will be lower. Training, promotion and recruiting will be more efficient. Moreover, parents will get weekly or fortnightly emails giving details of their children’s progress, rather than the terse termly reports that most existing independent schools manage. And in what will be a blessing for working parents, GEMS schools will offer breakfast clubs and afterschool activities to match the parents’ schedules with their child’s. To cut costs to the bone at the cheaper schools, class sizes may be larger than the norm in Britain; teachers in scarce subjects such as maths and science may be shared between several schools; the curriculum may cover mainstream subjects only. That is a big leap, admittedly. Most existing schools operate on the principle that, once parents have decided to pay for education, they become quite insensitive to price, and choose only on quality and convenience. But Mr Varkey thinks that education is much like health—another of his businesses. People care about the price of private health insurance—why not of schools?
The strongest selling point for parents considering the budget schools will be good discipline, established chiefly through selection. That again sounds attractive. Dealing with a minority of troubled and disruptive children is one of the state schools’ biggest headaches. They are under strong pressure not to expel such children, in order to save costs elsewhere in the system. But the cost of that is then borne by the wellbehaved.
So will it work? There are some big questions. Mr Varkey’s style and manner are unusual. His private suite at the Dorchester, a famously swanky London hotel, and his exotic suits are a world away from the tweeds and flannels of a typical private school staff room. Although publicity shy, his private views on subjects ranging from discipline to obesity and neglectful parents are trenchant. Many parents will like that, particularly in contrast to the agonised political correctness of British education. But to find sites for his schools, and to navigate Britain’s restrictive planning rules, GEMS will need to schmooze with local councils, which do not share Mr Varkey’s views and which are generally hostile to any competition to state education.
Outsiders think that this hostility will be the biggest obstacle. They note that, after nearly a year, GEMS has added only one school to its original pair in Britain. But the firm has a team headed by a professional property man looking for sites. A senior executive claims that it will have 16 new schools by the end of the year, and expects to be managing another five or six existing independent ones. GEMS has also recruited a lot of impressive educational talent, including Mike Tomlinson, a former chief schools inspector and a well-respected educator, who heads the company’s advisory board.
Teaching the state a lesson
All that inspires confidence. But the most interesting question is not whether GEMS manages to open lots of low cost private schools in Britain, but what happens after that. If a private company can provide an excellent education for the same cost at which the government provides a bad one, it undermines a huge assumption about education all over the world: that public financial support must mean public provision.
That strengthens the argument for the state to distribute education vouchers that parents can use to pay school fees. Parents in Sweden and the Netherlands already benefit from such systems, and they are spreading in America, where six states have some form of voucher. In January, Congress voted through a revolutionary new federally financed voucher scheme for Washington, DC’s wretched schools. Mr Varkey’s expansion to America could dwarf his impact on Britain.
Love how all of the bitter ideologues trash Nancy, a highly respected author and teacher, and the prizegiver in order to try to kill her message. Killing the messenger or the prize giver does not in any way refute her message. Public school teaching is now a horrible job, made that way by reformists. Run to another job as fast as you can. Full stop.
From the website of Nancie Atwell’s private school: CTL is a small, non-profit school without financial resources to provide a special education teacher or separate program for children who may require such services.
The tuition fee, which is kept as low as possible ($8,800 in K-8), is one-third that of such comparable Maine independent schools as North Yarmouth Academy and Waynflete. In addition, we award as much tuition assistance as possible, based on parental income for the previous year.
http://c-t-l.org/about-ctl/
The school has a total of 75 kids, no special ed kids. How is this scalable up to a whole school district? I’m not knocking her, she’s a great educator and had the smarts to start her own PRIVATE school. No standardized tests, no CCSS, no PARCC and she’s not beholden to Arne Duncan. When I started teaching many moons ago, I had 38 kids in my class and more than a few of them were special needs kids.
I do not understand the hostility. Teachers have limited choices these days. Teaching in an independent school like the one established by Atwell is an honest choice. She is not squirreling away taxpayer dollars in her management company. Furthermore, she actually has some legitimate expertize in her field and has attempted to share it.
It’s a non-union voucher school.
Non-union does not necessarily mean evil. There are actually schools where teachers feel no pressure to unionize. They are satisfied with their working conditions. A small, well-respected, private school in Maine whose tuition was somewhere around $8000 is obviously not using the vouchers to scam people. They are not in existence because Atwell thought of a way to suck money out of public education. While I respect those who have chosen to teach in poor, urban districts (I did it myself for awhile before they axed me), teachers who choose to work in other environments are not lesser beings for their choices. If we intend to defeat the reform movement and their most pernicious actions, we would do well to not sneer at everyone who does not meet the purity requirements to true progressivism. Frankly, there are plenty of people who object to the reform agenda who do not embrace what is termed as progressive education. Are we going to be as exclusive a club as those we now oppose in the reform community?
