A morning spin through the K-5 classrooms

Blackberry (k/1) - Mindful breathing as they transition from recess into a work period

Laurel (k/1) - Practicing estimation techniques in math class

Sweet Briar (2/3) - Designing tri-fold posters for their Egypt Festival

Temescal (2/3) - Designing and folding paper airplanes in art class

Cerrito (4/5) - Independent reading period

Strawberry (4/5) - Writing scripts in small groups based on their recent literature circles

17 reasons why football is better than high school

This 1998 article by Herb Childress captures some very important ideas about education that get right to the heart of what we value at TBS. While I don't agree with every point he makes, the main thrust is right on: when done correctly, the underlying educational structure of a football team (or any other team sport) is far more responsive to child development and the intellectual, emotional, and social realities of adolescence than the typical school.

1. In football, teenagers are considered important contributors rather than passive recipients. 
2. In football, teenagers are encouraged to excel.
3. In football, teenagers are honored.
4. In football, a player can let the team down.
5. In football, repetition is honorable.
6. In football, the unexpected happens all the time.
7. In football, practices generally run a lot longer than 50 minutes. 
8. In football, the homework is of a different type from what's done at practice. 
9. In football, emotions and human contact are expected parts of the work.
10. In football, players get to choose their own roles.
11. In football, the better players teach the less-skilled players.
12. In football, there is a lot of individual instruction and encouragement from adults. 
13. In football, the adults who participate are genuinely interested.
14. In football, volunteers from the community are sought after.
15. In football, ability isn't age-linked.
16. Football is more than the sum of its parts. 
17. In football, a public performance is expected. 

There's No Place Like Home!

I spent Sunday-Wednesday this week serving on an WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) accreditation committee for a school in the Bay Area. Just as observing other classrooms is a great opportunity for teachers to reflect deeply about their own beliefs and the practices they use based on those values, getting the chance to look deeply at all dimensions of another school, from governance to finance to admissions to marketing to site to what and how children learn, how assessment is used, how all students are supported and how parents, families and the community are engaged is an incredible (and exhausting) opportunity for me to reflect on how TBS approaches all of these critical areas as well.

What I realized during my visit was how lucky I feel to work at TBS. We are truly a child-centered school, in which the developmental needs and characteristics of children form the basis for everything we do. From the physical arrangement of the classrooms, to the scope and sequence of our curriculum, to our strong emphasis on professional development for faculty, we are constantly asking the question "what are the needs of our students, and how can we improve the educational experience they have?" To have my personal values and philosophy so in line with the place where I work is an incredibly powerful and motivating experience.

This visit also made me excited for our own upcoming accreditation self-study, which we'll be conducting next year. Approached bureaucratically, a self-study is just a series of hoops to jump through, but I know that we'll use this as an authentic opportunity to rigorously investigate all aspects of our program, for the same reason we always return to - a commitment to improve the education we provide for students.

If Your Child Doesn't Want to Talk about It

Dear families,

I want to thank you for the incredible outpouring of love and support you have shown to RF, Kristen, the other children, and the teachers during this difficult time. It has been a profound experience that validates everything I believe about the values that lie at the heart of our community.

As is developmentally appropriate for a number of reasons, some children are simply not raising the topic of RF's father's suicide with their parents, and some of those parents have come to us for help on how to give their children the right support in this scenario. Our advice, again informed by conversation with Dr. Anne Brodzinsky, is that if you have this experience, you can open the door to the conversation by saying something like "I heard that something sad has been talked about at school." Your child may then choose to accept that as an invitation to talk, or she or he may not want to, in which case it's very important to leave that door open without pressing the issue, perhaps by saying "I want you to know that you can talk about it with me at any time." Remember that it's okay for children to decide not to talk about this, and that indicating support for a conversation doesn't mean there has to be a conversation. This will help your child feel secure and safe that s/he can talk about it with you if and when s/he is ready.

There are of course many other scenarios of interaction you may experience. Please feel free to contact your child's teachers or me if you have any questions about this or any other experience you have with your child about this topic.

