St., · questions: What does the unique-ness Of the rural setting mean for;c1looiling? (Is there a rural cur-.riculVm, alf, rural 'style of teaching,,rural _style- of learning?) What

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Keeney, Lorraine, Ed.; Devaney, Kathleen, Ed.Four Workparties Focus'on-Rural Education.Far West Lab. for Educational Iesearch andDevelopment,: San Francisco, Calif. Teachers'

---Eachange._Nattonal_Inst4_of_Education (ED), Washington,Jan 82'400-80-010329p. .

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Educational Research and Development, 1855 FolsomSt., San Francisco, CA 94103.

JOURNAL CITE Transcripts and Commentaries; n3 Jan 1982

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DESCRIPTORS 1 Administrator Role; ComMunity Characte istics;itleaeintary Secondary Education; Faculty obility;Human Resources; *Inservice Teacher Educat n;Ob ervational Learning; Relevance (Education *Rural,

Ed cation;.*School Community Relationship; Special,Education; *Student Teacher Relationship;,

Superintendents; Teacher Administrator Relationship;*Teacher Centers; Teacher Characteristics; *TeacherWorkshops "

ABSTRACT 1

Articles in this document are edited frok talks anddiscussions that-took_place at the 1979, 1980, and 1981 Workparties(four-day retreat/conferences) sponsored fof rural educators by theTeachers'-Centers Exchange. Workparties were held in collaborationwith NOuntain Towns' Teacher Center, Wilmington, Vermont (1978),Washington)West Resource Center, Waitsfitld, Vermont (1979), WesternNebraska (Sidney) Rural Teacher Cent,..: (1980), and Texarkana(Arkansas) Teacher Center (1981). The 1979%panel discussion, "Don'tTry to 'Deliver' Rural Education," addresses the unique values of therural community and the hole of teachers' centers in promoting those

s. /te 1980 panel discussion, "If You Work in Rural Schools,You're Working with the Rural Community," focuses on the advantagesand disadvantages of rural schooling. "Where Quiet Voices Can BeHeard" reflects a teacher's experiences with special educationclasses and with teachers' centers. "New Options for Rural HighSchools* describel possible uses of the rural school environment asthe basis for curriculum and ways teacher centers might advance thoseideas. "How a Rural Superintendent CatOielp Start a Teachers' Center"describes the building of the canter in.,Cortland, New York. "Touching,Inward Springs" offers suggestions for incorporating the experiencesof rural-youngsters and community members, into the curriculum.(CM) .

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CI TRANSCRIPTS AND COMMENTARIEScs

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ETO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."

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Four Workparties focus/ /on Rural- Education

/'The .School of Education at-4.rn*ajor public

university in the West is hoUsWin an immense,,severely modern' office buildiig.with beetlingbrows. Acioss a green -lawle'Stands an olderand smaller building of!.engitiing lightness andgracioUsness, decorated ;With pink frescoes oftwining vi;nes, '-flowers; J.and- cornucopias, andalso with sculpted medallions of farm prod-ucts--pig;horse, Sheep, beehiVe, grapes, sheafof Across the .whole 'front of this old-er building, unc*,,:the eaves, are bas-reliefheads of cows with_garlandeiround their_Aecks,and carved under :the noble bovines AS themotto, "To Rescue for Human Society the NativeValues-ofIbiral Life."

Neglect. of those values has produced .

__buildings like the Iformer, whose stern andsterile-visage suggets the difficulties thatlie within,* ill:enterprises that' attempt toprepare teachers and administrators for theirwork-in ,bureaucratic schools, that generate-and transmit' .educational theory, that .confront

the protImmsof schooling with the tools of,academia -- statistics and scholarly papers. Thtdiscouragement the* institutions like this nowconvey suggests further that perhaps confidence.in "native,values" is not ,so naiveias we havethought and that perhaps we should set erudi-tion aside for a bit and inquire whether someof "..the native values of rural lime. mighthelpus*.tOtrescue schooling. True, =we cannot., goback and recreate the era When the .Older hellWas. t;uilt. But we can acknowledge and,appre-ciate its strengths and benefits and in thename-of..economy and aesthetics' determine topreserver and rehabilitate it--not as a charm-ing relic or a museum but as an abidingly func-:_=

structure for people today.

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TIC riariKriPtS d Comnient aries

,- In the same way, we can-recognize, appre-ciate, and renovate- -all in the spirit ,of, pre-serving and using original values andstrengttls-rthe ,rural schools that remain 'inAmerica today. This is the loufpose of thoseteachers! centers located in ruial areas and/or serving rural -teachers. This has-been thetheMe of the fox,.,..IF..,,aniti.oripcartieshe each-ere' Centers Exchange has sponiov-ed for the ed-sucatorsjinked in -a network focusing on ruralinterests. These ,Workparties--small four-dayretreat/conferenceshave been held in collab-orPtiori with Mountain Towns'- .Teacher Center,Wiliiington, VT (1978), Washington WestResourceCentel, Waitsfield, Vt (1979); Western Nebras-ka Rural-teacher Center in. Sidney:(1980), andTexarkana (AR). Teacher Center (1981),". theteachers': center "directors who' vorkedl withLbrraini Keeney of the. ExChange. staff to" planand-conduct these WotkParties'were Anne Matt,Wade Scherer, Marge Curtiss, and Mary,Hamilton.'The articles in, this third IssSe of Transcripts& Commentaries are edited Opm:talkscuisions-that took place at the 1079,1980,4nd

- 1981 workparties. Your commentaries in re-

.1...

sponse are invited.

If you would like extra copies of this is -sue'of T & C 3, write Jean Sims at our ofiicein` San Francisco4 We will swal up 6 35scopiesfree.

CONTENTS

Don't Try to "Deliver" RuralEducation (Vermont Work-Party, 1979)'. 3

Where Quiet Voices Can BeHeard (by Peter H. Mar-tin) 000000000 6

Working for the Rural Com-munity (Nebraska Workparty,1980)' 11

New Options for Rural High.-

Schools (by Paul Nachtigal) . .16

Rural Superintendent Helps aCenter (by John M. Wheeler) . .21

Touching*Inward Springs(by Kathleen Devaney) . . . .24

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terc-Transciipts Ci`Commentaries'

DON'T TRY TO "DELIVER" RURAL EDUCATION;HELP IT TO SURFACE FROM THE COMMUNITY

. .(In August 1979 at Waitsfield,

VT, Lorraine Keeney asked threeengage with thre

. questions: What does the unique-ness Of the rural setting mean for;c1looiling? (Is there a rural cur-.riculVm, alf, rural 'style of teaching,

,rural _style- of learning?) Whatpr9gramq do rural- teachers needfrom a teachers' center and howdoes a center- provide' -them? lowdoes . the rural center . build- ,astrong relationship, with the com-

'mdnity? The panelists were CeliaHoughton, director' of the GoddardTeachers' Center, Plainfield, VT,who grew up in a rural village inEngland;. Karen Fraley, a field a-gent' for the SoutheaA Idaho Teach-er Center Consortium; and Tom Gjel-ten, who had taught in rural Maine,worked with teachers in Alaska and\was at the time on the staff of, theNational Rural Center in Washing--_ton, D.C.]

Celia: I questiOn whether a City'person really can understand howthings bappen 'in .".a vikry rural area.

'It seems that children must seethings in cycles. in a very littlewhile, as you have probably no--ticed, the leaves here in Vermontwill change and this place ,Will bea fire, a' spectacular place. Arid

then will come the white, and thenwill come the mud, and then willcome the 'rebirth, and .it is very.visible and very dramatic. It just:seems to me that children, particu-larly -in farm areas, ..see the cy-cles. Nat being 'a city person, Iwonder- what the difference isthere. When I lived- in New York,I felt that there. was a Jot ofstimulation but many fragmentedperiences that didn't hang togetheras a sort of cycle. I was explor-ing it as a kind of fault. Whatthen is appropriate, -what. ,is realteaching in rural schoold? What is

4

real curriculum, .what should you,actually hope to be .doing that will.laze note whitchildren already know because ofbeing in a rural area? This isn'tanything that I have any answersfor, just something that I findrather interesting-.

Tom: I taught in a very' smallschool in an- isolated community. Ihad come to that school originally-.because, like a number of the teachers there; I. wanted to, work in:mall community-oriented ich 1.The school administrators' did, notappear tot, have chqsen their jobs,for similar reasons. I was the:School five years and we , had fivedifferent superintendents. Eachcame with their own idea of .goodeducation, of what a school systemought to-' do. These premises werefashioned by their experience- in avariety of schools. We' had a con-stant battle with the superinten-dents over whether the professionalnotions of good education that'theyhad were necessarily appropriate inour .school.

Here we were eighty kids andseven teachers in_an isolated com-munity, and we couldn't switchtextbooks every few years like big.-city- schoCls, we couldn't have,highly specialized teachers, wecouldn't havd laboratory facili-ties and instructional support e-quipment and materiials, And be-,sided, we just felt that what the.kids in. North Haven needed to learn

was different frOm what the-kids inurban and suburban schools neededto learn. On the one hand, theyhad experiences,' very rich experi-ences, which kids from another en-vironment had not had, and we feltthat what went on in the schoolshould build on the strength thatthose kids had as a result of theirOwn unique experiences. And, on

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,tta`CTranscripts 91 Commentaries

\the,other hand,' there were gaps intheir' experiences which"*didn't esrbit for othefliids, and lo the ed-uCational programs needed to ad-

.

dress-thosekgaps. So a lot of Whatwe, tried to do 'on thattiny islandwas to come up with some of our ownapproaches.,

As far as whether rural.,chil-dren learn differently, there aresome cautions :that

111feel.

worked-qUite a bit 'in Appalachialast fall, and there is an attitudeor the part'of teachers in the ler-fox consolidated. schools that thekids coming in from the mountainsare mentallyiMpaired. Basically,there is this attitude that thehillbilly children's, minds' are insome way not quite as well devel-oped as those of the city-children.

It was just a matter of the kidshaving different experiences, but.teachers were saying they don'tlearn as well. I strongly- rejectthat view.

Celia: I think that learning hap-pens by connectinga new experiencewith,a previous experience. Thechild's own statement about himselfcomes out of his own experience. ,Ap; determined' curriculum, a pre -

scribed curriculum that doesn'ttake'into account the richness ofthose experiences and that under-values some of the great strengthsin rural. living makes children ap-pear slow, because people are try-ing to teach theM lomething thatdoesn't match with children's ownexperiences. I wouldn't" want tosay at all that rural childrenlearn differently; only'that 'chil-dren learn by connecting new in-"formation with what their-previousexperien9es are. , We mess, them upby trying to teach them- somethingthat doesn't match and-by not look-ing at what the child is focusingon. :

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Karen: All of Idaho is ,rural. I

see certain advantages to being ru-ral. There 'is strength in a strengfamily base. The communities are

-4 homogeneous and close-knit. We

have a fairly low student-teacherratfo'in most of those small towns,sli;,:tge teachers tend to get fairly----.close to the student. 'On the otherhand, materials are not, in abun-dance;dance; recruiting te.chers is aproblem; some are teaching in theirminor field or out of-fields theymay haVe'to'prepare for'five

,

ferent courses because they' areeverything to everybody.4 A majorproblem is teacher isolation:-They receive little help. We had-three university towns and that's, where all the inserVice happened.People from tiny little areas wereexpected to go and stuff themselvesinto a program SO they 1.1Nre beenvery clad to see someone- from ourcenter\. When they find .out thatthey might actually have' a perdon-come to their district and provideworkshops or a course 'or whateverit is that they want, that's mean-ingful.'

