A piece of the 3-D Jello sculpture
By Dr. Jim Lowham
Most of you recently received a 2-D WOW puzzle distributed by Curriculum & Instruction to promote team building and collaboration. Imagine if that puzzle would have been 3-D and made of Jello. This puzzle would ebb and flow with reactions to surrounding forces and pieces. We would gather to guard it from destructive forces.
Now imagine that each student is a piece of that 3-D Jello puzzle. Each teacher, student and grade has a role to play. Each of these entities has a piece of the puzzle. Each of these pieces impacts public schooling.
The purpose of public schooling isn’t to jump from fourth to fifth grade, from elementary to middle school, and from middle school to high school. The purpose of public education is to present a coherent assemblage of the various pieces for a successful life. To do this there must be a smooth flow between one day and the next, between one grade level and the next, between one school and the next, between one cube of Jello and the next. Individually, we do not have relevance; however, working together, each child will fulfill his or her potential for a unique, valuable and well-lived life.
A good part of the makeup of this puzzle comes from public education. However, a child has a life outside of the classroom,
and many
pieces come from outside influences. When a piece is left out, regardless of who is responsible, the whole puzzle will wiggle. Because of our role in the community and in our students’ development, we are frequently called on to fill the voids. Certain voids become clear to us when a student doesn’t learn something in school. We have tools to become aware of these missing pieces. However, when the void occurs because of something that happened outside of school, it is harder for us to detect. This doesn’t change our role to help fill the void in a positive way.
We need to ensure that our students are nourished and have a place to study. We have a responsibility inside and out of school to help our students feel and be safe. If we know a child is missing a piece of the puzzle, we have an obligation to ensure that we, as a system, are aware of the void and that there is a way to fill these voids successfully, rather than pretend the voids don’t exist or wish for something different. Sometimes we must ask: Are there voids? What are the next steps to put the puzzle together? Do we need to analyze the wiggling, moving sculpture to see if the pieces are in the right place? We must monitor and adjust the results of our work in thoughtful ways.
Every day we assess students and observe what they need, where they are at and where they are going. Our planning must be aligned with the sculpture in mind. Alignment is critical. Students will understand much more clearly the direction they should be going when there is consistency in the system. Alignment makes the work of art, the puzzle, the student is trying to assemble more cohesive and purposeful.
PAWS is a status check to see if pieces fit the way we want them to, at least in the areas of reading, writing and math. We know there are other areas, but these three are critical inside and outside the classroom. And we know it isn’t the score itself, but what the system, students, parents and teachers do with this information that is vital.
It is important that a child knows how to read. It’s even more important that a child chooses to read. Perhaps the most important assessment is that of writing. This is how we know what’s going on inside of the puzzle, and where the future lies for that particular student.
Let’s work together this year to help our students further construct their 3-D Jello puzzles. Let’s help them transition from a choppy, day-to-day or year-to-year mentality to that of lifelong learning. We must work together to guard the sculpture from the destructive forces that shake it only to watch it fall.
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