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September 4, 2005

welcome

On behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Prospect Center, I invite you to join in a conversation about learning and educating here on our interactive weblog. All you have to do is click on ‘comment’ and you can add your voice to this conversation.

I have been reading Pat Carini's Starting Strong: A Different Look at Children, Schools, and Standards. In her essay "Valuing the Immeasurable" she says, "There is that in learning and educating which is immeasurable. The measurable tends to determine what is important in educating and learning. When the immeasurable falls outside the recognized categories of meaning and contexts of value which fill the educational screen, it tends to slip from view, to be left unspoken, and to sink in value to the level of anecdotal interest." [pp.176-177]

These are indeed difficult times for parents, educators, and children because "the measurable tends to determine what is important in educating and learning." As a teacher I struggled to be mindful of ways in which I could keep the children in view and keep the influence of test scores at bay for myself, for the parents, and for the children.

With the start of this weblog I extend three invitations to you. The first invitation is that you join me and others associated with Prospect in a conversation about the large issues of educating and learning. Please write not only about ways in which you have been constrained by being told what to teach, the test-driven curricula and effect that has had on you and your students, but also about ways in which you have kept the immeasurable in view. We hope that you will tell stories, raise questions, describe curriculum that has held deep interest for you and your students, write about books you've read, relate news about interesting things that are happening where you live and work, and respond to those who have written. Again, it is easy to add a comment.

The second invitation is that you participate in Prospect's annual Fall Conference, whose theme is Valuing the Immeasurable. This year it will be held November 12th and 13th at Wisdom House in Litchfield, Connecticut. We promise two days of lively and challenging conversation, participation in descriptive work, interesting panels, and time to explore some artistic media and poetry. We're excited that in celebration of Prospect's 40th Anniversary, Pat Carini, author and one of the founders of the Prospect School, will give the opening remarks, some former staff from Prospect School will speak, and we will show and discuss slides from the school. The description of the conference and registration form can be downloaded from this website.

A third invitation: If you are drawn to the sun pictures by students from the Prospect School (1965-1992) and would like to purchase a copy of the Sun Book, which includes all of the illustrations on the web site and more, please send a request and a check for $10.00 (postage included) to The Prospect Center, Box 328, North Bennington VT, 05257. Supplies are limited.

I hope to see you both on this weblog and at Fall Conference.
Warmly,
Lynne Strieb, President, Prospect Board

Posted by lstrieb at September 4, 2005 11:05 PM

Comments

It felt strange to post my welcome message without at least mentioning something about the terrible results of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. The images and stories are heartbreaking. I’ve added some brief further comments. I am (and actually have been for a long time) quite disturbed that the people in power in the government, who want to give away public schools to for-profit corporations are the same powerful people who have forgotten about and neglected the public and the common welfare in all areas of American life, not just schools, by handing over previously public institutions to corporations for private gain. It's an old story in the United States, didn't start with the folks currently in power. But the lack of concern for anyone but the wealthy and the corporations certainly has been accelerating. Again, we welcome your comments. Lynne

Posted by: Lynne Strieb at September 8, 2005 11:23 PM

Someone asked me the other day if I thought that you needed to be an experienced teacher for the work of Prospect to feel feasible. She felt that she wasn't sure she was ready for all the seemingly difficult work when there was so much she needed to learn. Then I went to this talk yesterday by James Hiebert about Learning to Learn to Teach Mathematics. He spoke about the work at the University of Delaware, where the goal of the pre-service program is to prepare students to learn how to teach, not to teach them how to teach. That reminded me of the conversation I had had earlier this week. Prospect feels a lot like that to me. Wherever I've been in my teaching career there have been things in the ideas that have felt possible for me to do in my classroom, school and work. At different times what I focus on differs. What Prospect has offered me more than anything is this sense that I will keep working at this work, that I will continue to reflect on what I am doing, that I will never be content with the status quo, that there is always at least one more things worth fighting for. What you mention, Lynne, about the focus on the government on corporate desires rather than the people, is certainly at the top of my list right now.

Posted by: Taeko Onishi at October 8, 2005 12:00 PM

At a time when so much that I value about teaching, that is, the real LEARNING that is possible, is not just in question, it seems like it isn't even on the radar screen in the field of education and profesional development, I stay very close to everything and anything Prospect: the many close friends I have made in this organization, the work that I have done in it over the years (since 1989) the large questions of teaching and learning I have grappled with such as how to make space (literally & figuratively) for all the learners in my classroom in any given year and, how to effectively include parents and colleagues in my work. These large questions would overwhelm me were it not for the support I get from the Prospect friends I have made, but more that that, from the space that this work has made for me to think and to grapple, with support. These days, as I see myself grow older and get deeper into my work with the children and my two new student teachers, whom I really care for, I feel blessed to be doing this work at such a difficult time in history, when so much that we treasure is at stake. I have an exemplary alternative to the superficial questions and facile answers being given to educators and parents these days. It helps me feel safer and more grounded amidst the turmoil I see around me. Thank you, Prospect Friends and Colleagues.

Posted by: Louisa Cruz-Acosta at October 8, 2005 2:19 PM

As I prepare to reconnect with people this weekend at November Conference, I am compelled to record my mindset and mood going into the weekend. My many years of work with Prospect and the Descriptive Processes has taught me that I will undoubtedly feel exhausted as I fall into bed Sunday night yet deeply renewed by the intense work and wonderful human connections. At the end of this summer I was feeling uncertain about this school year-- what can I really do to make a difference? What can I do to support learning for children and for teachers? What can I do to renew my sense of hope knowing that there is such an obvious and urgent need to foster learning and humanism? How can I buoy myself in the face of feeling as though that need is so great that it requires my energy to be limitless? Now several months later, once again into my yearly teaching cycle, I am reminded of two personal operating truths: 1) Do not think you can or should do this work alone and 2) The need to act with urgency must be balanced with the patience to wait for results. The Prospect work continues to validate and informed my sense of urgency while the relationships I have fostered through this work continue to provide a community which models patience for slow, deep work. This work we do together, that we will do this weekend, brings me a renewed sense of hope as we make visible all of our distinct efforts. As we all see that indeed it is not just any one of us acting but all of our actions that make a difference in the daily learning of children and adults, we are buoyed. With the feelings of isolation countered, I know it is both okay to pause for a brief rest as well as know that I can, and will, carry on in my work supporting new teachers and advocating for teaching and learning through my own learning, writing and teaching.

Posted by: Paige M. Bray at November 9, 2005 10:40 AM

I am looking forward to seeing you all at the conference!

Posted by: Kiran Chaudhuri at November 11, 2005 8:46 PM

I came across the name of an article (or book) entitled: Lynne Strieb -- A teacher's journal Can you possibly help me to locate this? Thank you, Ada

Posted by: Ada Glustein at November 12, 2005 4:31 PM

A (Philadelphia) Teacher's Journal was published in 1985 by the University of North Dakota as part of the monograph series of The North Dakota Study Group on Evaluation. It has been out of print for many years but I have recently seen it available online at used book stores.

Posted by: Lynne Strieb at November 29, 2005 3:28 PM