Maybe voucher schools, including schools like this that don’t accept kids in need of Special Ed, are not a problem for you, but they sure are for many of us who are supporters of public education. I think voucher schools are worse than charters because, although they receive public funds, too, they’re even less regulated and accountable in many states, not to mention the questionable material that passes as curriculum in a lot of them.
I worked in private education for many decades so I know what it’s like there. Perhaps you should try living in the shoes of those of us who have been non-union teachers in private schools because, while a lot of us we have really enjoyed our work, many are sick of being exploited paupers. I happen to be against stripping unionized public workers of their rights and think that all workers should enjoy the kinds of livable wages and benefits that union workers get. In my experience, equitable pay and benefits are very rare in private education and found primarily in elite schools.
I started my teaching career over 40 years ago in a small, private school that served only special education students from profoundly handicapped up through LD and emotionally disturbed. This was at a time when public schools generally did not serve students who didn’t fit the mold. There were kids from the projects and kids from wealthy homes. We were the last stop before public institutions. My training was practically nonexistent as was my salary, so don’t lecture me on what I perhaps should do. I happen to have some opinions that do not follow lockstep with yours even though we are on the same side. Imagine that. Deal with it. Save your righteousness for someone who seeks to privatize public education for their personal gain.
Try withholding your own self-righteous indignation, because you have a public pension that you can live on, while people from low paid jobs in private ed like me end up getting $11K per year in Social Security to survive on in our retirements. You can bash me for wanting to see more people with equitable pay, benefits and pensions like unionized public workers, but you’re kidding yourself if you think that can be interpreted as being on the side of people like me and not on the side of privatizers.
My public pension benefits will look very much like your social security benefits. My social security benefits will be negligible since we do not get social security. My state did not want to contribute to that as well. It turns out that was smart on their part; they have neglected to fully fund the public pensions for fifty years preferring to keep taxes low. Workers have paid their part. The state never could have gotten out of paying into social security. So, the politicians have gotten to look good to the taxpayers and divert our retirement to the state budget.
That is beside the point, but I mention it to point out to you that you probably do not have a monopoly on hardship. I do not envy you at all; you are in a tough spot. I am not dependent on my pension as my sole source of income or I would be on the street. You have made or been forced to make choices that have left you with what appears to be a bleak future. However, I am reacting to your absolute certainty that anyone who would start a private school is a tool of the corporate privatizers. Does Deborah Meier also fall in that category?
Ignoring the evidence that indicates that vouchers don’t work, I am opposed to them mainly because I think we are entering dangerous waters when we start to provide tax dollars to religious institutions of any ilk. I believe it is unconstitutional, but in today’s climate it seems that anything goes unless someone who objects has the money to file suit.
“You can bash me for wanting to see more people with equitable pay, benefits and pensions like unionized public workers, but you’re kidding yourself if you think that can be interpreted as being on the side of people like me and not on the side of privatizers.”
Huh? I’m not sure what you are saying there although I do know I never bashed you for “wanting to see more people with equitable pay, benefits, and pensions like unionized public workers.” Your indictment of Nancie Atwell did not speak to that idea. In an ideal world we wouldn’t need unions because workers would be well treated by their employers. We have been too complacent over the years and allowed corporate forces to weaken private sector unions. A strong union base lifted everyone’s salaries, but we have lost most if not all of that benefit. Corporate America has made it very plain that they need the checks and balances of unions as the representatives of workers. I totally agree with you on that issue. I disagree with your assessment of who is “worthy.”
I understand that you are passionate about what you are saying. As you can tell, I am too. Perhaps we have something to learn from each other, but I’m guessing that today is not the day to try.
Most people in this country like me have jumped on the bandwagon against public employees which says “I’ve got it bad so they should have it bad, too, since they’re paid with our tax dollars.” It’s a pretty warped mind which twists my advocating for equitability for all workers into “having a monopoly on suffering.” I have read your posts before, so I already know that the sky will not be falling for you since your district paid their share into teacher pensions, so if anyone is behaving selfishly and falsely playing the pity card, that would be you.
“I have read your posts before, so I already know that the sky will not be falling for you since your district paid their share into teacher pensions, so if anyone is behaving selfishly and falsely playing the pity card, that would be you.”
If you had any idea what is going on in Illinois, you might make some sense. The districts for which I worked do not pay; the state does. Chicago is the only district that is presently directly responsible for public employee pensions which are in trouble as well because of “pension (payment) holidays.” Individual teachers across the state pay 9.4% of their salary toward pensions.
As I said, I already know that you are not from Chicago but are from one of the most cushy north shore suburbs, so stop trying to make yourself into something that you’re not.
