Unplug and Play

I recently received information from the Alliance for Childhood about a month-long play day campaign in the Bay Area to promote unstructured play and time in nature for children and adults. The campaign is called “Let’s Play Outside” and you can link to it here. Isn’t it sad that we are so busy we have to be reminded by an organization to set aside unstructured time to just get outside and play? Yikes! I’m glad they are promoting this campaign, and I completely support them, but I’m also very sad at the same time that it’s come to this in our busy, technology driven lives.

In 2001 my friend Jamie and I spearheaded a playground project in our neighborhood. We (along with help from many other neighbors and friends) convinced our homeowners association to tear down three unsafe, outdated structures and replace them with new ones. At the time my boys were 5 and 7 years old and still very interested in playgrounds, so I was highly invested in this project. The new parks were built with a whole crew of neighborhood volunteers, saving us over $15,000 in installation and demolition expenses, and I’m still thankful today to all who helped with the project.

Eight years later the parks still look great and are being used. (See above photo of one of them.) Every time I walk my dog by one of the parks I have to smile and think how great it was that our neighbors pulled together to make these parks a reality. My only regret is that the parks are not used often enough. More kids should be playing in them and in the surrounding fields more often.

I do have one more regret. When I see parents and caregivers talking on their cell phones instead of playing with their kids in the parks, I get irritated. And, it saddens me that thousands of babies and toddlers are being pushed in strollers every day while parents and babysitters are talking to someone else on their phones. I used to talk about the big trucks or barking dogs with my boys when they were in strollers and try to have little conversations with them about whatever we’d see on our walks. I hope there are still parents and caregivers out there doing that today.

I now have teenagers and often they like to be plugged in to music or movies or computers. It’s an almost daily conversation we have about unplugging and reducing “screen” time. I’m glad I had all those years with them before I even had a cell phone to really be present with them. I think it will be an even bigger struggle for new parents now to authentically communicate with their teens if they are regularly plugged in when their children are little.

Anyone have any other thoughts on technology and unstructured play?

Race to Nowhere - at the Mill Valley Film Festival

I met Vicki Abeles, the producer of "Race to Nowhere" last year. A mutual friend put us together (thanks Liz!) after reading a Diablo Magazine article on homework. You can read that article here. It turns out that our husbands know each other, small world, and Vicki and I also learned we share a passion for educating people in our community about raising well-balanced children. Since meeting Vicki, I've been lucky enough to see her in action - making her film, promoting it, lecturing about it, networking about it. She has also included me as one of her Advisors to the film.

Diablo Magazine ran a short article on her recently. You can read that here. But in case you don't, here's a blurb:

Vicki Abeles was a high-powered attorney who practiced in the lucrative fields of corporate law and investment banking. Then, through friends, this Lafayette mother of three got the chance to help make a short film for education experts on how kids today are under intense pressure to succeed.

A career-switch lightbulb went off, and, with her new production company, Reel Link Films, Abeles entered the cash-starved field of documentary film. Like many others in this field, Abeles does not care about profits but about changing society.

With her first cinematic effort, she hopes to spark a national dialogue about the U.S. education system. She has seen how her kids and others suffer from being taught only what is covered on standardized tests, and how they are pushed to be superhigh achievers.

The school district my kids are in enrolled in (San Ramon Valley USD) promoted the film last year by allowing Vicki to show advanced screenings of it (in its various unfinished versions) followed by Q & A sessions with Vicki. These multiple public and private screenings were viewed by hundreds of parents, teachers and some students. The overwhelming response after viewing the documentary is usually something like, "Wow, what an eye opener! How can we change this type of thinking in our community? How can we help our kids?"

Race to Nowhere will hold its world premiere at the 32nd Mill Valley Film Festival October 10 and 18, 2009. You can get more information about the film festival and order tickets here. I just bought 2 tickets and I hope to see you there!

