4/30/20 12:36 PM SUMMER 2020 SUMMER EVERYTHING. THIS CHANGES CHANGES THIS “THIS IS NOT THE WAY WAY THE NOT IS “THIS HARVARD ED. MAGAZINE ED. HARVARD SEMESTER TO UNFOLD.” TO SEMESTER ANY OF US EXPECTED THIS THIS EXPECTED US OF ANY
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HARVARD ED. SUMMER 2020 Harvard Ed. Summer 2020
Summer 2020 Features
SUMMER 2020 � ISSUE N 166
Editor in Chief Lory Hough [email protected] 20 Creative Direction, Ed. Modus Operandi Design Locked Down Patrick Mitchell Melanie deForest Malloy In the course of a single week in March, MODUSOP.NET the Ed School prepared to shift its operations to an entirely online environment, responding to the need to slow the spread of the coronavirus Contributing Writers and safeguard its community members. Andrew Bauld, Ed.M.’16 A look at what followed. Timothy Butterfield, Ed.M.’20 STORY BY BARI WALSH Sarah Garfinkel, Ed.M.’20 Jessica Lander, Ed.M.’15 Bari Walsh
Illustrators Mercedes deBellard Michael George Haddad Drew Madson, Ed.M.’20 36 Christopher Silas Neal Brian Rea Belonging Photographers We know refugee students need to be Jill Anderson in school. But they also need something Timothy Archibald more: to feel like they belong. Jason Grow STORY BY Tyler Hicks JESSICA LANDER, ED.M.’15 Tony Luong “On an intellectual level, I found it fascinating to think Copy Editors critically about stories. On a personal Marin Jorgensen level, I came to understand Abigail Mieko Vargus myself better through literature.”
POSTMASTER RANDY RIBAY, ED.M.’10 Send address changes to: Harvard Graduate School of Education (SEE PAGE 8) “We may be physically distant Office of Communications 13 Appian Way from one another, but this remains a Cambridge, MA 02138 vibrant community.” DEAN BRIDGET LONG in response to © 2020 by the President and Fellows HICKS TYLER NEAL; SILAS CHRISTOPHER ; COVID-19 and the campus shutdown (p. 27) of Harvard College. Harvard Ed. magazine is published three times a year. NEWS + NOTES FROM APPIAN WAY PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. Mentors for immigrant girls, p. 4 � Goodbye to Kurt Fischer, p. 7 28 Departments � Randy Ribay, National Book Award finalist, p. 8 � Turning the Tide A Teacher’s Intuition II, p. 10 � Cartoonist Drew Madson captures the school year, p. 13 CONVO. — EDITOR UPDATE 2 � How Lecturer Rhonda Bondie became a teacher, p. 16 � Helping How important is intuition when it comes to teaching? GRAD. — ALUMNI NEWS + NOTES 43
Cover illustration by Brian Rea new teachers thrive, p. 17 � What Noah Heller is reading, p. 18 ARCHIBALD TIMOTHY GAZETTE LINCOLN/ HARVARD ROSE STORY BY LORY HOUGH CENTENNIAL 49
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Behind the Cover Lory Hough, Editor in Chief
we were well into this issue of Harvard Ed. magazine 2 when Harvard President Larry Bacow made the announce- 3 ment on March 10 that the university would be transitioning to virtual instruction for all classes because of COVID-19. Students moved home, staff started working remotely, faculty geared up for teaching in a new way using Zoom, and on March 18, all buildings on campus were officially shuttered. ¶ This became Harvard’s new normal — a normal that has forced us all to find a new rhythm to the way we work, the way we learn, the way we parent, and the way we
stay connected while physically distancing ourselves from CONNECT WITH HGSE one another. ¶ Here on the magazine, we wondered: Should TWITTER.COM/HGSE we keep this issue’s content mostly as is, or scrap the whole thing and focus on coronavirus coverage? It’s not easy for a FACEBOOK.COM/HARVARDEDUCATION
magazine with a long production schedule to cover the news INSTAGRAM.COM/HARVARDEDUCATION in a timely way so we decided to do both. We replaced the YOUTUBE.COM/HARVARDEDUCATION original cover story but kept most of the existing content, with tweaks. Our goal is to look back in a more thoughtful HARVARDEDUCATION.TUMBLR.COM way in the fall. Stay tuned and please, everyone, stay well. ISSUU.COM/HARVARDEDUCATION
[email protected] HARVARD GAZETTE LINCOLN/ HARVARD ROSE
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Because They’re Worth It
NEWS + NOTES FROM APPIAN WAY ALUM STARTS MENTORSHIP PROGRAM FOR IMMIGRANT GIRLS
STORY BY LORY HOUGH
Last December, HETAL JANI, ED.M.’12, was standing on a stage in New York City, ready to receive a “Women of Worth” award from L’Oreal. It was a sur- real moment for her. Not only was she being honored, but the person about to hand her the award was a famous Oscar-winning actress: Helen Mirren. It was also a telling moment. Just as Jani was discussing the work she was doing to support immigrant girls 4 through SPEAK Mentorship, the non- 5 profit she started in 2015, she herself was feeling supported by Mirren and L’Oreal’s president, who spoke at length “Sometimes the difference with her at the event. between a successful entrepreneur “Helen made me feel seen, and she and one that gives up is the really listened to what I do at SPEAK,” people who believe in them.” Jani says. The three of them “had a long conversation about what needs to HETAL JANI, SPEAK MENTORSHIP be done to make sure the potential of girls doesn’t get stopped short.” That kind of support, she says, is important. “Sometimes the difference between a successful entrepreneur and one that gives up is the people who believe in them and have the power to just share their journey and spread awareness of their mission.” Jani’s mission started when she was in high school tutoring other students, including Laura (name changed), a high academic achiever at the top of her class. When Laura was 12, she got her first 80 on a test and her father wasn’t at all happy. “Because of his disappointment, he threatened to send Laura to Guyana to get married,” Jani says. The next day, Laura and her mother visited Jani. The mother, upset, felt she had not been
CREDIT HERE CREDIT HERE CREDIT a strong role model for her daughter;
Photograph by Lawrence Busacca/Getty Images
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Laura worried about being perfect. The mother thought that Jani, with her East Indian roots, would understand. KURT FISCHER “It stayed with me that if the mothers couldn’t be strong 1943–2020 role models for their daughters, maybe other women could,” Jani says, “and maybe it was true that I could understand and guide Laura and her family simply because our cultures When Kurt Fischer, professor emeritus, passed away in were similar and I had overcome similar situational barriers.” March of this year, Professor Howard Gardner found the The idea for SPEAK Mentorship was formed. Working perfect word to describe his longtime friend and col- with schools with large immigrant populations in three laborator: visionary. cities, the nonprofit now pairs high school girls (and more During Fischer’s long career in education, including recently, boys) with three adult mentors each, including one nearly three decades at the Ed School before his retire- ment in 2015, he had become an internationally known who is culturally similar. Mentors offer support around col- expert in neuroscience and learning, and consulted ex- lege and career goals, as well as culture. tensively with schools around the world, as well as with “Girls like Laura and others have so much incredible the Children’s Television Workshop, UNICEF, the Social potential that never gets met because they’re constantly Science Research Council, and with various media out- facing these conflicts as a result of straddling two cultures A Charter lets, such as Time and NPR’s All Things Considered. and questioning their own worth,” Jani says. “What are we But perhaps Fischer’s greatest vision in education losing as a society when the little girl who wants to be a came in 2002, when he pioneered the creation of a new Member master’s degree program focused on the brain and CEO, a doctor, or an artist doesn’t get encouraged to pur- learning that was badly needed in the education world. AN INSIDER’S LOOK AT THE sue a career because the cultures that their families come “The problem was that educators have wanted to from still have extremely gendered expectations for their BIRTH AND GROWTH OF THE CHARTER connect an understanding of the brain with learning, daughters? I want them to take the dreams and goals they SCHOOL MOVEMENT but they haven’t known how to — and scientists have have and have the people in their lives help them figure out tried to tell educators what to do without understand- how to get there while still acknowledging their own unique ing what goes on in the classroom,” Fischer said in a 2004–05 Ed. story about why he helped create the perspectives being from diverse cultural backgrounds.” STORY BY LORY HOUGH Mind, Brain, and Education Program (MBE) at the Ed Most of SPEAK’s mentoring is done virtually at school, School, along with others such as Gardner and Profes- and now at home while school’s are closed (27 sessions in sors David Rose, David Perkins, and Ann Brown. “We total), allowing for more flexibility and buy-in from parents. ARAH TANTILLO, ED.M.’91, didn’t believed that charter schools — wanted people to feel inspired by be held accountable for their realized that we already had graduates who were work- 6 “Parents put a lot of trust in the schools, especially par- intend to write a book about by offering parents, students, them, to know the potential we all performance, as charters are, ing in this area; in fact, it was clear that we’d already 7 ents from certain communities,” Jani says. “If the school is charter schools. Her educa- and educators more options and have to make a difference. has become widely accepted. … trained some of the leaders in the field, even though we providing the program and the girls don’t have to incur any tion consulting practice was go- more autonomy in exchange for I think the story of the impact of didn’t have a program.” It only made sense to formalize training between the additional cost of money or time, we found the sessions are ing well, and she was already pub- accountability — could help im- Charters were initially thought charter schools is still unfold- lab and the classroom, he said. more likely to occur.” lishing books related to her field: prove public education overall. of as R&D labs, trying out new ing, and it’s exciting! It could be “If you take physics and leave out the engineers, Jani says she didn’t have these kinds of opportunities literacy instruction. But after be- Also, I had reached a pain point ideas that district schools could a sequel. you can’t build bridges,” he said. “In the same way, you growing up but wished she had. coming involved in the charter in the district where I was teach- then implement. Why didn’t this can’t go from biology to education without the educa- “Having one woman who could understand my bicultural school world, she knew there ing: the interdisciplinary hu- way of thinking stick? Your reaction when you hear tion researchers.” experiences, my career interests, and my strengths would were many fascinating stories to manities course I’d taught was I think the original analogy was people criticize charters? READ MORE ABOUT FISCHER AND HIS LONG CAREER: definitely have set me up for success much earlier in life,” tell about the movement. “I didn’t going to be cut because of logis - not quite right. Companies set up First, I listen to try to understand HTTPS://HGSE.ME/REMEMBERS_KURTFISCHER she says. “I had to make a lot of mistakes and U-turns and want those stories to be lost,” she tical problems that even the su- research and development labs to their perspective. Sometimes prove myself, even to myself, because I didn’t really know says, so she wrote what would be- perintendent could not solve. In help their own companies, not to their concerns are based on mis- what I wanted, let alone how to pursue it. I’ve realized how come Hit the Drum: An Insider’s 1996, when New Jersey’s charter help competitors. Because some conceptions or misinformation, important social capital is to get ahead in life, and a lot of Account of How the Charter School school law passed, I was ready to portion of the per-pupil funding and I can help clarify the facts. what I’ve accomplished has been because of who I know Idea Became a National Move- get involved. follows students into charters, I fully acknowledge that not all and how they’ve helped me along the way.” ment. Now managing director of districts have viewed charters charter schools are great, and I humanities at the Great Oaks Why highlight individuals who as competitors, so they haven’t support accountability as much Legacy Charter Schools network have started charter schools? tended to ask charter leaders for as autonomy. We should close LEARN MORE ABOUT SPEAK: SPEAKMENTORSHIP.ORG in Newark, New Jersey, Tantillo These chapters reveal how chal- their ideas, and some have been any schools — district or char- talked to Ed. about her involve - lenging the work is and how im- downright hostile to charters and ter — that are demonstrated fail- ment and why she thinks charters portant it is for people to be deeply have filed lawsuits in an effort to ures. In this powerful country, WISE WORDS have persisted. committed to it. From the earli- get rid of them. there’s no reason why any child est days, I was very aware of how should receive an inadequate You were a high school teacher specific individuals were having a But charters have had a positive education. One thing that burns who became involved with large impact on the field. Most of impact, in your opinion. me up is when people who can “ At times it feels like charters in 1996. Why? them were not household names; Charters have definitely had an afford not to live in struggling the sky is falling. We’re It was a combination of factors. they kept their heads down and impact on the field, and in Part districts argue against charters: Being a policy geek, I had been kept digging into the work. Over IV of my book, I examine some They already have choice, but gonna be okay. ” following the chartering idea the course of several decades, of the ways in which their roots they don’t want parents and chil- Dean BRIDGET LONG addressing the community virtually obsessively: I was excited at the their efforts have changed the have taken hold. For example, dren trapped in those districts to
on March 11, about the coronavirus situation. potential for innovation, and I lives of millions of children. I GEER/ISTOCKPHOTO STEVE LEE MARY the notion that schools should have it?
