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It was a bit stressful
at times as we rushed through crowded hallways with a miniscule four-minute
passing time, adapted to the business-like atmosphere of the school 'factory',
and the logistic of who would drive us to and from school. However, there were
many positive elements because after seven years in elementary school with the
same thirty classmates, I acquired new friendships, and look back at my time in
high school fondly. The problem was not so much its size but two elements that
came with the territory. One was the bullying we junior high school kids
endured from some of the older students before, during, and after school –
people that never connected with the school, its staff and student body, using
strong-armed tactics to gain attention or status.
The other issue was the
pedagogy used by the faculty
in that era – keeping us at desks for the duration of the class period, in line
with the administrative philosophy to restrict movement to keep the school safe
and compliant. However, unlike elementary school we walked to other classrooms
every period with physical education (including swimming), shop, music, and art
along with the English, history, French, and mathematics classes – a
diversified educational experience compared to the one-room, one-teacher
existence each of the previous seven years.
The
post-Sputnik era
Though the faculty was
amicable and professional, their style was somewhat autocratic with the
information flow usually directed one way – teacher to students – dispensing
facts but not reaching everyone in the evaluative and creative domains. That
limitation had profound consequences because many graduates flunked out of
college, lacking the readiness to perform a host of university-specific
academic functions: study skills, interpretative reading, writing, mathematical
computation, and social maturity. It was a veteran faculty grappling with
post-Sputnik educational reforms,
not willing to include modest amounts of cooperative learning or group projects though several
teachers used the discussion format, and to my liking, math teachers allowed us
to solve homework problems on the
board. We sat in rows and the study halls, quadruple-sized
desks-bolted-to-the-floor rooms, housed at least one hundred twenty. With
sincerity, the principal would often announce that we were "fortunate to
be in such a beautiful school" and wanted us to feel part of a valued
community, sometimes breaking in the middle of a class with a PA announcement
to report on a significant accomplishment by a student or team. He desired a
family atmosphere in the school megapolis within an urban district, and most of
us bought in to that collegial spirit.
Furthermore, the
faculty accommodated up to one hundred twenty-five students a day to the best
of their ability for low pay along with administrative functions such as
attendance and record keeping. They were proud content area specialists, who valued their students, with a
couple shedding tears when we graduated! There was considerable parental
support that included many World War II veterans, a diversity of nationalities,
and several Holocaust survivors. The school was divided into twelve units: 7A,
7b, 8A, 8B through 12B – essentially an assembly line approach as each semester
saw grade levels transitioning, and a new group graduating.
Amidst the orderly
routine was there novelty? Yes, there were captivating moments in classes as well as
in the athletic and extracurricular realm, with a few
interesting assemblies along the way.
Having the shop, art, gym, and lunch in varied locales of the megalithic
structure made it fascinating. I was in the band and orchestra and gained from
unique experiences in those groups and found novelty in the personalities
of my teachers. Interestingly, several had the capacity to validate us either
collectively or individually amidst the large numbers parading through their
classrooms year after year. They get an A for their professionalism and
dedication in an era that mandated control and comparatively less student
voice. Hats off to them because many of us were well prepared for
university-level work.
Children differ in
psychomotor and learning readiness, but schools were most secure using the
one-size-fits-all approach to keep the campus safe, an institutional emphasis
in many places today that does not accommodate the mental growth of a segment
of the student body. For pragmatic reasons, then, even modest inclusion of
collaborative and project-based
learning, methods of engagement that enhance cognitive development in humans,
is not on the radar screen.
Key areas in the brain
are targeted when students are in close proximity with the associated eye
contact and structured assignments, in an outspoken
mode, vocalizing ideas in evaluative and creative manner. The manipulation of
concepts in this manner elicits higher cognitive functionality that solidify
assimilation of facts, making them relevant and applicable.
Many of my peers
adjusted to the rigors of college but a good percentage of what I would
characterize as intelligent people were not prepared for the challenge of
post-secondary work and either dropped out or changed the major of their
dreams. For them, the development of the brain varied in the academic domain,
and the complement of study and analytical skills needed in a college setting
were not sufficiently manifested in high school.
In this context, it
would have helped if the school bolstered its effort to establish empowerment
goals to encompass the entire student body, exposing us to leadership and interactive peer collaborative scenarios in classrooms, be more sensitive of
the diverse socioeconomic and developmental thinking potentials within the
school community. This would have resulted in greater levels of emotional and
academic validation. Admittedly, there were a good number of extracurricular
options as well as tracking in math and science classes, but many teens, for
one reason or another, slipped through the cracks in the schooling process,
attended classes with minimal engagement, and eked out a diploma.
Small Schools
Initiative
In response to the
successful launch of Sputnik in 1957 by the Russians, James Bryant Conant's 1959
book The American High School Today
held that large high schools could offer more depth in science and math
curriculum, a major concern of the United States.1 In the 1960s the
general thinking was that larger schools offered more comprehensive
instructional programs of greater quality at lower costs than small schools.
