Posts Tagged ‘education’

Are “red marks” teaching you to aim low?

July 21st, 2010

Lately, I’ve been writing about a topic - talent attraction — that I feel I don’t know enough about.  It’s a topic that I have both a passion for and a lot of ideas about.  Unfortunately, I still feel inadequate at sharing these ideas because I know that a lot of people are critical of the concept, especially as it applies to small, rural communities.

In short, I’m afraid of being told, “How dare you, this is terrible.”

Those words – ”How dare you, this is terrible” — by Seth Godin stuck with me as I watched a short video titled “Seth Godin on how schools teach kids to aim low.” The video highlights Godin’s thoughts about how we train the creativity out of young people, but it speaks to individuals of all ages. 

 

 

(Source:  PSCSvideos, “Seth Godin on how schools teach kids to aim low,” YouTube, May 5, 2010)

Watching the video reminded me that I need to have the courage to overcome the uncertainty created by the “red marks” of people who don’t believe in the future of rural communities.  It reminded me that it’s ok to stretch the boundaries of my writing, sharing ideas that may be a bit unconventional .  In fact, it’s reminded me that I have to take on this task if I hope to be a resource in the effort to build a deeper conversation about the future of rural communities.

My guess is that I’m not alone in needing this reminder.

In many ways, rural community leaders everywhere have been taught by decades of decline to accept criticism as “truth” and as Godin suggests, to “aim low.” 

Godin’s advice doesn’t give us permission to become modern-day Don Quixote’s;  we still need to listen to and learn from the “red marks” of our critics.  But in the process, we can’t let those comments bury the creativity and innovation that can emerge from a willingness to tackle the issues.

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Schools: Design Effects Performance

June 9th, 2010

If you remember, last week I wrote a post on the health and learning benefits attributed to green schools.  I asked, is it that unrealistic to build green schools in rural areas, and can it be obtained by those who don’t have a lot of money to throw around?

I wanted to expand the statistics found in my last post.  Air Quality Sciences, Inc interviewed 667 executives involved in green and traditional educational facilities and this is what they had to say.

I think we now all understand the tremendous benefits of green schools for our students, teachers, and administrators, but not every district can afford a new building and I believe that doing something, no matter how small, is better than doing nothing.  This led me to seek out information on what others can do to improve the buildings they already have.

A study found in the book Green Schools: Attributes for Health and Learning focused on rural high schools in Virginia.  School personnel surveyed the building based on topics, ranging from thermal comfort to the condition of the flooring and the color of the walls, in order to rate the building as substandard, standard or above standard.  The study found that there was a significant difference in student performance from students in substandard buildings compared to their peers in above standard buildings.  And, the students said the building’s cosmetics, like the condition of the floors and the color of the walls, were more important than the structure of the building.

Teachers from two similar elementary schools in rural Tennessee reported that students in the modern school had a lower level of discipline and health issues and a higher attendance rate than students in a building from 1939. 

These results are great news for rural schools that are feeling the pinch, but want to do some upgrading.  While more sunlight, better heating and cooling systems, and rain water reuse programs are great, brightly colored walls can make a huge difference on the way people perceive a room.  Nicer furnishings and classrooms also solicit more respect from students. 

I want to leave you with a video I found to be truly inspiring.  Imagine how much happier the world would be if all our students got to study in a place like this, and all of our office and retail buildings had these great characteristics.

Manassas Park Elementary School from Chesapeake Bay Program on Vimeo.

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Building the Case: Greening Our Schools

June 4th, 2010

Going to school at Howard High was pretty good.  The building was built in 1969 and in fairly good shape for a building now in its 40’s; almost every classroom had a window and the library had skylights, but the temperature controls weren’t quite right and often window blinds were shut tight.  I didn’t particularly enjoy the building, but it wasn’t bad and could have been much worse. 

The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) says the average American spends 90% of their day indoors.  Often little thought is put into how the built environment impacts our daily routine.  As a socially minded architecture student, I think good buildings should enhance our daily lives and not only be available to those with a fist full of cash.  I start to wonder if it really is that unrealistic to build green schools in rural areas. 

Currently there are numerous schools being housed in what appear to be tin sheds or leftover trailers.  When I hear that “green” schools improve the health of teachers and students, raise test scores and decrease student absences, I ask myself why our schools aren’t doing more to help our students.