In case you can't attend, you can always visit the film's website www.RacetoNowhere.com and get information about future local screenings. You can even pre-order a copy of the DVD there. The film's website has a bunch of reading resources, website links, a blog comment forum, ideas for educators, parents and students, and much more. Check it out!

Radio Interview with Sara Bennett

Sara was interviewed today by Dr. Dan Gottlieb for the show “Voices in the Family” on WHYY out of Philadelphia. Check it out here if you have a few minutes. “The Homework Debate”: http://www.whyy.org/91FM/voices.html

I met Sara Bennett in 2007 when she advised me (via emails and phone conversations) during my time working on the homework task force for our district. She has been a constant source of support and insight with her website: www.StopHomework.com. She also wrote a book I recommend called The Case Against Homework.

I also blogged about her in June and you can read that here.

Start Singing

I met with Robin Kelley yesterday and she said something I thought was worth writing about. Robin is a passionate student advocate and coordinator of EPIC (Empowering Parents Involving Community) at San Ramon Valley High School. She finds speakers to give lectures about raising healthy, well-balanced children. When I asked Robin if she ever got frustrated about the fact that most people who attend these parenting conferences are already informed, caring parents and often it feels like “preaching to the choir,” she said no, that the attendees are not always the same, but even if they were “preaching to the choir, it’s time for the choir to start singing.”

I loved that analogy because those of us who are concerned, informed parents, teachers and students can start “singing” or letting people know (politely!) that even though things look pretty great in this community, there are still real problems that need to be addressed here.

In our very own school district, we have suicides, murder, substance abuse, student stress, depression, childhood obesity, anorexia, academic cheating, high homework rates, drop outs, etc… just like in many other places in the US. These issues cross socio-economic lines. These issues can’t be ignored.

So how can we “start singing” about these issues and start making change? Taking a friend to a lecture or film about these issues is one place to start. Having conversations with people you socialize with is another way to bring these issues to light. Reading books about these issues (see my sidebar for a list). Telling people about this blog (or any of the blogs I have listed on the sidebar) is another great way to get the word out.

Here is information about the upcoming EPIC lecture:

SRVHS EPIC Healthy Choices

proudly present

Dr. Peter Benson

President and CEO, The Search Institute

(http://www.search-institute.org/)

"All Kids are Our Kids"

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 7PM

San Ramon Valley High School PAC/Commons

Dr. Benson, author of "All Kids are Our Kids,"* will share the 40 Developmental Assets, a framework of building blocks that empower our students' development as people of confidence, character, and compassion.

(http://www.search-institute.org/node/15)

His presentation will encourage parents, educators and community members to partner together helping students recognize and develop their personal "sparks," the strengths with which every student in our community is uniquely gifted that enables him or her to thrive.

Dr. Benson will offer insights into how we as a community can be more intentional about parenting, mentoring, employing, coaching, teaching and engaging our students in ways that will enhance their personal potential based on utilizing the assets and discovering the "sparks"in their lives.

Parents and Students are encouraged to join us for an informative and enlightening evening, including Q&A and discussion time with Dr. Benson and other community partners as we look at how to become a community that is proactive in embracing "All Kids are Our Kids!"

A $5 donation will be accepted at the door

Please Pre-register at rsvp4 srvhs@sbcglobal.net

Questions?

Contact Alyson Colton, alyson@coltonfamily4.org or Robin Kelley, kelleyview@msn. com

Reaction to Obama's Speech

This editorial was taken from A.E.R.O (Alternative Education Resource Organization) Education Revolution e newsletter: http://www.educationrevolution.org/

Editorial in Newsday by Jerry Mintz (reaction to Obama's school speech)

To the Editor:
The message from President Obama as published in today’s Newsday is both ironic and self contradictory. He starts out by saying that every student has something they are good at and that they have a responsibility to pursue that. This sounds like he understands the learner-centered approach that innovative educators have found to work in a very powerful way. It implies that he understands that children are natural learners.