Existing buildings became overcrowded after the baby boomers reached school age
and new schools featured mammoth constructions that housed three thousand or
more adolescents, including five that opened in my city alone in the 1960s.
That paradigm has been
challenged and ushered in the 'Small Schools Initiative' that recommends
bifurcating existing structures into separate schools with maximum enrollments
of four hundred, or one hundred per grade level. This initiative is attempting
to mirror what private schools boast, such as small class size, greater sense
of connectedness, validation of talents, more
individual attention from teachers, and rigorous curricula. Starting in 1999,
fifteen hundred reduced-sized high schools were created around the nation,
thanks in part to a 1.8-billion-dollar grant from The Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation.
In response to the
forty percent graduation rate, it was an agenda adopted by New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg in the early 2000s, transforming the factory-style high
schools that served mostly disadvantaged students of color into smaller units
within the same structure. Along with the Gates grant, The Carnegie Corporation
of New York and the Open Society Foundations collaborated in 2004 to open 60
schools with 500 students or less – 41 high schools, four traditional middle
schools and 15 based on an innovative sixth- or seventh-through-twelfth grade
model in New York.
MDRC, Manpower
Demonstration Research Corporation, a social policy research group did a
rigorous study of these small public high schools six years later and found
that they increased graduation rates and college enrollment 9.4 and 8.4
percent, respectively, over those attending large high schools in New York. The
study noted, too, that in addition to higher attendance rates, small schools
emphasized academic rigor, sustained personalized relations among peers and
faculty, and instruction that empowered students to experience real-world
relevance, learning outside of the classroom in the areas of social justice,
law, and science. The cost per graduate
was lower, too.2,3
Sharif Shakrani,
co-director of the Education Policy Center at Michigan State University, also
evaluated small school performance across the country and concluded that
students in small public high schools perform better academically, experience
fewer behavior problems, and are more involved in extracurricular activities.4
Are 'large' schools
doomed to mediocrity? While the studies suggest that reduced enrollments
improve achievement and college entrance, are there measures that can be
applied to improve engagement across the board in large schools? I attended
large schools from seventh grade through college and taught in three public
schools and noticed elements that contributed to the success of all
institutional settings.
1. The leadership of the building effectively articulates the
goals of the district to the faculty, students, and parents, and builds a
culture of camaraderie and school pride.
2. Every child is encouraged to participate
in extracurricular activities from sports, newspaper, forensics,
debate, chess, and more.
3. The school emphasizes the value of every
human, deserving of respect and kindness. Admonishments must be administered
when individuals fail to comply with this principle.
4. Student leadership positions are created that promote
responsibility and public speaking.
5. The school clearly enunciates that
classrooms are centers of literacy via the mastery of the valued content areas.
6. Teachers incorporate well-structured,
interactive lessons that include both teacher-led and
student-directed collaborative exercises.
7. Students have opportunities to get extra
help from teachers.
Every school envisions such expectations but as the year
progresses, novelty diminishes. The enthusiastic momentum created
during the first month lessens and students sense that the messaging expressed
when school opened in September has less validity. Other reasons include bad
sleep patterns and a failure of the leadership of the school to
re-articulate goals. The 'small school initiative' finds it more feasible to implement
the above goals but it is imperative that administrators and teachers
frequently assert the key principle that is the major purpose of education: school is a beacon of content area literacy. Furthermore, the aim of this
book is to discuss measures that validate the talents and personalities of students by
sustaining novelty through peer interactive exercises because they raise cognition and excitement in the classroom, empowering
young people to serve as subject area 'docents'.
My colleagues
My first professional
experience was in an urban junior high school (grades 7-9) with an enrollment
of about twelve hundred students. I taught science and math and tried hard to
be an effective teacher but had discipline issues because students recognize
rookies and I radiated inexperience and ineptitude. Just by walking past rooms
I observed that the veteran teachers were skilled at maintaining control and facilitating
course material, and eventually touched base with several of them to learn how
they dispensed content and began a journaling process to chronicle
reflections during this phase of my career. These were outstanding decisions because
I discovered a great deal about teaching styles and instructional effectiveness
that were incorporated in my practice.
Extremes in
style
Probably the most
inspiring consultations at that junior high school were with two eighth-grade English
teachers. This is where novelty takes a turn for the
weird because Janet Snyder and Steve Hansen
(not their real names) were pedagogical contrasts in producing engagement yet
reached the full spectrum of students in their classes. The traditional seating
chart was not a high priority because Janet, a young and exuberant teacher,
used theatrical methods to capture attention and bring out the verbal quality
in her students. She would start classes with a loud question, arms flung in
the air: "What did you think about….?" The blank would be a homework reading, a news
item, or a movie. I would see the students (several in my science and math
classes) form a tight cluster sitting in the front of the room as Janet slid to
her knees to intensify her presence. The students were mesmerized and immersed
in the process – admittedly more than my classes. I never saw that approach
again in my multi-decade career. Janet brought enormous energy into her classes
and drew out the inner voice of the students by acknowledging their value as
thinking beings. They were assertive in their responses
to Janet's interesting questions as her boldness ignited their dopamine chemistry, creating
a joyful and purposeful atmosphere.