I think I plainly stated that I was not dependent on my pension alone, thank God. I am lucky not to have to depend on it. I am never going to be rich, but I hope that if we are careful and keep working our money will last. We are solidly middle class (if there is such a thing anymore); believe it or not, not everyone on the north shore makes megabucks. I notice you only respond to pieces of what I say, and I often don’t recognize what you think I am saying in your response. If you ever stop to read what I have said, you may find that I support unions. I support public education. I detest high stakes tests and am opposed to national standards. I am against vouchers and charters. I suppose I responded to your attack on Nancie Atwell because I respect what she has contributed to the understanding of literacy. She is from a progressive school of thought that I wholeheartedly support. I can understand her desire to start her own school and try out her ideas beyond the constraints of the public school system.
Again, this is about a non-union voucher school. Apparently, many people here are willing to make an exception to their principles and support it because they like the teacher who runs it, as well as her methods. This just goes to show that the corporate “reformers” who awarded her the prize picked a very effective pawn for yet another deceptive method of encouraging folks to flee to private schools. People need to be more cognizant of when they’re being used by corporate overlords to work against their own best interests.
All the aspects of her idealized school cannot be replicated in a public school. However, my public school district was trained by her in literacy. She worked with Donald Graves, and her approach was whole language. I worked in a diverse school district with about a 30% poverty. We all noticed, from slides she showed, her school had middle class white students. We all realized that many of our students had gaps that her students didn’t. Yet, her message of authentic reading and writing benefited all. It is also diagnostic as you can see from students’ writing, the level of literacy. We had to modify some of the instruction for the bottom levels to include some phonemic awareness students were missing, including a reading recovery option for the lowest students. That is how we developed a balanced literacy program.
If you are looking for diversity, then Maine is probably not your go-to state. If you are looking for pockets of rural white poverty, Maine, NH, and Vermont can all showcase northern tier state examples. One of the things we are fighting for is the ability to look at our communities in the context of their daily lives. The standardization being pushed by the current reform cabal does not recognize individuality. Do not make the same mistake and create a new orthodoxy.
Sorry retired teacher. I should have chosen a better place to post my last comment. I think we are on the same page. My comment was intended to be directed toward the dismissive dialogue about Nancy Atwell.
We are on the same page. Her ideology would be far healthier for our young people than dehumanizing precepts behind corporate schools or the pain and suffering poisoning public schools.
I struggle with putting my kids in public schools today — because of all the standardized testing and the Common Core — I see firsthand how destructive the testing is (I teach in what appears to me to be a truly great public school, but still I see how much better it would be if we didn’t have to be controlled by the testing). I visited a private school recently and felt the lack of standardized testing “rank and sort” and respect for all learners. If this teacher’s private school costs only $8800, then she is trying to provide a good education that people can afford (that is a small fraction of the tuition at the vast majority of private schools).
And I agree with her — teaching in a public school is being damaged severely by Common Core and the testing — a young person starting out if they want to teach SHOULD look for a private school in which to work (and put their own kids in). The damage done by CC and the tests are the most impactful, saddest things I can think of in our society today,
The teacher’s view SHOULD be publicized — to the very best teachers, Common Core and standardized testing are very bad things. Maybe the public will listen.
Indeed- I’ve talked with my sister (also a teacher) about this a lot. We both agreed that, if testing were to continue the way it has been, we would both want to send our kids to a montessori or montessori-inspired school for K-3, minimum. They are allowed to do things that we just aren’t as public school teachers, and have an developmental understanding of the age group that those drawing up the standards clearly do not.
I could find no evidence that this voucher school is unionized.
Look, you have to consider why Arne Duncan et al. would think it’s so great that a billionaire foundation awarded a “nobel prize” to a teacher at a voucher school. Remember, Democrats claim to be against vouchers, yet do nothing to stop them even when they go to religious schools, which is unconstitutional.
I see two aims for corporate “reformers” in supporting a voucher school teacher who says people should forget about going into public education and teach at an “independent” school instead. Corporatists want to privatize public education, as well as further dismantle labor unions, so with the Common Core and high-stakes testing, they are trying to make public education as unappealing as possible to teachers, parents, students, and the general population.
This is one of their divide and conquer strategies, which have already been working very well for corporatists, as Sheldon Wolin and Chris Hedges discussed. Hedges, who really gets what’s going on, provided an example:
“And I think what’s frightening is the way not only the public has been fragmented, but the way that these fragments are manipulated to be turned one against the other. So, for instance, corporate capitalism strips workers of benefits and job protection, pensions, medical plans, and then very skillfully uses that diminished fragment to turn against public sector workers, such as teachers, who still have those benefits. So the question doesn’t become, why doesn’t everyone have those benefits; the question becomes, to that fragment which is being manipulated by forces of propaganda and public relations, you don’t have it, and therefore they shouldn’t have it.”
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12602
Chris Hedges is so insightful. I love his spot on response to Wolins’ comments regarding, “…the Koch brothers’ purchase of the Republican Party. They literally bought it. Literally. And they had a specific amount they paid, and now they’ve got it. There hasn’t been anything like that in American history…”
“HEDGES: Well, didn’t Clinton just turn the Democratic Party into the Republican Party and force the Republican Party to come become insane?”