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The Patron Saint of Writing What You Know
YA AUTHOR, NOMINATED FOR A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD, TEACHES BY DAY, WRITES BY MORNING
STORY BY LORY HOUGH
he news came as a total sur- understand the important role boy who travels to the Philip- prise. RANDY RIBAY, ED.M.’10, a stories play in shaping our world pines to find out the real story high school English teach- and ourselves. behind a cousin’s death. er living in San Francisco, was “On an intellectual level, I Although Ribay didn’t work browsing Twitter on his phone at found it fascinating to think criti- on any of the books while at the the orthodontist’s office last Sep- cally about stories. On a personal Ed School, his time at Harvard tember when he saw he was level, I came to understand my- had an impact on his writing. tagged as a semifinalist for the self better through literature,” “I did take an undergrad cre- 2019 National Book Award. he says. “It wasn’t long after that ative writing poetry class while I “I didn’t know when the list I changed majors and developed was at HGSE, and I started writ- 8 was dropping since it wasn’t both the desire to help kids ap- ing book reviews for the Horn 9 even on my radar,” he says. preciate stories in this way and Book Guide after taking a class on Turns out Ribay’s latest book, to tell my own stories.” YA lit with Lolly Robinson and Patron Saints of Nothing, which These days, he gets up early, Christina Dodd,” he says. “Those had only been out for a few writing nearly every weekday were both valuable experiences, months and was initially reject- from 5–6:30 a.m. before heading and it was a year later when I ed by several editors, was one of (now online) to the high school in started working on my first nov- 10 on the longlist in the Young California where he teaches Eng- el,” An Infinite Number of Parallel People’s Literature category for lish. When he’s on deadline, he Universes, followed by After the the prestigious award, often re- adds in writing time after work Shot Drops. ferred to as the Oscars of Ameri- and on weekends, and some- Does he agree with the wis- can literature. (In October, the times in the summer. He says dom that you should “write list was narrowed to five final- he writes “fairly slowly,” getting what you know”? With 14 years ists and again included Ribay down about 500-1,000 words of teaching to draw from, includ- and Patron Saints.) each morning on a good day. ing literacy tutoring at an alter- It was an honor Ribay never “And I type everything be- native high school and middle would have seen coming as a cause I’m just too used to writing school English language arts be- kid. He had moved to the United on the computer now. I’m con- fore moving to his current high States from the Philippines when stantly editing and revising as I school, he says absolutely. he was a baby, a couple of years go, and I type much faster than I “It helps me understand how before the People Power Revolu- handwrite,” he says. “Working at context might change some as- tion ousted President Ferdinand this pace, I produce a first draft in pects of being a teenager but Marcos, and although he loved about three to four months. But other aspects stay the same,” he books and comics (and movies, that’s just the beginning. After says. “But more than anything, it TV, and video games) to an “ob- that usually comes one to two helps me appreciate their depth sessive extent,” he says these years of revision.” and their intelligence.” things were just entertainment. That “fairly slow” pace has It wasn’t until he took an English produced three books in the past course his first year in college four and a half years, including
(he was an aerospace engineer- Patron Saints, which is about a DISCOVER MORE AT:
CREDIT HERE CREDIT HERE CREDIT ing major) that he really came to Filipino American high school WWW.RANDYRIBAY.COM
Photograph by Timothy Archibald
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Turning the Tide II
NEW REPORT ADDRESSES ETHICAL CHARACTER, NOT JUST ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
STORY BY ANDREW BAULD, ED.M.’16
here we go to college is pressure and anxiety faced by one of the most impor- high-achieving students,” Kinsey tant decisions in a teen’s says. MCC’s resources are also life, and parents will do almost used to coach students on resist- From left: Mumby, Lo, Taylor anything to get their child into ing narrow definitions of success. their dream school. In fact, last Turning the Tide II also fea - year, the college admissions tures a deans’ commitment let- SEE YOURSELF IN THE CURRICULUM
scandal revealed the astonishing ter. Endorsed by nearly 140 col- COLORFULL ADDRESSES LACK OF DIVERSITY IN SCHOOLS’ lengths some affluent parents lege admissions deans, the letter MULTIMEDIA OFFERINGS would actually go to. Dozens of is a response to the skepticism parents were charged by the U.S. some high schools shared, fear- STORY BY TIMOTHY BUTTERFIELD, ED.M.’20 Department of Justice for their ing that colleges weren’t actually Growing up in Los Angeles, BONNIE LO, ED.L.D.’20, wished that her Chinese culture could be in- 10 role in cheating their children’s following suggestions issued in 11 way into college. the first report. In the letter, the cluded in her classroom curriculum. As early as the first grade, Lo recalls her teacher telling her parents, “Don’t speak Chinese with Bonnie; use English,” as though the family’s native language But while the admissions deans lay out the kinds of contri- had no place in school or at home. Needless to say, this did not sit well with Lo. scandal shone a light on the in- butions they value and will con- And she’s not the only person who has experienced these educational indecencies and discretions of the 1%, many par- sider in addition to traditional wants to do something about it. That’s why, after taking Senior Lecturer Irvin Scott’s Sector ents fail to be ethical role models benchmarks like standardized Change class, in which they were challenged to think about one thing they wanted to change for their children by allowing a test scores and grades. They also within the education ecosystem, Lo teamed up two other Ed.L.D. students, CHARISSE TAYLOR and range of smaller transgressions. pledge to weigh factors like a YASMENE MUMBY, to start ColorFULL Media. The goal of ColorFULL is to give diverse students validation in the classroom by introduc- A new report from Making Car- student’s family commitment or ing numerous cultural identities into the curriculum. According to Lo, Taylor, and Mumby, the ing Common (MCC) hopes to honoring a school’s curriculum project is based on their personal experiences of not being able to see themselves in their make the admissions process a that offers few AP courses. school curriculum’s multimedia. Mumby, for example, recalls that whenever her teachers gave more ethical endeavor. “There are parents doing out- aging parents to follow their own Needing to reach all three While placing importance on lessons on black history, the focus was almost entirely on the topic of slavery, but never on Af- Turning the Tide II, authored rageous things, but it’s a small frac- ethical GPS, to encouraging fam- stakeholders, high schools have ethical character in the college rican Americans who were leaders or changemakers in other eras of U.S. history. Using photos, by MCC faculty director RICHARD tion,” Weissbourd says. “We’re ilies to expand the scope of col- proved to be an important net- admissions process is the goal of videos, and audio, ColorFULL is trying to shift the representation of youth of color in media and curricula to show more positive, and expanded, imageries and narratives. WEISSBOURD, ED.D.’87, is aimed at finding the much bigger problem leges they apply to. work for reaching students and the report, Weissbourd says he Lo, Taylor, and Mumby bring to the project not only their personal experiences in schools, making the college admissions is minor forms of ethical lapses. The report also marked the parents. Many high schools are hopes people will recognize this but also their professional perspectives. As San Francisco’s public school system’s director of process healthier for young peo- Letting kids fudge about com- first time in history that a broad beginning to implement recom- goes beyond getting into college. principal leadership, Lo coached nearly 100 site administrators who worked with families that ple by elevating the importance munity service hours or helping coalition of college admissions mendations from the report into “Ethical character matters,” collectively spoke more than 20 languages. Taylor led the design and implementation of several of cultivating ethical character. on essays or paying money for offices joined together to encour- their admissions program. Weissbourd says. “It matters to large-scale citywide education initiatives in New York City. And Mumby cochaired the Baltimore The report makes the case that an SAT tutor without thought of age students to focus on mean- At the Hewitt School, an inde- admissions, but it should also Education Coalition that organized 3,000 parent, student, and teacher leaders around the reno- an intense focus on academic equity and access — these are ingful engagement. pendent K–12 school in New York just matter. Raising kids who are vation of school facilities throughout the city. Bringing their leadership skills together for the achievement has squeezed out things a much larger number of “It became clear once we got City, their college guidance pro- ethical is important regardless of project is important, Taylor says. “The prevailing narrative about women of color continues to be that we cannot or should not serious attention to ethical char- parents are involved in.” into the thick of the work that the cess has incorporated the Turn- college. We need kids who care lead,” she says. “We are, and will continue to be, proof that that narrative is false.” acter, especially among middle- The report, a followup to the admissions process is a puzzle ing the Tide reports into their about the common good.” After achieving early successes as they were creating the project, including a win at the and upper-income communities. initial 2016 Turning the Tide re- with many pieces,” Weissbourd work with families, and the re- 2019 HIVE Pitch Competition and two fellowships with the Harvard Innovation Lab, the Color- ANDREW BAULD IS A WRITER While it’s easy to point to ma- port, offers actionable ways high says. “Colleges play a role, high ception has been positive accord- IN NEW YORK CITY FULL team held a convening in January with educators to dig deeper into developing culturally jor indiscretions like in the ad- schools and parents can develop schools play a role, and parents ing to head of school Tara Kinsey. affirming content. They are now seeking out educators and teaching artists who would like to missions scandal, Weissbourd strong ethical capacities in teens play a role. If we’re going to fun- “Parents have found the re- contribute curricular content to the project and share their knowledge. “Too many teachers are doing this work in isolation,” Lo, Taylor, and Mumby say in a group says that overshadows the small- during the admissions process, damentally shift the system, we port compelling and appreciate email, “and ColorFULL is a way to bring these educators together.” er but no less meaningful ethical including keeping the focus on need to work at different places its actionable recommendations READ THE REPORTS: lapses parents are guilty of. what’s best for teens and encour- within it.” for countering the toxic levels of MCC.GSE.HARVARD.EDU TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CONTRIBUTING YOUR CURRICULAR CONTENT: [email protected]
Illustration by Michael George Haddad Photograph by Jill Anderson
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RECESS
12 13
Drew Madson, Cartoonist
Since about the fourth grade, DREW MADSON, ED.M.’20, has been taking his first name seriously. He carries fancy pencils in his bag at all times. In class, he often takes notes using hand-drawn thought bubbles. And he doodles, constantly. “I have a ritual of doodling massive, free-associative cartoon scenes when I’m talking on the phone,” he says. “I also keep a notebook on top of my dresser so that anytime I put away clothes or pass by it, I draw some- thing. I’ve drawn a lot that way. I draw anytime I’m on the subway. It’s a perfect practice for life-drawing.” It also helps with the political cartoons this teacher (and current founder of Read to Me, a platform that listens to students read and then offers coaching, as well as feedback to teachers) has created over the years, including for his col- lege newspaper at Saint John’s University in Minnesota and, more recently, for the Harvard Kennedy School Senate Simulation. Earlier this year, Madson also tackled the illustration on the next page: a look back at the academic year from a student’s perspective. It was a fun way, he says, to relive the memories of an extraordinary year that went 2019-2020. It was an unprecedented aca- by way too quickly. “Drawing this in January, and undating it in March, made me weirdly feel like I had lived a whole demic year, to say the least. In this illustra- year,” he says. “It was a reminder of the power of gratitude and perspective. Perhaps, just like New Year’s is a holi- tion, DREW MADSON, ED.M.’20, highlights some of the more noteworthy moments, in- day, we should have a holiday in June to celebrate the half of the year. You forget things, and this was a great way to cluding Centennial, a therapy dog, 3D din- remember and honor them.” ners, maker space Mark, campus turkeys, and of course, masks and Zoom classes.
P CHECK OUT MORE DOODLINGS: HTTPS://DREWMADSON3.WIXSITE.COM/MYSITE HERE CREDIT
Photograph by Tony Luong; Opposite: Illustration by Drew Madson Illustration by John Doe
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STUDY SKILLS
Emily Meland, Ed.M.’16, Current Ph.D. You’re At the first school where EMILY MELAND worked as an assistant teacher, there were 17 differ- Gonna Learn ent languages spoken in a class of 19 stu- dents. At her next school, almost 100% spoke Spanish. As a white teacher teaching social- to Laugh emotional learning (SEL) skills, she wondered how to also honor her students’ varied cultural HOW A BREAK FROM HUMOR backgrounds and identities. AND SATIRE LASTED A WEEK FOR ONE “There’s lots of great research to show that MASTER’S STUDENT SEL skills are linked to academic success, bet- ter decision-making, and so on,” she says, “but often when SEL is taught in schools, it’s seen STORY BY SARAH GARFINKEL, ED.M.’20 as a way to control student behavior and to teach very specific ways of being in the world. I think that’s restrictive and too often reflects a white, middle class way of being.” For example, SEL can be misinterpreted as teaching students to be calm and happy all the time, she says. “That’s not a natural way o, Miss Sarah, what do you is also an effective mode of infor- Ed School to study language and existing political media, we cre- of being all the time. I come from a big Italian 14 do for fun when you’re not mal education. literacy, I had resolved to take the ated a prototype for what we en- family. We can get heated, but then everyone with us?” a middle school As readers, it’s easy to feel year off from humor and satire. visioned to be a better political comes back to the table, and that’s okay. student asked during lunchtime overwhelmed by the complicat- My resolution, however, last- news site. Situating satire within And Italians aren’t the only culture like this. If improv club. ed issues in the world and numb- ed all of one week. the political media landscape re- we’re teaching students that there’s only one The others mock-gasped. “You ly skim through the news. Satire I quickly learned that there minded me of its potential. Just way to express yourself, that there’s a ‘wrong’ have fun without us?” can help counter this tendency. were even more ways to study as humor can engage and edu- way and a ‘right’ way, that creates conflict. And often these judgments are driven by our “Yes, and…” I responded, em- The indirect nature of the sati- the overlap between humor and cate children, social and politi- unconscious biases” ploying the #1 improv rule, “I like rist’s messaging allows readers to education than I had previously cal satire can engage adults and When she looked for research and resourc- to write humor and satire.” infer the subtext without feeling considered. My experiences at challenge their thinking. es that integrate SEL with culturally responsive This sparked questions about like they are receiving a lecture. the Ed School showed me that What started as a resolution to practices, she found very little, so she decided satire. One student expertly de- Satire is the Phillips head screw- the two can complement each take a comedy break turned into to survey what families and educators are do- scribed it as “comedy that is kind driver of the writer’s toolbox: It’s other, not just practically but also the best year exploring the inter- ing in this area. “I’m interested in finding what’s working of mad about something.” I add- manageable, effective, and — un- academically. The first assigned sections of satire, humor, and edu- and shining a light on that,” she says. “We’re at ed that satire uses a unique point like other tools — doesn’t need to reading for my fall course, “From cation within class, research, and a place in education where we now know SEL is of view to critique a specific tar- hammer the message home. Language to Literacy,” described practical settings. I remembered important, but we don’t necessarily know how get. This led to a discussion about Humor has its own magic children’s spoken language com- my student’s question, “What do to make sure it’s reflective of all students.” using comedy to educate in a cre- — it’s entertaining and can make petence. We read about the devel- you do for fun when you’re not One tool that’s promising is kernels of practice ative way. topics more digestible. In educa- opment of children’s understand- with us?” and decided to start the for SEL — simple strategies that teachers can When I signed up for my first tional contexts, humor also en- ing of communicative devices, HGSE Writers Room as a space tailor to students and settings. Meland learned about kernels working in the Ecological Ap- comedy writing class, I was in gages students. My programs including irony, metaphor, sar- to write creatively and build a proaches to Social and Emotional Learning New York City teaching K–8 stu- worked best when I incorporated casm, and humor. My profes- community of writer–educators. (EASEL) Lab with Professor Stephanie Jones. dents about human rights and humor to meet educational ob- sor introduced me to a visiting Although nothing could ever be “You can take these kernels and adapt them to global citizenship. Teaching these jectives. For example, in the im- scholar who invited me to work quite as fun as the lunchtime im- be more reflective of your students.” topics was simultaneously excit- prov club, students learned the on a research project exploring prov club, the writers room was a To start though, she says, we have to ask ing and challenging. In an effort fundamentals of youth organiz- Polish-speaking children’s com- close second. what our purpose is in teaching SEL. to resist future burnout, I decided ing through entertaining games. prehension of verbal irony. “Is it so that students can learn to conform and then succeed in the world as it is, or is to try something new and regis- Despite seeing how humor In the fall of 2019, I also par- it to provide skills students can use to think tered for a satire writing class. and satire can enrich learning, ticipated in a semester-long critically about problems, to push back against While I was initially drawn to I didn’t anticipate humor and political media workshop at SARAH GARFINKEL HAS WRITTEN injustices, and to succeed in a new world of FOR THE NEW YORKER AND their making?” LH satire writing to nurture my cre- satire fitting into my academic Harvard Kennedy School. Af- THE WEEKLY HUMORIST. HER WEBSITE: ative side, I soon realized satire coursework. When I came to the ter evaluating various forms of SARAHGARFINKELWRITING.COM