Steve Hansen was a
middle-aged gentleman who left a well-paying principal position and returned to
the classroom because the district office felt his disciplinary measures in a
junior high school cross town too severe. He resigned from the position and
went back to teaching eighth grade English, a style that departed one hundred
eighty degrees from the vivacious Janet Snyder across the hall. For
starters, Steve believed that every desk should be in the proper equidistant
position. Furthermore, students were required to begin the task listed on the
board when they entered the room (even before the bell rang), which was either
a reading from the text or writing paragraphs on what was assigned the evening
before. There were zero discipline issues because any discrepancy from the
Steve Hansen code was dealt with the first few days of school, a stoic approach
that might appear extreme to you but worked for him. He was respected by
students, parents, and the faculty because he placed immense value on his
content area, the driving force to
be focused and excel in his class. He was not a mean person but felt that
language arts had to be treated with reverence, and his role was not just that of
a teacher but as a craftsman of English language and literature. Conveying a
subject area could only be done when all parties were firmly in their seats and
attending to tasks throughout the period, that is, all on the same page. There
was dialogue but nothing like Janet's over the top exuberance before her
adoring audience. Hansen was not charismatic in that sense but nevertheless an
effective teacher, and the standardized test scores of his students were
the highest of all the feeder schools as they entered high school.
Both Janet and Steve
were novel in their approach with an intensity unique to their personalities.
In her room, it was attention-raising and aggressive expression displayed by
both the teacher and students. There may have been sentence diagramming but
reaching students by drawing out their inner voice was a key component, the
novelty being her dramatic
manner, uncommon in their careers as students, and me. It was thrilling. While
Steve was old-fashion to an extreme in his approach, the novelty was well-defined
structure in every activity including the many content-relevant posters hung in
his room. The students knew what was expected of them and the directions were
explicit and purposeful. They were in highly charged environments but with a
different focus. Steve's students likely never had such a regimented teacher
before and after their time in that school.
Model for a
year
That dichotomy would
resonate in my mind for the rest of my career. There was no correct teacher
'personality' if you had a solid lesson plan that captured the attention of the
students. Steve Hansen and Janet Snyder were enormously
successful, pedagogical extremes only they could execute fruitfully, in the
same school, teaching the same subject, doors just a few feet from each other,
but with unique personalities and goals. Both created high level engagement
that connected with different regions of the brain to deliver content and
reached the full spectrum of learning needs on their roster.
What did I take from
these models as well as the other teachers in that school? They were motivated
professionals, effective facilitators, and successfully maintained student
attention. That is, students were immersed in thought during the classroom
period. I could never be as demonstrative as Janet nor could I feel comfortable
structuring a class like Steve, though his craftsman approach loomed large
because it made me think deeply about the delivery of my content areas, the
impetus to build an engaging and meaningful atmosphere.
Many advancements in my
career were inspired by technological developments, and novelty works
particularly well in this realm because the students are techno-savvy and
turned on by these devices. However, novelty often coincides with attentiveness and there are
multiple means to inspire engagement.
*******
The Post-Sputnik Influence
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One of the results of the Sputnik launch by the Soviet Union in the fall of
1957 was its effect on American education and the calling for a greater
emphasis on academic standards, particularly mathematics and science. The
public realized that it was in the United States' best interest to permit
federal aid to local districts, and Congress passed the National Defense
Education Act in 1958.
Targeted would be creating conceptually fundamental ideas
along with reforms that generated new textbooks that included instructional
materials such as films, activities, and readings over the emphasis on
information and terms. While the Soviets used Sputnik as their symbolic advance in technology,
President Kennedy proclaimed that a manned flight to the moon as America's
advance.
Americans were confident that the
leading scientists, mathematicians, and engineers were spearheading the
educational reform, and expected a huge leap in our nation's technological
savvy. It did not work out to that extent as the new PSSC, CHEM Study, BSCS,
SCIS, and ESS reached classrooms, but because many teachers were not on board
with the new style of instruction, students did not experience the
initiatives as the founders desired. In addition, there was a failure to
accommodate students in low socioeconomic areas. Nevertheless, the changes
revolutionized the education scene in the United States shifting the paradigm
to emphasize creativity, inquiry, and hands-on activities that affect education in school
districts across the country to this day.
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References
1. Conant, J.,
(1959). American High School Today
(Carnegie Series in American Education), McGraw-Hill Inc.
2. New Findings
Show New York City’s Small High Schools Boost College Enrollment Rates Among
Disadvantaged Students (October 16, 2014).
Retrieved
from:
http://www.mdrc.org/news/press-release/new-findings-show-new-york-city-s-small-high-schools-boost-college-enrollment
3. Small Schools
Work in New York, (October 14, 2014). The Editorial Board, The New York Times
Retrieved
from:
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/18/opinion/small-schools-work-in-new-york.html
4. Shakrani, S.,
(2008). A Big Idea: Smaller High Schools. Education Policy Center, Michigan
State University.