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12577
In the CNN video mentioned above, a comparison between the hype around Kim Kardashian and the lack of attention to teachers in the media was made (teacher bashing was ignored). Chris Hedges addresses the kind of media focus on Kim Kardashian et al. in his writings. He describes how the corporate owned media intentionally diverts public attention to pop culture and reality TV shows, where people can become rich and famous for doing nothing particularly spectacular, or in competitions, so that you too can lose yourself in dreams of winning big on Survivor, etc. This effectively prevents you from focusing on the reality of your own dwindling middle class life and inhibits the impulse to organize with others in similar circumstances and try to do something to change that. In our apathetic society, this seems to be working very well for corporations. (The next time you’re more inclined to escape to “reality” TV than go out and vote, remember how that serves our corporate overlords.)
I was very surprised to recently see two English reality TV shows centered on competition where there were no monetary awards at all, The Great British Bake Off and their version of Child Genius. People there really got into the competitions anyways, but I wonder if that would fly in the US, where even the pageants for tots award money.
Private schools like hers (and ones I’ve had friends work at) don’t tend to need unions because working conditions are so nice, and the head (in this case, Atwell) is generally responsive to individual requests, particularly within such a small (ten-ish teacher) community. The pay is probably crap, though, which is why I’ve never gone over to the dark side myself.
In my experiences teaching, as well as running, private schools around that size, the best perk was autonomy, although it’s not that way everywhere.
The downsides were that the pay certainly was “crap” in a lot of places, and benefits such as healthcare and pensions were often non-existent. I wished we were unionized due to those downsides, because I tried but was unable to get better pay and benefits for teachers when I became top administrator. My pay sucked as well, even as principal. After teaching at one school for 12 years and being the principal for 2 years, I grossed only $16K, and I got no pension. No professional educator should have to pay that kind of price for autonomy.
We are seeing an example of the divide and conquer strategy used by corporate reformers being played out effectively right here.
Here are yet more examples of how billionaire “reformers” use divide and conquer, as promoted by Illinois’ new Republican Governor Bruce Rauner. His wife works in Early Childhood Education, so she should know better in regard to what he is doing to Early Intervention: “Picking on society’s most vulnerable”
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/18/opinions/perry-disability-cuts/index.html
You have hit upon a very insidious strategy -hitting the most vulnerable. I watched a Rachel Maddow video in which she identified what she calls a genius strategy to turn all the states RED (GOP) so they could gerrymander them farther and hold on to the one party system for a decade or more.
Education is even more vulnerable, with 15,880 districts in 50 states, where ordinary folks have no idea what is going on behind the scenes in their own district ,let alone that they are picking off the teachers but the tens of thousands in LAUSD (google it).
http://www.perdaily.com/2015/01/were-you-terminated-or-forced-to-retire-from-lausd-based-on-fabricated-charges.html
http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/LAUSD-
THE-BUCK-STOPS-WHER-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Fired_Stop-Harassment_TEACHER-150224-973.html#comment534880
Teacher Ed. Again, please some to the school before making vast generalizations about the school climate based off of reading the website. We are not a union school true, we have only four full time teachers. You’re making comparisons that simply don’t fit. We are not a voucher school either, especially in the way that you understand that word. Please defend what you have no clue about Maine rural school communities. You scold a commenter on “righteous indignation” yet post similar ignorant commentary without having any real understanding of the school, nor Maine schools, nor CTL, nor the goals of Nancie’s work. As a public school teacher who worked under the amazing auspices of NYC teacher’s union, we are all for teacher unions, especially those that fight for teacher autonomy, creativity, and fair performance standards and measures. Nancie was a public school teacher for 12 years before starting her school. Before that, she “. . .innovated without permission,” closing her doors, taping paper over it so when the principal came in, seeing her kids “. . .simply reading” she didn’t have t defend herself each time. Her school is not an antithesis of public school teachers, but an oasis that invites them into to learn how to apply the workshop to whatever public school situation they are stuck in from administrations. We host 20 teachers a year to come in and watch what we do. If you asked ANY one of them, mostly public school teachers, they would completely 100% disagree with your commentary. So, again, please refrain from your commentary which has no basis in realities at CTL.
Glenn, I provided plenty of evidence in my first posts above, including links to state of Maine websites, such as the one indicating the Center for Teaching and Learning is listed as a private voucher school. Whatever the location, when public funds go to unaccountable private K-8 schools, I think that undermines public education. I also provided a link above to the state law abolishing annual audits for private schools.
When an award winning teacher from a private school goes on national TV and encourages future teachers to work at private schools instead of public schools, due to all the CC standards and testing in public ed, that feeds into the neoliberal agenda to privatize public education, as well as to kneecap teachers’ unions.