Tom: At the National Rural Centercolleagues and -I have been talking about the diffOrence between

'-the problems and approach in ruralhealth and in rural education. Theproblem of rural health becomes, howdo you get doctors and, nurses and

-- medicine to rural- people? It'svery much adelivery'issue. Goodhealth doesn't mean one thing inan isolatedicommunity and somethingquite different, in a- large urbancommunity. Health is . health.'There is a danger in looking ateducation the same way, viewing,ed-ucation as a set of skills and a

, body of knowledge. Those who" vieweducation as "delivery" see themain problem facing us in rural ed-ucation.as how to deliver, skillsand knowledge to rural children.But what we are-saying is that, tobe well educated, rural people needsomething quite different from whatwell educated urban people need.And so the, whole delivery metaphor

isn't an appropriate one to uteinrural education. Instead we needto think about how you allow goodeducation to surface in rural-com-munities and iEiT7",ZYs that it'isdifferent from but equal to good.

5

T&C Transcripts if Conn.'" entaries

education 'in another place.

Karen: 'I agree. -Small communitieshave been made to feel like second-class citizens in terms of educa.4..tion. We used to take the big di-ty, Boise, and try to copy. whatthey were doing. With no resourc-es, rural schools were to make thesow's, ear into a silken purse. Andit rustrated rural communities.We have had a lot of students leaveIdaho in the past becatise we unknow-

- Ingly promoted the idea that ruralcoMmunities were behind the- times.When and2..41_ you_ -got wheels youwould leave and go where real life

Help them sect was.. A good many of us have endedwhat they've got up back in Idaho. We discoyered

that we had it at home. I" thinkthat it has been good for teachersin rural communities to realizethat they are offering somethingunique that is just as5good a qual-ity as in urban areas. ".

Celia: I. think that the greatest' need for the education of kids and

the continuing education of teach-, ers is to make it all more genuine-

ly personal, more real and moreau-thentic. In 'rural teachers!. cen-ters, every teacher counts . Youhave to somehow respond to the in-dividual needs of every teacher,including the need*of every teach-er to connect with \other teachers.The most crucial thing is helpingteachers Overdone the isolation,of small. schools, bad roads, badweather, and few resources. Andthis is,also true for the kids. Iwent-to a schot-,1 a while back way

I tip in the Northeast Kingdom andsaid, "In' what way can we be help-ful?" The teacher said, with ter-rific sincerity, "Bring the kids anew face, bring them.,a new idea.The winters are very long. Thereare only three of us, you know."I-think that it's nice for teachersto get something new and. fresh interms of materials doming in, 'but,the real thing is to help them seewhat they've got. It doesn't haveto be the glossy package about sub:-.ways in San Frandisdo, but whatthey've got, in the livfrly, natural

environment that ..they can build. awhole curriculum around.

I

Karen:. We're giving lops of empha-sis in our center on*.the resourcesthat we have., I am speaking-mostlyabout1people because we don't real-ly have much money for materials.,Our director recently tv4s at, a Ki-wenis meeting, and he abked peopleif they had a skill that might behelpful in the schools., They werevery enth ,iastio; they were quitepleased that someone would feel-they had dome expertise _tosharewith the schools. I feel the or-ganizations that I become .involvedin are those where people haveasked me to do something. There

people who can meet needs ofrural students because they them-selves are rural and they have cred-ibility. It's not a professor cor-ing in. This is someone_ who id inthe real world of that community.

Tom: I think that Karen's point isreally good.. I thin', there aresome notions that a:-.e associatedwith the teacheri' center movementthat are just simply, invpropriatein rural areas. How you help forma sense of community and mutual sup--

to mean a,support among

of

teachers. It's easy to forget thatthere already are very strong cm-munities in rural areas. I think

that what is essential for ruralteachers is not how-to form a Senseof community among each other , buthow to be brought into the coninituii-ty that already exists there. Andif the role of teachers' centers isto provide a kind of insulating, andmutually supportive place whereteachers can get together and beprofessional and thereby keep them-selves somewhat separated from theexperience of the community atlarge, then I think that teachers'centers face the danger. of doingmore harm than good: perhaps re-inTo,rcing an alienation betweenteachers and people in-the communi-ty. On the other hand, if thestaff and programming in teachers'cenrers helps rural teachers find

T$C Transcripts 81 Commentaries

uniquely rural answers to the ed-ucational problems in their schools

think they have a very,.use-ful'-role.

Inservice was very importantfor us' on North Haven Island; Wehad Casey Murrow come out :becausewe had seen his book Using our Com-munities (Community Studies Re-search Project, Box 156, Marlboro,VT 05344). .There is just nothingto compare it with for learning.how to gain some independence fromyour math textbook and use what's

-right around the school to be yourmath curriculum;- to get indePen-dence from the 'ipience laboratory,learn to use the woods and themeadows. And to gain independencefrom the social studies .textbook,

and learn to teach social studiesthroughttudent exchanges and fieldtrips. I think that teachers' cen-ters,can do a lot to assist `rural;teaches, in formulatingthose activities.

some

Celia: I think that is super, whatyou just said. If I don't get any /.thing else out of this Workparty,it's beenwOrth it. Tha creativelink that was quite vital' to me is,"Yeah, overcome the 4solation ofteachers by,, helping_ them in thatcommunity, and not only networking-isolated teachers to otherteaCh-ers." Making those connections issupportive and helpful, but the es-'senceof the thing, as you say, is.where' that teacher, is and wherethatbchool is.

WHERE QUIET VOICES CAN BE HEARDBy Peter H. Martin

_(This'is an edited verpion ofa talk reflecting on experiences inteaching and in teachers' centers',given the Rural Workparty 4Fort Robinson State Park, Nebraska,in June 1980. Peter Martin is'thefounder and director of ProjectRISE (Regional In-Service Educa-/tibn) in Colchester, Connecticut.RISE is an inservice center serv-ing teachers, administrators, sup-'port' staff, and parents in' 12'

schools within nine rural andsmall-town districts--Andover, Hoz-rah, Colchester, Franklin, Hebron,Lebanon, Marlborough,,RHAM, and Sa-,lem.f

I started out life ts'a youngbaby. I think that this is .quiteindigenous or unique, I should say,to rural areas beqause I did Workin the inner city also and foundthat babies there seem to come outabout 15 years 'old. In contrast,fthink rural kids start out young.I was born in Maine two days before

6, Christmas. My father was a teacher

(

anillIA.Pt

and later be6Vame superintendent ofthe school where I went to school.My mother was also a teacher, andin.my rebellious teenage years Iwas d6termined I was going. to

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

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TEIPC Transcripts . Commentaries

strike out on my own path; and Iwas not-going to ,be a teacher.But through a circuitous route I

did become one:

1-spent four years teaching atan institution, for profoundly, andseverelliretarded people, and-I fitinikether well. -This 'experienceformed a lot_of ideas and questionsthat- I still haven'tresolved:They had what they called the backWard break-in. .:This was to weedout the weak-Stomached and theweak-muscled.-, Iweighed; about 120at'the time and' lost nearly 18pounds in my first two, weeks ofwork, lifting people out of bassin-ettes--55 and 60- year -old ,people

'who weighed more than I ,did--tobathe them and so forth.

My proudest accomplishmentduring this time, was that I taughta 41-year-old how to feed himself;It took two months, two hours a

day.' And when you think ofit takes to.feed yourself, and all'the steps ih that process, you.re-alize it's very complicated for-someone who has no idea how to doit. So it took' a lot of time andpatience and a lot of resources-7my own and the state's. And I. be-gan to question after four years

,whether it was really worth thetime I put into it. And the moneyof the state. I wondered how manykids who were less severely retard-ed c ild be helped with the sameamount of effort. And so I grewdisbouraged about the work, and Iwanted to go try ,something new.

I went to college in the 60'sand t was ready to take over theworld, with my goodness and--you:-know what it was like--my enthusi-asm, so I went into the innerThey were begging for teachers, andI went into special ed. 'Moving tothe city was a shock to me--atural shock. I .grew up in a ruralarea where you could observe .a

bladelof grass growing: you'd no-tipe it because change was so slow,jand there were so few changes. But

7 in the city I got a wicked headache

8

4,

after half an hour walking down thestreet. I tried to figure out whyand I -realized' that in one half,dour in the city ten years of changetook place,, by my standards.:Change was everywhere and I'was,try-ing to absorb it all'and observeeverything the way. I did in theslower pace of ,a rural area.

I entered the -schoor-W erewas to teach, and it was an .oldschool and all the classropm doorswere closed. The piincipal wasgiving me a tour, but'the transomswere openthe windows over "thedoors. And in one room after in- ,

other I heard, "Sit down and .be',quiet or I'll whip your.bUtt." Andafter I heard about eight of those,I aaid, I'm not going to, be thatway. I'm)not going to be that kindof teacher. But after about a'week,I was yelling,. "Sit down'and . t"

It seemed unavoidable at the

I thought, my first ;Wags wagbrilliant. They were 'special edkids. The union had;won the rightto bug out the most difficuli.childfrom each school. That collection-of kids was my firtclass as-a he-,ginning teacher. But 1 did think'they were brilliant because, youremember, I took along time teach-ing someone how to feed himself.,Now, I opened up a book and askedone of the kids if there were any .

words that he could recognizeu andhe looked a little concerned, andI realized I'd given him somethingmuch too hard. 'Butehe did find theword "the" and he read it, and I.thought that was brilliant, and: Iwondered why he was in special ed.He was a sixth grader,- but my per-spective was all thrown ,of.

,

really did think these kidg were

very, very bright, and they thoughtI was strange because I was thefirst one ever to think' so, andyet they knew I was, genuine, andthey didnt know ,quite what tomake of it.

