A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall…and my emotions will overwhelm me…and I will fail…then, survive…even thrive.

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A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall…and my emotions will overwhelm me…and I will fail…then, survive…even thrive. That was Patti Smith’s description of her experience at the Nobel Prize ceremony, honoring Bob Dylan by singing his great song, A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall, that evokes a cultural dystopia not unlike what we’re experiencing now in the U.S.

Even though she had the song down cold; even though she knew in her heart it was the right song to sing; even though she is a veteran performer (she celebrated her 70th birthday on December 30th); even though everything leading up to the ceremony had gone perfectly; when her moment came, she was overwhelmed by the second verse.  She had to stop, apologize, and start over.  For her it was beyond embarrassing…she felt the humiliating sting of failure….

Yet, she also felt the strange realization that I had somehow entered and truly lived in the world of the lyrics.  As in the opening words: I stumbled alongside twelve misty mountains….; and the ending line to the verse: And I’ll know my song well before I start singing.

Her profound communication through her performance of the song, it’s visceral message and haunting beauty wrapped in her stumbling, was deeply appreciated by all.  She writes that the next morning, in the breakfast room she was greeted by many of the Nobel scientists.  They showed appreciation for my very public struggle.  They told me I did a good job.  I wish I had done better, I said.  No, no, they replied, none of us wish that.  For us, your performance seemed a metaphor for our own struggles.

Aye, a metaphor for us ALL.  In the world of our classrooms, in the world of our families, our communities, our country, our world, a hard rain’s gonna fall…it always has and it always will.  ’Tis the human condition that Dylan describes so poignantly and that Patti Smith performed so unintentionally perfectly in her “failure”.  AND, ’tis the human possibility that from or after that hard rain we can learn, make meaning, gain perspective, persevere, make things right, discover, create, love one another.  Love you, Patti Smith.  And a deep bow of gratitude for your public reflection.

May will all learn from you, and pay it forward to our children.

*children's work in this post is from Buckingham Browne & Nichols

"50 Ways to Leave Your Lover"

We received the following question in an email from our wonderful colleagues at Buckingham Browne & Nichols (BB&N), Anthony Reppucci, Assistant Director of the Lower School and Susan Kinsky, second grade teacher: Hi Louise and Ashley,

This afternoon Susan and I were talking and she was telling me about some conversations she was having with groups in her class. The conversation was about monarch butterflies. In second grade monarchs are not a big study, just something done in the first few weeks of school in science, but the conversation was interesting and we were interested in your thoughts. The conversations were different in each group and the direction came from the kids:

Group 1- Conversation about monarchs and asking questions about why they always migrate to Mexico. In this group someone said, "The big question is what is so special about Mexico?"

Group 2- How do monarchs pass down information from one generation to the next? The kids came up with theories on this and discussed them. 

If a teacher wanted to move forward with this conversation, how would you both do it?  For group 2 we thought kids could  show their theories on paper? We were just interested in hearing your thoughts. 

Here are my thoughts…in no particular order.

Paul Simon’s "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover"comes to mind.  On September 8th we attended a fabulous concert in Middlebury with Clint Bierman and Peter Day, lead musicians of The Grift.   They sang their own original songs as well as seventeen classics of Simon and Garfunkel.  The song came to mind, I think, because it evoked both possibility and pathos.  "He/she's the love of my life...but I've got other things I gotta do...."  Isn't this a bit like when you're in a classroom of live minds and one comes up with a fabulous idea, and you think, wowowow, but I have a zillion things I HAVE to do before lunch time.  What if, though, in our infinite wisdom, we remember when Carlina Rinaldi encouraged us all to imagine a hundred ways learning might occur around an experience.  She said, "Then, we might be ready for the hundred and one ways that children might imagine."

The concert and the song comes to mind mostly because…What do teachers do with giant opportunities such as this?  Often, like one line in this song, they Slip out the back, Jack becausethey are preoccupied with their own agenda and they don't really LISTEN to their students…they just move on to their OWN next thought.