When the Secretary of Education applauds a the leader of a private K-8 school with a tuition of $8,800 per year, which has 75 students and 4 full time nonunion teachers, that shows this model is appealing to corporate “reformers.” who have long aimed to prove that fewer teachers and less money are needed for education. As far as affordability though, it costs $2K more per year at your school than at private Catholic schools in my area and it costs $4K more per year than private Catholic schools in Brunswick ME, such as this school: http://www.saint-johns-brunswick.pvt.k12.me.us/
I realize that you often get what you pay for and I have no problem personally with the tuition there, because I happen to support the teaching methods implemented at the school, as I have used similar approaches as a teacher myself. However, I think it’s rather curious that while “classroom teachers of grades K-8 are invited to apply” to pay the $850 to attend a 4 day “internship” at the school, Title I teachers are not eligible to attend. I think that feeds into the notion which many corporate “reformers” have that low income students can’t benefit from progressive education, which I happen to disagree with, and it also seems to support the conclusion that this is not a sustainable model for public education –which is just fine for “reformers”who aim to privatize public education across America.
Just to make my point. St. John’s base tuition is 5500, but each family is responsible for $7600 in total tuition. Plus with fees added in, the tuition becomes comparable to ours. Many schools claim base tuitions “plus” to help attract students.
Finally, if you have done research on all of Nancie’s commentary, she encourages all teachers to “. . .innovate without permission,” by closing their doors to administrators and being accountable to their students first, last, and in-between.
If you have run schools as you suggest, you will know that they are not money makers in any stretch of the imagination. We consistently run annual deficits in our budgets for which this money will help fill.
I understand and truly believe your points about the corporate wolves ready to pounce on education, and you must know that the CC was the first stepping stone for this not-so-subtle movement that includes folks from the tech sector strongly pushing behind. Nancie is not and will never by a mouth piece for any of those movements, and certainly understands that the spotlight on her offers an opportune moment to blast the clarion against the CC and offer a plea to policy makers to value teachers like she does. She doesn’t offer “methods” to teach, she puts the traditional ways that teachers interact with students, a “boss vs. laborer” dynamic, and completely turns that common classroom dynamic on its head. Her classroom is the pedagogical equivalent to a labor union. We are pro-union, can not by law have interns pay for their professional development with Title I money (which as a former administrator, you must have known), yet have hosted teachers from every socio-econimc district in the US and the world, and are champions of teacher independence in schools from poorer communities. I have used Nancie’s methods in the poorest Congressional district in the country and seen them work there and in every setting I’ve taught for the last 25 years. There is no evidence we support non-union schools, no evidence we do not accept students with IEPs, and no evidence that the staff would benefit from a union, which every single one of our teachers has belonged to in the past and support. Nancie is the corporate movement’s nightmare. She’s a teacher who believes that teachers can not be minimized into technicians; someone’s whose pedagogy vaccinates teachers from becoming cogs in some Houghton-Mifflin literacy program; an educational leader who practices what she preaches in the classroom, uses her classroom as the core of her research on reflective practice and then is able to help teachers all over the country use her liberating classroom practices in whatever setting the find themselves in by “. . .innovating without permission.” Just like she did. She is a champion of teachers, not the enemy. Let’s focus on how to bring Nancie’s message of valuing and respecting teachers again to forefront. Let’s bring Nancie’s message of empowering teachers, not hamstringing them to the forefront.
Our doors are open to anyone who wants to learn about the future of teaching, the democratization of classrooms, and how to implement it in any setting, anywhere, at any time. I invite you to see what we do firsthand before flippantly categorizing what we do without merit or basis. What evidence do you have to make the claim that we do not accept students with IEPs? Because, you are wrong. What evidence do you have that we are unaccountable? And to whom should we be? We accept children from districts without schools, yes, but to call us a “voucher” school is simply an incorrect application of that loaded term. What the secretary of education does is completely independent of us, and we do not in any way shape or form support his positions anywhere. Where is your evidence that says we do? And to believe that corporate reformers are interested in us is a joke. Like I say above, Gates and other new “reformers” like him think of us as having the plague with our anti-tech stance, our belief in teacher innovation as the core of student success, and our belief that student discourse is the center of the learning environment, not screens, not scripted lessons, not tests.
Please come up to Maine and visit. I promise you will have a positive experience and we can all work together to re-frame the discourse around teachers who have been belittled and muted over the last fifteen years at least.
Thanks.
Glenn, Go to my comment and see what I did using Nancy’s tool from her book “In the Middle.” It wasn’t easy to do with so many students, but it allowed me to connect with the kids.
You are right of course, there is no way I could have done such a program today, with the mandates from on -high. I was ‘lucky’ the administration was so busy promoting our new magnet school (and themselves) that they left me to do what I do best, wicks motivate children to read and write, and show them how it is done… in a genuine manner.
i’ve been teaching for over 40 years and have often paid for my own professional development. I see no reason why Title I teachers should not be given the choice of paying for it themselves as well, instead of screening them out even before they apply –just like what’s done there with high needs students who might need a special ed teacher, when other private schools have been able to work out this matter, such as by working cooperatively with public schools or by hiring someone who is dually certified in elementary and special ed.