The USGBC defines green schools as, “… a school building or facility that creates a healthy environment that is conducive to learning while saving energy, resources and money.”

According to Air Quality Sciences, Inc, Turner Construction, and the USGBC-Green Schools, there are many reasons why schools should be built using “green” practices.

 In our rural school districts, it can be hard to find enough money for textbooks, let alone a new building.  But when given the opportunity, are we providing our students and teachers with the best possible opportunities to succeed?

 If the statistics I found are correct, this means our decision to build schools goes far beyond financial or environmental factors. 

 Stay tuned next week for a post looking at different case studies about rural “green” schools.

 Photo:  Howard High School in Howard, SD

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Posted in Quality of Life, Rural, Rural Life, Uncategorized, education | Comments (0)

Are you skipping school?

March 17th, 2010

A few weeks ago, I was talking to a college professor who was bemoaning the lack of initiative by students.  If I understood correctly, his main point was that students today lacked the motivation to apply what they were being taught.  I’ve known and respected this professor for a long time, and I value his insights.  But at the same time, I couldn’t help but wonder if the Internet and social media were changing how young people learn and that the problem was an institutional and pedagogical problem, rather than student problem. 

The above conversation was still fresh in my mind this morning when I stumbled across a video production titled “Re-Imaging Learning in the 21st Century”  (thanks for sharing @kristinwolff).  A production of the MacArthur Foundation, the video described some of the key findings the foundation has discovered about education through their Digital Media and Learning Initiative. 

 

By nature, I’m attracted to anything that talks about “reimagining” the future, but I found value in how the video simplified the complex issues surrounding how technology has impacted learning. 

As the video highlights, the Digital Media and Learning Initiative seeks to build a new vision for education based on the following three core principles:

I particularly like this last principle - learning from networks rather than from institutions.  It’s how I learn today.  Rather than attend a place or institution to learn, I reach out to my network - particularly my online network. 

Twitter, Facebook, and the ReImagine Rural blog enable me to connect to people who: share valuable resources with me, help pick me up when I’m down, and offer insights on ideas and projects that I am passionate about.  It makes my lifelong learning more relevant, social, and interesting. 

Like everyone, I sometimes get bogged down in the grind of work, and I feel that I don’t have time to participate in my social networks.  What I’ve come to learn, however, is that it’s sort of like skipping school, and the quality of my work suffers. 

This realization has caused me to wonder: how many other rural community leaders are skipping school by not taking advantage of the opportunities created by networking?

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School lunch programs gone “local”

January 4th, 2010

While grocery shopping for Christmas, I picked up some delicious looking strawberries.  It’s difficult to grow fresh strawberries during South Dakota’s harsh winter, and I suspected these strawberries had been grown on a hydroponic farm in some distant land. Unfortunately, their flavor fell far short of my already low expectations, and I suspect their nutritional value wasn’t far behind. 

With this disappointment fresh in my mind, I caught a tweet from Deb Brown at DebWorks.  She shared an interesting article describing how the Independence (IA) School District has embraced the local foods movement in an effort to both improve the nutritional value of their school lunches and to education young people about healthy living.    (Source:  “School lunch goes local,” Iowa Farmer Today, 12-23-09)

The school district is a part of the Iowa Farm to School Initiative.  They purchase locally grown produce, and prepare it at their kitchen.  In an effort to help young people understand what healthy eating is all about and where their food comes from, the school has also developed an educational component. 

Not only am I impressed with the efforts because it should lead to healthier eating for young people, but also because it stimulates the local economy.  Granted it must take a little extra effort to prepare the fruits and vegetables, but I’m sure the school’s kitchen workers appreciate the extra hours and accompanying wages.

There’s been a growing movement lately to discredit local foods initiatives.  The theory goes that mass producing foods and shipping them across the country leads to greater economic efficiencies.  But as a recent Business Week article titled “Entrepreneurs Keep the Local Food Movement Hot” reports, local foods initiatives play a more critical role in economic development than most people realize. 

After conducting a quick internet search for the Farm to School Initiative, I’ve concluded there’s not much happening in South Dakota’s schools.  If true, that’s disappointing. 

