“Are you with me now” A J Ryder
Since we will be travelling from Sydney to Tasmania and thereabouts, The Magical Mystery Tour is the official or unofficial name of the trip to Australia but this week there have been many Magical Mystery Tours. Below is a heart-warming one from the past and present. Over 20 years ago, Matt Spengler was the first principal of MetWest and now Shalonda Gregory is the principal. It is a ‘mystery to me’ but somehow Matt was at the school and sent along this photo. It ain’t what it is all about but it is part of what it is all about. I love it.
“Pain that is not transformed is transmitted.” And perhaps a corollary: Fear that is not transformed is transmitted.
If anyone ever thought that change was going to come without pain and suffering, think again. It is what each and every one of us does with it that makes the difference. The good news is that many of us know what to do. This is not my first rodeo nor will it be my last. I’m glad that Chris Jackson called me and Carlos up for a walk down memory lane to commemorate so many of the Black leaders in Providence who helped get the Met and BPL started. Stay tuned. A great way to start Black History Month!
Is the Science of Reading all there is? Peggy Lee? Well kind of. Don’t be fooled again! The Who
“According to recent data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), around 32% of US students are performing at or above the proficient level in reading, while around 28% are performing at or above the proficient level in math.”
I have lots of questions about NAEP scores and their interpretation that are far too lengthy to get into here but here’s something you can ask you friendly doctor that relates to the science of medicine. The next time you see your doc ask if medicine is a craft, a science or both? I recently asked a retired doctor that and he snickered. Today, in education The Great Reading Debate has been won over solely by the Science of Reading camp. Well, I’m here to ask why with all of the Professional Development (PD) around the Science of Reading and Math are scores going down? How’s that PD working for ya? There really are some reasons for these scores trending down that reflect the times but none so blatant as ignoring the sense of touching a book and reading with someone you love. Reading is a joyful activity made into drudgery and repetition by schools that reduce reading to a technology or “science.” Void of relationships, interest/meaning and community the science of reading will not give us a nation of people who love to read. Until we take the time to honor long-term understandings, not only of how we learn to read but why we do it, scientists and researchers will read the data and weep.
Note: I worked with thousands of students young and old of all ages k-college in and out of school for 13 years around literacy. My opinion doesn’t ‘come out of nowhere.’ If you want to read a synopsis of what we did at The Met, there’s an article attached called Living Literacy from Life to Text and Text to Life.
Community Poi Day every Thursday at Waipa
Early in the week, I worked on Kauai with Kapua around all of the things you have to do to start up a school. The early BPL team came up with The List of 100 that I still hand out. There were so many good parts to my time at Namahana. I met with Taeko who fresh from NYC Namahana’s new Director of Finance and Operations is. We have a good amount of mutual friends from New York and it was fun to reminisce. I also met with President of Namahana School Board Pam Murphy, Bridget Thorpe Namahana Education Foundation’s (NEF) development person and Mel Parker NEF’s President. One conversation was about ways to obtain affordable housing for teachers (stay tuned) but the best part was being with a group of ten students at a home school that started up with a group of 14-year-olds and their advisor Whitney. All are registered for Namahana when it opens next year. What a great way to start a school with students a year before the school opens. We did this the year before The Met opened as well. The day I visited; the advisory was working on their entrepreneurial ventures. Some of these have already started up. Others were getting their brands together, working collaboratively across their businesses and finding their niches in the community. This home school pod uses the entire community as the school. They participated in Poi Day and learned environmental studies at Waipa, They use Hawaiian language in the context of their daily work and so much more. It was a great visit. Mahalo Nui. Also, I took some good walks on the land where Namahana is going to be and enjoyed every minute.
My TGIF’s go way beyond our BPLearning Staff. Here’s two responses from the story on personal pathways, interest, engagement and climbers.
From Andrea Purcell
Yep. The climbing community I know fits this to a T. Really, really smart kids and adults, disciplined, motivated, and more than happy to carve their own path. I have met more homeschoolers and hybrid-path high schoolers in the climbing community than anywhere else I've encountered. And they are all 100% confident that they will be fine in life.
From Jeff Petty
El! Great Sunday morning read! I had this poster of Hugh Herr climbing Stage Fright in my college dorm. The difficulty was 5.12, which is close to the hardest grade there was at that time (I think now we are at 5.15d), and the X after the numeric rating indicates danger of serious injury or death because of the difficulty of securing adequate protection. I also used to do a lot of trips to the ravine on Mt. Washington where he had his accident. Definitely an inspiration. The climbing world has a number of these folks who likely were school flunkies but clearly creative thinkers and problem solvers who went on to engineer and design equipment that has continued to advance the sport. Chouinard, the Lowe brothers, particularly Jeff Lowe. It’s a fascinating blend of physicality and movement, like dance, and the engineering and hardware that makes it possible in all the ropes and devices to stay attached to the medium. Very Big Picture!
One more thing....
Ever think about Alzheimer’s Disease? There’s lots of research asking why taxi and ambulance drivers have such a low rate of Alzheimer’s. A study published in The BMJ found that taxi and ambulance drivers have a lower risk of dying from Alzheimer's disease than other occupations. This suggests that the frequent spatial and navigational processing required for these jobs may help protect against Alzheimer's. Looking at a screen all day does not allow that to happen. Along with climbing goes orientation and proprioception so GTFO of your mind and climb into the world.
Next week, I’ll be in North Carolina with Carrie Duff and then in LA to do work on our Harbor Freight Fellows gear up.
Be well!
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