I think/the accomplishment

then that I was proudest of, in the

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T&C Transcripts Ft Commentaries

way of, .teaching academic - things,was teaching Craig' how to read.Craig was a sixth grader--the onewho read the word "the." But hecould read nothing else except hisname. He/ was very street wise--Idon't want, you to get'the impres-sion .that these kids were not. in-

,So I tried to figure

out how to teach him to read. Ihad -had---reading-eoureest--they-were-

. probably as gobd as most of youPerhaps.[ was had. I _discovered by accident

onthcwrongtrack that Craig was'the Picasso of the,bathrooms,, and upon discoyeringthis I went in to look at some ofhis work and found his detailquite convincing. I also noticedthat under each picture there wasusually a word, and I learned fromthat that. Craig' did knolet somewords, Arid his vocabulary consist-ed of four four-letter words. And Ithought this was a great beginningbecause when you take the wordd---, for example, or f---you cango a 'long. way and get ,a lot ofmileage out of' that with just.thevowel patterns. If that didn'twork, I realized that there wassome association he was makingthat was powerful enough to him toget through whatever learning dif-ficulty he had; So Craig and,Imade a pact, and I told him that Icould be fired for _teaching him,to read in the 6y that I,was goingto, but I said, "I think I can teachyou." So we would sneak away withour foul pictures into an unusedstairwell during breaks and whipout the vocabulary cards and thendash back to the classroom. By thetime his vocabulary had increased.to twelve 'words we were ready tomote away; from that and we wereable Co get back into teaching inthe regular way., By the end of theyear he was reading about a gradeand a .half ahead of where he hadbeen, which was nowhere.

8

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1

Louis was the rule' breaker:(He would find out,what the situa-'tion was and he would break,all therules. That was his mission inlife. But I learned something a-bout Louis when each'month it would4

be, one or two student's turn to helpme 'after school arrange-the class-iroom in the .way that. they ,wouldlike.- And Louis arranged all thedesks in rows. I had been trainedin open education, and my room wasuntraditional looking. My deskwas in a corner ofl,the roam, outof the way..04' used it for stackingmaterials. Louis asked me to help

-idarr-tuove--teir-d6W7-aTa-Wiriove;c1 Itdead center. 'Right' up in front.And'then he went to the blackboard,.took a pointer out of the chalktray, and he stood in front of theroomeand he passed me the pointerand said, "Now teach." And it mademe wonder if perhaps I was on thewrong track. That these kids. With-their home life so'unstable-neededstability. They needed 'structure.And part of that structure was con-,trolling the number of choicescording to the ability of the kids,,to handle _choice. / And that Was asubtle distinction that I hadn't'made. I had asSumed that Choice,was good, and that you were ihdilvidualizing when you gave kidschoice.

And 'one last - story about an-1other child, James. The districtwas trying to create "multiLin-structional.areas." They calledthem MIA's, and I called them "miss-ing-in-action" because .-that's Whathappened to many of the kids whocouldn't handle it. They knockedout the walls between classrOoms-without asking teachers if, theY:wanted to work together. James-came to my room only two hours aday. Later he wiped out in one ofthose classrooms, and then hestayed with me for the whole day.

James came down one Friday af-;ternoon, and he was excited. Hewas a fourth grader,. and he said,"My teacher has a surprise for us."

I said, "What is it?" "She won't.tell us till Monday." So that wasall there (was , to it. -Monday,dames came downlin tears and hesaid, "My desk Is gone." And Ifpund out that they had moved allthe desks, out over the weekend 'in

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, preparation for loping "open" and

had stored) ,them underneath the

school. So James and went downafter school, and we looked forthat desk, And there were stack&and stacks of desks, and wd took'each one down and we' looked, be-cause he had a Snoopy Stiaerside of-his, and we found lit afterabout 30 deSks. And hp was just.--I;can-'t-describe how good he felthaving_ found_his._ desk._____Arvi, Iasked him* if he ,wanted to put it

in our. - room. That wasn't neces-sary.',,He just wanted 't.c)*know it

/was'there, and he wanted'us to moveit out near the, doorway where if he

wanted to come down and visit it hecould.

The city, pace

was too quiCk

My first inservice workshopwas learning about the alarm bells.Three longs and three shorts meantthe school was under seige, Andeach teacher was to

command post assignedinservice workshop ccbell signals, but th.upon which we spent

rush to the

to them. Thevered'all thes is the dpehe most tim.

This was during th, time of theracial riots in the ,city, and I

hoped that we would never need\thisinformation. But it turned outthat, this first inservice workshop

, was 'indeed relevant to my needs.Because we did have the alarmsounded, and ithe first thing thatwas done was to chain the doorsfrom the inside, to padlock them- -a practice that was stopped afterthe fire marshall in the, city oitjected. But it was to protect thekids and us.

'we had. no other inservice, andif anyone heeded inservice'teachers like myself, working inspeCial ed under conditions thatwere extremely difficult. So I de-

cided to get together with teacherswho were out there somewhere withclasses like mine. There were sixof us. We got together and we

shared ideas, and we supportedeach other, and we consoled eachother. We did that-.for a year,and that was the beginning of my

9 commitment to the importance of do-

ing teachers' center kindsof work .1

Inservice work. And I_ decided thenthatiif the opportunity ever flamefor me to do that kind of work,that was What I wanted to do.

That 'spring, after three years'of teaching, not counting the re-tarded institution work, VincentRogers called me up and said, "We're ;starting a 'center for open Ouca-tion. and I_ would_lik

the staff." I said, "Terrifici"1.*

My ecstacy was more than be:.cause I. had chance to work at acenter; it was also that I was leav-ing the,city and going back into the.country. The pace in_. the city was,

too quick for my own rhythms, my own -

way of being. I also felt thatchange was too quick--so much sothat I couldn't have. much controlover things that were happening.Things just seemed to be happeningall around me, and there were somany people and so many systems.There was such complexity.' Therewere so many factors involved inchange that it seemed impossiblefor an individual to know the caus-es of things much less to influ-ence the outcomes.

Being in the city made me re-alize how 'much I appreciated beinga big fish in a small pond. How ina rural area, it really is a. smallpond, and most fish can be big.And that reeky is'a beautiful' part,and a healthiness of a rural area--that each person is important. Ifone person doesn't do their-partic-ular job that work is missed, theirpresence is missed. Being able toknow most of.th'e fish in the pondis another advantage to a ruralarea that I )fad i missed a greatdeal. I'd been A small part *of avery big picture in the city. Peo-ple didn't know me and Idn'tknow them for .the mast part.

There were also the aestheticreasons, and they were important.I did see-a beauty in the ,city,but I didn't feel it like I did inthe country. I, would drive out on

9,

101 0

"flIC Transcripts & Commentaries

hot summer days, take my car andgo out into the country and feel.my'sense of smell coming back a-live And the greenness and theair moving and the sense of space;It was something I'd missed a greatdeal and had to keep going back to.

.1.-also4 think my personalitylends itself more to a rural area.I'm not,a wave maker. I'm not out-spoken. My work is quiet' work, andit's noticed and apprecidted where'there is quietness. But wherethere's such a level of static all'the time quiet voices are not heard.z

And I worked four years withthat eenter., We made a drop -inteachers' center in a room at theStorrs Grammar School just off theUniversity of Connecticut campus,and we, gave workshops and seminars,but the main thing ,I did was workas an advisor to teachers in theirclassrooms. Teachers who asked "meto help. I learned how to walk thetightrope; when to, give teachersa gentle .push, when to back off;whom'to approach, whom to ;pavealone; what and how to communicatewith administrators; when to be,anerrand-rUnner -for a teacher andwhen to refuse; when to walk' intoa classroom and when\ not to; howto get a, long-term project goingin a classrodm. AdviSing is a del-itate combination of non-threat-"ening assertiveness, warmth, iteg-rity,empathy, and dignity. And

painain toil. You do not -en-'ccarage a teacher to ,do anythingyou would not do yourself, so of-ten you roll up your, sleeves andhelp move furniture, o build e-quipment, or work with h gkoup ofstudents on a project. Most ofwhat you 'hatie to give to teachersis the sharing of your effort,your-` experience, your company,your outside. viewpoint, your ownuniqueness. And while I was do-:

ing that, I also got my Ph.D.

And' then I started ProjectI RISE in one of the schools whereI had worked as an advisor. That

10 meant designing an inservite struc-

-0 1

tore and program ^ with the teach::ers and principals and superinten:7dents of nine east central Connec-1ticut towns where, there's not alot of indigenous understandingand sympathy from school boardsforte netinn of teachers stillhaving to be growing. But wecalled' our project RISE, whichsimply, means Regional In-ServiceEducation, and it has risen andgrown to Include advisors goingout to the, schools, and 'localschool ' inservice workshops, andregional inservice special events,and a central teachers' center'workplace for all the nine towns'teachers. ., And I've been doingthat for fourlyears.

soli tried to, look back onsthese stories, on seemingly unre-

.

lated things, and try to -see ifthere are any themes in it. tnd Idecided I'm ,too young. I'm 33, andmaybe ia about 10 or 15 years I'llbe able to look back and' know what,all this means. -There ate just a jfew themes I see now. There arethe threads of love, commitment,and challenge. Those are thingsthat seem to mark my life. I. havea tremendous joy in my work. Ihave never done anything so satis-fying as being director of theteachers', center. The' commitmentI can give to it,' the love I havefor the people I work with, thechallenge of it. And the varietyof it, too. Going to a state meet-ing with a bunch of uppity-up muck-a-mucks and all, and then going in-:to a classroom and working with agroup of kids and the teacher, andthen helping someone build a tri-wall bookcase, and then workingwith the staff member who's havinga problem, all in one day, makesme feel very fortunate. How manypeople really are this privileged?

Three years ,ago I had a longillness, a serious one. I couldhave died four different times ina four-month period, and I was inthe hospital bed looking over my

\life and asking myself, was I ful-filled in my life? And I decided

a

TalC Transcripts & Commentaries

was, because I had been true tothe commitment and the challengeInd the love--to all those things.-But there was something still miss-ing, and that was' having a woman inmy life in addition to all my work;to be.committed to and to love andto -find challenging, and- -when

Gretchen and I were married last.Thursday, itk fulfaled'that want.

As I look to the' future Ithink of children, a family. AndI think of change's at RISE. I ama builder. Maintenance work takcsthe fun away for me. One of thedifficulties at RISE right nowthat there. are tremendous amounts,of maintenance energy required tokeep what we have going, yet I wantto be designing and moving ahead tosomething new. And I know that

-

we're ready, if we had -the financial

stability to move to 6umething new.But we,don't, so,that keeps me frbma dream that I have for the center:that we become a community center,and be a resource for learning !ladknowledge for -people of all ages

alI. walks of- -life. To' inte-grate and tie the community and the'school.

