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Dana Bennis
Minneapolis, MN
I'm a teacher and an advocate for democratic education, the uniting of education practice with our democratic values of freedom, responsibility, participation, and justice, where young people have significant direction over their learning and there is shared decision-making among young people and adults.
Recent Activity
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Dana commented on the petition |Just because some people will go out at midnight to buy things doesn't mean stores should open. It's a question of priorities: supporting families and your workers, or making money.
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Dana signed the petition |
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Dana commented on the article |Only catching your replies now, Clay. I don't seem to remember a snark-fest with you about Diane Ravitch on Klonsky's blog - although I do have my differences with Ravitch (fewer recently, did you catch her excellent piece arguing against merit-pay?), and I regularly read Klonsky's stuff to get that much needed breath of fresh air. Plus, I don't remember ever going by "Dr."!
But thanks for the good words. -
Dana commented on the article |
Only catching your replies now, Clay. I don't seem to remember a snark-fest with you about Diane Ravitch on Klonsky's blog - although I do have my differences with Ravitch (fewer recently, did you catch her excellent piece arguing against merit-pay?), and I regularly read Klonsky's stuff to get that much needed breath of fresh air. Plus, I don't remember ever going by "Dr."!
But thanks for the good words. -
Dana commented on the article |
ps - missed the link for Reschool Yourself: http://www.reschoolyourself.com/
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Dana commented on the article |
Thanks for the great list, Clay. I RSS many of those, and will check out those I don't know. And here are a few more:
- NYC Student Union's Student Blog: Insightful thoughts and analysis about education from current NYC public school students. http://nycstudents.blogspot.com/
- YoungerWorld: Adam Fletcher examines the role of young people in society and students in school. http://commonaction.blogspot.com/
- StopHomework: Author Sara Bennett's blog about homework news, analysis and ideas. http://stophomework.com/
- Reschool Yourself: Melia Dicker's humorous and provocative blog sharing reflections and critical thoughts on schooling and reschooling, and personal development.
- Democratic Education Blog: At this risk of self-promotion, my own blog discussing democratic education theory and analyzing current education policy and practice through the perspective of democratic values and human rights in education. http://democraticeducation.org/blog/ -
Dana commented on the article |And to follow up on your comment, Clay, I believe the school itself is often just as important as (or more than) any individual teacher. As in, the structures of a school itself can either support or limit the development of autonomy, self-direction, compassion, creativity, curiosity, etc.
Does the school allow for teachers and students to pursue their interests or the topical subjects of the day, to get out into the community, to work together to solve conflicts and make decisions as a group, and to look beyond the standard curriculum? Or does the school follow a typical schedule of 45 minute periods, required standard classes, pre-set curricula, and a hierarchical administrative-led governance system? In the large majority of schools that adhere to the latter, teachers and students have to stand strong against standardization and the testing culture to carve out a little room for curiosity and self-directed learning and creativity. Yet this is the daily reality facing teachers and students in schools around the United States (and many other countries) - a completely conventional school structure that is largely unchanged from decades in the past.
Instead, we could study (through research such as the ones mentioned in my comment above) and create school structures that are most effective in supporting what we know to be "good" in education, so that teachers and students could feel supported by an empowering and inspiring school structure and environment rather than fighting every day against it. -
Dana commented on the article |
I appreciate the provocation in the subject of this post, and especially the deep thought about what "good" means in the context of teaching or learning. I find myself strongly agreeing with Brooks's first conception of "good" teachers: those who develop emotional bonds with students (thanks Clay for quoting CitySue's comments on how Brooks has it both ways). I believe that we can and MUST determine ways to assess for what we believe as "good," either in terms of teachers or schools overall.
Several great assessment tools we can use and advocate for come from Self Determination Theory, a theory that "focuses on the degree to which human behaviors are volitional or self-determined." One of the many assessment tools they have is a Learning Climate Questionnaire that assesses the extent to which teachers (or schools) create autonomy-supportive environments for the learners as opposed to controlling environments. Autonomy-supportive settings are linked to greater intrinsic motivation, greater understanding, higher creativity, and a greater desire to continue learning as compared with controlling environments.
Another great and similar tool is the Hope Study, which assesses educational environments for the degree to which students perceive the settings as supporting autonomy, belongingness, competence, engagement and psychological health. You can find more in the 2007 Phi Delta Kappan article written by Ron Newell and Mark van Ryzin.
There are great examples out there for assessment and accountability according to a more democratic and personalized view about what is "good" in education. -
Dana commented on the article |This seems to me to be somewhat of a mixed bag. First, it's great news that Maryland is getting press for their efforts to create more adequate and equitable funding. This is a huge need, and while wealthy communities can add additional funding, as the article notes, the increased and targeted funds will especially help schools, teachers, and students in lower-income communities.
But let's not be hasty in our desire to support equitable funding without critically examining the approaches to assessing the impact of this funding. The key marker of the "success" of this program, according to report mentioned in the article, was increased marks on reading and math test scores. In fact, the act mandating this funding included such an increase on test scores as a central goal. Once again the overwhelming focus on tests shines through.
What about assessing for student and teacher satisfaction with their schools, or student qualities such as confidence, critical thinking skills, compassion, personal responsibility, and problem-solving? What kinds of school and pedagogical changes could increase those kinds of markers?
The report does mention some positive practices, such as professional learning communities, co-teaching, and student-centered learning (though I wonder what the authors mean by student-centered learning and if it matches the description on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student-centered_learning">Wikipedia</a>: "Student-centred learning, that is, putting students first, is in stark contrast to existing establishment/teacher-centred lecturing and careerism.") But these practices are important for their ability to inspire and empower young people and strengthen those latter personal and intellectual qualities, not because they might indirectly increase some test scores. -
Dana commented on the article |Hey all - just found out about this site, great stuff. A few non-profits to put out there:
- Spark, San Francisco, CA, www.sparkprogram.org: "Spark is a youth empowerment organization, with a mission of inspiring middle-school youth to pursue their interests, create bonds with their communities, and develop a lifelong passion for learning."
- Fertile Grounds Project, New York, NY, www.fertilegrounds.org: "The Fertile Grounds Project’s mission is to provide young people with the space, tools, and support they need to take control over their own educations and build an identity in a world where they can belong."
- Youth on Board, Boston, MA, www.youthonboard.org: "Through trainings, workshops, and publications, Youth on Board prepares youth to be leaders and decision-makers in their communities and strengthens relationships between young people and adults.
- Teddy McArdle Free School, Little Falls, NJ, www.tmcafs.org: "Teddy McArdle is non-profit independent alternative school . . . based on democratic and free school educational philosophies.
Best,
Dana Bennis
