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In this third and final installment of our interview, Eggers announces his plans to create a new documentary depicting the professional lives of teachers. (You heard it here first.)
Eggers and Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Vanessa Roth are collaborating on a film they hope will do for teaching what An Inconvenient Truth did for the environment. Featuring footage taken by teachers themselves, the film aims to offer a first-hand view of the challenges educators face every day--and to inspire greater public support for teachers' work.
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In the first installment of our interview with best-selling author Dave Eggers, Eggers told us about 826 National, the network of community-based centers he co-founded to help students with their expository and creative writing skills.
In this second installment, Eggers describes his strategies for motivating reluctant writers. These strategies include:
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We've received and published five new public school and district success stories in the past weeks. Have a look at these inspiring accounts of what's working in American public schools and schools districts:
- Pateros School District, Washington: Arts Education Broadens Horizons in Washington State, May 5
- Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District, Texas: In Texas, a Second Chance at a Bright Future, May 8
- Coachella Valley Unified School District, California: Awareness Initiative Boosts College Attendance, May 12
- Spencer County High School, Kentucky: Changing a Culture by Building Relationships, May 15
- Walker County High School, Tennessee: Innovative Courses in Math & Science Take Students from the Earth to the Sky--and to High Achievement, May 20
Dave Eggers found sudden and early fame when his 2000 Memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, quite nearly won the Pulitzer Prize. Since then, he has produced a prodigious body of work in both fiction and non-fiction, cementing his position as one of the nation's best young writers.
Eggers has also made a name for himself among public educators by founding and promoting 826 National, a
network of 8 urban writing programs that offer tutoring to thousands of American students.
Recently, while fighting off a nasty infection, Eggers generously made time to tell me about the program, his strategy for motivating reluctant writers, and his plan to advocate for public school teachers.
Over the next week, Public School Insights will publish the interview in several installments. In today's installment, Eggers describes 826 National, its use of community resources, and its collaboration with public schools in the San Francisco Bay area. ...
Our friends at ASCD's Whole Child Initiative just fired off an email newsletter describing the
astonishing success of Thomas Edison Elementary School in Port Chester, New York. (School success seems to be contagious in Port Chester, whose middle school has won national acclaim for similar strides in the past 10 years.)
Edison owes its achievements to an education approach that addresses the social, physical and academic needs of its largely poor student body. To quote ASCD's newsletter: ...
Yesterday, the Council of Chief State School Officers named Michael Geison the 2008 Teacher of the Year. We at Public School Insights are quite happy with the choice, because Geison personifies the best of 21st-century education. He tailors his instruction to individual students' interests and needs, he engages them in hands-on work, and he promotes greater collaboration among members of the school community.
(We're talking about the guy in the middle.)
CCSSO executive director Gene Wilhoit clearly agrees: ...
Rounding out Public School Insights' three-week celebration of Earth Day is our interview with Milken Award-winning educator Tamala Newsome, principal of the revolutionary Rosa Parks Elementary School in Portland, Oregon. The Rosa Parks School has garnered national attention for its eco-friendly building, its thoughtful incorporation of environmental science into the curriculum, and its integral place in the low-income Portland community it serves. ...
The National School Boards Association's Council of Urban Schools of Education (CUBE) has teamed up with
the National PTA on a new survey examining parents' perceptions of urban school climate: What We Think. The survey's results are generally encouraging: Parents believe their children's schools are safe; They report that they are actively involved in their children's schools; They trust and feel respected by teachers and administrators; and they believe their children capable of high academic achievement. ...
In a few days, a new and expanded edition of Richard Louv’s best-selling book, Last Child in the Woods, will hit bookstores around the country. Louv’s book has fueled an international movement to combat what he calls “nature deficit disorder,” children’s growing alienation from the natural world. (Louv’s term for the disorder is quickly catching on, turning up in major newspapers, on television, and even in a February cartoon by Bloom County creator Berke Breathed.)
A quotation from our recent telephone interview with Louv elegantly captures the thrust of his argument: “[T]he message we’re sending kids is that nature is in the past and probably doesn’t count anymore, the future’s in electronics, the boogeyman lives in the woods, and playing outdoors is probably illicit and possibly illegal.” ...
Gary Swick has become something of a legend--not only at the Illinois high school where he teaches
science, but also among environmental educators nationwide. A winner of the prestigious Milken Educator Award, Swick regularly gets his students into the field, where they actually help protect the environment while they learn science. In one case, his students' careful observation of conditions at a nearby river prompted a City Council to adopt a construction site erosion control ordinance.
In our interview, Swick listed many benefits of environmental education. Among them: Students become better stewards of the world they inhabit; Reluctant or struggling students become much more engaged in science when they can do authentic work in the field.
Perhaps most important, Swick has turned his high school students into evangelists for the environment. They put on "energy fairs" to carry their message of energy conservation and green living to elementary school children and others across their state. He and his students travel to these fairs in a school bus (they call it a "cool bus") they have reengineered to run on biofuels--which can include grease and other waste from the school kitchen. ...
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A VISION FOR GREAT SCHOOLS
On this website, educators, parents and policymakers from coast to coast are sharing what's already working in public schools--and sparking a national conversation about how to make it work for children in every school. Join the conversation!