Illustration by Michael George Haddad; Opposite: Photograph by Jason Grow
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Where did you grow up? and then go forward. She knew teacher and didn’t know how to that rushing learners to the finish teach students with disabilities I was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, wasn’t effective. I have worked very that it was better not to include and grew up in a rural area south- hard to be like her when I observe students who were deaf and hard PD Also Means east of there, where my extended teachers in the classroom. I like of hearing. I couldn’t have been THE MAKING OF family lived on farms and worked to be on my feet with the teachers more upset, so I became certified Personal at Ford Motor Company. and students, giving feedback in in special education and learned the moment and using metaphors sign language. The next school Development Lecturer Any childhood memories have to help educators envision the end year, when I returned for year two Rhonda a lasting impact on whom you goal of the teaching strategies that of the grant, all students, with become as an educator? I am explaining. and without disabilities, learned Bondie, together and performed in the play At home, my sister and I had les- What did you want to be as a kid as a community. Director of sons with family members every “when you grew up”? day to learn how to make things. What prompted you to start your Professional I fondly remember waking up at A ballet dancer. I achieved that new class at the Ed School on Learning 5 a.m. to pick vegetables or fruit goal by dancing professionally inclusive teaching? to make pickles, jelly, and tomato with the Minnesota Dance Theatre sauce. We would make enough and performing in commercials Teaching is a central part of the ED.L.D. STUDENT CREATES DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR NEW TEACHERS TO MANAGE STRESS AND WELL-BEING jars for the entire extended family such as Tombstone Pizza, where future careers of all Ed School by noon. From this experience, I I played a cheerleader. Through a students, no matter whether the learned the importance of model- variety of unique and serendipitous current career goal is to become Starting out as a profes- ing and mentoring. I also remem- experiences — including starting a teacher, a reading specialist, STORY BY LORY HOUGH sional dancer, Rhonda ber how my aunts and grandmas my degrees at New York University instructional coach, administra- Bondie began teaching would adjust instruction based on by following an advertisement on tor, or educational entrepreneur. as an artist-in-residence the age and skills of my cousins a bus that said, “Find yourself at I wanted to provide a course on in New York City, and then spent more than and me. I was the youngest, so I the Gallatin Division” — I learned instructional decision-making, the 16 20 years in urban public would get just a little ball of bread that I could take skills I used as a “art of inclusive teaching.” I hope 17 schools as a special and dough to knead and to make into dancer to create innovative ways to enable educators to make daily, fter a few years teaching, tools in a free e-book he wrote how to change their own fixed “What has continued to sur- general educator and as- a tiny loaf until I became strong to help people learn by being an deliberate instructional adjust- TYLER HESTER, ED.L.D.’20 , called 7 Steps For a Great Start to mindsets, and how to practice prise me is the demand for this,” sistant principal before enough to work with a whole loaf. artist-in-residence in the New York ments to increase equitable learn- knew how difficult the job the School Year as part of a larg - meditation and mindfulness. he says. “There’s a real hunger. To coming to the Ed School. To this day, I enjoy the differ- City Public Schools. This discovery ing opportunities for students with was, especially in the very begin- er project he started called New “It’s so important to provide have 296 applications was a sign This past year, Bondie ences of my students and tailor launched my career in teaching. a wide range of learning needs. ning. New teachers worry they Teachers Thriving. Then Hes- educators with personal develop- that there’s something here peo- took on a new role as director of professional instruction to ensure everyone I am excited about this course aren’t doing a good job (especial- ter went even further, creating a ment to help them sustain them- ple want. People appreciate hav- learning. She spoke to feels valued and stretched. My What did it mean to be an artist- because we will use a variety of ly during times like these) and personal development training selves in this work,” Hester says. ing a space dedicated to their well- Ed. about her early mem- teaching is also very hands on and in-residence in schools? simulations. such as paper-based often neglect their personal program for new teachers that “In this country, we try to do a lot being, not just to their improved ories, inclusive teaching, active. I think these characteristics games, role-playing, and new tech- needs. They feel overwhelmed. he piloted last academic year in around professional development teaching skills. People appreciate and Tombstone Pizza. are rooted deeply in my favorite I collaborated with educators to nologies, including mixed reality An entry on his blog about his Boston Public Schools, with the for teachers, but not a lot around knowing they’re not alone. People moments of active learning in my teach curriculum through drama in and 360-degree videos, to develop first year teaching sums it up: help of fellow Ed.L.D. student personal development, even feel overwhelmed or doubt their childhood. the public schools. I committed to skills and reflect on our instruc- “I got my butt handed to me CRYSTEL HARRIS and then-Harvard though we know teachers are abilities to be effective educators. Another: My ballet teacher was a “career in teaching” when we re- tional decisions. over and over again. I remem- senior Akash Wasil. experiencing personal challeng- We hear over and over again that an artist and master of observa- ceived a three-year grant to teach ber waking up exhausted, pro- Offered to teachers in their es. That seems short-sighted.” to know they’re not the only one tion and feedback. Even today, I immigration through drama with Finish this sentence: I love what foundly anxious about what the first, second, or third year, the When it was time for Hester struggling is a huge relief.” think about how she would walk fifth-grade students in Brooklyn. I do because... day ahead would hold. I would six-session program proved to be to start thinking about where he Just before the coronavirus down the line of dancers and Although the funds only included wake up convinced that my les- more popular than he expected. was going to do his third-year hit, other districts started reach- offer an image to help us envi- three classes, I stayed beyond the Teaching is an endlessly challenging son plan would be a train wreck. “We thought we’d get 10, 15 Ed.L.D. residency, he reached ing out, interested in learning sion what our bodies should look lunch period to teach an additional and joyful adventure. Even though I I remember looking at myself in applications,” he says, noting out to superintendents around more. His next challenge is how like or say one word that helped fourth class because I wanted plan every lesson, I never know ex- the mirror in the bathroom and that the room initially booked for the country, sharing his back- to scale the project, which he re- us improve our dancing. She also to make sure that all fifth-grade actly how learning will unfold. I love feeling deflated by the bags un- the first meeting was meant to ground and his take on the prob- named to Educators Thriving af- would make us redo an exercise students were included. On the the discovery part of teaching every der my eyes and my waistline hold about a dozen people. “We lems first-year teachers faced. ter he also started working with or a step many times correctly day of the final production, I found day in the classroom. that was expanding because of got 75 applications.” He told them about his project. principals in Stockton. “There’s for every one mistake. She wasn’t out that the fifth-grade students my fast-food diet.” During the sessions, early- Almost every superintendent he a huge demand, now more than afraid to stop, fix things, practice, who were deaf and hard of hearing Hester knew it didn’t have to career teachers learned social– reached out to was interested; ever,” he says. “We need to figure had been left out. I felt terrible and be this way. With the right train- emotional skills they could use Tyler ultimately chose Stockton, out how to grow.” asked the principal why he didn’t ing and tools, new teachers could to not feel so alone in their strug- California. When he first offered tell me about the students in the learn how to manage stress and gles and to help them manage the program there and expanded
special education class. He said classroom challenges. Eventu- stress. They also learned how to it to 12 sessions, nearly 300 new LEARN MORE: WWW.NEWTEACHERS
that because I wasn’t a certified BONDIE HERE CREDIT RHONDA ally, he outlined some of those prioritize tasks and decisions, teachers applied. THRIVING.ORG
Illustration by John Doe Illustration by Michael George Haddad
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5
CAREER PATHWAYS TO ACTION: CASE STUDIES FROM THE FIELD Edited by Robert Schwartz ON MY BOOKSHELF and Amy Loyd
Using five on-the-ground case studies from across the United States, Career Pathways by ROBERT SCHWARTZ, Noah Heller, lecturer and C.A.S.’68, and AMY LOYD, ED.L.D.’13, explores work being done at the local, state, and regional levels by the Path- faculty director, Harvard ways to Prosperity Network. The network was launched in 2012 as a way to rei- Teacher Fellows (HTF) magine how we prepare young people in the United States for the future of work, WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING? A Fine Balance by Rohinton and how important cross-sector partner- Mistry ships are between education leaders, employers, and policymakers. 1 WHAT DREW YOU TO IT? My mama recommended it as extremely beautiful and utterly heartbreaking. She said it was the only book THE TRUTH ABOUT COLLEGE ADMISSION: she’s ever read that was too sad to finish. For some reason that A FAMILY GUIDE compelled me to pick it up. It’s a thick book, so it’s nice to be reading Brennan Barnard and Rick Clark it to start the year and between semesters. “This book,” write the authors, including Brennan WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE BOOK AS A CHILD? I loved a lot of books. Barnard, the college admission program adviser for the Making Caring Common Project, “is written to Early in my independent reading, Ramona Quimby books were a put the college search and admission experience favorite, and a few years later, Walter Dean Myers’ Scorpions and into perspective for your family.” The Truth chal- Fallen Angels had me rapt. However, if we’re going to go way back, lenges the common narrative that college admission one of my favorite children’s books was The Story of Ferdinand. Fer- is a rite of passage to fear, that there are only a few 1 dozen great schools that all students should aim for dinand’s message of nonviolence and defying stereotypes touched when applying, and that students “must perfectly my four-year-old soul. It still does. LEARNING IN THE FAST LANE: THE PAST, PRESENT, follow a secret formula throughout high school to AND FUTURE OF ADVANCED PLACEMENT unlock success.” My son is just 18 WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE BOOK TO READ TO YOUR SON? Chester Finn Jr and Andrew Scanlan 19 over a year old. We have lots of fun with Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and Good Night, Gorilla. A dear friend and col- Learning in the Fast Lane by CHESTER FINN JR, M.A.T.’67, league gave him Counting on Community by Innosanto Nagara, which ED.D.’70, traces the little-known history of the Advanced Placement Program, which started in 1952 in seven private and we also love because we get to see friends in all sorts of fun commu- public schools around the country and today engages nearly 3 nity activities while also having deep bedtime talks about cardinality. million high school students every year. In this account, in ad- dition to the history, the authors also look at how the program 5 WHAT BOOK WOULD PEOPLE BE SURPRISED YOU’VE NEVER READ? There currently works in schools, the benefits it offers, and the criti- are so many great books that I have yet to read. When I was a teen- cism the 68-year-old program has faced. WHERE TEACHERS THRIVE ager, my German-speaking Czech grandfather expressed disbelief Susan Moore Johnson and despair that I hadn’t read Goethe’s Faust. “Vut, you haven’t read Based on decades of research and case studies of 14 high-poverty urban Faust? Vut are they teaching you?” So Faust it is. schools, Where Teachers Thrive by Research Professor SUSAN MOORE JOHNSON, M.A.T.’69, ED.D.’81, argues that while it’s important for schools to attract skilled IS THERE A BOOK YOU HAVE THE HTF STUDENTS READ THAT YOU THINK and dedicated people to teaching, keeping them in their schools and helping IS HELPFUL? A good, simple book that is useful for beginning math them do well depends not just on their training or disposition, but also on whether teachers is 5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Math Discus- schools support their development. And rather than letting strong teachers work in isolation, schools must also find ways to multiply and share their strengths sions by Smith and Stein. It provides a sequence of helpful practices throughout their schools. that teachers can enact to build a classroom culture that facilitates problem solving and collaborative learning.
WHAT’S NEXT ON YOUR READING LIST? It better be Faust! But after that, The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa is on deck. I’ve been wanting to read one of his books for a long time, and someone 7 recommended I start with this one. LH CAREER PATHWAYS FOR ALL YOUTH: LESSONS WFROM THE SCHOOL-TO-WORK MOVEMENT FOR A FULL LIST OF BOOKS FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE: Stephen Hamilton GSE.HARVARD.EDU/ED. IF YOU’RE PART OF THE ED SCHOOL COMMUNITY AND YOU’VE RECENTLY PUB- STEPHEN HAMILTON, M.A.T.’69, ED.D.’75, professor emeritus from LISHED A BOOK, LET US KNOW: BOOKNOTES@GSE. Cornell University, explores differences and similarities between the HARVARD.EDU current movement to create career pathways (CP) for all young people and the school-to-work movement (STW) of the 1980s and 1990s. As he writes, “Some CP initiatives can be traced to the STW movement, and others have an even older lineage. Examining the history of STW sheds some light on the origins of CP and identifies lessons to be learned if the new movement is to persist and grow rather than fading into the background like its predecessor.” *When our regular book photo shoot couldn’t happen because of the campus shutdown, we Zoomed instead.
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20 21
AMID CRISIS AND UNCERTAINTY, THE ED SCHOOL COMES TOGETHER (VIRTUALLY) TO CARRY ON THE WORK AND TO RESPOND TO THE CURRENT MOMENT
STORY BY BARI WALSH ILLUSTRATIONS BY BRIAN REA
Illustration by John Doe
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In retrospect, it was clear that the novel coronavirus that had begun circu - lating and sickening people in China, starting in late 2019, would spread.