But then he immediately segues into the opposite paradigm, one that assumes that children are naturally lazy and need to be forced to learn. He refers to homework and doing what the teacher says to do and what HE expects.

He can’t have it both ways. But I already discovered the problem earlier this year at the Education Writers Association Conference when I asked newly appointed Education Secretary, Arnie Duncan, if the Obama administration would get rid of No Child Left Behind. I told him that alternative educators feel that it completely interferes with a learner-centered approach. After hemming and hawing he finally said, in an almost stream of consciousness, “Well, the name “No Child Left Behind” has become pretty toxic. We’ll probably change the name!”

It was a devastating admission but was not covered, that I know of, by any of the hundreds of reporters in the room. One reporter from the Boston Globe did congratulate me on getting him to admit his planned subterfuge.

And they DID, in fact, change the name but keep NCLB. What is it about the “Race to the Top” initiative that encourages students to follow their own dreams and develop their special talents? Nothing! It is not encouraging of an individualized, personalized approach. It encourages standardization and “teach to the test.”

If President Obama and his administration really believe that students should pursue and develop what they are good at, they would end NCLB and RTTT and find ways to give students and their schools and teachers the resources they need to truly follow their interests, their talents and their dreams.

Challenge Success Conference - Sept 25, 09

Check out the Challenge Success Website (http://www.challengesuccess.org/)

Our children live in a high-stakes, high-pressure world.

Today, a young person's success is too often measured by easily-observed symbols: trophies, grades, test scores, and acceptance into prestigious schools. Expectations once reserved for a small group of exceptional students are now expected of many.

Our children are experiencing unacceptably high levels of anxiety disorders, depression, substance abuse, suicide, poor physical health, and disengagement from learning. Unrealistic achievement pressure contributes to these problems.

Our children are not prepared for the challenges of the 21st century.

Educators, mental health professionals, and business leaders agree that the pursuit of a narrow vision of success often leaves young people lacking the skills most needed to thrive in a rapidly changing world--adaptability, interpersonal and collaborative skills, and the ingenuity and creativity to solve complex problems.

About Our Conferences

Challenge Success offers dynamic conferences for schools, parents, and youth to come together to address issues of student health, school engagement, and academic integrity. All conferences take place at Stanford University, where school teams comprised of principals, teachers, parents, counselors, students, and other community members work together to create site-specific plans for school reform.

Our Challenge Success Annual Fall Conference takes place in September and includes a Friday night plenary session that is free and open to the public. Keynote speakers are experts in child development, medicine, psychology, public health, college admissions, and/or education. These experts are joined by a panel of student speakers who offer personal viewpoints on academic stress and coping strategies.

Challenge Success/SOS Conference:

Our Fall 2009 Conference will take place on September 25-26, 2009.

Fall Plenary Session Free and Open to the Public

Friday September 25, 2009

Memorial Auditorium, Stanford University, 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm

Introduction:

Denise Pope, Ph.D., Co-founder, Challenge Success/SOS, Stanford University School of Education Senior Lecturer, and author of “Doing School": How we are creating a generation of stressed-out, materialistic, and miseducated students. http://www.amazon.com/Doing-School-Stressed-Out-Materialistic-Miseducated/dp/0300098332/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252434758&sr=1-1

Keynote Speakers:

Michael Thompson, Ph.D. is a consultant, author and psychologist specializing in children and families. He is the clinical consultant to The Belmont Hill School and has worked in more than five hundred schools across the United States, as well as in international schools in Central America, Europe and Asia. He and his co-author, Dan Kindlon, wrote the New York Times best-selling book, Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys (Ballantine Books,1999). In addition, Dr. Thompson is the author of several other acclaimed books, including Best Friends/Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Worlds of Children(Ballantine, 2001) and The Pressured Child: Helping Your Child Achieve Success in School and in Life (with Teresa Barker, Ballantine, 2004).

