Notes from the Field
Submitted by Frank Murphy on April 26, 2012
It has taken me a few days to process the latest radical plan offered for reforming the Philadelphia School District. This is essentially a blueprint for the dissolution of the district. At first I didn’t even want to think about this proposal. The notion that the entire district is broken and needs to be tossed out and then reinvented represents a new low in the language of school reform demagoguery. This commentary written by Helen Gym started to stir me out of my funk. But it wasn’t until another respected Philadelphia activist asked me what I thought of this newest plan that I started to put my thoughts to paper.
On one level, the idea of creating autonomous networks of schools that share a common mission and purpose sounds like an exciting idea. If I were an active principal I would consider reaching out to other school leaders that I respect in order to develop a plan. Read the rest of this entry »
I often work with students in small groups providing strategies for improving reading. One of the activities I ask students to complete is a word sort that directs student focus on word features to improve decoding skills. Part of this activity involves students working together to decide how a group of words can be sorted. They must reach a conclusion and describe for me their thinking behind the word sort that they created.
In 2003-04 I had the benefit of attending a year-long professional development series that focused on school improvement working with School Based Leadership Teams. During these meetings the leadership teams at various schools worked to improve classroom instruction using strategies that provided information using classroom walkthroughs. Each school team identified areas of strengths and needs at their individual school. Then, the team designed a template to measure and record observations during the walkthrough. The team would visit designated classrooms together and following the walkthrough, the team would consult and share their observations. At Leadership Team meetings the results of the walkthrough observations and data collection would guide the team to identify areas of need. The team would then design professional development for the faculty based on these walkthroughs. It was collaborative, informative and designed to assist teachers in improving classroom instruction.
A Big Idea that came out of my EduCon 2.4 experience was creating conditions in which failure is acceptable, useful, and fast. Students failing at something should be viewed as something instructive to both learner and educator. A classroom without risk damns those who don’t “get it” the first time. I really took to this idea and thought it related well to the kind of writing instruction I do with my 2nd grade classes.
As a classroom teacher, my position would likely not be among those eliminated within the next weeks to close the $61 million budget gap by June. Still, it was painful to read the list of items on the SRC’s “Options Menu” during that Thursday, January 19th meeting. How many more colleagues’ lives will be affected by massive layoffs, and how will the students cope? School police officers, nurses, bilingual counseling assistants, teachers, music programs, athletics—how do they matter in the lives of our students, and how do students experience the loss of these resources and relationships?