And yet the dizzying series of events that led all students not to return to campus after spring us to where we are now — and have given the Ed break, which was due to begin that Friday. It was all School’s centennial year a far different flavor than in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, we’d anticipated just weeks before — somehow still to protect those who were especially vulnerable to seemed to unfold suddenly, without time to adjust. infection, and to limit the reach of covid-19, the re- Harvard issued its first community-wide advi- spiratory disease caused by the virus, into the Har- sory about the new disease on January 24, as the vard community. 22 spring semester began, in a message from Univer- 23 sity Health Services. The message read that the uni- versity was monitoring the outbreak in China, and AMID THE MOUNTING changes during that remark- it encouraged many of the hygiene practices that able week and the one that followed, the Ed School have since become standard: vigorous and regular — which had been actively planning behind the hand-washing, no touching your face, cough into scenes for all scenarios, even before the universi- your elbow. ty’s guidance — underwent its own speedy remak- Harvard went on to issue a series of escalating ing, shifting its operations to an entirely online en- travel advisories: discouraging and then forbid- vironment; assisting its students, faculty, and staff ding university-related travel to China, to a wider in a rapid relocation and a plunge into the new nor- range of affected areas, and finally, to anywhere at mal; and finally closing all of its buildings. all — and strongly discouraging travel for personal The Ed School navigated the dramatic shift by business as well. Also unfolding at a fast clip: ambi- quickly embracing three priorities, which helped to tious efforts to track, assess, and monitor the health hold the uncertainty at bay: health and well-being, of Harvard affiliates or visitors who were arriving academic progress for students, and community In mid-March, stu- rallied to support each other and to advance our to push forward with purpose, impact, and commu- from abroad, and efforts to institute social distanc- and connection. Every decision over the follow- dents started moving work and our mission despite the many personal nity in mind.” their belongings home ing measures on campus. ing weeks and months would be guided by — and and Harvard Square and professional challenges caused by the cov- As of this writing, we’re two and a half weeks Things accelerated on March 6, when Provost would have to serve — those priorities. started to empty out. id-19 crisis,” says Dean Bridget Long. “These are into virtual classes. What does this brave new Alan Garber and Executive Vice President Katie With spring break providing a week’s window Face masks became a extraordinary times, and I am grateful to our fac- world look like? What are the opportunities that Lapp sent a community email that imposed re- to prepare, units across the school — master’s common sight. ulty, students, staff, and our extendedhgse alumni online learning may be offering to faculty and stu- strictions on the size of campus gatherings (forbid- program directors and administrators, faculty community for their boundless dedication.” dents? Can the Ed School’s community — its val- ding meetings of more than 100 — this would later licensure leads, the Ed.L.D. team, the doctoral Indeed, the pace of change seemed to bolster ex- ues and its hopes — expand into the virtual world? drop to 25 and then 10). For the first time, Harvard program team, the Harvard Teacher Fellows — mo- isting community strengths, wrote Academic Dean That’s the experiment that’s playing out right now. advised the community to begin considering how bilized rapidly to consider the student experience (2) Nonie Lesaux in a letter to faculty at the end of One thing is clear: This community is already find- they could transition meetings, work, and events and the academic, social, and professional support spring break. “It was a week where we experienced ing new ways to support one another — from a dis- to remote venues. structure they could offer, partnering with teams the best of hgse in so many respects — the talent, tance, yes, but also as close as your laptop screen. But even with the perspective of hindsight, the in Information Technology, the Teaching and the sense of care, and community among the facul- Turning on a dime, the school’s Information university’s communication on Tuesday, March 10, Learning Lab (tll), the Office of Career Services, ty and our administrative staff; our collective com- Technology unit and its Teaching and Learning still feels shocking. On that day, President Larry Ba- and other offices across the school. mitment to student supports; and, most clearly, our Lab jumped with remarkable speed to equip fac- cow informed the community that Harvard would “I have never been prouder of the commitment ability to mobilize in service of our mission. Next ulty with tools, in-person and online support, and
transition fully to virtual instruction and would ask and resiliency of this community in how we have GAZETTE LINCOLN /HARVARD ROSE week, a new chapter begins, and we will continue thorough guidance on teaching remotely — largely
Illustration by John Doe
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via Zoom, the web video conferencing technology ray of remote teaching resources. In fact, Ed School part of a generation that is experimenting with that has become the centerpiece of online learning faculty services have become a model for the uni- new technology and has the responsibility to un- at Harvard this spring. The tll engaged with 75 versity, according to Lesaux, with many elements derstand its limitations and possibilities.” Another faculty members during the week before the online — workshops, one-on-one coaching, and even the found that “it helps to change up the rhythm. Take transition, providing substantive consultation to at pulse survey — being adopted across Harvard’s stretch breaks occasionally. Have everyone un- least half. Informal drop-ins were offered all day on campus. The tll offered virtual teaching lunches mute and say something together! I did a shout-out, each of the five days of spring break, along with for- so faculty could share successes and challenges; it and they seemed to enjoy it; it lightened the mood.” mal training sessions on getting started with Zoom, has also maintained a faculty discussion board and Many worried about how to preserve classroom best practices in online pedagogy, and how to tran- a faculty-sourced collection of tips. community. “Both of my courses are small,” Se- sition final products, among other topics. Thetll “I have found the transition to online learning nior Lecturer Carrie Conaway says, “and students even hosted practice teaching sessions using stu- and to Zoom very positive on balance,” says Profes- said they were worried about losing the sense of dent volunteers, allowing faculty members to get sor FERNANDO REIMERS, ED.M.’84, ED.D.’88. “My classes community we had built. One idea I had for main- a glimpse of what an actual online class would feel have gone much better than I expected. What I most taining it was to set the Zoom for my synchronous like. Zoom was already part of the university’s stan- like is the ability to seamlessly integrate instruction classes to start at quarter til the hour and run 30 dard suite of work-based software applications — an and whole class discussion, breakout room discus- minutes past the end, with students entering auto- easy-to-use solution for faculty seeking to bring vir- sions, and the use of the chat facility. I also think it matically and unmuted. That way they can catch tual guest speakers into class — but any bets as to is empowering to students to be on a level playing HOW THE ED up informally before and after class, in as close an whether the system would be robust enough to sup- field with faculty in adjusting to the new technol- approximation as I could create online.” port an entire university were not a sure payoff. ogy; they’ve seen me at the beginning of the class SCHOOL IS Other faculty use playlists to welcome students And yet, it was. The first several days after spring asking them for help in finding the breakout but- SUPPORTING into the room, or they experiment with Zoom back- break were chaotic, bumpy, but largely free of ma- ton, and I’ve been ending classes asking them for THE FIELD grounds or ask students what’s happening in their jor obstacles. By week’s end, about 60 Ed School advice on how to make the classes better.” particular settings — connecting in ways that feel faculty members had completed a pulse survey Other faculty have shared similar stories of trial intimate, despite the distance. With no “front row/ sent by the Dean’s Office, with almost 95 % report- and error. “To lighten the ‘tech-load’ for my three- back row” dynamic in Zoom, faculty are finding that ing somewhat positive or very positive teaching hour course (and in response to student feedback),” class participation has been rich, and that students experiences (and almost twice as many “verys” as one instructor reported, “I am trying to prerecord With schools shuttered across the country and in many parts of the are creating their own spaces for collaboration. world, the unprecedented and fast-changing needs of educators and “somewhats”). On March 25, the Thursday of that about 45 minutes of content so they can watch it Faculty have been more intentional than usual families are motivating Ed School faculty and students to share re- first week back from break, Harvard hosted 7,800 anytime, in advance of our class meeting. Our syn- sources for bringing learning home. Including: about slowing things down to check in with their 24 classes on Zoom, with 87,000 participants across chronous time is focused on group activities, dis- 3 Education Now (hgse.me/EdNow), a new initiative that includes students — not only with master’s students, with 25 the university. Help desk requests had already gone cussion, Q&A, etc., and we can shorten class time resources for educators, leaders, and families; a webinar series to share scant weeks left in their Ed School experience, but back down to normal levels, and things were operat- accordingly. We also open the Zoom session early insight and guidance on navigating today’s complex landscape; and with doctoral students (who were likely to experi- ing relatively smoothly. for hangout time.” thought leadership from Harvard faculty about the crisis and opportu- ence interruptions that could delay their academic Ed School faculty had the benefit of a one-stop Another instructor focused more on the intan- nity in education. progress), Ed.L.D. students (some of whom were in 3 The school and Associate Professor SARAH DRYDEN-PETERSON, online teaching shop, as the tll quickly launched a gibles, telling students that “instead of expecting residency and navigating the consequences of the ED.D.’09, launched a daily children’s book series called Books of Belong- comprehensive support site with an astonishing ar- a ‘perfect’ course, they should see themselves as ing, where Dryden-Peterson reads aloud books that give educators and outbreak that rippled across the field), and their families a way to help children process feelings and worries that may own teaching fellows, who were being extended be relevant today — feelings of belonging, disruption, health, missing in new ways as they assisted with course logistics. Students in the Ed.L.D. friends, and home. The Books of Belonging series is posting daily on Program hosted a “Dig- “The determination and spirit of caring I’ve seen Facebook and YouTube. from our teaching teams — faculty, teaching fel- gin’ Deep for Diversity 3 Dinner” series online. HGSE faculty have been sharing their perspectives on the crisis: lows, faculty assistants, and so many others — has It was one of the many For example, Jal Mehta wrote about deeper learning at home for Educa- been incredible,” says MATT MILLER, ED.M.’01, ED.D.’06, a social activities students tion Week; Paul Reville wrote about the need for a whole-child paradigm started on Zoom as a way shift in The 74; and KAREN MAPP, ED.M.’93, ED.D.’99, began offering a senior lecturer and associate dean for teaching and to stay connected webinar series with Scholastic to help schools partner with parents at learning. “I am especially heartened by the extent this uncertain time. to which our faculty are working so hard to sustain 3 Lecturer LAURA SCHIFTER, ED.M.’07, ED.D.’14, shifted much of the community and caring in their classes. We may be remainder of her federal policy class for students to consider the policy physically distancing, but we are socially strong.” response to COVID-19 and come up with proposals to be considered Indeed, students had to navigate breathtaking in the wake of the crisis. She also pulled in three students to help her produce a piece for the Century Foundation on the ramifications for change — in their living situations (approximately special education. 140 relocated to another city or country), their fi- 3 In Associate Professor Karen Brennan’s class, as students were nancial situations, their learning experiences, their exploring how narratives and creative production can motivate learn- dissertation and capstone defenses (now virtual), ing, the group’s four student-facilitators designed an instructional ac- and in the shape of their job searches and future tivity that was particularly resonant. Students broke into small groups planning. They reacted with honesty and with a to examine topics related to our current situation, such as managing media consumption, staying physically fit, and fostering mental well- striking level of grace. They received a range of in- being. Each small group developed a visualization to creatively capture person and online resources, including emergency advice related to their topic — including the graphic shown here, which funding from the Ed School, travel and visa assis- was created by ANNIE WANG, a graduate student in the class who also tance, and a range of other supports from the Office attends MIT. of Student Affairs. Students were granted extended
TRACIE JONES TRACIE deadlines to drop classes and much more flexibility
Illustration by John Doe
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in changing the grading basis of their classes. Paul LeBlanc, a remote learning pioneer and presi- “These past few weeks have only further under- dent of Southern New Hampshire University. Other scored the centrality of emotions and relationships scheduled guests included John King Jr., GEOFFREY in learning,” Associate Professor Karen Brennan CANADA, ED.M.’75, and DARIENNE DRIVER HUDSON, ED.M.’06, says. “You’re not going to be ready to learn if you’re ED.D.’14. not in a good emotional place, which so many of us With Harvard’s in-person Commencement have absolutely not been in. And if you don’t have postponed, and a digital ceremony planned in its relationships with and among members of a learn- place, community and connection feel even more ing community, you have an extremely limited essential, Long says. window into understandings of (and ability to be “In undeniable ways, this has been a time of responsive to) the emotional landscape.” sadness and disappointment. It is so unfortunate As the physical campus became quiet, the that we will not gather together in person for Com- school’s digital campus roared to life with virtual mencement and all of the other events that make yoga classes, dance parties, mindfulness meet- spring at hgse such a special time of year. Still, I ups, equity chats, and cocktail parties. Team Con- have taken solace in being able to see many of the nect, a group of deans, faculty, students, and staff, faces of my students, our alumni, and our colleagues A SEND-OFF, THEN ON TO A NEW REALITY launched a weekly crowd-sourced video series, — along with their children and pets! — on Zoom,” a series of Ask Me Anything events with faculty, says Long, who has hosted everything from casual Lecturer HADAS EIDELMAN, ED.D.’14, had thought it would. They ac- experience of hearing their worries, and the school’s signature community storytell- coffee hours to informative community meetings to wrote this essay after the knowledged that there was room hopes, and intentions was reassur- ing series, Double Take, to be held virtually in hours of planning meetings on that ubiquitous web last in-person meeting of S030, to grieve this loss, despite the ing for all of us as a model of the the spring. Using its convening power, the school platform. “We may be physically distant from one Intermediate Statistics for concern that doing so might seem connectedness we could hold onto Educational Research. almost selfish or be in tension with as we stepped into this unknown. quickly launched the hgse Leadership Series, a vir- another, but this remains a vibrant, supportive, and tual speaker series giving students access to leaders resilient community.” the knowledge that we are all mak- I think that all of us in that A sight not often seen On the Thursday of the last week of ing a sacrifice in order to protect S030 classroom — the students, from across education and beyond. The first guest, during the acadmic year: BARI WALSH IS THE DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL STRATEGY AT in-person class meetings (March those more vulnerable than us. our teaching fellows Jane and An empty Harvard Yard who appeared in conversation with Dean Long, was THE ED SCHOOL. SHE WROTE THIS STORY IN LATE MARCH. 12), I asked students in my stats They talked about the need to Rosa, and myself — were funda- class whether this would be their be kind and forgiving to one an- mentally in an experiential place last class before the school shifted other and ourselves and to respect where building connection and online, and most of them said that each other’s fears and worries. addressing our collective well- 26 it was. I was already planning for They were hopeful that maybe being seemed necessary. Not 27 some sort of closure to our experi- some good would come of this, and getting through the slides seemed ence, but it was sobering nonethe- that as a society we might reevalu- small compared to the potential less to realize that for most of the ate our priorities. disengagement that could have students there, this was a very They talked about how this may resulted from not establishing our poignant turning point in their lives. seem unprecedented for many of connectedness in a grounded and Matt Miller, dean for teaching us, but that there are groups of vulnerable way ahead of this shift. and learning, had encouraged fac- people who have been experienc- It was a powerful reminder of the ulty to spend class time that day ing this sort of upheaval, fear for centrality of relationships that checking in with students, so I had safety, geographic displacement, always sits at the heart of teaching planned to start class talking about and other related circumstances and learning. how everyone was doing with the as a way of being for a long time. After everyone had spoken, I transition. If we also got some They expressed both anger that it wanted to share handwritten cards stats content in, then great, but we takes something like this for many prepared for the students. The wouldn’t worry if we didn’t (and we people to take notice, and also message was the same in each: didn’t). We had each person share: hope that society will listen to the thanking them for being a part of 3 One thing they were nervous wisdom of those who have been this course; thanking them for un- or worried about as we shift to ignored. expectedly being a part of this new online learning; We did not do one bit of stats and unfamiliar experience we will 3 One hope they had for this (although we did walk through a share; letting them know that even experience; and visual of flattening the epidemic though we’re disappointed, we’re 3 An intention or idea about curve and related the exponential also looking forward to finding new how to support themselves or each spread of COVID-19 to the loga- ways to be together. other as we all go through this. rithms we’d — ironically — been Instead of just handing out the studying in that unit). But it was cards, it seemed more fitting to call • • • a profoundly powerful experience each person’s name separately. It was one of the most beautiful that was cathartic and served Someone joked that it might be the and powerful experiences I’ve had. as a bridge between our in-class closest they would get to a gradu- Some students cried and learning and our move online. A ation, and it turned into a beautiful, shared personal fears for loved few students were actually joining campy, pseudo-ceremony. I’d call ones, themselves, and for society. us virtually via Zoom during that someone’s name, their classmates They expressed disappoint- last class, already in their safe would cheer for them, we’d bump ment at how their year here was places, and I think (minus some elbows, and then onto the next TKTKTK not going to end the way they minor technological glitches) the one. I think we all needed it. TKTKTK TKTKTK
HARVARD CRIMSON KUHAR/ HARVARD KATHRYN PAJARES; ELIO TKTKTK
Illustration by John Doe
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IT’S SOMETIMES CALLED A GUT FEELING. PETER PARKER CALLED IT HIS SPIDEY SENSE. IT’S THE ABILITY TO READ A SITUATION AND KNOW SOMETHING WITHOUT PROOF OR CONSCIOUS REASONING. WE ALL USE IT. TEACHERS RELY ON IT, OFTEN DOZENS OF TIMES EVERY DAY IN THEIR CLASSROOMS. SOMETIMES IT WORKS; SOMETIMES IT DOESN’T. IT USUALLY GETS EASIER TO TRUST WITH EXPERIENCE.