Good nutrition and a little economic development.  That’s something that could benefit all of our rural communities. 

Photo credit:  back_garage - Flickr

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Posted in Economic Development, Rural, education | Comments (5)

Mistakes of a first-year Teacher

November 17th, 2009

I have a confession to make.  When I started my teaching career at Tripp High School in 1990, I had no idea what it meant to teach in a small rural school.  Having grown up in Hartford, SD, a small town just outside of Sioux Falls, I always thought of myself as a rural kid.  But in reality, my high school experience was closer to that of a suburban school than a rural school.  And more importantly, nothing in my college teacher preparation courses suggested that teaching in rural schools was any different than teaching in urban settings.

Case in point:  During my first year of teaching, I introduced a personal finance unit into my micro economics class.  Hoping to show my students how they could be “smart shoppers,” I demonstrated how they could save money by switching from buying individual cans of pop from the school’s pop machine to buying pop in bulk. And if they were really smart, I suggested, they would drive to Sioux Falls to buy at a discounter like Sam’s Club — because that’s where the real savings could be realized. 

If you’ve lived in a rural community, you recognize the stupidity of my example.  But for those who don’t, let me explain:

First, I did not factor in the cost of driving the 90 miles to Sioux Falls.  (Boy would my green friends today have a problem with this.)

Second, it did not consider the importance of patronizing a business in one’s community.  Our local grocery story displayed good community citizenship, while Sam’s Club didn’t know (or care) that Tripp, SD even existed. 

And finally, the model for saving money I shared didn’t factor in how the city council would need to ask residents to pay more in property taxes to make up for the declining sales tax revenues resulting from out-of-town purchasing.   

I’ve been thinking about examples like this a lot lately as I work on the South Dakota Partnership for Teacher Quality.  One of the roles the Rural Learning Center will play in the grant is to help first year teachers learn how to live and teach in rural communities.  In some ways, this will involve similar concepts offered by Kyle Ezell in Get Urban.  (see post for more info.)

Teaching and living in rural communities is different from teaching in urban communities. I learned that the hard way.  I wonder how many teacher education programs acknowledge these differences as they prepare teachers?  If they did, we might see young teachers become life-long rural educators.

Photo Credit:  FXR - Flickr

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ReImagine Rural Education

November 6th, 2009

Lately we’ve been calling on rural communities to “reimagine” their futures by focusing on transformational strategies rather than those of revitalization.  In a recent post on the Daily Yonder, Timothy Collins reminded me that this can’t take place without “reimaging” the future of education in our rural communities.

Collins, the assistant director of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs at Western Illinois University, wrote his post titled “Speak your peace: Longer School Year, and Better,” in response to President Obama’s call for lengthening the number of days in the school year.  While recognizing that lengthening the school year should improve education, Collins sees a bigger opportunity: 

If we’re going to lengthen the school year, let’s talk about real changes that will not only improve student achievement, but also build rural communities capable of participating effectively in the new green economy.

Schools and communities getting better together?  Yes!

 

The Roots of the Miner County story are in education

In Miner County, SD we view the Miner County Cash Flow Study, conducted in 1996 by high school students, as the start of our transformational activities.  In this project, the students sought to reverse a decline in local purchasing by (1) studying local spending habits through a community survey, (2) sharing what they learned with community residents, and (3) challenging everyone to spend 10% more of their income locally in the upcoming year. 

It was the type of learning that doesn’t come from a textbook and definitely can’t be measured on a standardized test.  But equally important, it met two of the community needs:  it helped strengthen local businesses and increased tax revenues for the City of Howard.  In following year, residents increased local spending by approximately 40%. 

These and other place-based learning activities conducted in the school over the next few years strengthened the connection between the school and community. The work also played a key role in the Northwest Area Foundation selecting Miner County as their first partner in the Community Ventures program.

 

How can this be done?

Collins answers his call for change by producing a litany of outstanding ideas for connecting schools and communities.  It’s good stuff!  Not only do his ideas provide value to rural communities, but they also help build a bridge to the green economy and youth entrepreneurship. 

But how does one initiate the types of changes Collins advocates?  The following are a few thoughts I’d like to share. 