I think tt*ing ;Ilanges withinRISE is onewaylto grew while stay-ing in the same work. ,It seems likea lot of people tell me That they'vebeen at their job for three years-or /Out years or fiveyearsand itstimeta move on. I'd rather viewmoving on as staying on, but in a*new way--new branches on an oldtree, with established roots.

a,

IF YOU WORK IN RURAL, SCHOOLS, YOU'REWORKING WITH THE RURAL. COMMUNITY

(In June l980 at 'the RuralWorkparty in Nebraska's state parkat Fort Robinson, Lorraine Keeneyagain led a panel discussion: thistime on the.,advant'ages and disad-vantages of 'rural schooling., Pan-elists were'Aleene Neilsen, policyboard president of the center inMoab, UT, Wade Scherer, then direartar of Washington West ResourceCenter in Wa'itsfield, VT (who isnow at Syracus1 University), andPaul Nachtigal in Denver (and ofthe Exchanges advisnry committee).Paul had just completed his studyfor NIE of 14 rural education im-

.

provement efforts, 'including arange of federally and locallyfunded programs ("Rural-Edydation:

Search of a Better Way," editedby Paul Nachtigat,- Wedtview.Press,Boulder, CO,*1982). While the-dis-cussibn of 1979, summarized here in"Don't try to 'deliver' rural edu-cation"- (page 3), _advocated' 1

11 that teachers' centers underline'

12

Aleene: \aye of school wet:. in-

-

_

\grained in me very early..ther was a teacher and-later on asuperintendent. I.remember walkingto school when had'to hold myhand,up to reach. my father's handand feeling how proud Imas- that Icould walk to school with my fa-ther. Rural schools have a feelingof belonging like an extended fam-ily.that you don't get in a much

-larger school. For example, whenIstarted junior high, schoo:, Iwent to a school that Was grades 7to 12, and later oa when I was asenior I knew people five yearsyounger than me. iihen- X began to

*the unique values of the rural com-munity, this 1980 . discUssiontouched a different theme:, the 'in;-escapable juxtaposition and merg-ing of urban and'tVral communitiesand their schools because Of-the:mobility of-Americans.] //

firCIZianscripts kcommentariis

teach school in northeastern Arkan-sad,-thei.didn'tave a,hore ec jobfor Me, so I began4oing what I didin rural sehools.fdk:a *eat dealof my fife: teachtingiAornething be-

' sides what I. was trainitfor. You'do'n't-:fali- baCk2,on the kinds ofthings you were.trained:;:to, do, you

,lall',back -cm the thingl that youhave observed other:tea'cliers doing.

;And, having grown:'gpinTa-"turalschool'yhere'there was :a traditionof'doing, you never 'believe thatthere is anything you can't do;

i..VAlwir. Us you go ahead and do the job that'

yourownix U? is:there to be done..

That, perhaps, is one of thestrengths of smaller'schools: Chil-dren who "want to do thIngi, andsometimes @Lem/those who are alittle reluctant to do things, arepushed into perfokming frequently,into'taking.a -job and followingthrough and getting, it done muchm` ore-dften than children who goto .larger schools. -That balances,to a certain extent, the lack ofopportunities to compete with peo-ple who. are more equal, who mightseveas a role model or stimulusto stretch their wings and.improvetheir talents.

,

More than you probably ha e timeto handle, because if you re themusic teacher in the schoo thenyou're the logical candidate o di-rect the community chpir an thelogical person to put on the ccm-munity musical at Christmas time.You do have. to learn to ,protectyourself. And \I think your,iden-tlty is a little more secure in asmall town.. You are reinforced by`people who know you--more frequent-ly, I think, than you are when youlive in a large city. I think we

"have what is very important to me,which is access to wilderness. Inorder to leave Salt Lake City, whereI lived for about ten years, andget to a place that was not fre-quented tfr a great many people, Iwould have to drive at least anhodr,'and, then' I wouldn't be in aiplace:where I feel as comfortableas I can get to frqm my home in tenminutes:,

Now, or. the .other side, thereare some definite disadvantages.One is, the exRectation that teach-,ers,perform a- great many of thevolunteer,

tservices: the Little

League, the Boy and Girl Scouts,the Sunday' School, any job thatneedd:to be done with youngdren. .

fi Anpther disadvantage thatsometimes is the host difficult for,teachers\is that there is not enough$stimulation from people who havethe same kinds of Interests that youdo. A teacher very often becomes'aperson that others come to for ad-vice, or 'to be reassured.' A teach-

.

ers' center director_ experiencesthis doubly because the teachertcome, to the director. There isn't',a Person to go to to refill your own.well to that you will have enoughto give to the people who come toyou for help.

Wade: I came to Vermont reallybyzccident. I was on my way outWest, and I met-some fine people in'Nova Scotia who said, "Come back toour home_ in Vermont and visit for afey days.''`'-An I did and reallynev,r left. At t time therewere shortages of teachers. got

I think you don't' necessarilygo to teach in a rural school be-cause you think.the rural school.experience is going to be .great.

think you go to a rural area tolive because there are someithings

that 'cOmmulty that you_ want,'and you teach in the .schools inspite of the shortcomings and thehandicaps you. r11 into. There areseveral things that I think arevery good about rural schools. You-have much easier access,to your ad-ministrators. 'I think most 'of usfrom a rural,area probably'cqn callthe superintendent by\firstnameand.haVe-knowe him for.,:epoUgh years'that we know how' to apPrOach him'best. -The same is true' of'--the

.principals and a lot of the pad-,pie on the school board. -Thereare a lot more' leadershippppor7

-__imnities. You haie:.:inote Oportu-nities to participate in community

1Z and cultural activities. In fact,

Tare Transcripts 8' Commentaries

immersed 141 a rural school that our

teiChrs" center now serves. I

worked with my master teacher formCnths, and- learned an awful lot

from hei:ssv-Shehad-grown.up in Ver-mont and had-'taught for twentyyears. After that -experience Iknew that I wanted to teach, andI wanted -co teach -in A really smallschool and really get- my feet wet

"-and_experiment with a lot pf ideasI had at the Cime.

So I did teach in-a two-roomschoolhouSe that was 140'years old.-It was over a mountain that bordered

the Sugar Bush ski2area. And thecontrast was incredible.. I'd-drivethrough-a ski/Area that was popula-

ted by ,people- from Boston and NewYork and get to the top of the moun-tain and get out 'of my car and lookover ,to the White Mountains and lookdown/at Roxbury and think about thecontrast. I really see now th4 ying

and the yang of the benefits and theproblems of rural life: that thebenefits can be problems and theproblems can be benefits. Theisolation that existed in thattown was a real benefit for thosestudents-that I -worked with those

I found strcngth three years. t Ii just found a lotfrOmisolation of strength from that -isolation.

The'community was very close, 'thesupport for the school was great,

thesupport for the two teachersand was great. We were both \in-,volved not only in what took placefrom 8 for 3 but' in our eveningprograms and-our Christmas pro-grams. Christmas was a time whenevery ohe came out from -the back

'hills and came down into the townhall to share what the childrenhad worked so hard on'during thatmonth. Yet it was the trlendous.- isolation 'that made me

/leavel

that school. Hannah was a great'

Woman to work with and really aninnovative educator. But neededstimulation that the town and theschodl could not provide.

I moved out and Into anotherjob across the mountains in.a morepopulated area and took the job

13. primarily because of the principal-.

14

ship that I was paid an extra $600,a,yearjodo. It was still a realrural school but it had seven teach-ers so that the stimulation wasgreater. It we'? a- ve:iy.,'different

kind of community in that the peo-ple there were influenced by theski people- -city people.

I think that-rural education.really offers the chance to_dealwith the whole child. Just a few_weeks ago, Jean Eisele !of our cen-ter's staff and I did, some advisory ,

work at one of theismaller schoolsin our area.' It only had .fourclassrooms. We went there and-it .

was k#11oon-day and all the chil-'dren had tied postcards to the bot7'toms-of their balloons, and they,

were going to set them:off_and seehow many would be returned by mail.I played my guitar and our,vided,tape took pictures and George Wood-and came down from his farm and'played his banjo, and they werewere a_couple of other men who helpled fillthe balloons. A real communityfeeling. And as we left-we justfelt pleasure about just -beingthere, and knowing that those -

-children were going to be togettr-er for their six years and learn'`a lot together. A problem is thatin rural schools there aren't thewealth of culturah resources thatexist in an urban, - But the

benefit is that rural schools havea'need to tap local people to cometo classrooms orto bring kids out,and that shows kids how wealthytheir people really are.

Paul:, Ilwenty-five year's ago my,wife,} Cathy, and I were taking our

teaching positions; and we

headed west out of Denver on theDenver and Rio Grande CaliforniaZephyr. It's a beautiful 'trip- -

up the east face of the Rockies'through about 30 'tunnels and outonto the Western Slope near Win-ter Park, then down the ColoradoRiver. About five hours out of

Denver the train stopped for 4crew change at the little town ofBond where we got off._ We were met

by one of the McCoy school board

T&C Transcripts tr CommentariesValiMmlb

members, a section 'foreman for therailroad, who 'drove us the fourmiles on down river to McCoy, of-ficially listed s'in the HammondAtlas as' having a population of0. It consisted of a large hunt.-:ing lodge, a small general store,aismall church,' and a school. McCoywas 30 Miles of rough gravel roadfrom the nearest highway. Therewas one telephone in town, in thegeneral' store. We were interviewedby three board members, the othertwo teachers- who were the otherhalf of the high school staff,their wives, and during the after---'noon we were fully investigated bya couple of dogs Who- wanderedthrough the clatsrOom where the in-,

terviews tookuplace.

Two things came through in theinterview. One: they wanted peo-ple who would fit into the CoMmuni-ty. They did not want imdiyiduals

nrantosto who were going to come in and try.

They did not

reform the folks to reform the folks. They tendedtoward inbibing.1 bit, and the lastsuperintendent had been run off be-cause he -tried to change their ways..- -Secondly, they Wanted- getthe school accredited. They hadbeen convinced by the state depart-ment that their school needed tobe accredid so that their grad-uates could go on to college.

We learned a lot that firstyear, probably more than the kidt.Cathy taught typing, four years ofEnglish, music--which was her ma-jor--and home ec. I taught a cou-ple of classes of math:and the is-try and was the' Operintendent ofschc,-ols. The enrollment consistedof 15 boys and ,seven girls. Theirinterests were hunting, wrestlingsteers, being bucked off horses,playing basketball. They had notyet 'tiscovered the usefulnessofliterature, music, or science. .Wetaught our classes as we had beentaught, standing in front of theclassroom lecturing, with perhapsas many, asifive students, reluctant-ly participating. We learned thaton Fridays when basketball season

14 started 3.ittle, if .any, ,schooling

took place. We went to the statetournament that year. ' We also,learned to drink our : whiskystraight; at halftime we were ex7:.pectcd to join members of the boardin the Parking lot, to pass the bot-tle around..

,Once settled, we Worked ongetting the school accredited.During the second yea F Of our ten-.ure we created a new class ontwo,..filled out all:the necessary forms,added the remains of a communitylibrary and a free set of ti4e GreatBooks to the school library, had ,the library. books cataloguedi and'were ready for the outside visita-tion team. They .visited and ob:served for one 'day, consulted,left, and within a couple.of weekswe rA6eiVed'our-offi,AA1forming us that Our school was nowofficially accredited. In theboard's eyes and -Lithe eyes of thestate, the McCoy school had be411improved.

