A School for Each Student

High Expectations in a Climate of Personalization

Nelson Beaudoin

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781138470682
• eBook ISBN: 9781317924739
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

With real stories from real schools, this book offers an alternative vision of school improvement. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, author Nelson Beaudoin presents practical strategies which put students first. The real-life examples in A School For Each Student place students at the center of the equation and treat them as individuals who are born to learn. Written as a resource for professional development, this book study tool provides a refreshing look at the possibilities of student and educators. Also featured are the 12 R's, which include being Reflective, Rigorous, Respectful, Responsive, Resilient, and more.

Chapter 1

It Is About Them

“The work of educators should be about helping students become visible”⁹

—Sam Chaltain

The French documentary, To Be and To Have, provides us with a wonderful model for making education about each student. George Lopez, the celebrated teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in rural France, shows remarkable skill and ability to keep his focus on the students.¹⁰ Each time I watch this documentary, I am amazed at how calmly Lopez approaches his responsibilities as a teacher. It is as if the world around him moves in slow motion. The educational and emotional needs of each student are always in the forefront of his vision, and all else seems secondary. In this moving tribute to teachers everywhere, Lopez personifies the ability to be patient, nurturing, organized, attentive, firm, caring, sensitive, and dedicated. Many of those skills will be highlighted in the sections that follow. As you explore the ideas presented in Chapter 1, hold this visual of a teacher giving unwavering attention to each student. Remember that our work is always about them.

We begin our journey of how to create a school for each child with our first task of making our work as educators be about the students. At first glance, this should be the easiest idea of all to incorporate into our work, but, sadly, it is one of the hardest. I, and I suspect most teachers, went into education to be with kids and to help them learn. The notion that our work should be about the children should be a foregone conclusion, yet I am saddened to say that this is not the case. Our original purpose is diverted away from the students and instead becomes more focused on curriculum content, test scores, parental demands, financial issues, teacher comforts, the race to college, and political agendas. Educators are slaves to these demands, and, consequently, their primary attention to their students is often compromised.

As it stands, educators barely have time to focus their attention on students in a general way. Yet, we must pay attention not only to all students in a general sense, but to each student in a very concentrated, specific way. This is a huge challenge, but one well worth embracing.

The sections in this first chapter help to clarify various ways that giving attention to each student can be accomplished. Much of what will be presented falls in the category of beliefs and attitudes. If you think a certain way about students and your role as a teacher, then the ideas presented should pave a fairly smooth road toward implementation. I suspect, however, that the ideas presented will create tension for even the most student-centered reader. Attention to each student is a rarity in schools. Part of the challenge that you will face as you work toward a school for each student model is the institutionalized and established traditions that funnel your attention away from your students.

I contend that this unwavering attention to students is possible. I believe that when it is done well, the other demands on teachers and schools become more manageable. Rather than carving time away from our students to accomplish all of the peripheral responsibilities common to education, focused time with each student at the heart of our every action makes all those other responsibilities doable.

A School for Each Student

Many years ago, an ad campaign for the McDonald’s restaurant chain used the slogan “We do it all for you!” to suggest that customers needn’t worry about decisions when ordering food: “Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun!” In contrast, the Burger King franchise chose a different approach: “Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us!” Burger Kings slogan was “Have it your way!” (See Figure 3).

Any personal thoughts regarding the nutritional viability of fast-food restaurant aside, if the slogan “We do it all for you!” described a school, I think it would be “a school for all students,” where students have a curriculum already chosen for them and little or no opportunity to make a contribution. At a school that says, “Have it your way,” students would participate in a variety of personalized programs that honor their strengths and interests. This is “a school for each student,” and I support this approach. Rather than trying to force all students to fit the same structure, we would encourage each student to find a structure that fits him or her. Rather than students following predetermined courses of study, they could pursue passions, which can lead to adventurous learning. I do not view students as spectators who let education happen to them. Since school is about students, their participation is non-negotiable. The words of a Monte Selby song express this idea quite well.

Figure 3 We have to keep reminding our kids that school is about them

Two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun!	Hold the pickles hold the lettuce special orders don’t upset us!
We do it all for you!	Have it your way!

“All students in reach when we find their rhythm

The step, the dance, the song within them.

That’s a better journey, but so much harder.

Too extraordinary, but so much smarter

To drum to the beat of each different marcher.”¹¹

While most schools would have all students march to the beat of the same drum, this book advocates a substantially different approach: drumming to the beat of each student. We will explore ways that teachers and administrators can move their schools and classrooms toward this idea of finding the beat of each different student. The topic, however, is substantially more complex than the simple analogies to fast food restaurants or marching to the beat of a drum. In the sections that follow, you will be provided with multiple ideas that can be incorporated in schools to advance personalization strategies for each student. These strategies and ideas will enable you to look at school reform and improvement through a different lens: a lens of possibility.

The Magic Is in Them

I have been a long-time believer in the premise that education is really about helping students become themselves. We may teach skills and knowledge and we may do many other things for our students, but we are merely helping students to discover who they are. The following poem captures the essence of this idea.

WIZARD¹²

The kids walk in, stroll in, bounce in, flounce in, strut in,

dance in, and finally stagger into my classroom.

There are even a few who look and act like they have been

swept up by a tornado and dropped in the back row.