First, realize that no single person is going to accomplish change on this level by him or herself.  A superintendent or mayor can help lead the change.  But I think it requires deep conversation with the entire community. 

Second, find ways to prime the pump for conversation by making sure people are exposed to new ideas.  A good place to start would be with Collin’s ideas. Ask people to read and react to them.

Third, make sure young people are a part of the process.  Young people’s voices can produce powerful insights when adults treat them as partners. 

Whatever process is used, however, I think it’s important to remember that the essential question to focus on is “How do rural schools and communities get better together?” 

That’s Reimagining Rural Education. 

 

 Note:  The RLC is currently in the process of developing some free resources that help explain the Miner County Cash Flow Study.  Anyone interested in receiving the first one, titled the Miner County Cash Flow Study Resource Guide should sign up for it at the top of the sidebar.  Individuals who sign up will be notified as other resources are developed.

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If you’ve been in one rural community…

October 23rd, 2009

Distinguished sociologist Daryl Hobbs frequently told me and fellow Miner County (SD) residents, “If you’ve been in one rural community, you’ve only been in one rural community.”  Hobbs issued that warning to remind us that each small town held its own distinguishing features.  Just because we heard of one community’s problems on the TV news, didn’t mean we should assume those same problems existed in our community.  For that reason, he challenged us (and other rural community leaders) to dig in and understand the nuances of what made our community unique. 

I was reminded of Hobb’s exhortation today while reading a book review of Hollowing out the Middle, a book I highly recommend.  Published in the Wall Street Journal, the reviewer offered a lukewarm assessment of the book’s value to rural leaders.

In the review, he also leveled one scathing criticism over the authors’ claims that small town schools in the Heartland are divided along socio-economic lines.  The reviewer writes: 

The authors are on shakier ground discussing Ellis itself. You cannot drop into a town for a year and come away with deep understandings. Their claim that “there is probably no other place in American society where the rules of class and status play out with a more brutal efficiency than in the world of a country high school” is so howlingly inaccurate that only displaced urban academics could believe it.

 The reviewer’s statement drew my attention because I too struggled with veracity of the author’s claims on this subject.  As a former teacher, I feel comfortable saying the divide was not as severe (as the authors maintain) in the two rural South Dakota schools where I taught.  I can site numerous examples of quite the opposite, where students rise above the challenges presented by the status of their birth. 

So how can the authors, claim be so far off from my personal experiences?  Perhaps it’s because they base their analysis of the rural Heartland largely from interviews in one rural community. And if you’ve been to one rural community, you’ve only been to one rural community. 

But divisions along socio-economic lines did, and I suspect still do, exist in the schools and communities where I taught.  And Hollowing out the Middle helped me see those relationships in a new light.  For instance, I know that one of the greatest advantages that rural education offers over an urban one is that teachers are able to get to know the parents of their students on a much deeper level.  After reading the book, however, I can’t help but wonder how I and other fellow teachers might have imposed conditions of the parents onto their children. 

Some readers will undoubtedly be offended by the author’s claims.  But I don’t think they intend the claim as a condemnation.  Rather, they intended it as a tool for helping us examine what lies beneath the surface of our behaviors. 

Therein lays the value offered by the book.  While I can’t agree that “the rules of class and status play out with a more brutal efficiency” in the rural towns and schools that I’ve experienced, I know that elements of it exist in all of our rural schools in the Heartland. And I think that every community could develop a richer understanding of itself by holding a conversation on the subject. 

So let me conclude by asking, “Do you think socio-economic divisions are as pervasive in your rural school as the authors suggest?”  Is that a conversation you are willing to have? 

 

Photo Credit: Alexandraless - Flickr    (Let’s hope young people don’t jump for joy at the prospect of leaving rural communities after graduation.)

 

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Getting the Right Start in Pepin, WI

October 15th, 2009

Early this week, I had the opportunity to pack my suitcase and head to Pepin, Wisconsin.  Lydia Gnos, the elementary school principal in Pepin, and I met at a conference almost 2 ½ years ago where I shared the story of Miner County’s transformation.  The story resonated with her, as it does with many people, and she had kept Miner County’s story in her back pocket as she explored starting a community dialogue project in Pepin. 