When a private school teacher tells others to go teach in private schools, that is not a “clarion” call that will help public education. “Reformers” would like nothing better than to see public ed teachers flocking to private schools. The bottom line is that Nancie was given an award by a foundation involved in privatizing education across the globe and it’s highly unlikely that a public school teacher ever would have won that award, since that would be contrary to their agenda. The problems in public education that she pointed out are policies designed to further that agenda. She might have made a difference if she had actually said something about that.
To clarify, $5050 is the cost of Preschool at St. Johns. Tutition is $4850 for K-8, with options for paying an additional $2750 or participating in fundraising for it, as well as appplying for a grant for the base tuition: http://www.saint-johns-brunswick.pvt.k12.me.us/documents/Admissions/TuitionContract.pdf
There’s no fundraising requirement at Catholic schools in my area and though tuition is $2K less, the cost of living is high here.
I much appreciate ALL the information and opinions provided by previous commenters.
Thank you.
Just my way of looking at things, but what jumps out at me is that those that inflict [I am choosing my words carefully here] CCSS and its heavy burden of testing abuse on young people are not just flailing away at all and sundry.
This blog, 3-23-2014, “Common Core for Commoners, Not My School!”
[start posting]
This is an unintentionally hilarious story about Common Core in Tennessee. Dr. Candace McQueen has been dean of Lipscomb College’s school of education and also the state’s’s chief cheerleader for Common Core. However, she was named headmistress of private Lipscomb Academy, and guess what? She will not have the school adopt the Common Core! Go figure.
[end posting]
Link: https://dianeravitch.net/2014/03/23/common-core-for-commoners-not-my-school/
When you click on the link above, you will be taken to an online piece that includes this excerpt from a statement by Dr. McQueen—oops! no longer available!
😱
So instead I give you the key excerpt from that statement by her contained in a comment [11-7-2014] by me on this blog for a posting of 11-6-2014, “Marion Brady: What The Common Core Standards Can’t Do”—
[start of KrazyTA 11-7-2014 comment excerpt]
[start quote]
One of Tennessee’s biggest cheerleaders for Common Core has not pushed to adopt the education standards in the private school she now leads.
On an almost weekly basis, Candice McQueen is called on by the state Department of Education to beat back criticism. Last week, it was an Associated Press panel. The week before that, she advocated for Common Core as SCORE released its annual report card. McQueen testified before the Senate Education Committee during a two day hearing on the standards.
She praises the rigor and the benefits to having Tennessee kids on the same page as students in 44 states. So when McQueen assumed a new role over Lipscomb’s private K-12 academy, parents were concerned Common Core would follow her to campus, according to an open letter sent to families. …
McQueen wrote that she [sic] Common Core has not been adopted and that she has “not been in any formal discussions” about changing standards at the school, though she has asked faculty to familiarize themselves with the math and English standards.
And McQueen doesn’t plan to stop advocating for Common Core, according to the letter. …
Asked by WPLN why Common Core wouldn’t be used at her school, McQueen referred back to her letter.
“We make decisions about what’s going to be best within the context of our community,” she said. “I would say that’s absolutely what we’re going to do now and for the future.”
Lipscomb would be unusual if it went to Common Core. Most of Nashville’s private schools blend state and national standards and don’t use the same standardized tests as public schools.
[end quote]
(bracket & ellipses mine]
[end of KrazyTA 11-7-2014 comment excerpt]
From today’s posting: “She would urge them to find an independent school where there is no Common Core and no state testing.” And if you look at the last paragraph of what is just above—
Dr. Candace McQueen would, I am firmly convinced, completely agree.
Double talk. Double think. Double standards.
A very dead and very old and very Greek guy knew the type:
“Hateful to me as are the gates of hell, Is he who, hiding one thing in his heart, Utters another.” [Homer]
😎
P.S. I got a firmly worded response to my assertion that an icon of western culture would be opposed to self-proclaimed “education reform”—
“I reject that mind-set.” [Michelle Rhee]
Just reading my comment, she went from a 13% certainty that I am wrong to 90%. And she only needed 10 seconds, not 10 years [thank you, Bill Gates!].
But y’all knew she would say that, right? Especially after she came down firmly on the side of standardized testing only taking up 1.7% of classroom time. Data drivel, er driven, decision makers—ya gotta love them, at least, for their humungous amounts of self-esteem.
Apparently she scores a 101 out of a 100 on the KIPP Pluck Index.
Go figure…
😏
“the KIPP Pluck Index”
LOL!!!!! TAGO!
Yeah, KIPP and other “no-excuses” schools should demand self-reports from adults in their camp who are bullies with inflated egos.