-

_As -= Oith most teachers whoteachlLin high schools of that size,we left at the end of the secondyear. The isolation, the lack ofculturali fit, had done us in. .The' .

first notion that,I think we need'to be aware of in working, _withrural education, illustrated bythis story, is the importance offit betWeen 'the school and the-community; th'e fit between the ed-ucators who come into the communi-ty and the local! folks -who havebeen there for a long- time. Pro-gram quality in small' schools is'almost entirely .people dependent.An important dimension of qualityis some degree of ' continuity.Building a quality, program when 50percent of the staff turns overevery two years is very unlikely.The McCoy schoOl board ,yJes awareof the need for cultural fit whenthey warned us about trying tochange the -local habits. Unfortu-.nately, they were not sufficientlyaware of the critical need forcontinuity, nor in a position tofind ways of, getting that continu-ity in their staffing and therefore

F(

Twenty-five years later, instudying 14 rural school changeprojects for the National Instituteof Education, the one generaliza-tion that we could draw across thethe successful programs'had to do'with school and Community fit.Sthool improvement efforts -. thatwere addreising,problems recognizedto be problems by the local.communh-.ty--not just.the education system- -seemed to 'be successful. , If the-

problemarlieing addressed were notrecognized as being important bythe larger community, the programsended as soon as the dollars werespent. If you work in_rural schools,

you're also working with the largerrural community., Because of thetightly Ymit, personal characteris-tics you can't work with one withbut-the other.

The other notion that I

think is important stems sPecifis-ally from our-*Coy, experiencewithaccreditation.) It is the notionthat the little rural school'struc-ture is indeed different from the-school systeM in urban and suburban'

areas. Specifically, in rural set-tings you have an absence of-bu,-eaucracy, a very personal, kind ofsocial system; traditional values;a homogeneous community; in many

cases a high degree of, isolatiAn;and obviously small scale: Con-trast those characteristics withthose of urban school systemswhich are bureaucratic, special-iZedr heteroyeneous, likely to haveliberal values, with duality andefficiency tied to large, numbers of

students. There is a real incom-patibility that is a disadvantagefor rural ,systems because schoolfinance'policies, staff .trainirg,state regulations and accredita-tion, instructional materials andcurriculum, all are designed forlarger school systems. We need tore-examine the influence that themass

-production school has upon

rural school before we can go 4-15 bout improving rural schools.

TIC Transcripts & Cammenttiries

in their school program. Wade: ,What],What] Paul issaying is thatin a teachers'. center you've reallygot to meld the community with, youreducational program.

I.must re-,

ailie,that your teachers need to be .

very much involved in the ,communi- -

ty, and you'muat find ways to helpthem make .those connections. I

think that time is a big, factor vihen,

you are 45, rural teacheri and ateachers' center can find resourc-,es of community people and link

.them,with the needs of teachers and-students,

-Paul: In addition to bringing thecommunity culture into the schools,we need to get the schools into thecommunity. 'The way education hasbeen professionalized and special-ized,- schooling has, been separatedfrom, the_ community life: We meled.to get it integrated back .into the

Part of _that can bedone by bringing community folksinto the schodls, but it also-seemsto me that we need ,to look*the oth-:

er waybringing:school activitiesout into the community. --,

6

wade: We were talking this morning -

about'the conflict that a teachers'center may have in providing pro-grams to Parents._ The, center issupposed to be for teachers. Butby providing parents programs--suchas for preschoolgrs*-we strengthenthe connections between teachersand parents.

%,-

Heidi Watts (Grassroots Center"\

Cortland, Ni): I'm ,thinking'abdutwhat Paul has 'described and what I,,have experienced s a "them -us"situation. ,The ewcomer arrives,with educational deas 'that aredifferent from tho e olithe commu-nity, and those c1,1 frontations al-most rlways mean tbss ol. the thingthat you, the newcomer, want to ac- ,

complish. I'm thinking that

j.

per-haps one of the hings that tearh-ers' centers ca do is to play amodeling role for teachers in waysof affirming the values of the ru-'ral situation in which you are lo-cated. Maybe what we need to.do.isto think about ways in which the

-arc .7.,atucript.1,4, Commentaries. -

teachers' center can help teacherstel the community that we valuewhat is fine and, unique about ,rural'situations; that we may have someideas that are different--and thereis no point in pretending that .wedon't--but that there is much herethat- we long to be a part of. .10th-erwise new- teacherscome in firedup with new ideas and 'then in our`_naivete and arrogance preventeverything that we've come to do.,

J4ikee.Holdinghaus (St. _Louis Teach-ers' Center-): One of- the successesour center . had - was to prepare, newteachers , ft= parent-teacher confer-ences. We brought some parents into meet with the teachers_ and talkabout what R their, .. needs' were, 'am&

all.of a sudden all of- these teach-ers spoke. up: "I didn't know that'sWhat you were feeling when !you -told

me that!"- All sorts of new things-came-out of that and:alio allowedus to -find out why misunderstand-'insgs were- happening..::,

,Peter Martin (RISE, - Colchester,CT): In our area *some of the ruralvalues are beginning_ to -disintergrate---thrOugh television, ease. oftransportation to larger urbanareas, influx of people from. out-,side; A1.1 of these. forces are ore--atilt's; a -very diffiCult: prOblera of

T,; -continuity in the community. It'svery much in a state of -change. Iwonder what the 'center can.do, aboutthis change. We 'have a communityof primarily agrarian people, plus

.

some people who commute to work..And these commuters bought theirhomes on their two ,acres, ,and theymoved there because it was a beau-tiful, simply cOmmuriity. They hadthe image that if. there were goingto be -chicken farmers there wouldbe a couple of little coops.'-. Butthe farmers can't survive on thatscale any more. , They're ' gettingtogether and they're. making farmingan industry in this town, and' thosenew residents are upset.'

Gloria Wilson- Miller (Harrion-. burg, VA): I'm concerned if the,state and federal governments beginto impose the same rules and regur1ations on our rural schools . and

. our -rural community as. they do on_urban and suburban schools." Weare .seeing many programs, that thestate mandatedr-sex education anddriver' educationrthrow the dommuniE,ty into upheaval. The same 'thingthat. peter' was talking.. about is r,happening in our Shenandoah Valley.WelviT got these -outside people com-ing in from Southeast. Virginiacities, who commute: three hours,

.. and who want .to put us farmersback -to, the Dark Ages .so that, we:cannot survive.

'r

,:.Gretchen .Thomas : . And - they' ve

thought through their decision a- .1

bout :what -they want, so it reallyputi.it to the rural people tdgin. to thijnk through their Own')der-'cisions about what they're. dding

;and .what they 'want.

;.1 ,

NEW OPTIONS FOR RURAL HIGH SCHOOLS.By Paul Nachtigal

'4. . , .. ' ..i/ -; -

1 (At the 1981 - Rural Centers hOw teachers' centers,, might help N-.,. Workpaity in Petit Jean State Park,-T spread such new ideas. The trans-

. Arkansai, Pita Nachtigal described cript that follows has been editedsome- fresh ideas "aboutrural .high selectively to highlight_ideas that ,'..

.. .. , --

Ischools, atrl other7larticipants. in,.:fSeem,worth mulling over, talking a-/16 the 'session chimed, in with ideas of,bout,'Adapting, and passing around -r. . , .

1,: .

-r Aro

14C Transcripts 6r Cominentaries

the -rural- network to .generate morefamiliarity with new approaches,

ds. some brainstorming and experimen-.ting.1

-

In talking' about" what's dif-ferent about rural- high schools, it

Iis important Ito look, at these char-- acteristics: Small, rural. communi-!ties are obviouily much more Per-sonal and tightly, knit. -you see.the - same people at the grocerystore, doctor's office,. school,chUrch. There id an 'intensity a- _bout -those relationships that his

*i implications go'r, who one hires, howone operates, and what- you 'can and ,

can't ,do in a small town...; .', .

Residents tend to be general-: ists- rather than specialiststhedoctor, if there is- pnek is -a gener-al practitioner;'" the '1 contractoruilds ,the whole honse.,,,,..Whai,

inral ,schools are crying-- for are-...people. who can k work as general-'fats rather . than_ specialists,

: teachers who , are --more - broadly pre7.. .pared.....`Most education preparation.-7.1.3- far too specialized to be of-. much worth to- ,small,rural schools.",

` 1 .S

r"

rural communities are still poorer\in terms, of-available dollars to'spend. And they tend to have less'fOrmal education'than their urbancounterparts.-

One of the major problems, in

. rural education is that -everything-

outside of .urban areas gets groupedas-kural. I think we need ;to beginto` describe more preciselY what weare talking about. Although, thereare some common characteristicsthat tend to go across communitylines, there are certain differ-, fumes- within rural communities. It,hink. there are three" fairly dis-.tinct types., First is the tradi-'1.,tional middle-Anierica kind of -cutunitirj fairly well 'off, feihomogeneous. Everybody _works hard-and holds to the same values, Atthe other end of the spectrum isthe 'poor -rural minority conmunity74;.-,Appalaghian whites, -blacks, Chi=..

.,;..cancis, Indians. '1,yolitical and-eccinociia lies outside thecommunity,with .the BA, kthe.largetplantation'? owner, the lumber:411,the coal industry.. A dird disztinct type is found around ski re-.sorts, energy developments. This

.. Other ,Characteristics: Rural.communities .tend' to be more homo-genebus than urban. -.comMunitieithough this isn't 'true.; 'across the

; . board.:- Rural cOmmunitiei tend to

;:,-be,non-bureaucratic.-,Cciamunication, is'more likely to be ;.verbal than, written.. (I don't ,think ever...wrote a memo in McCoy, Colorado;with seven teachers.. , We -talked a-cross the desk and beside the fish:-

°, ing stream.) Who Says'. something is4

probably as important, as what'ssaid.'. You need people's trust andconfidence for them to really ac-cept 'your information.

..-Vaiues are :sorer,- traditionalthan in cities: ...Rural, People tendto?? be entrepreneurs-- shopkeepers,farmersrather than. part of a cor-

; porate4abor force...i...14!ura1. :folistend-ea.,. mike do,. Whereas urban.'types mint- to leave our problemsr f -the experts. - Statistically,.

?

is the transitional community,, acommunity where_ there are"- diverse.

pebtations for "-the- -scho+ls be--cause - a new people coming: with

values .and expectations'.. ;

The, small rural high schoolthat reflects- these attributes hatadditional unique ;characteristics.The smaller the ,school, '\the more- ,likely 'that there will 'be a high-`'turnover of teachers and admini-strators. In . the high school youare likely to have three or- fourteachers who are lOcal people anda part of that social structure,;who have been there' for ten to 15

''years or forever. 'you are also .

likely to .have another group -teachers that are young, on thestart- of their career, on their :,.e.way to something bigger _and better.;.If your come in with an innovation

,,,yon!re"yery likely to - attract;yoting: professional, who's .:A.nter-

-,ested in working his sway. You

Tem Transcripts & Commentaries

-will get more resistance from the; locals becatise they will test theideas against what it means for.

their relationship within the lo-social scene.

1Small high school curricula

tend to be: collee prep. If the'kids can leaire the community andgo:on, to col ege, nobody is goingto Complain' ry Snick about theschool.' I thi k in this 'regard ed-ucation has so d rural casmunities-a bill of goo . convincedparents that on y College prep iseducation. think students inrUral schools 'ght to ',have thatoption but they also should havethe skills to stay in` the cOmmuni-ty if -that is their 'desire,.-Schools' "deldoni teach the 'entre=

,preneurshipskills r necessary to,make that ,chOice.