However, there is also a following line in the song: Make a new plan, Stan.  If we really LISTEN to the children, we can make THEIR thinking our main agenda. This is what Susan and Anthony are in the midst of doing.  They have listened, stopped and wondered...How can be best honor our students' thinking and their original inquiry and questions?

What’s so special about Mexico?  

Possibilities for extending their thinking include:

You wonder about why they always go to Mexico and not to Brazil?  Why do you think…?

What is migration, anyway?

Do you know other animals that migrate?

Do humans migrate?

What is so special about Mexico?  What have you heard about Mexico?  (Be prepared for a political discussion!)

How do monarchs pass down information from one generation to the next?’ 

How do you think the information is passed down?  What are your theories?

What is the information that is passed down?

What is a generation?

Have you learned information from your parents?  What?

Have you found information in other ways?

What, how?

And on and on…following the big concepts: migration, genetics, geography, climate change, the wonders all around us…others?

Teacher’s role: record in writing…on white board…on poster board…near community meeting center.

Then, with each big theory, How could you show this idea?  Could you draw it?  What other materials could you use?

Then, after each group has developed a representation of their theory, have them present to the whole group.  Guide them in a discussion:

1. Present idea and representation

2. Ordered sharing from the whole group of “what did you see?”…then, “what associations are you making with their idea?”…then, “from what you’ve heard in this discussion, what do you wonder about?”

3. What is a next step in your investigation/research?

Now, having said all this, what am I missing?  What opportunities do you think of?  THAT is, of course, the wonder of collaborating with colleagues…to think more deeply about what happened and, therefore, what could happen.

By the way, there is a wonderful school in Miami, La Scuola, where students, teachers and parents are devoting the entire year to investigating: What is migration?  They are a largely Hispanic demographic.  Stay tuned for more on their investigations…and, hopefully, also BB&N’s.

Leading through Laughter

 

Leading through laughter has been an implicit practice of mine.  And, I love it when I witness it in others.  For instance, Joe Maddon, manager of the Chicago Cubs baseball team.

On July 9th, The Associated Press ran an article that captured Joe’s joking genius. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/10/sports/baseball/joe-maddon-keeps-his-cubs-moving-and-guessing.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share

Joe is not only a master of the unexpected (for instance, once, rather than pulling a pitcher from the game, he sent him to the outfield for one batter while a reliever came in…then he pulled the reliever and returned the outfielder/pitcher to the mound…there was laughter during the infield conferences on the mound), and he also loves to instigate zaniness (as he has talked a few dozen of his players into donning pajamas for the charter flights home from West Coast trips).

Joe says, “[The players] love it!”

Perhaps especially his rookies recognize Joe’s spirit of adventure.  One noted, I watch him when I’m not playing, and it seems like he’s three, four moves ahead of the game…So he’s not afraid to try things, even with the rookies. Just about the first thing he said is he doesn’t care if you mess up.  Like if you’re in a situation where you think you should bunt, and he says hit and it doesn’t work out, he’ll come up to you right away and say, “That’s on me.”

One of Joe’s veteran players put it this way: “Too many guys want to equate smarts with being uptight.  Joe doesn’t.  He just says, ‘Do simple better.’”

And, what is not surprising, this team of players, playing loose and having fun, are leading their baseball division.

It’s an age old athletic adage, YOU PLAY BEST WHEN YOU PLAY LOOSE.

For me, there’s correlating connection, YOU THINK BEST WHEN YOU THINK LOOSE.  In both cases, laughter induces looseness.

Almost always when I’m involved in group discussions, something will strike my funny bone, and I’ll share what I think is the joke.  Almost always if the joke is in fact funny (I don’t always bat 1.000), the ensuing laughter is not a distraction, but rather it is an energizer for divergent thinking…and almost always a new idea emerges, or a new perspective becomes apparent.

