IDEC 2013 - part 4 - vision and connections

Monday's theme at IDEC 2013 (the International Democratic Education Conference) was "Vision," and Tuesday's theme was "Connections." In two days I filled 17 pages with notes. How can I coherently convey any of it to anyone?

In reality, looking back through my notes, most of what I've written down are just ideas and questions. Then, ideas that lead to more questions. The most amazing thing about being here is that everyone is here to share and learn with and from each other. Everybody wants to hear each other's stories, ask questions, find out who's got experience in the thing they're stuck on, find out who's doing something radically different and amazing. And everybody accepts everyone else at face value. There's no judging, just an understanding that we're each on our own paths, each seeking the next challenge or adventure.

In boiling down the last 48 hours, I think my takeaway so far is to go back to my school and work the way the conference is working. Ask big questions, wait for answers to come. Work collaboratively on problems. Include everyone in the conversation. Trust the kids and trust the process.

Here are some of the big questions from these first two days that I want to bring back to my school. And I'd love to hear my readers' responses as well. Everybody is invited into the conversation! The last two questions are ones that we've been exploring for the past year already.

- How do you define democratic education?

- What does community participation look like?

- How do you balance your vision for your school with the visions/needs/concerns etc. of the school community?

- How can we build connection with each other for the future of democratic education?

- What are your thoughts on the pros and cons of making decisions by consensus vs. majority voting?

- When children make the rules, what do you do about bottom-line safety concerns that the adults aren't willing to negotiate on, i.e. holding hands crossing the street, sitting up while eating, washing hands after using the bathroom?

- When you value not bossing children around or forcing them to do things that they don't want to do in school, how do kids learn responsibility for materials (taking care of them, not breaking them, cleaning up)?

I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas and as always, even more questions.

IDEC 2013 - part 1 - inspiration and intention

Inspiration

Our preschool is just finishing our first year of living by the democratic process. We were inspired by our collective years of experience teaching, learning, reading about and toying with the democratic process in classrooms, and one of our big inspirations, Teacher Tom. <---This is a link to one of his many posts about how the kids at his school make their own rules by unanimous consensus, the process on which we modeled our system this year.

Another big inspiration for me has been Summerhill School and its founder A.S. Neill. When I was teaching in London and learned about this amazing school, my mind was blown and changed forever. It's a school where kids can choose whether or not to go to class. They can play outside all day if they want to. They can make choices about their education, learning what they want, when they want. And it works. And one of the major goals behind it is for people to be happy. One of A.S. Neill's famous quotes is, "I would rather Summerhill produced a happy street sweeper than a neurotic prime minister," the idea being that when people are in control of their lives and their education, they are happier and more well-adjusted. Another major aspect of Summerhill is that the kids make the rules, practicing democratic principles in meaningful contexts for their whole childhood. What better way to raise citizens who are prepared to participate in a democracy?

We had a very successful year implementing the democratic process. There's lots of room for improvement, but isn't that always the case? We've just recently had a big meeting of all the teachers from both schools to reflect and share on our experiences and goals for the future. It's exciting. And now comes...

IDEC 2013

Our director, Kris, and I are heading to Boulder, CO tomorrow for the International Democratic Education Conference, a gathering of people from at least 28 countries who are interested in making real, meaningful change in education. It feels so big I almost don't know what to say about it. Educators, youth, kids, parents, activists, artists, "artivists," social justice workers, and many more categories of people will be there to share their experiences, build community, exchange ideas, and much more.

I've barely started reading the dozens of bios of the "coffee talkers" who are scheduled to help facilitate discussions. What do I want to learn about? How will I decide where to go?

My 7 Intentions for the Conference

1.  I want to find the other people working in the early childhood years. My impression is that most of the emphasis will be on K-12 education, with an even greater emphasis in middle and high school education. But I know we're not the only ones doing democratic education in the preschool years, so I want to find some others and pick their brains.

2.  I want to talk to people who are using democratic principles and freedom in elementary schools, where my teaching career began. I want to find out if there are people giving kids their freedom in the context of the public school system, in this country or beyond, and how they manage it.

3.  I want to meet people who have started their own schools. I love working with preschoolers, and I'm always sad when we send them off to kindergarten because I know that most schools out there are going to make them sit down, stay inside, conform, keep their clothes on, do homework, take tests, and learn what the teacher/district/state says it's time to learn. I dream of having a school that goes from infants to 8th grade (maybe even beyond, who knows?) that is one hundred percent free and democratic.

4.  I want to talk to folks from a wide variety of backgrounds. I work in a small, tuition-based private preschool, so our families tend to be more privileged than many in our city. It's relatively easy for my students' families to find them progressive schools to attend once preschool is over. My partner teaches 2nd grade in a low-income area of the Oakland Unified School District. Her students' families don't have much choice. I want to talk to people who are passionate about closing the gap, about making progressive, democratic education possible for all children regardless of their situation in life.

5.  I want to find out how to empower parents to become activists and change agents. I believe that our education system needs a REALLY BIG overhaul, and I guess organizing is the only way anything big ever happens. I've always been more of a dreamer than a doer, so I'm looking to find some doers who can give me tips to bring back to my community, to do our small part to grow the movement for democracy and freedom!