Chris Kelly is the Chief Privacy Officer and Head of Global Public Policy at Facebook, guiding Facebook’s efforts to make the Internet a safer and more trusted place. He has previously served as Chief Privacy Officer at three other Internet companies, Spoke Software, Excite@Home, and Kendara, and was an attorney in private practice at Baker & McKenzie and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati. Chris also served as a policy advisor in the Clinton Administration. He was Editor in Chief of the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology and part of the founding team for the Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

Panelists:

Madeline Levine, Ph.D., Co-founder, Challenge Success/SOS, and clinical psychologist and best-selling author of The Price of Privilege.

Three Students will offer their perspectives on primary stressors and coping strategies in middle school and high school.

To RSVP for the Friday night session, go to:

http://www.challengesuccess.org/Events/Conferences/Fall/PlenarySessionRSVP/tabid/1016/Default.aspx

Evaluating Teachers with Tests

I came across this in the Reader’s Forum section of the Contra Costa Times newspaper this weekend. I completely agree with the writer and have been thinking recently how much more meaningful education would be if ALL students were given the opportunity to have IEPs (individual education plans). If we did this, the focus would shift from standardization to personalization.

Times is wrong about using tests to evaluate teachers

By Jim Wright

Guest commentary, Contra Costa Times

Posted: 09/05/2009

Your recent editorial, "Allow use of test scores to evaluate teachers" (Aug. 16), cries out for an immediate and critical response.

Granted, there are certainly at least a few teachers out there who should not be teaching. Using a similar line of reasoning, however, I might argue that the evaluations and/or salaries of newspaper editorial writers should be statistically correlated with the number of readers whose opinions are somehow influenced by reading those editorials.

The real question is whether or not state standardized test scores would be an accurate, fair, reasonable, or even useful criterion to measure teacher effectiveness in the classroom.

A basic principle in any investigation holds that the more precisely we attempt to measure something, the less certain we can be of the accuracy of our results. For example: is an electron a wave or a particle? (The answers: Yes/No/Either/Neither/Both/Impossible to Determine with Existing Technology.)

Can we really be sure that we are testing a student's understanding when it comes to any question of reasonable complexity or depth?

Can we accurately "quantify" any student's understanding with a contrived, standardized, multiple-choice examination? Is this really the best way to motivate students to learn to appreciate and solve complex, difficult, and multifaceted problems?

Mathematical Chaos Theory holds that small variations in initial conditions can lead to widely discrepant outcomes. Much as it would be nice to think that our students all think about problems in some generic, standardized fashion, the truth is that they are all uniquely gifted individuals with their own "chaotic" stories to work out and tell for themselves.

We disrespect students if we do not offer them a way to be themselves and accomplish positive outcomes in the classroom on their own terms.

Eight years of No Child Left Behind has given us the current, untenable situation in which many children are being left behind daily in any meaningful educational context. Similarly, many publicly funded school districts will sooner-or-later be left behind, funding-wise.

Enough is enough. It's time to pull the curtains on "objectifying" educational outcomes. Instead, we should be focusing on personalizing and maximizing positive outcomes for each individual student.

That's a much more difficult task, but in the long run, a much more appropriate outcome, for everyone.

Wright is a resident of El Cerrito.

Even Though School is Back in Session, Let Them Play

September 2, 2009, NYTimes Opinion

Let the Children Play (Some More)

By STUART BROWN

Here on the balmy central coast of California and all across the country, kids are heading back to school. The classes are larger, the No Child Left Behind mandates remain in place and, despite advice from the nation’s secretary of health and human services and others, recess and physical education (not to mention art and music instruction) have in many schools been cut back or eliminated. While most of our backpack-laden kids are eager to catch up with friends they haven’t seen over the summer, the general feeling is that “playtime is over.”

to read the rest go to:

http://happydays.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/let-the-children-play-some-more/#comment-19033