Nancy Atwell and Mary Ellen Giacobbe came to our district and gave us literacy training back in the early 1980’s. That was back in the days when we were considered professionals, and the district gave us five half days for the training with follow-up that included Nancy and Mary Ellen working in classrooms with teachers and children. They changed the face of literacy instruction in our district. They gave me the best advice I ever got, “Only do things that make sense, authentic reading, writing and thinking.” It is sad that creative, reflective teaching is being muzzled by iron fist lockstep test prep. The biggest loss will be for the students!
I adore Nancy Atwell. I’ve read all of her books. It’s very calming to hear that Nancy feels the very same way I do.
Private schools (or ” independent schools,” if you prefer euphemisms) are targeted by Common Core, as well, since Gates factotum David Coleman now heads the College Board, and the SAT is being aligned with it. The private and parochial schools are being put on the same forced march as everyone else.
Maybe some secondary private schools are compelled to follow the CC, but it’s still an option, not mandated, and many K-8 private schools might not feel the need since they are exempt from testing. Over 800 colleges don’t require the SAT or ACT and not every private school parent expects their kids to go to Ivy League colleges, including some, I would imagine, who are receiving vouchers for their kids to attend private schools like this one.
We do not follow the Common Core and are accredited through NEASC.
Nancie Atwell has been hijacked in these comments by the private-school advocates and her story is being turned into a justification for so-called “independent” schools. Nancie Atwell’s long career much benefitted professional teachers who took a student-centered build-from-the-bottom up collaborative approach. The private war on public education over the last 40 years has reached a crescendo of destructiveness which is crippling public schools, suffocating teacher professionalism, looting school budgets of their tax levies to transfer money and buildings to private entities, and abusing our precious kids by turning them into tech-robots glued to standardized screens for hours of PARCC/SBA. The failure of the two giant teacher unions, the giant national PTA and state PTAs, and the buying-up by Gates of EdWeek and other media, have led to this shameful condition where teaching is becoming a disfavored career choice. The cause is obvious, the private war on public schools which has hollowed-out public education, undermined its capacity, and driven dedicated teachers to distraction. Don’t blame Nancie Atwell for this, and don’t use her honesty as a bat to beat up even more on the public sector for private advocacy. Let’s all keep our eyes on the prize–parental opt-out can stop the private war on our kids and teachers, keep the momentum going. Toss out of Boards of Education, Supt. positions, union executives, and political office any and all who promote private charters or refuse to defend our precious public sector.
I agree. The current war on public education has nothing to do with Nancy Atwell or others that favor authentic assessment. The war on public education stems from the privatization movement that blossomed from laws that deliberately politicized and monetized public schools. When Clinton passed the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act 2000, he literally sent the barbarians to the gates of public education. Add to this the New Markets Tax Credit, and you have given corporations license to loot public education. Deep pocketed Bill Gates softened the resistance by tossing money in all directions. This explains how we have arrived at our current place of chaos.
I disagree. Nancie Atwell may very well be a fine English teacher. However, holding her up as a model for the world (as the “Global Teacher of the Year”) when she works at a private, non-union voucher school, and she is willing to persuade future teachers to work at schools similar to hers, was clearly a ploy of the corporate “reformers” hell bent on privatizing public education that awarded the prize.
Blame the corporate “reformers” for choosing someone that is not a public school teacher, not the people here who support public education that have outed where she comes from, a private but publicly funded school which appears to consist of about 75 mostly white kids –and which screens out students in need of Special Ed prior to enrollment.
The corporations may use her as they will. Atwell’s message is the opposite to what is being sold in corporate schools or today’s public schools. She opposes standardized testing. She believes in portfolio assessment. This is an option is small private schools, but not in the test crazed accountability world we live in.
She may be fodder for corporatists who want to divert teachers and families alike to non-unionized privatized voucher schools, but I suspect she’s savvy enough to understand that.
Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé.
Please forward this interview to your legislators, your governor, and especially to Arne Duncan.”
Hasn’t this been their goal all along?
Duncan, Gates, Obama and other deformers would probably say “Mission accomplished” because it just makes their “online-classroom” plan (where the teacher is merely a technical facilitator) that much easier.
Yes, and it would affirm their plan to privatize public education, not just with charters but also with voucher schools, which the DINOs claim to be against but have done nothing to stop, even when those schools are religious and clearly violate the separation of church and state.
I think the reason it was suggested to send the post to the “deformers” has nothing to do with the politics of public vs. private schools. I think Nancy Atwell is an example of a humanistic teacher of excellence. She espouses a constructivist approach to learning allowing teachers to be creative and engaging, not robots That is why she is an exemplary teacher.
I was not able to ascertain from watching the video that this teacher works at a private voucher school or that the award was from a corporate foundation which supports privatization, so I suspect Diane didn’t know enough of the details to be able to surmise that promoting this amongst the power elites would likely just play into their hands, since they revel at the thought of everyone going to private schools.