6.  As a music-maker, I also want to sing and play and learn some new songs and share some songs that I know.  I hear there will be singing every morning, so I'm excited about that.

7.  Lastly, I intend to post every day with the details of what I've learned and explored and wondered about.

So, that's it, not much really!!
Colorado, here we come!!

seasons go round

summer

"Life's a Beach" by Teachers GK, WH, and WR

summer comes to the bay area in fits and starts -

a day or two in may

followed by a foggy june,

a three-day heat wave in july,

a few sunny days at the beach in august.

the heat only ever lasts a few days

before it gives in, and sucks up the fog from the pacific

like it, too, needed an ice cream cone

 that's when the summer tourists at fisherman's wharf

buy up all those hooded sweatshirts.

"sunny california," they guffaw,

as they marvel at the speed of the fog rolling in.

they blink, 

and the golden gate bridge has disappeared. 

autumn

"Untitled" by Teachers MB & JB

school starts in september;

some places are beginning to feel

that autumn is almost here,

but this is the time, for us,

that summer decides to stay awhile.

there are signs of autumn -   

in the cooler morning air

my bare feet almost want slippers,

bare arms almost want a long-sleeve shirt.

stores are decked out in autumn colors,

halloween's monsters get their own aisle

before labor day

we can't start the school year with autumn leaves as most curriculum guides suggest -

they won't show up until late october,

when stores are stocking aisles with christmas decorations

and images of children playing with sleds on white-blanketed hills.

we have hills

but they will be brown,

and the children have never seen snow falling on their homes.

winter

"Exposed Death" by Teachers MD & AL

what is winter, 

when you have no snow?

when your lemon trees and rose bushes blossom and bear fruit

all year long?

when warm and cold days still alternate at will?

i struggled with this question as a california teacher

for many years

until a four-year-old gave me the answer:

"winter is when it gets dark while we're still at school."

that's how some plants know it's winter around here, too -

by the hours and angle of the sunlight,

the occasional morning frost,

the smell of smoke from fireplaces

on dark and cozy evenings

under the softest blanket.

spring

"A Bouquet of Flowers" by Teachers AT & ST

so, what is spring,

if not the melting of the snow?

daffodils pop out and show their sunny faces

in february,

sometimes before the coldest weather.

spring is when the rain comes

(it also comes in winter)

(sometimes it's hard to tell the difference)

and the morning frosts are gone.

the sun seems brighter,

warmer,

stays up longer,

clearer

spring is when the hills turn green

and the flowers just go crazy.

bugs, and birds, and butterflies

wake up and do their springtime dance.

sometimes there are summer days

in spring

and how do we tell the difference then?

"summer is when it's my bedtime and the sun is still up.  

isn't that silly?"

and we are back around again.

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Last year there was an amazing natural materials project at our Oakland school.  Kids were arranging leaves, sticks, rocks, shells, feathers, flowers, etc. and photographing and naming their creations.  At open house night, the materials were out for families to use, and some beautiful arrangements were created by parents and children together.  

Inspired by this project, we decided to have "seasons" as an overarching theme for both schools this coming school year.  To kick off the theme, the teachers participated in a seasonal natural materials project on the first day of our professional development week.  We set out a variety of natural materials in the art room.  Pairs of teachers (one from each school, who don't normally work together) were assigned one of the four seasons and created natural arrangements to represent their season (photos above).

Throughout the year, we plan to go for regular walks around our schools' neighborhoods, making note of the changes and consistencies, following the children's curiosity and interest.  It will be interesting to see what comes up from being out in the seasons this time around!

baby steps

I'm always surprised when I talk to people and they've never heard of the Reggio Emilia approach, even other teachers.  I've been immersed in trying to learn about the Reggio way for six years now, and the more I discover, the more I want to understand. 

I started with a vague sense of what Reggio was about: progressive, emergent, project-based... the words floated around in the ether and made me feel good about working in a preschool with these values.  I was coming out of nearly 5 years of teaching in a very tough and under-resourced public elementary school where I had to follow the mandated curriculum, measure each distinct subject area in minutes per week, and administer standardized tests to at least 25 underprivileged 7-year-olds, some with serious problems in their lives creating obstacles to their success.  Yikes!  Almost any other teaching situation would have been a reprieve, but finding a Reggio-inspired preschool to work in was a dream come true.

We started off with some inservice training; a teacher from a well-established school came and showed us images of their project work and talked about what the children had done.  It was wonderfully impressive, but I came away with a lost feeling of "Yes, but how did they do that?" 

Since those tentative beginnings, I have joined NAREA (The North American Reggio Emilia Alliance) and attended two of their conferences featuring professionals from Reggio Emilia, Italy.  We took our whole staff to Salinas to view the Wonder of Learning exhibit, an inspiring display of Reggio children's project work that tours the world. 

These days I feel like I have wondered a lot, learned a lot, and have a much better understanding of what it is that I want to understand better!  My learning comes in baby steps, some bigger than others, some backwards... something like this:

- Visit a school, conference or exhibit, or 
- Read a blog, book or article
- Get inspired
- Change something about how our school looks or how it functions
- Get bogged down in the day-to-day details of a busy classroom and fall short of intended perfection
- Look back and notice what we could have done better
- Repeat

It's a never-ending cycle but definitely a forward-moving one, and that's the kind that's preferable when you're on a journey.