P ;

David. Tyack' One- Best System- (Harvard UniverlityPress) -. de-stribese the public/ school- as'a mass

Smill schools, .production System. He talks aboutdifferent rules: how education has' deliberately a-

doPted an industrial -Model that_worki *best With large numbers.Claises are specialized; content-is

"'`divided up intolverif narrow chunks.The -more teachers, the more, coursesoffered,' the

.4,better" they -. program.

. - ,you try .to;:apply, "one,. best Sys-

tent" standards to 'these "-;small.schools, they 'are obviouilli second

ca nn,:best: Cne cannot ;offer; the "same-

riUmber and variety of .couriesa small staff. .Good education neednot be' offered in sucii:a Special-ized way.!: Small: ruraijiChoole need

'different, set of rules ,to. playby." -

At McRel (MidContinental Re-..

gianal Education Laboratory) we are.working with Ron Colton, of the- Moun-tain View Center for EnvironmentalEducation* (at' the ,,University ofColorado, Boulder).. Ron developeda Rural Studies Program for smallschools, in England, :which

flexibiliiy7,of smallSizeiand.*hich Used. the --sichool en-'-iiironment.as- the basis or curric -';

We-aretrying too itse same of,. local resources. We ire:trying to."

these same ideas to develop an air"proach to instruction that is moreappropriate for small rural:schools. .Why should .students inthese schools study science from atextbook-more appropriate to SanDiego when they have access to thereal world of science right outsidethe school door? For instance, oneunit Ron 'is developing is a studyof weeds, a resource available tomost small schools. Such a studycan include plant propagation, needfor 'weed control, pros and cons, ofchemical use, soil analysis, studyof wind, and weather. By using whatis 'naturally available, :students

',are likely to learn more' useablescience' than they would get .froma textbook. 't

.1

'This would require gettingstudents out in- the rhapsscheduling science in half -daykooks, sharing a !well- trained' sci,

teacherence" . eacher among four - or fiveschools. Such an- approach sci- - .;$4f `it:ence teaching would seem to answersoftie of the ahOrtcomings identifiedb y -NSF of current science pro.grams--theiri, failure to --teach a'scientific way of ;thinking aboutthe environment.

Energy is another . topic well., -suited to, small school science**. 'In

'addition to relating energy tofoodproduction, science programs could'help the ccemunfity in energy con-Servation efforts. With proper .

training, students could conductenergy audits, provide-iastistance _1

weatherizing' homes, and perhapsn 4 retrofitting with passive ,

.

an t solar caleCtors. Ast dent-castructed solar green- ,hou e could provide good ,instruc-tion for students and perhaps sup-ply local merchants ilith a sourceof fresh produce.

1- .Another area we want to .exe-

plore and t4/at ties /Vick: to thist.,4A''close school-cOmiunitrs-: dependence,fis using -the' .schooll aslc,a,;-way ofbeefing up the .cimimunity::;,econcety:.

-rather than being only -on.4

.JI,-9 %<_22x__,ithvi.(4."04

MPG' Trcrucripts 8' Commentaries

see whether the school can serveas a- rural 'development agency inthe Community. Daryl Hobbs , of the'University of Missouri ., believesthat students can, with proper su-pervision, do economic:inventories.Where do people drive for whatkinds of services and with whatfrequency? In this age of risingenergy costs, at some point theequation is -going. to tip and peo-ple are going to ,be more likely' topurchase services closer to home ifthey are available. Once such op-portunities are .identified, train-ing can . be secured for interestedstudents. With the technicalskills and some entrepeneurshiptraining,' the students 'would havethe option to stay in . localcommunity if they -so -desire"...

. 7order to test some of these

options, we are- establishing aSmall School Design Network to work:with'rural schools. that hive to do

.somethingc *di fferent..-!---.- br close. *'These -communities are most likelyto be recept because -they don't

to'' lose their . schools. Thefirst network- is being put togetherin conjunction with Smith Dakota 'State University out, of Brookings. '

'Within an hOUr's drive from thereeight; or nine. schools too small';

to operate an .effective school in:manner We hope to

work with . six -ok .seven of these.schools,. the: largest i:of.'which willbefit:. 50: students . schools'the smallest 35. critical'element is getting,. the' University'to provide technical, assistanceover 'time. r ,Our 'Lab, :i's bringingin people, like Ron Colton. to workwith teachers, carry on workshops,and help them think through alter- .

native designs .. for the localschooli and the community. Ob-yioUsly, science is- going to beone area we will start with. be-cause they have difficulty finding-science teachers.

* Developing alternativetern, fot schiiOls will 'not'

easy,. 'and we - haver no- illusions19 that it wiLl'hippen rapidllii-,jI am, ,

-however, convinced that if we comeup with options that are not going''to cost a lot of money and thatthey have helped design, just per-'haps, in five years there may be'two or three schools beginning tooperate differently.. We have 700

t

school systems in the Midwest thatneed this kind of, help if they aregoing .to stay open. . Population isdeclining, dollari are 'getting'tighter, distances are too long tobus, so 'they have to do somethingelbe.

,= '[The 'first commentaries from'other Workparty participants 'aboutthese ideas were concerns over 'theproblems of resistance to innova-ting.]

**For teachers to work on thekind of stuff' that Ron is doing ,re-quires that there is' faith-in theteachera. That goes against the -

sentiment in' those- rural communi-.

'ties where most- of :the taxpayersdon't have children, that what-they want to, raS, their- money foris reading, writing, and arith-metic, period. Although I am surethat reading; writing,.= arithmeticis going to get much better servedby that way of -,teaching-r- the case-has- got to be somehow 'presented,and probably has got to get itselfseparately funded. or coordinated byvolunteers until it can prove it-Self. Then the locals will buy in-'to it .because it is valuable.

**I ,can see that you firstchave to onvince the school. board -

-and the people who are influential .*:1'in the town. But the school board

.

'spends time on things that are re-quired and that they feel knos,i,ledgeabie about}} like budgets andschool buildingi3, not curriculum.

**It may hlso be difficult to'convince teachers.. There is not .,.'only .the 'problem of teachers say-irg, "This is' another' thing added:on." They have so much of ,.their,personal _ego -inveated'-' in knowing )1'something no one else knows.

can see that you first have to

T&C -.Transcripts tis Commentaries

convince the :scho61 'board: and thepeople who own the town.

**I'd like to see a list ofideas about how to Start something'different in small traditionalhigh schoOls, how ;work withteachers-so they start thining ina different way.'

4

**I'm wondering if ,you couldnot do something around -what usedto be, with teachers, administra-tors., some , of: the older people.Years ago our town had! a communitytheater, a community newspaper, acommunity" garden, festivals, allsorts of things that no longer:hap-pen because there iS,no One put4ingit together. I/ wonderwouldn't work to ,oust say, "Let's

/ bring-back a lit le of what was."

use our networks,hg are appropiiate,..,

schools. The ideaork is important be-such a tide, goingYou need support

States must

allow changes

in rural schools

/

;1-

**We needfeed in ideasfor rural higof using a netwcause there /isagainst change.from others.,

Paul: One needd to,build an espritd'corps among several superinten-debts. /A retreat might be a way tobring them together"arOnnd topicsof their interests, such as blockscheIuling, microcomputers, shar-ing/teachers. You have to convincerural people that this is not somekind of conniving to get them tomerge their schools.

If the operation of 'ruralschools is to change, it is abso-lutely' essential to get specialdispensations from the state. Youhave to search around and find.'people who are 'beginning. to re-examine what it is they are doingand work with them. The schoolshere in Arkansas have been workingon using the school as a ,ruraldevelopment agency. One, school has

", decided to; publish a full-blowncommunity newspaper. They have:in-corporated into a non-profit or-ganization run by students.' That

20 is both in educational and a serv.-

1-

ice function. The catalyst Torthis hai been, Bob Bell; witli,Arkan-sas Community Education. Hemanaged to get small ..mounts ofmotley q Rockefeller- andMott. He is attempting, _to expand;'the idea of the

, comMunitY.;,schatmovement beyond-, adat.ledu6ationand community tise of the buildingto a rural, education/rural com-munity development concept. =

**We have a -lot of ruralgroups here in Arkansas and thereare not any,. ties between them, _and-,I'm just wondering .who.. I shouldtalk to to get some ties formed.

work here has primarilypersonal contact. I'veBell for a long time. I

think you should call u Bob Bell,just make a personals ponneatLon:

Paul: Myjust been

knOwn'Bob

**I would like to knout -what ateachers' penterimight try . orderto make the beginnings' happen ofcommunity involvement- in, theschools. How would' we even ap-,proach it? We don't have any au-thoriiy'to say to our superinten-dent, "You have to bring in this'group to help us plan."

Patile Just paying for travel 'can,give you some authority: the au-

' thority of bringing in people withnew ideas. Also ifs you have-suf-ficient history of working with.'

local superintendents, when you ask"them to do something, they. are moreinclined to do it than not,

: -**The kind of ocience course

.

you were talking about with smallhigh -schools is.the kild'OToonrsethat we are trying to do with oursmall high schools in VermOnt. I'dlike our center to .do pretty muchwhat-you'are talking about. We do'have credibility in that school., we

do'have the teachers, and.oa lot ofparents are involved with theteachers' center.

*Iy1 think a teachers' centermight make a deliberate.atiempt tobring all.the opinion leaders to-

'1"43rC: Transcripts & Commentaries

gether on a''',formal basis, at somepoint, to get "the agendas out onthe table and see if they can reachdome consensus About new goals forthe school. If you can't get past

'..that, there will be hell to pay ifyou try o make changes.

**I think it's,important thatthis kind- of,information be col,-

'lected and 'passed -.around in a

network because it can be helpfulto others,. it' can help people whoneed to make changes

andso' with

some creative thought, and planning

rathi,,: than going with the standardhigh school, curriculum.

:

.

**I realize that it is a lotmore fun to come up with these goodideas than to put them into opera- 3

tion. I don't think there is oneperson in the school district I amworking in who has even thought a-bout these ideas. I think theideas should be in circulation morebecause a new concept has to be a,-round for-a while before it gets,to,the stage of people saying they want

,to do something. , 1

HOW A RURAL SUPERINTENDENT CANHELP START A TEACHERS' CENTER

M. Whtelet

[As superintendent of Dryden,New York school district,, JohnWheeler is involved with the Grass-,roots Teacher Center in Cortlandand is working with Heidi' 'Watts,Grassroots director, and Lorraine

. Keeney to plan the fifth annualRural Workparty, to be held June1-5, 1982, at Raquette Lake Out-door Education Center near Cort-land, for rural teachers'' center'directors and small school adminis-tratorsi Prior to coming to Dry-den, John Was superintendent of the

_ Fabius-Pompey district and one ofthe initiators of the Central NewYork Rural, Teachers 'Center. Histalk at.the'1983:Rural Workparty inArkansaSis based on his experiencein starting that center.]