Family Tragedy at TBS

Below is the full text of the letter I sent out to our K-8 families yesterday (with the child's initials altered). While this has been an extraordinarily difficult several days for our community, I am profoundly moved by our community's willingness to put this child's needs at the center of our work and support him in this critical time. It is a testament to the deeply held beliefs and values of our families and staff, and I am extraordinarily proud to work at a place that can not only provide the stability and normalcy so needed for this child and family, but also provide a context in which he does not need to feel shame or stigma about this experience. I am in deeply touched by and grateful towards the many, many parents who have stepped forward to support this family in this time of crisis, and the professionalism and child-centered thinking of our faculty.

I write with deep sadness to let you know that one of our K/1 families has suffered a family tragedy. Last week, Brian, father of RF in Blackberry Creek, took his own life. While RF lives with his mother Kristin in Oakland, Brian (who lived in Capitola) was a close presence in his life.

RF has been absent from school for the last two days, and we expect him back tomorrow. In this time of crisis for the family, we want to ensure that school remains a safe, normal place for RF over the coming weeks; we especially want him to feel shame-free and to integrate this experience into his understanding of his life. Because of the specific circumstances of this situation - RF is aware that Brian killed himself with a gun; he is a talkative child who freely shares his thoughts and ideas with his peers in both Laurel and Blackberry, inside and outside of the classroom; we have a high number of siblings spread throughout our school, across the grades; and our multi-grade classrooms and K/1-4/5 buddy program leads to a community of elementary students who know each other across classrooms and grades - we have consulted with Dr. Anne Brodzinsky, our consulting school psychologist, on the best way to proceed, and how to balance the needs of providing the experience of a supportive community for RF with the developmental readiness of our students for this difficult topic.

In accordance with the professional advice of Anne and the literature on communicating with children about death and suicide, today the RF teachers led brief discussions with students; specifically, they explained that illness occurs on a spectrum or continuum, that sometimes people are ill in their minds, that sometimes when people are ill in their minds they take their own lives, and that this is what Brian did with a gun. We have chosen this path because of the degree of information that RF has about the circumstances of his father's death, and we believe that by making this an open topic, we minimize both the potential for a dangerous stigma that would impede his ability to integrate this experience in a healthy way, and the need for other students to whisper about or hide their conversations.

Some students in classrooms outside of the K1 have already learned about this tragedy directly from other students. In order to ensure that all of our students have accurate information, and to eliminate any climate of shame and reinforce the open conversation of this topic, I will be coordinating with each set of classroom teachers about when and how to have developmentally-appropriate conversations with the students in each classroom. If anything arises in the course of those conversations that would warrant further communication, we will of course let you know. In addition, if you have questions about the nature of this conversation with students, or about your child's participation, please contact me directly.

As with any unusual event in school, your children may come home and want to talk about this topic, the class meeting, or an interaction with RF (or another child) that he or she has sometime this week (or beyond). We encourage you to be direct and honest in your responses to their questions, and to let their questions guide you in what information you give them. If you would like further advice and direction on speaking with your child about death and suicide, we recommend reading the relevant pages at hospicenet and afsp.org.

If you feel the desire to reach out to Kristen, I encourage you to write cards or notes and send them by mail, rather than sending emails, unless you hear otherwise directly from her. This will give Kristen a stronger measure of control about deciding when to open those messages. Her address is in the school directory.

At TBS we often talk about the value of our community. I ask you now to put RF's health and well-being at the center of your thoughts as we demonstrate to him that his two worlds of home and school are one family that will support him through this tragedy without wrapping the particulars in secrecy or shame.

Thank you for supporting RF, his family, your child, and our community during this difficult time.

Upcoming WASC accreditation service

I'll be out of the office from Sunday 4/22 through Wednesday 4/25, serving on a WASC accreditation committee at Zion Lutheran in San Francisco. Just as teachers love going on observations to other schools, because of the incredibly rich learning experience and opportunity for reflection it provides, I'm excited to get this opportunity to dig into how another school approach the organization of its curriculum, schedule, space, staffing, policies and procedures. This experience is also very helpful when it comes to preparing for our own accreditation efforts next year, as my visit from last spring showed.

Noam Chomsky on the purpose of education

"Do you train for passing tests, or do you train for creative inquiry?"