Monthly Archives: June 2012

Posted on June 2, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

Diane Ravitch is a leading American educator. Although what happens south of the border is not important to us, this article poses a great question. Who is advantaged; those with resources or those without resources? Servant-leadership, which is lost in education, asks the leader to serve those around him or her and help them grow. That focus increases for the most disadvantaged. When will politicians, bureaucrats, and technocrats allow teachers in the classroom to become leaders who serve students and the community?

Diane Ravitch's blog

Mitt Romney launched his foray into education by visiting the Universal Bluford charter school in West Philadelphia, an impoverished, largely African-American neighborhood. He went to tout his plan for vouchers and charters as the new civil rights crusade of our era.

While there, thinking he was in friendly territory, he made some unfortunate remarks. First, he asserted that class size wasn’t important. That is no doubt the advice he had received from his advisors, who like to claim that having a “great teacher” is far more important than class size reduction. Then, he advised his listeners that one of the keys to education success is to be a child of a two-parent family. He got called out on both comments.

A music teacher rebuked him on the class size issue, saying: “I can’t think of any teacher in the whole time I’ve been teaching, over 10 years — 13 years —…

View original post 292 more words

2 Comments

Posted in Education, Leadership, Progressive Education and tagged education, Educational Leadership, Progressive Education, teacher as transformer, transformative education. Bookmark the permalink.

Posted on June 2, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

There are excellent points in this article, but some areas of concern. The role of students, educators, and school provided insight into a different way of thinking about education. I disagree with the premise that administrators are a separate group, although they seem to be. Are administrators not educators themselves? I once met a retired educator who when I was introduced as a teacher and had something in common with her, she responded, “Oh, I was a principal” making it sound like I was inferior by remaining a classroom teacher. In recent years, I have witnessed this desire among many teachers to escape the classroom. We are teachers first. If not educators, what is our role? What about children who needs help? What do we do to raise them up? I think this article is a starting point for a conversation.

Cooperative Catalyst

Education is something that is vital to the existence of a country where financial prosperity is something that is universally longed for. This is because that in order to reach financial prosperity one must reach a level of knowledgeable prosperity that unlocks the true innovator within them. However, if our countries goal is to allow for everyone to reach a level of financial prosperity then its time for us to sit down and come up with a dedicated pathway to delivering education with equality, equity, loyalty, and dignified passion in mind. If this is our goal then it is time for us to do away with the days where our educational system is balanced on the practice of every child left behind and every teacher for themselves. The time has come where we must push forward, with dignified loyalty, professional reservation, and universal respect for the student, the classroom, and…

View original post 933 more words

1 Comment

Posted in Community, Education, Progressive Education and tagged community, Educational Leadership, Progressive Education, teacher as transformer, transformative education. Bookmark the permalink.

Observational Poems : Touching the World : Deep Underground Poetry Community

Posted on June 2, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

Observational Poems : Touching the World : Deep Underground Poetry Community.

I was just surfing and came across this poem. Mindfulness is a universal concept and is not the sole domain of Buddhists or mystics. I find it ironic that the wave of scientific theory which pushed mindfulness out of the western practice was called the Enlightenment. Who or What did it enlighten? Mindfulness and scientific thought are complementary practices which make each other whole.

Water, Snow, and Ice

Posted on June 2, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

insignificant

countless gathering form one

majestic power

This is a winter picture of La Chute (waterfall in English) Montmorency just outside Quebec City. At the base of the falls, around the open water, fly fishermen will be out during the summer. What you see a the top is a walkway across the falls and there is a tram just to the right of this picture. The St. Lawrence River is only a few hundred metres from the base of the falls.

Here is a second picture of the falls. When Kathy and I were determined to see these falls. The pictures do not do them justice, but, as you can tell even in winter, they are spectacular. While driving across Le Pont Pierre-Laporte my fear of heights kicked in when I realized how far above the St. Lawrence we were. I needed to be in the right lane, but there was no way I was getting that close to the edge and it took creative driving on the far side of the bridge to get to the falls.

This is Athabasca Falls in Jasper National Park. You can see the Athabasca River in the background. Even in the park, it is a wide river at this point and it narrows quickly to shoot through the gorge. Kathy took this picture from the small wooden bridge that goes over the falls. You can just see the railing in the foreground. When you cross the bridge, you can walk up-stream along the river for several kilometres.

This is a slightly different view of the falls. The force of the water passing through the gorge has created a new stream bed. The water cut through solid granite. Below, you see one of the many mountains along Highway 93 between Jasper and Banff.

This is a view of one of the many mountains along Highway 93 between Banff and Jasper and is not far from Athabasca Falls.

This is the Columbia Icefield looking back towards the source of the glacier and mountains. This is at the headwaters of the Athabasca River.

This is the Columbia River in Oregon. Although it is a spectacular view, I wonder what price we pay for progress:? Under that water, lies a spectacular river with rapids and waterfalls. Also hidden from view is a way of life of people who settled along this magnificent river. What a loss!

This was a small waterfall along the Continental Divide in Yellowstone.

6 Comments

Posted in Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, Poetry and tagged athabasca falls, athabasca river, fly fishermen, haiku, Jasper National Park, nature, Rocky Mountains, travel, waterfalls. Bookmark the permalink.

Posted on June 1, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

Does this sound familiar? Granted the situation I refer to was not a charter taking over, but it might has well have been. It tears the heart right out of a community and its people. We call this democracy?

Diane Ravitch's blog

This is what it looks like when a school dies.Read here.

The Austin school board–at the urging of the district superintendent Meria Carstarphen–decided to hand over Allan elementary school to a charter chain called IDEA. She said that IDEA had the formula to raise the academic achievement of the children in that school.

The new charter is supposed to enroll 600 students. Only 77 of the children who previously attended Allan will attend the new charter school. Most people would consider that a vote of no-confidence in the charter, the superintendent who was their advocate, and the school board that acted against the wishes of the local community.

How can the charter raise the academic achievement of the children in the school when nearly 90% of them are not enrolled there any more?

The Austin superintendent of schools was very determined to bring IDEA into the district, despite opposition from…

View original post 57 more words

Innovation – A Poem by Ivon

Posted on June 1, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

As I drove to work this morning, I considered the phrase “thinking outside the box.” I wonder, “Is the most apt description for innovative or creative thinking?”

When I am inside the box can I really see outside and look around effectively? I could just be hanging on for dear life. Or, when I am outside the box, can I see inside? When I wrote my candidacy paper, I interviewed the first principal of our unique, alternative school and he provided an appropriate metaphor for innovative and creative organizations-a corral fence. I wrote the following poem and tried to capture what I think he meant.

Innovate

A fence

with railings

see in or out

allow perspective.

Flow and rhythm

information in; information out

nourish

enrich

affirm

recycle

breathe and flex.

Part of a whole

complex, yet simple

reach beyond my world

one piece of a puzzle.

Present

to our self

to the world.

Never box me in.

This fit with a song I heard by Ben Harper called With my Own Two Hands. He used to front a band called the Innocent Criminals and that drew me to his music. Enjoy this creative artist.