Beak when I was in' anotherdistrict (Fabius- Pompey, near Sy-racuse) I was trying'to get all theteachers involved in curriculumwork., . In ,a',smal] district that'spossibld, but you don't have theresources within your community todo it' all, so I was trying to find

pie outside. This was 'the begi.n-'nin4, of ,our application for a fed-eralkteacher centers grant, which,'by the way, we never got. Butlithecenter.we started is still allive,and I want to point cut the ;threequestions, we Started with:11 Howcan a -teachers' center be made towork in a rural region? EOIW canyou get around the fact that asmall district can't afford, one?How can teachers be involved -in - -a

responsible way, tlaking initia-tive? We began with five, Or sixdistricts conaborating, and withthe help of the SUNY CO/llege at

,,Cortland'

-

In'the process of /getting a

teachers' center-started/in a ruralarea, thesuperintendent's firststep is

people'sset thestage and in-

crease eople's awareness' of the,uniqueness of the people served, inthe-district, the uniqueness of,theneeds of the kids, and the unique-ness, of characteristics of thethe staff,. 'and, their need to sharetheir concerns' and their ideas of

21 some way to get some help from peo- what works.

22

''T&C Transcripts 3 Commentaries

Then, because of the limita-tions on fiscal resources,, one hasto recognize the probable inabilityto go it'alOne, and identifY Severalsuperintendents that can communi-cate well with each 'other so thattheir districts can work togetherto identify their common Uniquenessand also their unique uniqueness.Next, ;a superintendent needs, to.

find those people within the .dis-trict who see a value in the direc-tion you are going, who will alignthemselves with your effort and\

your belief's. For instanpe, I hada planning director who was inter-ested in working with the univer-sity, and.I also had teachers with-in buildings, who were very willingto support a teachers' center. Sowe superintendents - reviewed ourstaffs alidkidentified those peop14who understood the community, un-derstood our uniqueness, and werewilling to put extra time and ef-fort into it.- We also had to look

Sevtraldistricts_ at the things the various coopera7vrktogether tang districts could contribute

that didn't cost dollars. In oneof our codpdrating districts wehad a building principal who gothold of our notion and convincedhis superintendent, of the -valueof a teachers' center. Basically,we needed' someone who could author=ize the use, of a room, who wouldturn his back when the ditto ma-chines wee being, used, free ateacher at 2:30 p.m., or cover aclass. If you are without thatkind of help, the teachers' centerisn't going to, go.

the things that weschool people oftentimes overlookis that there, are People in nurcommunities who can help us. Weneed to assess our resources and.scan the community for- experts.

Every now and thensomething goodhappens to you. I found a fellowin'our community who is a piivateconsultant for managerial servicesfor schools and colleges acrossthe country. He worked with ourschool board to help them betterunderstand their roles, and with

22 our teachers' center, planning

group. He charged us nothing.There are lots of people on a

school district staff who are re-lated to somebody that can hell)

you. I have a little questionnairecard that I give to staff Ttent''

bers. Whether they are cafeteriaworkers or bus drivers or teachers,they have husbands, wives, sons,daughters' who are related topeople in our 'nearby. colleges--Cortland'add Cornell. That's thekind of redource, assessmenttalking about, and it really. needsto come froth the central office.'

Building support is a key fac-tor, and it is the administrator,the person who leads the publicmeetings, who has to speak posi-tively about cooperative efforts.When talking with boards of edu=cation he says that there are somethings we ought to, talk to otherdistricts ahoutt or when talkingwith other 'superintendents he saysthat there are gOod reasons tohave confidence, in the profession-al aims and judgment of teachers,and downplays the worry aboutteachers' control. You just haveto pick out those things that a

superintendent can do and has todo ,to make a teachers' center work.

He can't dO it alone--ilm_not try-ing to give the impression, thatthis is a great one-man c.:dsade-1but without him bringing the cen-tral idea to the people in. the com-munity and on the 'school board,they are never going to think thatthe center is really important.

1

You have to have the centertalked about in teachers' meetings,and select and identify people inindividual school buildings who cancontribute support and work, but ifI, as superintendent, don't buy',

out of my budget, the bulletinboard for the teachers' room thatsays "Teachers' Center" on it, theyare not going to see me as suppor-tive. It doesn't cost 'much.' If,I had to pay for it out of my' ownpocket X would still do it. It'sthe act that is important. Unlessyou can show the teachers that the

_ 23

ire,c Transcripts & Consmentaries

.

Superintendent is going to do those-Pick ONE task kinds of thingsi- teachers are just

and make it work going to. say, "That's another pass-ing fancy and it's never going tohappen."

.

The superintendent also needsto. 'demonstrate' his sincerity'throUgh small supportive actionssuch as stopping by a classroom,seeing, a teacher 'using somethingthat came Trbm the'. teachers' cen-ter, or knowing that that teacheriAiht to a workshop last week. Yousay, "Gee, I'm glad you went." -Cryou take the 'time to write a noteto let them know you know that they

, are 'participating.

M qt important, help teachersselect NE significant activity forthe teac ers' center first effortand make sure it works. Do onething and do it well, /and then waveyour flag and show ,everybody, andtell them time and time again. , "Idon't knowif it will work all thetime," you can say, "but we triedit once and it worked. Here iswht happened, and here are the be-nefits we got out of it." Too of-ten we think too big. We are notgang to make a lot of changes all-at once. We are going to .involveall of our staff 'members in plan-ni44.; For heavens .sake,. don'ttaAh -six objectives- and try' to workon them-all at once.:4 Putting the teachers' center

together: and making it work once : -* My- last. point is really the.it's .off the, ground requiressev-' first point: _ where to start. That'eral, small. things' that / try to do is- to define the most prominent ed-

Aregular basis ;_encouriging ucational concerns in your districtteachem-in leadershiS . approving or-districts. -The current literorreqUests- for. ,teachers r to-. attend -.tura suggests several: declining %planning...sessions, ..setting aside- :.;;enrollments, .reduced number ofmoney, for sUbstitutei for teachers- . teachers, the "graying of the _-partieiPating in- the ..center, abt- :staff (we are getting grayer not.tending organizational and 'advisory only because of our advancing age. meetings, approving requests to but be&ause of stress) the loss of ;materiali and send no- state and. federal funds, the spe-tices, and being flexible so. as. tor.,Cial marinates - placed on schools. -facilitate rather than tinder:. For

instance, I -don't bug. people about With those local concerns intheirf. phone calls ...:;.ont. teachers' e: mind,. become, ,familiar' with the ,centerbusiness. The superintendent teachers; center,notion and BELIEVE :,:can -provide postage*. for,, reasonable -to that,-c °operative- ventures in educe-correspondence, set aside bulletin tion--among school districts, and .boafd,space for the teachers' en-- -among teachers -- and, , administra-keep ; tione--are more necessary thanvide , ever if schools, are to make signif-

tate- - icaht stridee-In. the 1960;s.

' -

tart= allow copies . to: be run, -

the school Loard informed,, prthe -Community with :positive'

'"

.h t'f3

*

w. -

-, ';.%

-2:-

, r.

ti

T&C Transcripts & Commentaries

TOUCHING,INWARD SPRINGSBy Kathle'en Devaney .

(This talk by the director'ofthe Teachers' Centers Exchange wasgiven at the start of the Vorkpartyfor Rural Teachers' Centers held inJune.1980 at Fort Robinson,- Nebras-ka.)

:Growing :up in rural Minnesota,I was a child of the prairie. Sogot Off the plane' yesterday morningin 'Sidney and literally - opened r-'nrY

'- arms to the great, flat fields, and .

- 'the wile pal. skyt.. It wis, I think,en instinctive ,gesture- of belong-ing.' I. wanted to...return !hat I.felt was 'the'. land's embraCe andthe sky!s -embrace- of me. :My par-

: into were children of immigrant:farmers, my' father 'as family frcet

Stir up .:Germany my mother's irdm. Si eden.young minds My father'S mother came; on a, s,41-

ing ship - Germany 4 after theCivil War, and I remember- her tell-ing me abott that and her chantingto. 34 the rhymes from'. McGuffy'sReader that --she,. learned in her ,

. ; school in 'Racine, IlisOonsin. Ay,mother's1 father helped- his, pioneerkatifer build a log house- near Scan-

Minnesota, a .` hundied. years

'' (This;,-is the Swedish 'settle---ment that- was: t) 3e setting- for- themovie *The Imaigrants;'''yhich- you

have - 'seen.) That hciuse, stilln stands on the grounds of'',a nationak-. -historic monument.-"-the'-'s

Hay Lake- School:, wheret4.my motherreceived her first eight years. ofeducation. .

-Schools like 'LakeLake School

were tha cradle of American publiceducation. Their most importanttask and reason' for existence was

the Preparation 'of an- informed, in-telligent, . and productive citi-zeriry..' Democracy was, 'after all aneve and daring experiment: 'Itrequired a-,new - and: extraordinaryinstitution to prepareia.populationfor economic- 'self-sufficiency 'and

-political ,--silf-goVernment. I

A

the existence of the public schools'has often been forOtten today ina culture which has biome perva-sively individualistic. Somepeople call ours the Me Society,.some call it the -Nov Society, and N.

the old - fashioned priority forcommunity has given way to e, prior- ' -

ity for separate persons to enjoythe here and now.

I-think that shift -in prioritythrows light ',on the difficulty weare hiving with the federal govern-

-

aunt mandates that have been placedup:oil the schoole, such as desegre- .

gation and mainstreaming. 'Althoughat root they are,"efforts tostrengthen the republic- -the wholecommunity--by strengthening the ec-onomic.power and 'politicel. wisdoi

<,

'all' the citizens, the way ,.thatwe interpret 'these mandates is'mostly-1n term* 'of, adding indivi- .dual contribution's to the .coomuni-*'tea strength. It seems to me thatthere's, a. Very delicate, balancehere, a° necessary and constantshifting of emphasis back and forth,.betiieen. the school's r Concern toeducate the .individual and .its con-.ce.m to build a community. Andthink this is a balanee:,that is sodelicate that it cannot possibly. be,written- down- in laviik or be taught 7

in management, organizational.-velopment, or community' develop-7ment courses. I think' that bal-ance between individualism and cam-munity'must- be accomplished by anineffable but powerful. ',strand ofconnection between the individual. .

and the community: people' s

ings of belonging' in their place, .

in their neighborhoods, in theirto belongivig to their land- -scape. I think the crisis of 'dr-ban_education in our time resultsin part from a failure ofto preserve .the .belong-4Z'ing. 14.4. :?*4%,'

,11"1'_e

24- think this - American i..Veason for 2s What-is it about thatIfeel..1.-ngz-zr

. ),A41-411-

T&C Transcripts Commentaries

of belonging, that connection be-tyeen school, and the rest of life,that mightlbe so vital for*learn-ing? Is it merely affect? Is itmerely that children. need to feelcomfortable and approved of? Ordoes the feeling of belonging alsoaffect cognition? I think belong-ing does feed cognition. t thinklearning must be 'connected to the- -rest of living. In times past, theAmerican public were confident thatwhat went on in school needn't a-mount to much more thanithe basics--mastery of words and numbers. This-is the piece of learning that Wenton in the 'one -room rural school.