It turns out that there’s lots of research on this.  If you’re interested, here are a couple of resources.

“Joyful laughter immediately produces the same brain wave frequencies experienced by people in a true meditative state,” says Lee Berk, lead researcher of the study and associate professor of pathology and human anatomy at Loma Linda University.

The elation you feel when you laugh is a great way of combating the physical effects of stress. When we laugh, our body relaxes and endorphins (natural painkillers) are released into the blood stream.

Reflections on Mercatello sul Metauro

Our experience last week with Angela Ferrario and the retreat participants in Learning and Leading for the Future was wonderful in every way.  We were thrilled to be asked to lead Session One with Angela and participate in her dream of weaving together cultural encounters and excursions with inspired professional development and reflection in the small town of Mercatello sul Metauro, Le Marche, Italy Palazzo Donati was our home for the week and Luisa Donati our hostess.  Palazzo Donati is her family's villa and has belonged to them since the town was founded in 1235 when seven families moved from their surrounding castles to build palazzi and form the town.  Pointing to a grand facade across the piazza, Luisa said, "That palazzo was my grandmother's and this one where you will stay was my grandfather's."  It seemed like a Romeo and Juliet's story...only theirs has had a happy ending.  It was a joy to spend time with Luisa who orchestrated a beautiful welcome dinner in the main salon of the  palazzo and prepared our breakfast every morning.  She joined us all week long, for example, enjoying wood fired pizza at one of the farms nearby with friends, and visiting the Antica Stamperia Carpegna where six generations of artisans have made beautiful hand stamped fabric.  They showed us one design that they are working on for Eataly.  Luisa and other friends that Angela has made also came along for many meals and events.  In a short time, we all began to feel as if we were a part of the small town.

During the week, Ashley and I both shared interactive presentations to lay the foundation for our work with learning for the future.  Participants entered into dialogue with us and with each other about their school contexts and where they each might help to build on strengths in these areas.  Each afternoon we all participated in creative activities of drawing and also print making to explore the importance of creativity, innovation and design in learning for the future.

This week, Angela is hosting John Nimmo and Debbie Leekeenan and another group that will focus on the timely subject of Anti-Bias Education. We toast them as they begin this evening.  Cadwell Collaborative is enjoying a few days in the Piemonte region of Italy, walking the vineyards and drinking very good wine.  All the best to all of you this first month of summer.

Here's a New Take on Documentation...

We have been working with Buffalo Public School 33 for three years.  For the second year in a row the Albright Knox Art Gallery has asked the school to install an exhibition of student work.  This year's exhibition is titled Art Makes You Think Bigger...an ingenious observation by one of 33's youngest students.  The exhibition features the connections between art and other subjects;  demonstrates the implementation of inquiry based inter-disciplinary projects; and shows the influence of the Reggio Emilia Approach. Last year we created over 30 panels that were installed directly on the bulletin boards of an Albright gallery.  They were well done and well received.  However, when the exhibition was over, it all had to come down...and to reinstall in the school proved to be a burden...mostly because of the lack of bulletin boards in the school hallways.

This year we invented a new technique.  We measured all 28 of the bulletin boards at the Albright and cut boards exactly to size from triplex cardboard sheets (about 3/4" thick and very sturdy).  These boards served as our "canvas" for each project story.  They will be installed directly over the existing Albright boards.

Having this defined and moveable canvas made the composition of the boards easier.  And, we went a step further by creating a sort of template for each board: a poster with a brief narrative of the project with pictures dividing the narrative in English and Spanish; examples of student work with subtitles; and a brief synopsis of New York State Standards developed during the project.

The exciting part of this process however, is that all 28 pieces will be reinstalled directly in the school hallways...where they belong.  In fact, as we composed the panels on the large cardboard sheets, we installed them in the halls, much to the delight of all the students...as it should be!

BRAVI School 33 students and teachers!