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By  Cheryl Vitali April 29, 2009 -- 07:16 PM
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Barbara,
So much of what you shared I can so relate to having grown up in the same time frame (a little later though) only the skirts and dress code finally came tumbling in my high school years. It is hard to think of you as shy, but I was the same way in school. Normally in the back row, never a child to cause a teacher any trouble. We moved around quite a bit and I attended 6 schools by my first day of Grade 5.
I was lucky enough to have some really outstanding teachers at times, the first I recall was in 2nd grade, in Newhall, CA (which was a one street town in the time). Most of the time we lived in large cities, I got a little taste of rural living that year briefly. Then we were off to Alabama so that was quite a shift. Before Newhall, I went to school in Claremont. I would not say any of my teachers were outstanding there, but I had a fantastic summer school experience and there were tons of cultural things I recall as a small child. In addition, my grandparents (who were really ancient compared to all my friends) lived in Escondido and I was able to stay at Idlywild in the summer and attend a fantastic summer day camp with drama, crafts, and so forth. Only after I visited the Claremont Colleges with my own children did I really realize what opportunities I had as a young child for the unschooled experiences. We went to botanical gardens, I had favorite art at the Huntington Library and favorite gardens that I still immediatetely recognized decades later.
The most memorable experiences were the fantastic car trips we took all over the country as my father and mother loved to camp and explore the SouthWest. I still have vivid memories of these even as young as age 4. Later I was lucky to have some teachers (5th and 6th grade and later in junior high and high school), that were anything but ordinary. Still I must admit I didn't dare to pursue what I really dreamed of deep down as a girl. When I dared to share those dreams, they were laughed down. A different time a different generation, and had I to do it again, would I make the same choices?
Now as a teacher I do see girls gaining some courage that we rarely dared in the past. I actually find myself worrying about the boys a bit more. They are so easily distracted by other things and I have seen many young men struggling to come into their own as adults. That is not to say the same is not true for young women. The role models our culture celebrates or idolizes is hardly that inspirational to be quite honest. What would shy girls like us be in today's society? I really do not know. I know that I take the time to help the boys and girls that tend to be more timid (as I was) to gather more courage and daring and try to encourage them to take risks and challenge themselves.
Even so I feel I have a fraction of what I would like to give them to explore. If I give them the tools to use the natural gifts they have and the ability to think creatively and in open ended possibilities, well I will have done a lot. Just the other day I was dealing with the lack of manipulatives for teaching a concept in geometry (our supplemental materials finally arrived later this week). So I found a tea box in my class cupboard and showed the children how to transform it into a pyramid so I could pass it around for the them to explore faces and corners. In some ways, the struggle to find a good resource wound up teaching them something else as well.
My first graders are exploring some secrets of longevity right now with snippets of the Blue Zone Quests tucked in for a few minutes here and there. We are discussing having goat cheese, salads, and olive oil for a special meal later on. They are learning the importance of some values that span thousands of years via the Internet that I am sure many of them relate to their grandparents. Somehow in all that is mandated day to day, teachers need to find time to weave in the elements that trigger students dreaming big of what is possible. "Dream Big" is an idea I planted back in September (from Peter Reynolds & Sue Pandini's North Star Curriculum). I hope they carry that idea forward for life.
Cheryl Vitali
Silas Bartsch School
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By Dennis Imoto April 29, 2009 -- 10:42 PM
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If we did away with grade levels there would be no retentions since all teachers will be applying interventions and accomodations to suit each student's needs. We need to restructure from top down and rethink standardized testing.
I hope I will see you at NECC in DC this summer!
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Reply to Dennis Imoto
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My experience with school in the 1950's and 60's left me questioning myself if I was smart. I didn't have confidence in myself in most of my K-12 life. I was an average student, shy. I grew up outside of Washington D.C. where girls were not allowed to wear pants and patent leather shoes. Really! My high school is still standing and looks like every other high school in the area. I know girls wear pants now but the structure, the teacher-centered classrooms - those are very similar to my experience.