But-in times-pat our 'schools andteachers- were .able to bank on thepractical living experience thatstudents would bring to the elites-room, and the connection thatteachers could make with the stu-dent0 homes, communities, and nat-ural environment. In our time nowand in places --big cities ortowns--where teachers cannot counton the continuity between the com-munity and the 'classroom so thatstudents feel thht tny'do belong,and in places where students' ex-.

periences-before"they go to schooland outside of school do not 'givethem the deep learning that thewords and numbers skills are basedon, we are finding it difficult toteach even the barest skills. Butrutalschooli have not, lost theirconnection with the environment,with *families, with communities,and with All'of these force's thathave begUn the processes of learn-ing in children long before theyenter the clasSroom and that con-tinue the*processes of learning inthe spaces after school.

The idea of the connection ofschools to community and'to naturallife has always been at the heartof the teachers' center innovation.The fallacy that learning forchildren isn't- anything _more thanmastery of reading and writing,phonics Ad arithemetic., produCesa comparable fallacy that proles-

25 sional growth and problem solving

for teachers isn'lk anything morethan inservice courses that arerun by policy boards that have amajority of teachers on them. Thepower of the teachers' center-con-cept for me lies in its capacity toperceive and to preserve, or to re-store, a.sense of wholeness and be-longingness to the whole schoolingprocess.

fwas in Nantucket last Aprilto visit John Miller at the Nantuc-ket teachers' center. On the day -spent in his center a Former memberOf the school-board came over--he-is ,,the Unitarian minister- -andbrought ,me a copy of his sermon ofthe day before. I had gone to thatchurcn because I wanted to see theinsfle of this thIstOric, verybeautiful building, and I wasastonished to bear him preach aboutWilliam Ellery Channing, a greatinfluence on my youthful idealism,whoM I- had forgotten. -The minis-ter, Ted- Anderson,` quoted Channingon education in these words:

2

I do not think that, as muchharm is done by giving errorto s as by giving truthin a lifeless form. The greatend in instruction is not tostamp our minds irresistAblYon the young, but to stir.uptheir own. Not to make themsee--with our eres, but to

k look inquiringly and steadily.,with their own; 'not to givethen a definite amount- 'ofknowledge, but to inspire afervent love of trdtht,not.toforma an outward regularity,but to touch inward springs:not to burden .the memory, butto quicken and strengthen thepower of thought: ,not to bindthem by ineradicable: preju-dices to Our particular sector peculiar notions, but toprepare them for impartial,,conscientious judging of what-ever subjects may, in thecourse of Providence, be of-,fered to their decision.

It was astonishing to me how

1,7e,

'LTC Transcripts a` Commentaries

contemporary that is,' which waswritten in the early 1800-s. I

gUdte it because I, think thatteachers' centers serving viral

irCommunities have not yet lost thedhande-to significantly affect the`connection between. community andschools that 3s so clearly the mes-sage of Channing's words. As ed-ucation leaders- you have a chanceto speak out loudly and clearlyYour conviction and experience thatthe schools need all the institu-

conmunity to help youteach. That you need the churches,the work planes, the agencies ofthe government, the social envi-ronment, and the natural environ-ment: And that they need you. AndthatyoU want to be teaching part=ners with everything you can findto connect children with the lifethat they want to live outside theschool.

In our determination to be, re-sponsive to individual needs,teachers' centers- undertake needsassessments and trust that- theywill guide the design of programsin:the center. But I also thinkthat we must be very watchful thatthese needs assessments not becomeinstruments merely for measuringemptiness. I think before we as-

. sess needs, '4e' and the teachers weLet'irneasurc serve need to measure our fullnessourphimm in rural and small town education.

What learnings are our kids bring-ing with them when they come intothe classroom? What have theylearned already, or what are they,in the process. of learning fromtheir closeness to the land, fromthe growth of crops, from the pro-fusion of wild life, the Vulnera-bility to weather, the 'circle ofthe seasons? What are they learn-ing from the close ties that theyhave to the past through the livesof older people in communities?What are your kids leaining fromthe agricultural and commercialwor a hey can observe and takepart in so much more easily thanstudents in urban areas?--What arethey learning of music and%litera-

26 ture and rhetdric in the churches--

not to speak of character buildingand moral and spiritual develop-,ment2- All of these things :havebeen profound learning experiences,perhaps more- important than the -

school', in past years in Fural ed-ucation. They have been the deep,daily, subliminal but powerful'sources of learning on which .mereschooling--that is the mastery ofreading and writing and facts-- ,could be built.

I think that once your teach-ers' center has helped teachers tomake that kind of a, wealth assess-ment, then you'll be in a positionto think of the additional opportu-

nities' and needs-that exist in yourcommunity for learning collabora-tions among teachers and farmers,and businessmen, and librarians,

," and civic officials and police, andsocial workerd, and ministers. Ihave a very. strong feeling thatthese resources are pore powerful,if you cans figure olit how to usethem, than the published materialsthat you import. And I further be-lieve that skillfully building theeducation out of the life of thecommunity can help to keep kidsin the rural community. Finally,I think that just as you press fora definition of children's curric-ulum being more than skills, beingconnected with and belonging to thewhole life that kids live in thecommunity, so also you need to man-

ifest a definition of the teachers'center as being concerned for thewhole working life of the teacher.The teachers' center is not_sAmpyunconnected bits and-pieces of cur-ricullim and methods that can bepicked up in a workshop and graftedonto a lesson plan. That is whatwd know how to do. What we have tolearn how to do--and what is thetremendous difficulty and puzzle-ment but really the challenge andopportunity and reason for exist-ence of the teachers' center--is tobe able tb create a setting and an

274 4

atmosphere within which teachersfeel their connection to-eatn-oth-er and gain the courage to breakout of the four walls of their

t

mx Vie Transcripts & Commentaries 't

claserocati break outand soft covers ofbooks, use their ownledge.

of the hardtheir textr,

inner know-

So I think -that the teachers'center's most important goal shouldbe to empower teachers to. act con-fidently from their inner know-ledge, to act with each other, andto act with the community. I know,be Cause it's our experience, thatmuch of what we all have to do, youin your centers and we .in the Teach-

era' Centers Exchange is, bureau-tic. It means following proce-dures, fulfilling requirements.Much og what we have to do is whatWilliam" Ellery - Charming called"forming outward regularities,"But I think we'll lose the point 1ofthe whole teachers' center enter-prise ,unless we remember that theessential_ mission that we're allabout is what Charming prescribedand what the legendary one -room

7Aschools accomplished, which is "to -4

touch inward springs."

PUBLICATIONS

A IILACHEIS' "1r=:1)ILDING

NT=

... -

*NW ,Itasfibmiraw,

Building a Teachers'.Center, edited by Kathleen Devaney, is a collection of f6-articles that give Sit -hand accounts from teaches' center leaders of aspectsinvolved in starting a teachers' center. in some of theseartides, additional ad-vice has been inserted:from the fioceedings of 'Woikparties--imall'conter-erices of teachers' center leaders, 'which the. Exchange has sponsored since197XThtt-- the liook.repiesents the substance-grassrocits experience-andthe'atyie- -self-reflecdon and voluntary sharing with others-ofthe teacherscenters network. The bOok begins with two papers that relate how a combi-

.- nation of convictions, experience, high energy, and happenstance formed thelist Ar4ericarr teachers' centers. Following are several- essays on_ practicalmatters-itaffing needs assessment.eValuation, space, programming, work-

lishirtg. Finally, three articles are provided on centers relationships withschoolkfistricts and with parents and community.$10.75 prepaid. Order-fromTeachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Avenue, New York. New York10027

- -

ESSAYSON TEACHE/tS'

Essays on-Teachers' Centers, edited by Kathleen Devaney. is a collection oftwelve essays about inservice experiences that engage teachers' talents andenergies while offering intellectual and emotive stimulation and support, Atli-des are included on -the role of the in-classroom advisor, teacher design ofclassroom curriculum, and discussions of the vaned learning principles under-lying teachers' center development And practice. Contributors are Map Anman, Sharon Feiman, William Fibkins, Lilian Katz, Robert Mat. TheodoreMartolalces;Milbrey McLaughlin, Thomas O'Brien, Adelaide Sproul. and L. C.Taylor:The writings were gathered during 1976 from educators in and aroundteachers'-centers in the-United States and England. A selected, annotated

- bibliography is provided. 199 pp. 510.00 prepaid. Order Department, Far-Weitlibbratory for Educational-Research and Development, 1855 Folsom

27

:.om.-,,,'":;,--..:14 :...Street, San francisco, California. 94103. California residents add sales tax. ...."4-; 0,- , . .- . - , ... . -V" --- -

.

28

4 441.

WHAT'S A TEACHERS' CENTER?p a

'A teachers' center is a programfor teachera' ongoing education. ...

. which offers a local meeting andwork place, leadership, counsel;materials, *simulation, and peerexchanges and opportunities forreflection on Learning and teach-.ing

for purposes of school and class-room problem curriculumdevelopment, mutual support, andprofessional growth. . .

. funded by load school districtor county office, grants (feder-al, foundation, cOrporate), statedepartment of education, collegeof education, or operated as anindependent non- profit corpdra -tion.

WHAT'S TEE TLACHEASICENTERS EXCHANGE?

The Teachers' Csnters Exchange isan information, referral, and techni-:'cal assistance center funded by theRational Institute of Education (U.S.Department of Education) at the EarWest Laboratory for Educational Re-

search and Development in San Fran-cisco. The Exchange coordinate$ agive-and-take network of more than300 active .teachers' centers acrossthe United States,' plus that manymore organisations, groups, and in-dividuals vd:king to start centers.Relying on the experience, talent,=and good will available in the net-

'work, the Exchange matches requests'for assistance with providers of ex-pertise. It works to strengthen,stretch, and advocate for the networkof centers that pro3ect the followingcommon purposes:,

to respond ito teachers' own def-

initions of their continuinglearning needs with assistanceand instruction that help teach-

'. ere enrich and activate thelearning experience of the chil-dren of their am'classrooris.

to provide an environment whereteachers may come to work onma-terials or projects for theirclassrooms, receive instructionindividually and together, andteach and encourage each other.

. to' advise and assist teachers in'their schools, working in thespirit of finding the teacher'sown starting points for improve-ment, '

The Exchange is available to allwho share such purposes for staff de-velopment and who would value infor-mal ince:actions in the 'network.-There 's no fee. Reach. the Exchangein San Francisco (1855' Folsom Street,San Francisco 94103, (415) 565 - 3095) ;'in Wishington, D.C. (LorraineKeeney, 1755 Church Street, N.W.,Washington, D.C. 20003, (202) 332 -

14941; or in Connecticut (GretchenThomas, Rom 104 ?, Amston. Connecti-cut-06231, (203) 537 - 1306).

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

TRANSCRIPTS S COMMENTARIES was edi-ted by Lorratne Keeney and KathleenDevaney. Copy editing was by Bar-bara Piper, typing by Robert Henry,design by Bret Rohmer, layout byChet Tanaka.

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