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Hosted by Regis Tremblay and Ted Talbot
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Last week, we were enthralled with the story of the Portland Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound High School project with the Portland Pirates. This week, we'll meet the enlightened and visionary people behind the story of a major reform in public education. Portland Schools' Superintendent Mary Jo O'Connor; Mike McCarthy, Principal of King Middle School; and Derek Pierce, Principal at the Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound High School will tell us about their vision of a place that "the wonderful in every child can be discovered." In order to "discover the wonderful in every child," it was necessary to change the way the leaders and teachers saw themselves and what they were doing. No longer was it good enough to approach learning with a "one size fits all," mentality. The underlying belief, which has been scientifically documented for decades, is that people do not and cannot learn in the same way. You won't hear any double talk, spin, or educational gobbledygook from these three. What you will hear is flat out common sense, easy to understand things they are doing right here in Portland. None of that nonsense nobody understands about No Child Left Behind. You won't hear experts pontificate about what is best for your children. These people believe you have to keep the whole child in mind and stop thinking of children as empty vessels or clean slates that teachers "fill" or "write on." They also believe that learning happens in groups with every child collaborating "to get every one to the top of the mountain." These folks aren't happy when a handful of students get good grades. They are committed to help every child be successful in school, and not just the 60% - most of whom are just compliant kids who have no choice but to play the game. These people don't believe that public schools should be labeling and sorting out the 40% who can't learn the old way. Success for them is helping every child "find their own passion." For them, a teacher's job is to figure out how each person learns. That is a far cry from what my oldest son's 65 year-old 1st grade teacher told us when he couldn't sit still in class. She said we needed to put him on Ritalin! The principal told us "public schools can't worry about taking care of individual needs." Sound familiar? That's not only a belief in "one size fits all," but it is also disrespectful of children....and that makes people like me angry, and people like my guests figure out how to do it better. This doesn't happen because someone wished it, much less "commanded" it from the top. You will learn that some basic structures had to be changed in order for people to think differently. You'll learn it took perseverance and staying the course. They told me it also took hiring the right people to teach in their schools. Simply put: people who shared the vision. You will hear stories about what is happening in several schools. At King, they experienced a 180 degree turnaround! It is a different place than it was three years ago. But, lest you think they are going to make every school in the Portland system morph into this model, they won't. They'll still have "traditional" K-12 schools, but parents and children in the Portland system will be able to attend the school that fits them best. This isn't an abstract theory dreamed up by a so-called "expert," or by an Education doctoral student in a dissertation. This is real stuff coming from the trenches. One of the goals of The Center For Kids FIRST, and the Kids FIRST Radio Show is to be a catalyst for change in how children learn, how they become healthy and happy adults, and how adults organize, regulate, and distort the way they play. Our Mission is to provide our listeners with quality programming, and stimulating information and discussion on the issues that impact our children and our families. I'm proud to be able to showcase these inspired leaders and the great they are doing. Next week, we'll learn about the Sports Done Right Initiative from three schools that are implementing this important initiative to change the way we look at sports.
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Purchase Reclaiming The Timeless Value of Sport and Play A new book by Regis Tremblay |
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© Copyright 2004 Kids First In Sports, Health, and Education |