29 A Teacher’s Intuition
STORY BY LORY HOUGH ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHRISTOPHER SILAS NEAL
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dents to stretch for a few minutes. The For EDVERETTE BREWSTER, ED.M.’16, a former middle school teacher who says he relied on his intuition class she every day when he was teaching, reading the room started even before the lesson began. “For many of my students, I could tell whether taught they would have a good day based on how they en- in Larsen G08 had just ended, and KITTY BOLES, ED.D.’91, tered the classroom,” says Brewster, now a princi- then a senior lecturer, was packing up her materials pal at Holmes Innovation, an elementary school in when a young man in his early 20s walked up to her Boston. “It was then my job to check in with them, and said he was preparing to be a physics teacher. “For many of my find a way to connect, and ensure that they were The young man also told Boles that she had been his students, I could prepared to learn. If that meant a student was hun- third-grade teacher in Brookline 15 years earlier and tell whether gry, I would find a snack. For many of my boys, it that he remembered, more than anything, some- they would have meant giving me a number, 1–10, to indicate how thing that had made a huge difference: her hugs. a good day they felt, then strategizing on how we could end the Boles remembered the boy and how his family based on how day higher. Intuition is what made me effective.” had just moved to the area from Iran. She remem- they entered the It sometimes also means a change in plans. bered that he didn’t speak English and was scared ZACHARY LINDEMANN, ED.M.’11, teaches AP biology to death. She also remembered hugging him. classroom. ... at Wimberley High School in Wimberley, Texas. “It was intuitive to me to hug him,” she says, “to Intuition is When the coronavirus crisis sent students and make him feel safe and loved.” what made me teachers home, he, like other educators, had to Although Boles was herself a scared new teacher effective.” quickly pivot and rethink how to move learning for- back then, she “sensed” what her student needed EDVERETTE BREWSTER, ward with little tangible guidance. Relying on his in that moment, not based on test scores or scien- PRINCIPAL,HOLMES intuition has proved vital, he says. tific data given to her from an administrator, but INNOVATION SCHOOL, “I’ve absolutely had to change how I do things BOSTON based on something teachers use every day, often “ It was intuitive with the online learning gig and definitely feel like hundreds of times a day: intuition. I am ‘building the plane as I fly it’ sometimes!” he to me to hug says. “My initial plan was to have live online classes 30 • • • each morning where either my A day or B day kids 31 sometimes called a gut feeling or sixth sense, him — would join a Google Hangout organized by me, even a Spidey sense, intuition is the ability to read where I would present a lecture using the share a situation and know something without proof or to make him screen function and be able to engage in discussion conscious reasoning. It’s the “subtle knowing,” feel safe and questions together, which hypothetically would writes Sophy Burnham in The Art of Intuition, be easy because we would all be on a video chat.” “without ever having any idea why you know it.” and loved.” In reality, his Internet couldn’t keep up, and he In many professions, especially those that re- KITTY BOLES, FORMER SENIOR “ With my current classes, it helps ran into myriad techinical problems. He also found quire lightning-fast decision-making, like firefight- LECTURER, ED SCHOOL that I had already taught them for that many students were too nervous or unwilling to ing or medicine, the ability to tap into our intuitive six months before we went online, ask questions in a big online group. He sensed they sense is critical. In 2015, the U.S. Navy even started might, instead, respond better to recorded lectures, a program to look into how members of the military so I am already very aware and paired with live Q&A sessions. could improve their intuitive abilities during com- attuned to their quirks, personalities, “I’ve also had to use my intuition to figure out bat, following discussions with soldiers returning preferences, and home life.” the biggest bang for the buck in terms of content to from deployment who said their gut feelings often ANJALI NIRMALAN, TEACHER, AMERICAN SCHOOL FOUNDATION teach for the rest of the year, and how to conduct AP alerted them to impending danger, even when reli- OF MONTERREY, NUEVO LEON, MEXICO exam review,” he says. “It’s simply not feasible to do able intel wasn’t available. every single thing I had planned in the original way The teaching profession is no different. Although I wanted to do it.” teachers don’t usually deal with dangerous or life- threatening situations, classrooms are complex and • • • situations move quickly. As ANJALI NIRMALAN, ED.M.’17, albert einstein once noted that “intuition is points out, “intuition is incredibly important for a nothing but the outcome of earlier intellectual teacher in a room full of other humans — in my case, experience,” and most educators would probably over 30! — with a spectrum of their own needs .” agree that making these kinds of calls, and trusting In fact, “A vital teacher skill is being able to ‘read intuition, changes with experience. the room’ and assess whether the mood of a class is “While some may translate intuition as ‘gut in- sleepy, bored, fractious, or frustrated,” says Nirma- stinct,’ I believe much of our intuition is developed lan, a high school English teacher at the American through experience and is activated by uncon- School Foundation of Monterrey in Nuevo Leon, sciously picking up on minute social cues,” Nirma- Mexico, and then respond in a way that feels right: lan says. “From the tone of a student’s voice to the
turn on or off the lights, for example, or ask stu- NETWORK EDUCATION UP SMITH; WALTER (OPPOSTIE) STEARNS; JANET way they are sitting in their chair to the direction
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of their eye line, I can ‘read’ everything from how and it is difficult for adults to tell how much is -ag their day is going to their current engagement or gressive or not — there is a slight and significant comprehension.” For example, after 11 years in the difference to the tones and movements of a situa- classroom, she says, “I can tell from the tilt of a stu- tion that is about to turn violent. One reason why dent’s head whether they secretly have AirPods in “ I’ve absolutely had to I believe that I have not had to break up a fight in their ears under their long hair.” change how I do things my classroom in the last six years is because I will With learning now happening online, Nirmalan with the online learning intuitively pick up on and pivot towards a potential says all of the teacher intuition instincts she’s built gig, and definitely feel situation in order to de-escalate it.” up over the years have proved essential. like I am ‘building the Knowing how to do this isn’t easy at first and re- “There are fewer clues to pick up on through plane as I fly it’ some- quires a new teacher to build up his or her confi- screen-only or text interaction with my students,” times!” dence, says CASEY (GREEN) NELSON, ED.M.’14. she says, “and yet it is more important than ever “The first few years of teaching are incredibly ZACHARY LINDEMANN, TEACHER, that we are conscious of our students’ socioemo- WIMBERLEY HIGH, WIMBERLEY, challenging, and you feel like you have to have every tional states during the anxiety of the pandemic.” TEXAS minute planned and you are not able to deviate from She’s doing this by focusing not just on her les- those plans,” she says. “I did not trust my intuition sons, but on factors like participation and mood. because I had no data to back up what I was feeling. “I try to pay attention to everything from the stu- I was nervous every single day. But as you build ex- dents’ enthusiasm or reluctance to be on video or “ Every interaction we have perience, and confidence, you begin to sense when audio, how much they participate in a weekly Zoom with a student is a piece of data that you need to alter course, sometimes mid-lesson, class, whether they prefer the text chat or the ‘raise eventually builds and adds to and sometimes completely unplanned.” hand’ function to contribute an idea, which break- our expertise, which ultimately Reaching out to more experienced teachers out rooms of which group combinations produce the helps, too, says KENTON SHIMOZAKI, who is currently most thoughtful work, how quickly they respond in becomes our intuition. teaching seventh-grade world studies at a charter Google Chat, and what time they send me emails,” Both are essential to rely on school in Denver through the Harvard Teacher Fel- she says. “With my current classes, it helps that I had to be an effective teacher.” lows Program. It’s his first year in the classroom. already taught them for six months before we went CASEY NELSON, TEACHER, CHARLESTOWN “As the year progresses, I sense that my teacher online, so I am already very aware and attuned to HIGH SCHOOL, BOSTON instincts are sharper. I feel more confident clarifying their quirks, personalities, preferences, and home misconceptions in the lesson, defusing conflict be- 32 life.” It might not be as easy if classes continue on- tween students, and recognizing what each student 33 line in the fall, she says, and she has to start with a needs to be successful,” he says. “But there is a signifi- new group of students she has never taught. cant degree of doubt that comes with being a first-year And science backs this up. Intuition isn’t just a teacher in a new school, so I find that it is important feeling or something magical that just pops into for me to check my instincts with veteran teachers. As your head, it’s actually our brains quickly process- often as my colleagues confirm my gut instincts, they ing information subconsciously and comparing also offer suggestions about how I could have better what’s currently happening with stored knowl- responded to a tough situation in class and how I can edge and memories of previous experiences, and “Some of my intuition improve my practice going forward.” then predicting what will come next. And this all comes from the experience Brewster says he also started trusting his intu- happens within seconds. of being empathetic, so now ition more once he had a sample of ideas under his A study by psychologist Gary Klein, for exam- I can look at a lesson plan belt and proof that those ideas might work. ple, found that firefighters can make super-fast and have a sense of how stu- “My second year teaching, I posed a question to inutitive decisions about how a fire might spread the class: I know that we’re not going to have a dif- through a building because they can access memo- dents might feel traveling ficult time being positive in room 230, right?’” he ries of similar experiences and run mental simula- through the learning.” says. “Most sixth-graders responded, ‘No!’ with joy. tions of potential outcomes. RHONDA BONDIE, DIRECTOR, However, Daniel, with a straight face, said, ‘Yes.’” Since becoming a teacher, Nirmalan has had to PROFESSIONAL LEARNING, HGSE Based on experiences during his first year, break up a physical altercation four times, includ- Brewster says he knew what Daniel needed: special ing one that left a student hospitalized. By the third attention. “So I took an interest in Daniel. I made it time, during her fifth year teaching, she reacted “With our technology, teachers can see for my point to learn more about him, to connect with and intervened much faster than she had during themselves that certain methods are literally his family, and highlight any positive achievement previous fights. he made. Daniel moved after his eighth-grade year, “Within seconds,” she says, “entirely because more engaging from a neuroscientific point and we stayed in contact. May of last year, he grad- of my own intuition picking up on a change in the of view. It validates their strategies and uated high school in Jacksonville, Florida. I was in room’s mood. While no educator wants to experi- builds confidence that they are in fact more attendance and was one of the last people he spoke ence such events, they taught me to subconsciously effective for increasing engagement.” to before he was recently deployed in the Navy.” recognize and react to the subtle tells of a previo- MAX NEWLON, PRESIDENT, BRAINCO, USA Lecturer Rhonda Bondie, director of profes- lent encounter: raised voices, angry tones, sharp sional learning, says that this kind of empathy for movement, and other students crowding. While learners often comes with experience.