Each in his or her own way is following the yellow brick road

to my door in search of the Emerald City and the Wizard of Oz.

Some need courage and I support and believe in them

until they believe in themselves.

Some want a heart and I introduce them to art, music, theater,

and poetry and let them explore their feelings.

Some are in search of a brain and I help them locate theirs

and show them how to use it to the best of their ability.

Some are trying to find a home and I give them a safe,

secure place to be with an adult who listens and cares.

I am not really a wizard so I use my teaching skills to

help my students learn that the magic is within them, not me.

—Keith Harvie

As Harvie suggests, we need to use our teaching skills to help students understand that the magic is in them. I believe this idea is a tough sell for many educators because so many people who have chosen this profession have done so with the intent of doing great things for young people. To sustain their initial naive motivation to do great things for students, teachers will oftentimes view students as incapable, even though their intentions are good. Consequently, some educators are much more likely to rescue students than to facilitate opportunities for self-discovery. My own experiences as a father provide a perfect illustration of how adults can carry this concept of helping students too far. The account that follows demonstrates how some adults can unknowingly keep students from developing in order to justify the necessity of their role in the relationship.

I assume that my two sons were pretty typical growing up. They wanted to help me whenever I worked around the house—until they hit their teenage years. Reflecting back on those times, I am sad to say that I missed many opportunities to let them work alongside me. On occasion, I was too busy to involve them in projects, but more often than not my reluctance to let them help had to do with my shielding them from the burden of work I associated with adulthood. In my head, I thought a good father should be working to protect their childhood. So instead of having them help me rake leaves or pound nails, I would tell them to go play. When they did get to help pound nails, for example, I grew discouraged and frustrated as they struggled with the skill.

The next time I needed to do some hammering, I either would tell them that I did not need their help, or that the work was too hard. A number of unconstructive outcomes surfaced from this type of scenario. From an educational point of view, I did not give them the impression that they were capable. I did not hint that the magic was in them. I chose to do things for them rather than let them experience the setbacks and challenges associated with hard work and learning. Teachers need to guard against this type of enabling. My role as a dad should have been to patiently work alongside my sons and encourage their gradual acquisition of skills. Luckily, I got to spend a great deal of quality time with my boys, but it was mostly about play, not work. Fortunately, they got the opportunity to develop their work ethic through athletic and artistic pursuits, so they overcame the liability I had unknowingly created for them.

Looking back, I realize that I missed some great opportunities to spend time working with my sons and they missed opportunities to acquire some important life-skills. Back then, I certainly did not have the idea of helping them become relevant on the agenda.

This chapter of the book focuses on what schools could and should do to involve students in the educational process. In order to embrace the discussion that follows, you must first shed the idea that students are incapable. This journey will take you away from the idea that teaching is about doing great things for students and bring you to the realization that it is about helping students do great things for themselves. It will take you beyond the ordinary conversation about student participation to a place that recognizes that the magic is within each student. Please repeat after me, “The magic is in them, not me!”

Learning by Doing

I frequently tell the story of a seventh-grade girl who shared a wonderful metaphor for letting students learn by doing. Several years ago at a Service Learning conference, I participated on a panel that included a 12-year-old girl named Tina. During one session, a room full of educators and community leaders asked panel members various questions about service learning. One person asked the panel what role adult leaders should play in service learning programs that had a strong focus on students as planners. As the adults on the panel stumbled through less-than-inspiring responses, Tina waited for a chance to speak.

Once she finally got the floor, Tina explained that the adult role was to keep students safe while allowing them to learn by doing. She suggested that the role of educators was to act as “bumpers” on a bowling lane in order to keep the ball from going into the gutter while still giving even the youngest of bowlers an opportunity to experience the game. Tina’s metaphor provides a great example of the role of a teacher who wants his or her students to learn by doing rather than doing it for them.

The implications for educational practice are far-reaching. Learning by doing gets at two important considerations for our students. First and foremost, it provides relevance to the activity they are engaged in and at the same time holds the promise of providing students with a sense of accomplishment. Rather than approaching a particular skill or activity theoretically, students can view it practically. Rather than imagining the purpose of acquired knowledge, they actually get to apply it in a real-world setting. The concept of keeping kids safe as they learn by doing extends far beyond service learning programs.

Using the skill of writing as an example, it would be pretty simple to provide students with copy after copy of good writing and ask them to work at replicating what they see. It may be harder, but arguably so much more effective, to have students work through the writing process as an exercise of growth and discovery. Students become great writers by doing, not by emulating. This brief example of writing, although vulnerable to attacks by writing teachers who might cringe at my uncomplicated suggestion, really represents a paradox for teachers. Are we trying to get all students to write like Emerson, or are we trying to cultivate the world’s next great writer? Or is it both?

There is probably not a correct answer to this question, but it is clear to me that educational policy-makers are hovering very close to a cliff edge when they put more emphasis on outcomes—such as test scores—than they do on th...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Meet the Author
• Preface
• How To Use This Book
• Introduction
• CHAPTER 1: It Is About Them
• CHAPTER 2: Opportunities for Voice
• CHAPTER 3: What Matters Most
• CHAPTER 4: Teaching and Learning
• CHAPTER 5: The 12 Rs: Joining a Team
• CHAPTER 6: A Wider Perspective
• References and Readings