Nancy Atwell:
Get’em! Go for the jugular simply by telling the truth . . . . .
Atwell sits well with me . . . .
Nancy Atwell enters my story… again. In 1990 when I was hired to teach seventh grade at East Side Middle school the year it opened, I was given nothing. No curricula, no books and when I began, not even desks, chairs or a blackboard, but I was thrilled. I and a view of the east river, and the school was a stone’s throw, literally down the block form Gracie Mansion.
I had, of course from time in my suburban NYS school the state objectives for reading, writing and art for the seventh grade. Over the summer, in order to ensure that I would do it right, get my students to enjoy reading now that they were teenage, and be able to monitor their reading and writing, I read,Nancy Atwell’s “In The Middle.” cover to cover, and made notes in the margin. I have it still!
I convinced a local carpet dealer to give me some square carpet samples for the kids to sit on until desks and chairs arrived, and I purchased $3000 worth of YA literature, recommended by librarians, and teachers and lists I trusted. We read together there and talked about books, that first year when I had only 77 students, and the school was new.
THAT did not last for long. When my students aced the NYC reading tests, year after year, parents clambered to get into our school, which also had a superb staff of brilliant teachers in every subject.
I copied, from the book, the ’skills sheet’ that Ms. Atwell used to inform parents what writing skills needed attention. “Here’s what….(child’s name)… needs to do as a reader” and explained the purpose of the letters, so they were on board, and knew that this was the main weekly assignment, and could not be a mere book report.
Although Nancy had less than 20 kids in her classroom in Booth Bay Harbor, Maine, and eventually I had 4 classes of over 30 kids, I found a way to create that “dining room table’ where we talked about what we loved in the books we read.
I wrote a letter each week, too, to the class, (“Dear Boys and Girls” and to their parents (“Dear Parents”, talking about learning and what I was thinking. Pew saw those letters as the ‘clear expectations’ which were the first principle of learning. It was these letters, and the Reader’s Letters that the students wrote, together, which brought the attention to my practice.
The parents loved these letters, and one parent gathered them all and presented to me as a ‘book’ — ironically — at a party they threw for me that year that I was sent to the rubber room!
The “Reader’s Letters,’ which the students wrote each week about the book they were currently reading, was a real tool for me to know what they were reading, what they were taking away from each book, and also to monitor the way that they put their thoughts on paper. It also offered me a chance to challenge the kids to use what they were learning about literature (and written communication) in my class. I asked them to talk about irony, or author’s craft, or to use vocabulary that we identified in the stories we read in class, and they did.
The letters opened up their minds to their own ideas, and often they would explore a story idea or essay in the letter.
Over ten months, the letters grew in length and complexity, as the children did what Atwell knew they would, open up to a teacher they trusted. In their portfolios, the letters showed the growth over the year. Also, because I supplied 1000 books that they loved, the kids finished over 100 books on average….which explains why their writing grew exponentially.
The surprise came when these 13 year old children began to wax philosophically about their lives. They revealed enormous self-knowledge and insight. One parent asked my permission to use the letters her daughter and her friends wrote, as part of her Master’s thesis about how young girls relate to an adult they trust. Thanks, Nancy! You got that right, even in a big city!
I took home a folder from each class on a different day, read and answered them all that day, copied them and the skills sheet so I had a record of their skills, and posted the best letters in the hall. It literally stopped people in their tracks, and (as I have said here before) they caught the attention of Harvard, the lRDC and Pew, so that I became the cohort in NYC for the REAL, New Standards research, and was awarded the NYS English Council Educator of Excellence award.
I owed it all to Nancy for her idea, which I adapted, and I always said so, even to Phillipa Stratton (Stenmore ) who came to me, and asked me to write a book explaining the philosophy behind this assessment tool, and how I did it.
Of course, that went away with the trauma that ended my career, and put me in teacher jail as a reward for my success. A million dollars? I would have been happy to have a decent pension, some savings, and a better social security benefit, or simply to retire with my reputation in tact instead of shredded after putting East Side Middle School on the map in NYC!
Can you, Diane mention to Nancy how her book inspired me?
“I read,Nancy Atwell’s “In The Middle.” cover to cover, and made notes in the margin. I have it still! ”
I do, too! 🙂
Please cite your resources – I cannot find a quote from her on Common Core ANYWHERE ON THE WEB. You could get sued for libel and slander for this.
Watch the video. Nancie clearly says so
At the end. Pay attention.
I find it disappointing that even teachers are recommending children to not be taught by public schools because of educational policies and reforms. Instead of recommending students be taught elsewhere, a solution needs to be found to address the numerous issues within public schools. Public education is the most accessible education, so why punish students that need a pathway to education?
I love Nanci Atwell and the concept of a Global Teachers award but am wary of Bill Gates’ video endorsement implying technology makes it happen as well as the uniformed students in the finalists’ videos. How public are all these schools where teachers are allowed to ply their craft so effectively?