teenagers may argue and playfight frequently — USA BRAINCO, NELSON; CASEY BONDIE RHONDA ISD; WIMBERLEY “Some of my intuition comes from the experi-
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ence of being empathetic, so now I can look at a les- decisions every minute, sometimes I feel like all I it be like if we could quantify this important state But is trial and error really the way to go, he son plan and have a sense of how students might have is my intuition.” of mind?” says? “You wouldn’t want to be a patient in a hospi- feel traveling through the learning,” she says. In a class where students are wearing the Brain- tal whose methods relied so heavily on intuition or “When teachers are new, just writing a lesson plan • • • Co headbands, teachers can do just that. Similar to trial and error. ‘I don’t know. I’m not sure. I just feel is challenging, so there is little time to feel the les- but what if teachers had more? In Somerville, a Fitbit, but for the head, not the wrist, the head- like it’s time to take out her gallbladder.’” son from the student experience. As teachers be- a company incubated at the Harvard iLab called band evaluates what’s going on in the brain, and There’s not doubt that intuition is important, come more experienced, I think we think about BrainCo, USA, recently rolled out a wireless head- then sends information to the teacher’s computer. he says, but what if teachers also had proven tech- what we are going to do in a lesson and how learn- band that uses EEG technology to quantify when The teacher can see engagement, in real time. For niques they could pull out when making decisions ers might be feeling more in concert. This type of students are engaged, something critical for learn- example, during a long discussion about polyno- — like doctors and nurses have — in addition to gut coordinated perspective taking and thinking about ing. As a 2013 Gallup study showed, a 1% increase in mials, the teacher can glance at her screen and see feelings? Techniques like setting clear goals (what learning is teacher intuition.” student engagement can lead to a 6% improvement that students one and two are engaged, but stu- do you want to have happen here?) and examining Sometimes, however, trusting your gut as a teach- in reading scores and 8% in math scores. dents three through 10 aren’t. The teacher can ad- existing data (what do we already know?). er doesn’t always work — or not in the same way it had Unfortunately, gauging engagement in a tan- just her teaching, in the moment, maybe moving Finding distance when acting or reacting in in the past. When Boles was teaching in Brookline, gible way isn’t easy to do. from passive lecturing to a hands-on activity. She class is another technique, Brawer says, because a child from a poorer family was reading two years Instead, says, MAX NEWLON, ED.M.’16, BrainCo’s can also review the data after class and evaluate teaching is very personal. “Our spontaneous reac- below grade level. Again, she did what felt right. “I president, “teachers often use intuition to under- where the peaks and lows were. tions come from deep within us. They arise from nurtured him, and I loved him,” she says. This had stand student engagement,” and usually base this “With our technology, teachers can see for them- the personal history we bring to the situation.” worked beautifully with other students, including on what they see: eye contact or body behavior. The selves that certain methods are literally more en- Nelson says she definitely has taken things per- the one from Iran. But in this situation, Boles says student looking right at the teacher is assumed to gaging from a neuroscientific point of view,” New- sonally as a teacher and reacted in response. she also didn’t do something: “I didn’t push him. My be fully invested in the lesson while the student lon says. “It validates their strategies and builds “There have been many times where my intuition intuition was to be nice to this student, to hug him. drawing on their arm is not. confidence that they are in fact more effective for is telling me that a student is angry or frustrated with Would I have been better to push him harder or was As Nirmalan says, “teachers observe, or try to increasing engagement.” me, when in reality their energy or emotional state it better to follow my intuition and hug him?” observe, and take in data on everything from eye Gaining a better understanding of the science has nothing to do with me at all,” she says. “Some- Nirmalan says she has also made mistakes. contact, posture, work on the paper or laptop, doo- behind learning has certainly helped Bondie. times it’s drama with their friends, tough circum- “There are times that I thought a student who dling, and tone of voice to read the student’s en- “I root all of my ‘go-to’ learning routines in cogni- stances at home, lack of sleep, a difficult test; it could had made a hurtful remark to another student gagement and comprehension. At the same time, tive and motivation sciences and culturally relevant be anything.” Now, after teaching at Charlestown needed a sharp rebuke, and when they either burst people are complex and just because our hunches pedagogy,” she says. “Teachers can look to what we High School for nearly six years, instead of reacting into tears or responded aggressively, I realized that are sometimes proven right does not mean we can know about working memory, elaboration, retriev- in the moment, she’ll have a quiet conversation with 34 I had unintentionally worsened or escalated the always assume, for example, that the student who al, and metacognition to guide decisions. For exam- the student or ask in a note if they want to talk. 35 situation,” she says. “As an early-career teacher, I is doodling is disengaged, or that the student mak- ple, we know that about four bits of information is Having data on the student helps, too, she says. sometimes delivered public criticism to a student; ing eye contact has a thorough understanding of enough for our working memory, so it makes sense Before going virtual, she had a student who was as a more experienced teacher, I am more likely to the directions.” to move to an activity where students can elaborate very quiet, sometimes had their head down, and of- have that conversation with a student privately in But what if we could end the guessing when it and make meaning of the information rather than ten left work incomplete. Intuition told her the stu- order to avoid shame or escalation. In all these cas- comes to engagement, Newlon asks? “What would continuing when the students’ working memory is dent wasn’t understanding the material. However, es, I file away those experiences so I can remember on overload. Teachers should continually pursue an looking at assessment data, she realized the stu- to act different next time.” understanding of the science of learning. This will dent was understanding the majority of what she Bondie says the need to act quickly as a teacher support better decision-making.” was teaching. The issue was actually motivation. often plays a role in what they do — or don’t do. Even without technology or a deep understand- “Every interaction we have with a student is “Unfortunately, most decisions we make as ing of science, there are ways for teachers to pair a piece of data that builds and adds to our exper- teachers use what [psychologist] Daniel Kahne- intuition with something else when making de- tise, which ultimately becomes our intuition,” she man would characterize as fast thinking: decisions cisions in the classroom, says Barney Brawer, a says. “Both are essential to rely on to be an effec- made fast, automatic, unconscious, and prone to former teacher and principal who codirected the tive teacher. Intuition helps us identify an area that error and bias,” she says. “Our decisions often live The Halo Effect Harvard Project on Women’s Psychology, Boys’ needs our attention, and concrete data helps us de- in our muscle memory, instead of being deliberate Development, and the Culture of Manhood. termine a course of action to improve a situation.” responses carefully considered by being present in Many educators have a In a course that Brawer taught for many years at These days, with little data to guide teachers in the moment because teachers are making many strong sense of what’s the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Develop- how to wrap up an academic year during a pandem- working in their class- decisions every minute of their day.” room in terms of engag- ment at Tufts University, he helped teachers really ic, Lindemann says his intuition is being tested. As a result, a teacher’s fast, intuitive response ing their students. Doing think through actions they had taken in the past “There’s no ‘perfect’ way to finish up this school sometimes make things messier, as JOHN TOURNAS, active learning such with students and then understand how intuition year,” he says. “While I’m preparing physical pack- as group discussions a current fellow in the Harvard Teacher Fellows or hands-on activities can be the source of their “best and worst moves.” ets for my students without Internet access, they Program, discovered one day this past year when are good examples. Too often, he says, “we try a little of this, a little of simply pale in comparison to what I’m doing online. he was teaching sixth-graders, alone, at the Bronx But rather than relying that.” With a disruptive student, for example, we And online teaching, in my opinion, pales in com- Community Charter School. primarily on intuition to move the student’s desk. (It worked for other stu- parison to being face-to-face with my students. I determine if these things “Students were not listening to me, and so in the are actually getting stu- dents!) We call a parent. We yell — sometimes re- usually am far more able to gather formative data moment I decided to yell really loud to get their at- dents’ attention, what if ally loud. We give a hug. “We use our instincts and on how lessons are going , and how my students are tention,” he says. “Rather than listening to me, the teachers could somehow we improvise. We see how it goes. … Our hearts doing emotionally, but it’s been way more difficult class erupted in chaos, students running around, quantify that engag- are in the right place. We do our best. If we’ve tried online. My intuition is not quite as sharp and my ef- ment? BrainCo’s Focus 1 yelling, standing on chairs.” He was at a loss for headband lets teachers something before and it worked, we try it again. If it fectiveness as a teacher is now diminished. I miss
what to do. “Because we have to make 1 million see that in real time. USA BRAINCO, bombed, we avoid it the next time. Trial and error.” my students!”
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Belonging
WHEN IT COMES TO EDUCATING REFUGEE STUDENTS, IT’S NOT ENOUGH TO JUST TEACH THEM. SCHOOLS ALSO NEED TO HELP THEM FEEL WELCOME — AND SUPPORTED.
STORY BY JESSICA LANDER, ED.M.’15 PHOTOGRAPH BY TYLER HICKS
HED13-FEA-Refugees.indd 36 4/30/20 1:39 PM HED13-FEA-Refugees.indd 37 4/30/20 1:39 PM Harvard Ed. Summer 2020 “Miss?!” 18-year-old Diane called Throughout her life, no country has ever claimed tegrate refugee children on a scale never seen be- her as theirs. Nowhere does she legally belong. And, fore, but, as Adelman says, the work is often siloed. in exasperation from across the sitting in the computer lab on that crisp fall after- “How can we connect and disseminate ideas?” room. “There is no way for me to noon, we realize that even the Common Application she says. “How can we make central the often un- answer this question!” will not acknowledge Diane’s existence. heard but knowledgeable voices of practitioners?” It’s mid-October, and 10 of my With reach, the three researchers see solutions in collaborations and valuing and elevating multi- high school seniors are busy filling what does it mean to belong? country academic studies alongside classroom-lev- out the college Common Applica- For nearly 26 million refugees across the globe, el lesson plans. tion. For more than two hours, I plus an additional 41 million internally displaced Through the choices we make in the classroom by conflict and millions more displaced by disas- cultures we foster, our curriculum, and our school have been bouncing between com- ters, exclusion is a daily, lived experience. As Asso- and state policies, educators and policymakers puters answering questions. ciate Professor SARAH DRYDEN-PETERSON, ED.D.’09, says, send refugee students a powerful message. It is As I sit down next to Diane, she for refugees, “the foundation on which their lives our choice to decide whether that message is one exist is built on a lack of belonging.” of exclusion or inclusion. jabs her hand at a question on the Dryden-Peterson has devoted her career to For Diane it was in a Zambian school where she screen: “List the countries you are a working with refugees and those who support dis- was first taught that she did not belong. Last win- citizen of,” the application asks. placed people. She is particularly concerned about ter, she shared part of her story in a book my class the future of young people caught up in an eddy of published, We Are America (which later grew into a “What do I put?” she asks, per- conflicts, epidemics, and natural disasters. national project). “My first day [of sixth grade] was plexed. “I’m a citizen of nowhere.” How do the world’s 13 million refugee children horrible. … Kids in school called me a caburunda (a My students come from across imagine a future when there is a very real worry “If they don’t have the sense name they called all refugees and which meant you that tomorrow they will no longer be welcome? As of ‘I am comfortable here. I weren’t a part of the country). I was so mad. I always the globe, from more than 30 coun- Dryden-Peterson puts it, “your sense of belonging believed I was Zambian, even though I was born in a tries in total. They have escaped is always tattered at the edges because you don’t can imagine myself here. I camp. But here in Solwezi, I realized that I was not. war in Syria and the Democratic know when someone else is going to make a deci- feel safe here,’ then very little I started thinking, who am I? Where do I belong, if sion that means you can’t stay.” not in Zambia? I realized that if Zambia didn’t rec- Republic of the Congo (drc). They The vast majority of the globe’s displaced chil- learning can happen.” ognize me as its citizen, then I had no country to call 38 have been raised in refugee camps dren will grow up with this uncertainty. According Professor Sarah Dryden-Peterson my own.” 39 in Turkey and Thailand. They have to the unhcr, each year, less than 1% of the world’s traveled with their families from refugees are permanently resettled, providing them the chance at fully belonging once more. But turkey would never be home for Safiya. A sprawling cities in Brazil, Lebanon, as Dryden-Peterson emphasizes, belonging re- Jessica Lander week into seventh grade, her family fled Iraq after Cambodia, and the Dominican quires more than just legal status. terrorists targeted and almost killed her brother for Republic, seeking opportunities This winter, she launched a new Ed School ini- working with the U.S. Army. tiative, reach (Research, Education, and Action Eleven-year-old Safiya didn’t realize they were and education. They have fled gang for Change and Hope) in collaboration with Lectur- leaving forever. She was just excited — she had nev- violence, roaming militia, and ter- er ELIZABETH ADELMAN, ED.M.’08, ED.D.’18, and Colombia er traveled to another country before. Of course rorists in El Salvador, Somalia, and University postdoctoral research fellow VIDUR CHO- they would be coming home, she thought. In a large PRA, ED.M.’15; ED.D.’18. Their hope: convene research- bag she packed clothes, a box of pictures, and her Afghanistan. ers, policymakers, and educators with the goal of favorite stuffed animal, a gift her father bought in Diane is one of a handful of my sharing and amplifying best practices that create Syria when she was a baby. Her father packed a few students who is stateless, one of opportunities and futures for displaced young carpentry tools. Her mom brought thick blankets people globally. It is important to note that many and, carefully wrapped, her glass lemon squeezer more than 4 million such people of these considerations and best practices apply to — a wedding present from her mother-in-law. globally, according to the United all students with ambiguous legal status or other After a multi-day journey on crowded buses, her Nations High Commission for uncertainties connected to migration. family settled into a second-floor apartment in Tur- The three believe that schools have an essential key and tried to reassemble a life. But when Safiya unhcr Refugees ( ). Before her birth, role to play in welcoming and grounding refugee tried to enroll in school, she and her parents were Diane’s parents fled the brutal civil students — whether that classroom is in a billow- turned away. Safiya knew not a single word of Turk- war in the Congo. Diane never set ing tent in the middle of Kenya’s Kakuma Refu- ish, and without the language, the schools would foot in the country of her ances- gee Camp or in a cavernous New England public not allow her to study. school. It is not enough that schools transmit aca- More than half of all school-age refugee chil- tors. She was born and raised in a demic content. For a refugee child, Dryden-Peter- dren around the world, roughly 4 million young refugee camp in Zambia. After 17 son explains, “If they don’t have the sense of ‘I am people, are not enrolled in school. The reasons years of waiting, she and her family comfortable here. I can imagine myself here. I feel are varied: Parents might have safety concerns or safe here,’ then very little learning can happen.” lack the right documents; classrooms can be over- were granted refugee status here Countries, communities, and classrooms across crowded; students might need to work. But even in the United States. the globe are grappling with how to educate and in- when enrolled, refugee students, too often, don’t
Photograph by Jill Anderson