Monday was the official launch of the Pepin-Stockholm Community Dialogue Project, and I was privileged to be a part of that start.  Sharing how dialogue transformed our community is just one of the ways we can help rural communities as they begin to reimagine their rural places. 

I am excited for Pepin.  The people there care deeply about their community (as evidenced by a great turnout of the “Key Communicators”) and realize that talking and listening to each other about their future is the first step. 

The presentation slides from the presentation, in addition to narrative about key concepts, are below.

Building Community Through Dialogue
View more documents from Rural Learning Center.

I think there are a few concepts that stand out as I think about starting the hard work of a community dialogue project in Pepin.  They include:

Handprints.  As communities look to change their future, recognizing the individual and collective role of our actions is key.  Our actions got us where we are.  The good news?  If you can see how you impacted the current state of your community, you have the agency to change it!

Community Capitals.  Cornelia Flora and Jan Flora have described our communities are a series of buckets, or capitals.  If we just fill one, our boat will capsize.  We need to pay attention to each area, and make sure we measure how our decisions impact our whole community.  Strengthening social capital (through projects like the dialogue project in Pepin) is a necessary first step.  Learn more about the community capitals here.

Involve young people.  Youth are vital in the process of transforming a community for several reasons: they can say what needs to be said (and question why things are the way they are) and they are typically not hindered by the prospect change.  In addition, it is important to involve youth in meaningful work in the community before they leave if you hope they will return someday (creating attachment starts with giving them a purpose in the community). 

As for the folks in Pepin, keep me posted on how your dialogue is evolving.  These are the days that will define your future!

See more photos of my trip on Flickr here!

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Are polar bears more important than rural communities?

September 18th, 2009

Let me begin by saying that I love polar bears and believe Americans need to alter their daily lives to help combat the global warming that is destroying the polar bear’s environment.

But it also seems to me that most Americans care little about the future of rural communities.  And apparently, I’m not alone. 

 

Hollowing out the Middle agrees

I’m still working my way through the recently released Hollowing out the Middle:  The Rural Brain Drain and What it Means for America, but I’m far enough along to offer a few thoughts.  (I also wrote about it back in April, before it was released.)

The authors open by asking the question that often troubles me:  “Why should we care about the future of small towns in the Heartland?”(p. ix)  They then offer a statement that inspired the above headline:

Though the small town claims an iconic place in the American psyche, we are considerably less alarmed by the emptying out of the prairie and plains towns than by the endangered status of the polar bear, an altogether more universally vulnerable symbol and one that our kids can easily comprehend and mourn the loss of.  (p. ix)

Unlike most books that begin with “whoa onto us” statements like the above, the authors quickly redirect the direct the energy of the book from blaming others to that of self-reflection. 

They close their preface by stating, “It is people’s actions that ultimately determine whether a place hollows out.” (p. xiv)

Yes! I agree.

 

We are responsible

Rural residents have as much responsibility for the future of their communities as free market economics or government policies.  We choose where we buy our groceries.  We choose how trashy or vibrant our communities look.  And we choose how our young people feel about their communities by what we tell them and how we invest in them. 

Unfortunately, little attention is ever directed at this last statement.  And that’s why this book is so important.

 

Just Do it!

So why do Americans today care so much for the polar bear and so little about rural communities?  I suspect it’s because some passionate individuals took notice of the polar bear’s plight and have attempted to do something about it.

I know that’s an oversimplification, but I’m confident our actions will speak loader than our words alone. 

Where should you begin?  I’d recommend purchasing Hollowing out the Middle and learning more about why young people are leaving the American Heartland.  And then, if you think it’s worthy, recommend it to a friend, and spark a conversation on the subject. (I’ve already purchased a copy for a friend at the Souuth Dakota Department of Education.)

It seems to me that as we take action (like Iroquois, SD is doing) and build a conversation, we will be successful at raising the awareness of the importance of Rural America.  Not only will our communities be stronger, but others will finally “get it” and understand our passion for rural. 

And who knows, maybe someday we’ll be as important as the polar bear.

 

Photo credit (top):  Oxfam International - Flickr.  (Let me be clear that I am in no way attempting to belittle those who seek to save the polar bear.  On the contrary, we can learn much from their passion.)

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Posted in Community Development, Gen Y, In the News, Rural, Youth | Comments (2)

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