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feel they belong. How can schools welcome dis- teachers need concrete and ongoing training and tion, politics, and policies away from exclusion,” placed students into their communities and truly access to resources. Collaborating with more than she says. To this end, reach is compiling resources instill in them a sense of belonging? Here are six 36 organizations from museums and universities to for educators to help them foster welcoming class- steps schools and communities should take, based individual school districts, Re-Imagining Migra- rooms. But she also recognizes this can be challeng- on my conversations with Dryden-Peterson, Adel- tion is developing a framework, curriculums, and ing, particularly in countries neighboring conflict man, Chopra, and other educators in the field, as trainings that aim to shift how we teach and under- areas that might suddenly be hosting huge popula- well as my own work as a teacher working with ref- stand migration with the goal of helping teachers tions of refugees while still struggling to support ugee students. intentionally create more welcoming classrooms. their own people. Here the global community has a responsibility to ensure that marginalized people 1. Link language learning to community build- 3. Fostering responsibility in native-born young in host countries and refugees both have opportuni- ing. Safiya’s best and first teachers in Turkey were people. When Safiya was 14, her family was grant- ties, “jointly, rather than one at the expense of an- two teenage girls who lived in the apartment above ed refugee resettlement in the United States. In other,” she says. them. Quickly the girls became inseparable. They early September they flew to Massachusetts. With- played volleyball in the street, they cooked endless in weeks, Safiya was enrolled in ninth grade. bowls of macaroni in each other’s apartments, they In Turkey, Safiya had sat at the back of the class, on the first day of high school in the United played tricks on their brothers. And, through her going whole days without saying a word. But in her States, standing in the middle of an enormous caf- neighbors’ careful tutelage, Safiya mastered the ba- new U.S. school, group work was the norm. Safiya eteria, Robert felt very much alone. He knew he sic outlines of the language. So much so that a year was naturally outgoing, and with the encourage- stood out with his clothes straight from a Ugandan later, she was able to pass a Turkish test that allowed ment of the class structure, she started striking refugee camp. He was positive everyone knew he her access again to formal education. up conversations with her new peers. What she was different, that he didn’t fit in. Young people are most motivated to master a learned surprised her. Although they might not Robert was born into conflict. In 1998, the year new language when they feel a sense of belonging. be from Iraq, so many students shared her story of Robert was born, his native country in the Dem- As refugee children grapple with the trauma of dis- migration. Even most of her U.S.-born peers had ocratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa placement and flight, often simultaneously they immigration stories of parents, or grandparents, erupted in war. When he was 12, his family was must master new languages to regain access to edu- or great-grandparents. Though her class was filled murdered, and Robert fled to Uganda, where he cation — a daily reminder that here is not home. Re- with students of many nationalities, ethnicities, and lived on the border and then in a refugee camp, be- search suggests that newcomers learn fastest when religions, Safiya felt that she and her peers shared fore being resettled in Massachusetts. they have host-country friends they can practice much in common. When he arrived in the United States, Robert 40 their new language with, but they often have too As a junior in my class, I watched as Safiya qui- had been so excited to study. For weeks he had been 41 few opportunities to make such connections. etly grew into a leader, as she and her peers tackled bubbly with nerves and excitement. a semester-long civics project. Everywhere I looked, “I am going to get the chance to study with white 2. Train teachers to know their students and give Safiya was there, organizing a letter-writing cam- people!” he thought. them tools to support their growth. When Safiya paign to state representatives, reviewing proposal But he quickly became deflated. His new school was finally allowed to attend the Turkish school, she drafts, collecting petition signatures. Again and was huge — floor upon floor of classrooms, a warren quickly realized that, despite her rapidly expanding again that spring she was surprised when others of tunnels. On his first day, he quickly got turned Turkish, she would always be an unwelcome refu- — both peers and adults — listened and took her around, barely found his classes, and felt too shy gee. School was not nearly as strict as her all-girls seriously. That spring Safiya and her classmates to speak. Weeks slipped by, and Robert struggled school in Iraq. But more starkly, teachers just didn’t presented at the Massachusetts State House. That to find his footing. There was little he seemed to seem to care about her. If she showed up late or morning she spoke with pride about their work in share with his new peers — few interests, fewer ex- missed days of school, no one followed up. If oth- “ Without kids being her adopted community, realizing that America periences. In the refugee camp, it seemed so easy er students forgot their homework, they got repri- now felt like home. to forge friendships, even despite the dozens of lan- manded; for her and the other refugee in class, the For Chopra, belonging comes partly when refu- guages and the hodgepodge of nationalities and teacher never seemed to care if they did their work. able to imagine that gee students “feel they have a voice and a stake in ethnicities. Here, everyone seemed divided into Not once that year did she turn in an assignment. their community.” To accomplish this, schools and settled groups. Too often, teachers are ill-prepared to support broader sense of communities must foster in native-born young “There was no group that I could fit into,” he their newest refugee students. For teachers in people the desire to connect with, welcome, and says. For a young man who could converse in 10 countries that neighbor conflicts, classroom sizes hear their refugee peers. Too often refugees (and languages, in his first months in America, Robert and responsibilities might transform seemingly collective, there is immigrant-origin students, more generally) are was practically silent at school. overnight — like the Lebanese teacher who sudden- “othered,” he says. ly has to teach an entire second-shift class of newly no way to shift But migration, Strom argues, is a shared hu- 4. Honor and include students’ cultures and his- arrived Syrian refugees, as Adelman describes in man experience. “Everyone, at some point in their tories. I met Robert when he took my U.S. history research she is conducting for reach. In resettle- family history, has a story of migration,” he says, class during his junior year, one year after he ar- ment countries, in Europe and the United States, migration, politics, “whether voluntary or forced. We should be using rived in the United States. At the culmination of our teachers might not even be aware that their newest these experiences to build bridges.” immigration unit, I asked students to share a slice student has fled their home. and policies away For Dryden-Peterson, strengthening students’ of their migration story, told through a favorite As Adam Strom, the director and cofounder of feeling of responsibility to others not just locally, family recipe, which we published in a cookbook. Re-Imagining Migration, an organization working but globally, is imperative. For two weeks they gathered, translated, and re- in collaboration with the Ed School’s Project Zero, from exclusion.” “Without kids being able to imagine that broader corded recipes, then drafted and edited stories says, to successfully welcome refugee students, Professor Sarah Dryden-Peterson sense of collective, there is no way to shift migra- detailing food traditions and memories. We end-
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ed with a global feast. Tanzanian chapati breads, “Even though I felt sad, I still needed to live my NEWS + NOTES FROM OUR ALUMNI COMMUNITY Mexican tamales, Nepalese momo dumplings. life and accept whatever was happening. … There’s When I ask Robert this fall what class assign- so much that can put a hold on life. And if you let it, ment he most remembered, he was quick to men- then you won’t get anywhere. … If I felt like I didn’t tion the cookbook. fit in, then I wouldn’t want to come to school, or “At school, I didn’t see any kind of representa- maybe I would hate my classes, I wouldn’t do the tion [of my culture],” he says. No one dressed like work. But somehow, I got along. There were some his mother had in the drc, no one cooked stews like teachers and we talked sometimes. Those conversa- his aunt. “You feel like there’s not space for [your tions gave me a little more confidence. Even though culture].” As Robert explains, the cookbook pro- I felt different, I still felt like some people knew me.” vided an opportunity to share and be seen. “Some- I was honored to be one of those teachers who body is learning about your culture. They want to got to learn with and from Robert. I grew to know Grad. know more. It makes you feel like your culture con- him over conversations in class, but also in the in- tributes something to a larger community.” between times. Robert often came early or stayed Refugee children work hard to mold themselves late, our conversations ranging over the political, to new cultures, contort their mouths around new the historical, and sometimes just the everyday. languages, adopt new mannerisms. But too often Dryden-Peterson says that schools can help ref- that comes at a high price — the feeling that belong- ugee students regain belonging by serving as spac- ing can only be gained by letting go of who they es where teachers can listen and build connections. once were. Schools signal to refugee students they Impact lies, she says, in “the ways in which teachers belong when they create ways to acknowledge and are able to interact with kids that show that they honor the histories and traditions of newcomers in actively want to understand what the child’s expe- classrooms and curriculum. rience has been, who they are, what their hopes are, and what they’re bringing to the classroom.” For 5. Give students the language to understand their this, teachers and students need time and space to past and imagine a future. In Robert’s senior year, build these authentic relationships. he took a course on the literature of the Holocaust. To make sense of learning, and also to make He pored over the graphic novel Maus and was cap- sense of their journey, refugee children (indeed, 42 tivated by Christian Picciolini’s TED Talk describ- all children) need guides. They need teachers who 43 ing his descent into the Neo-Nazi movement. For they can ask hard questions of, who, as Dryden- Robert, the stories and recollections were painfully Peterson describes, “can help them grapple with “ I would tell you all to go out palpable. Robert’s family had been murdered by a understanding the inequalities they have experi- and create your own non- neighboring tribe, as part of an ethnic conflict that enced.” And who can support them in fashioning profits or NGOs. That’s what mirrors, in many ways, the horrific violence of the their futures. I’m doing. I’ve seen it and 1994 Rwandan genocide. I’ve done it, having been Seven thousand miles from home, Robert was here as a student and as gaining the language to begin to understand his last spring robert graduated from high school. an administrator. I was just own life’s story. His unfathomable discipline and resilience earned “I had faced terrible experiences of losing peo - him a place at an elite New England university. PDF RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS, gobbling up tools, know- FROM THE REACH HOMEPAGE: ple, of oppression, of terror,” he says. “But in study- When I come to visit campus, he shows me around ledge, excellence, always ing other people who had been through such ter- confidently. I hear his excitement when he talks KOSOV@: YOUR STORY thinking about how am I A PLAY ABOUT THE EXPERIENCES OF going to apply this in the rible things, I realized that these things didn’t only about his classes, the soccer team he’s joined, the AN ETHNICALLY ALBANIAN YOUNG GIRL happen to me.” fraternity he is considering rushing. But perhaps DURING THE KOSOVO WAR IN 1999. community? How am I going As Dryden-Peterson describes, often refugee what makes me smile most is that when we walk FOR AGES 10–14. to connect theory and prac- students are not given the skills to make sense of across campus, every two minutes it seems, some- LEARNING IN MANY WORLDS: MO- tice? When I was here and the conflict or oppression that drove them from one stops Robert to say hi. MOLU’S JOURNEY FROM LIBERIA TO decided to leave an admin- NEW YORK CITY home. They study the history of their host or new Laughing, I point out how popular he has be- A NONFICTION STORY, BASED ON THE istrative position, col- country, but those curriculums rarely provide the come. He smiles. EXPERIENCES OF A YOUNG BOY FROM A leagues thought I was VILLAGE IN LIBERIA. FOR AGES 14–18. tools needed to understand why they have experi- “I thought it would always be hard for me to crazy. ... This institution enced inequality and exclusion. Without the skills make connections with American people,” he says, HOW ANIS TOLD HIS STORY was getting the best of me “but here in college, they want to know you, they A SHORT STORY AND NARRATED VIDEO to process their past, it is hard to build a future. ABOUT THE EXPERIENCES OF A YOUNG and I thought, don’t Native care about you, they think you are great, and that BOY IN THE WEST BANK WHO FOUND students deserve the best empowers me.” SOLACE IN MUSIC. FOR AGES 5–9. 6. Create opportunities and space for student- of who I am?” teacher connections. This past fall, four years after CONTINUING LEARNING AND COMMU- Robert landed in the United States, I had the op- NITY DURING CLOSURES CARMEN LOPEZ, ED.M.’00, EXECUTIVE JESSICA LANDER, ED.M.’15, IS A HIGH SCHOOL IN LIGHT OF COVID-19, A COLLECTION DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE HORIZONS portunity to ask him about those first months of TEACHER IN THE BOSTON AREA. SHE IS ALSO A REGU- OF PAST CASES OF SCHOOL CLOSURES AND WINNER OF THE 2020 AOCC ALUMNI school, those months where he felt he didn’t be- LAR CONTRIBUTOR TO THE BOSTON GLOBE, USABLE AND LESSONS LEARNED. ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, SPEAKING KNOWLEDGE, AND ED. SHE IS CURRENTLY ON SABBATICAL ON HIGHER EDUCATION IN INDIGENOUS long. He stared for long moments into empty space RESEARCHING AND WRITING A BOOK ABOUT IMMIGRANT FIND THESE RESOURCES AND MORE: COMMUNITIES DURING A PANEL before answering, his response thoughtful. EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. REACH.GSE.HARVARD.EDU/ED DISCUSSION AT THE AOCC CONFERENCE
Illustration by Mercedes deBellard
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IN MEMORY 1964 1979 Alumni Council Award for , is the , blogs for 1940–1949 Elizabeth Edgerly, M.A.T. Ronald Kronish, Ed.D. Outstanding Contribution author of My Mother Went to Jail to The Times of Israel, which can be NANCY BECK, M.A.T.’49 Win the Vote: Diary of the Daughter accessed on his website, along to Education of a Militant Suffragist, available in with information about his books, 1950–1959 2020 Recipient: Johan Uvin, Ed.M.’99, Ed.D.’03 ROGER BARTINDALE, ED.M.’51 digital and paperback. lectures, and programs about inter- PETER MERENDA, C.A.S.’51 religious dialogue, education, and STORY BY STEVE RAGNO ROBERT DEMAINE, M.A.T.’52 action in the context of peacebuild- 1973 SARA GOODMAN, ED.M.’52 ing. ronkronish.com ALICE CASEY, ED.M.’53 This year, JOHAN UVIN received the Ed School’s annual Alumni Council Award Rozelia LaFayette Kennedy, Ed.M., JOHN HERZOG, M.A.T.’53 for Outstanding Contribution to Education. Uvin is currently president of the received her Ph.D. in 2018 from the HILDA STEVENSON, GSE’53 1980 Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL), a nonprofit based in Washington, JOYCE WAGNER, M.A.T.’53 University of South Florida in Tampa, D.C., that equips diverse leaders with the skills to close opportunity gaps DAVID HUNTINGTON, ED.M.’54 in curriculum and instruction. Her Brenda Kinsler, Ed.M., in collabora- in education and workforce development in the highest-need communities. WILLIAM KELLOGG, ED.M.’54 dissertation focused on her brother, tion with Cynthia White and Charles Prior to joining IEL, Uvin served in the U.S. Department of Education during LUCIA SUTTON, M.A.T.’54 Bernard LaFayette Jr., Ed.M.’71, Smith, published From Whence the Obama administration as the acting assistant secretary for the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, as well as acting director of its PHILIP CROTTY JR., M.A.T.’55 Ed.D.’74, an adult educator. She is We Came: A History of the African WENDE HARPER, ED.M.’55 policy research and evaluation services division. Uvin co-chaired the Inter- currently the project director of HA! American Kinslers in 2019. JACOB NEEDLE, M.A.T.’55 agency Forum on Disconnected Youth, a multi-agency federal collaboration Healthy and Agile, a free training MARGARET SMITH, M.A.T.’56 to improve the learning and employment outcomes of our nation’s most vul- center for educators, based in San nerable young people. Leveraging the power of cross-sector strategic part- MARILYN YALOM, M.A.T.’56 1985 FREDERICA DIMMICK, M.A.T.’57 Antonio, Florida. nerships, Uvin also coordinated efforts to implement President Obama’s BRUCE HUNT, M.A.T.’57 Juan Guillermo Feliciano-Valera, memorandum on job-driven training. Additionally, he led the innovative Pay PHILIP MCCURDY, M.A.T.’57 Samuel Meisels, Ed.M.’69, Ed.D., Ed.M.’75, Ed.D., became a board for Success program, which only awards funding to private sector partners who achieve measurably successful outcomes for students. Uvin became JOHN ANDERSON, M.A.T.’58 received the Simms/Mann Insti- of trustee member of Interameri- ALLAN HARTMAN, M.A.T.’54, an American citizen after coming to the United States from the Netherlands C.A.S.’57, ED.D.’58 tute Whole Child Award for Vision- can University, serving as chair of to pursue graduate education. As a public servant, he served on the Do- JANE ORANS, ED.M.’58 ary Leadership last October at the the academic and students affairs mestic Policy Council’s New Americans Citizenship and Integration Initiative REDMOND FINNEY, ED.M.’59 Simms/Mann Institute Think Tank committee. A retired minister, he is and the White House Task Force on New Americans to welcome and support 44 BENEDICT MAZZA, M.A.T.’59 and Whole Child Award ceremony also vice chair of the religious life naturalized citizens. For his many notable contributions to our nation, Uvin N. LOUISE MCCLENATHAN, in Los Angeles. He is the founding committee. was a recipient of the 2016 Outstanding American by Choice Award given ED.M.’59 by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. director of the Buffett Early Child- 1960–1969 hood Institute at the University of 1986 STEVE RAGNO IS THE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF PATRICK FOLEY JR., ED.M.’60 Nebraska. ALUMNI RELATIONS AND ANNUAL GIVING HELEN ARMSTRONG, M.A.T.’61 Vicki Jacobs, C.A.S.’80, Ed.D., re- HENRY FOWLER, M.A.T.’61 tired last August from her adminis- 1975 GERALD HARDCASTLE, ED.M.’61 trative work at the Ed School (most CAROLE HUXLEY, M.A.T.’61 Stephen Hamilton, M.A.T.’69, Ed.D., recently, as faculty director of the LEWIS KNIGHT, M.A.T.’61 published Career Pathways for All Specialized Studies Program, the ROBERT LEWIS, M.A.T.’61 Youth: Lessons from the School- Teacher Education Program, and What is the Alumni Council Award? JOSEPH SATERIALE, ED.M.’61 CAROLE FERENCE, M.A.T.’62 to-Work Movement (see page 19) the Field Experience Program), but HGSE’s Alumni Council Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education JOSEPH MASSIMO, ED.M.’57, in February with Harvard Education continues to teach as she works began in 1985 to recognize alumni who have made a significant impact in ED.D.’62 Press. Hamilton retired from Cornell toward full retirement. the field of education. Potential awardees are nominated by other alumni of the school, and the Ed School’s Alumni Council selects one recipient each SHEILA ARONS, M.A.T.’63 University in 2015 and currently lives EVELYN MCKENNEY, ED.M.’63 year. Typically, the awardee is presented with the award at the school’s an- in San Diego where he is participat- NINA SEGRE, M.A.T.’63 1987 nual Convocation ceremony. This year, the award was done virtually. ing in an Urban Institute project to KARMA SMITH, M.A.T.’63 STEFANIE SULLIVAN, M.A.T.’63 promote youth apprenticeship. William Haddad, Ed.M., left the How do I nominate someone for the award? JUDITH AUSTIN, M.A.T.’64 Defense Intelligence Agency where Submit a nomination at gse.harvard.edu/alumni/council/nomination. MARK SMITH, M.A.T.’64 Alan Woodruff, Ed.D., recently pub- he was working in the applicant Congratulations SUZANNE SOPPET, ED.M.’64 lished the sixth novel in his Lucius screening and security clearance Class of 2020! What is the Alumni Council? RAYMOND THIBAULT, M.A.T.’64 White legal thriller series. branch. He is now at the Providence The HGSE Alumni Council is a dedicated group of volunteers who work to THOMAS BECHTEL, ED.M.’65 You are in our hearts as we (remotely) VA Medical Center. strengthen the school’s alumni community and engage alumni with each JILL BECKER, M.A.T.’65 celebrate your hard work! Full Commencement coverage: gse. other and back to the Ed School. They attend two meetings on campus VINSON BRONSON, ED.M.’65 1977 annually, and they host events, are active on social media, and work on RONALD DUTTON, M.A.T.’56, harvard.edu/commencement. 1988 projects to advance alumni engagement at the school. ED.D.’65 P. Sinikka Sahi, Ed.M., finished her SUSAN FARGO, M.A.T.’65 Ph.D. in education in the spring of Fernando Reimers, Ed.M.’84, Ed.D., How can I get involved? ALFRED LAZZERI. ED.M.’65 2019 from the University of Helsinki. was named to the UNESCO Com- CHARLES SMITH JR., C.A.S.’65 In the spring, the school opens applications for alumni to join the Alumni Sahi’s dissertation focuses on virtual mission on the Futures of Educa- RHODA BARUCH, ED.M.’60, ED.D.’66 Council. Want to get involved before then? Engage on social media, keep us SHEILA DEITCHMAN, ED.M.’66 mentoring of student teachers using tion. The commission will prepare updated with your news and story ideas, and consider becoming an Alumni virtual simulation. a report on global education Advocate. Go to gse.harvard.edu/hgse100/alumni for details.
Photograph by Jill Anderson
HED13-BOB-Grad.indd 44 4/30/20 1:53 PM HED13-BOB-Grad.indd 45 4/30/20 1:53 PM HED13-BOB-Grad.indd 46 46 Grad. ED.D.’01 GUIOMAR GARCIA, ED.M.’96, 2000–2010 ED.M.’91, ED.D.’99 JACQUELINE COSSENTINO, LISA FADEN, ED.M.’96 KRIESTA WATSON, ED.M.’95 C.A.S.’95 NOEL IGNATIEV, ED.M.’85, ED.M.’87, ED.D.’94 NANCY CLARK-CHIARELLI, ROBERT FAIRBANKS, ED.M.’93 ED.M.’93 BRECKEN CHINN-SWARTZ, NANCY GOLDMAN, ED.M.’91 1990–1999 RAUL ED.M.’81, RUIZ, ED.D.’88 ALEXANDER DREIER, ED.M.’86 KARIN FROOM, ED.M.’84 MELINDA WALSH, ED.M.’83 CONSTANCE TURNER, ED.M.’83 C.A.S.’77, ED.D.’83 BETTY BARDIGE, M.A.T.’72, GENEVIEVE WYNER, ED.M.’82 BETSY PARSONS, C.A.S.’82 1980–1989 DEBABRATA SEN, ED.D.’79 MARCIA CHELLIS KAY, ED.M.’79 RUTH BLACK, ED.D.’79 LEWIS GREENLY, ED.M.’78 MAUREEN JACKSON, ED.M.’77 ED.D.’76 MARY-JANE YURCHAK, ED.M.’59, ROBERTA SACKS, ED.M.’76 ROCHELLE LURIE, ED.M.’76 PAUL LING, ED.M.’75 EVA TRAVERS, M.A.T.’66, ED.D.’73 JUDITH CUSICK, ED.M.’73 FRANCES BARNARD, GSE’73 RICHARD SOVDE, ED.D.’71 C.A.S.’71 RICHARD SEDERSTROM, ED.D.’70 CHARLES YEAGER, ED.M.’67, MICHAEL NAROSNY, M.A.T.’70 ED.D.’70 EDWARD ESTY II, ED.M.’62, JOHN DUNN JR., ED.M.’70 1970–1979 MARTHA GORDON, M.A.T.’69 DOROTHY BARNHOUSE, ED.M.’69 FRANCIS AMORY III, M.A.T.’69 C.A.S.’61, ED.D.’68 EDWARD YAGLOU, M.A.T.’57, DAVID NAPIOR, GSE’68 JOANNE DAVIS, ED.M.’68 CYNTHIA COOK, M.A.T.’68 LAURA AVERY, ED.M.’67 EDWARD WHALEN, ED.M.’66 ANNE MEYER, ED.M.’66 started working with second-, in the southwest. He alsorecently students of Native American tribes enrolled university andhighschool offers scholarships to outstanding American Foundation, which director of the Southwest Native- Brian Buckley, Ed.M., isexecutive 1998 attainment levels. student enrollment andimprove to increase nontraditional college working with national foundations universities in the state.Sheisalso college atallpubliccollegesand to provide tuition- and fee-free She isspearheadinganinitiative Michelle LujanGrishamin2019. cation inNew Mexico by Governor appointed secretary of higher edu- Kate O’Neill, Ed.M.’90, Ed.D., was sociation Executives. from the American Society of As- of the Academy of Leaders Award 2019 became the 32ndrecipient Jeff DeCagna,Ed.M., in August 1997 psychology atRye HighSchool. government andpolitics AP New York. Warner teaches AP U.S. the Rye City SchoolDistrictinRye, one of two teachers of the year in Kristen Warner, Ed.M., was named 1995 University inMilwaukee. gaged Learning atCardinal Stritch Innovation andCommunity En- executive director of the Hub for mational Leadership. Gesner is Discovering the Core of Transfor- thored Your Life is Your Message: Mark Gesner, Ed.M., recently coau- 1993 Program at the Ed School. the InternationalEducation Policy imers iscurrently faculty director of in a rapidly changing world. Re- education systems shouldpursue imperatives andon the purposes 4/30/20 1:53 PM
CREDITELIO PAJARES HERE RUIZ; KAVEH SARDARI; JILL ANDERSON HED13-BOB-Grad.indd 47 and Bridget Long; Professor Marty West; held. The D.C. event (an extension of Appian Way) includedDean Centennial event for alumniin the Washington, D.C.area was as a party for the community. A monthlater, onFebruary 20,a a seriesof paneldiscussionson the future of education,as well campus to celebrate the school’s Centennial. The event included foremost, on January 20, the schoolhosteda kickoff event on virtual, Appian Way was a busy place for the community. Firstand Before the coronavirus closedcampusand turned learning number registered: 700! of color ineducation. This year’s conference had the highest together to discussandhonor the work andleadershipof people years of bringing the Ed Schoolcommunity andother educators organized Alumniof Color Conference was held,celebrating 18 thankfully, before allour lives changed, the annualstudent- 2020: BEFORE ZOOM Summer 2020 SCOTT SARGRAD, ED.M.’08 . And at the endof February, LINDSAY FRYER, ED.M.’08 ; 4/30/20 1:54 PM 47 Grad.
third-, and fourth-graders at Puente Navigating, and Challenging Racial 2013 de Hozho Puente de Hózhó elemen- Injustice with Harvard Education tary school in Flagstaff, Arizona. Press. The book draws from the au- Almi Abeyta, Ed.M.’09, Ed.D., thors’ four-year study involving more became the superintendent of than 300 youth. Chelsea Public Schools in Massa- 2001 chusetts in August 2019. Billie Gastic Rosado, Ed.M., was Michael Stepniak, Ed.D., published named associate dean of applied Beyond the Conservatory Model: Cecilia Zhang, Ed.M., married Ben- liberal arts, languages, and post- Reimagining Classical Music Perfor- jamin Bathgate Talbot on October traditional undergraduate studies in mance Training in Higher Education 26, 2019. The reception was held at 2016 at the NYU School of Profes- last fall with Peter Sirotin, concert- the Atlanta High Museum of Art. sional Studies. master of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. Stepniak is dean and 2014 professor of music as Shenandoah 2004 Conservatory at Shenandoah Univer- Ryan Stewart, Ed.L.D., was named Rebecca Blouwolff, Ed.D., was sity in Virginia. secretary of education for the State named national language teacher of of New Mexico this past August. the year by the American Council on Prior, he was a regional executive 2008 the Teaching of Foreign Languages director for Partners in School In- in November. She wrote of the Scott Seider, Ed.M.’04, Ed.D., and novation, a national nonprofit that honor, “I plan to use my platform Daren Graves, Ed.M.’00, Ed.D.’06, helps low-income students of color, to promote respect for multilingual recently published Schooling for and taught algebra and science in people in America.” Critical Consciousness: Engaging California and Philadelphia. 2020: CENTENNIAL READING Black and Latinx Youth in Analyzing, Before COVID-19, before everything got turned upside down, Jeffrey Garrett, Ed.M., cohosts a Navigating, and Challenging Racial 2017 Ed. magazine captured some of our favorite readers checking podcast called All of the Above with Injustice with Harvard Education out the special issue we published in January focused on the Manuel Rustin, Ed.M. Now in its Press. The book draws from the au- Annice Enyonam-Kwawu Fisher, school’s Centennial. They include (clockwise, starting at the top 48 third season, the podcast explores thors’ four-year study involving more Ed.L.D., received the Iowa State right corner): ANN (EARLY) CLYDE, ED.M.’83; 10-year old Ed M. issues in education with educators than 300 youth. University Outstanding Young from Ohio, reading “his” magazine cover to cover — something and noneducators. When not in the Alumni Award last fall. The award his grandmother, Tammy, says he does with every issue. Ed even studio, Garrett is senior director recognizes Iowa State alumni age brings Ed. to school to share with classmates; Dinesh Thapa, the 2009 of leadership development for the 40 and under who have excelled face of HGSE; XIAODONG YUE, ED.M.’88, ED.D.’93, during his visit Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. Anne Jones, Ed.M.’98, Ed.D., co- in their professions and provided to campus in March from Hong Kong; EVELYN CHURCH HATFIELD, Rustin is a social science teacher at founded District C, a North Carolina- service to their communities. She ED.M.’42, our oldest living alum; and MIDHAT AQEEL, ED.M.’13, John Muir High School Early College based nonprofit that offers training is a founding member of BEE FREE and her daughter, Sumaiyyah. Magnet in Pasadena, California. to high school students in solving Woman, a coaching service for real-life problems. Prior, Jones was women to overturn fixed mindsets. Christine Power, Ed.M., was named a middle school science teacher, a director of instruction and innova- consultant for the Data Wise project, 2019 tion for Medfield (Massachusetts) and chief program officer at the non- Public Schools this past fall. Prior, profit, Project Lead the Way. Tracy Edwards, Ed.M., was chosen she was a social studies teacher at by the Knowles Teacher Initiative Medfield High School since 1997. as a member of its 2019 cohort of 2010 teaching fellows. Fellows are prom- Matt Underwood, Ed.M., became Magda (Wierzbicka) Joshi, Ed.M., ising high school math and science the executive director of innovation recently joined United World Col- teachers just beginning their ca- for Atlanta Public Schools in January lege of the Atlantic, her alma mater, reers. Edwards teaches at Hillsboro 2019. Prior, he served for 12 years in London, as events and alumni High School in Nashville. as the executive director of the At- engagement manager. lanta Neighborhood Charter School. 2020 Chris San Antonio, Ed.M., is a research project manager for STEM Todd Stewart, Ed.L.D., became 2006 curriculum development through the superintendent of the Ashburnham- Daren Graves, Ed.M.’00, Ed.D., Boston Science Museum. He and his Westminister Regional School Dis- and Scott Seider, Ed.M.’04, Ed.D., team created online curriculum and trict in Massachusetts in December recently published Schooling for STEM activities for families to use 2019. Prior, he was a superinten- Critical Consciousness: Engaging during the coronavirus crisis. dent fellow in Worcester, a social Black and Latinx Youth in Analyzing, studies teacher, and a principal.
HED13-BOB-Grad.indd 48 4/30/20 1:54 PM HED13-BOB-Grad.indd 3 4/30/20 1:54 PM HARVARD ED. SUMMER 2020 4/30/20 12:36 PM Nonprofit Organization Nonprofit PAID Postage U.S. VT Burlington, 19 No. Permit
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ON MARCH 25, WITH THE CAMPUS SHUT DOWN AND STUDENTS JUST JUST STUDENTS AND DOWN SHUT CAMPUS THE WITH 25, MARCH ON
7,800 BACK FROM SPRING BREAK, HARVARD HOSTED 7,800 CLASSES ON ZOOM, ZOOM, ON CLASSES 7,800 HOSTED HARVARD BREAK, SPRING FROM BACK NEARLY WITH HED13-FOB-Cover.indd 4