Journal[ Harvard Educational Review
Author[ Dakin, Mary Ellen
Title[ Voices Inside Schools: The Poet, the CEO, and the First-Grade Teacher
]
Additional Authors
Author2[
Author3[
Author4[
Journal Information
Year[ 2001
Month[ Summer
Day[
Volume[ 71
Issue[ 2
Pages[
Content Description
Keywords[
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Abstract[ Using the poetry of Walt Whitman (the Poet), an MIT graduation speech by Carleton Fiorina, the chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard (the CEO), and the words of a teacher (the First-Grade Teacher), high school English teacher Mary Ellen Dakin shares with readers the transformation of her understanding of student achievement. Dakin expands her notions of intelligence and achievement to validate and incorporate ideas she had previously rejected. Through an introspective process, Dakin is able to find success in places she never thought to look. This essay encourages teachers to challenge and broaden the assumptions that they bring to teaching and learning. (pp. 269–284)
My notes:
Again, I apologize for having to send this message directly to you, but I’m having no luck posting to the NG:
In part I believe that Dakin is examining the basic premise or belief that lies beneath our philosophy of Learning. Can every student achieve what our society calls “excellence?” And if students or schools fall beneath that line, with whom does the responsibility lie? The latter question she never addresses, but instead thinks about the implications of our own “limiting” of our own students. What will result from the seeds that we plant? In the end it is not about the path taken but the dream realized.
Joe Bustillos
Alyson Robinson wrote:
Team,
I really enjoyed the Carleton Fiorina quotes in this essay, as I will probably be working for her soon. (Compaq / HP merger) – very timely!
From Voices Inside Schools, pg. 8: “…we do not fail when our children become something other than what we dream for them; we fail when our words, our attitudes, and our actions impoverish their dreams.”
My reflection on this essay and quote dates a few years back while attending church. The minister asked enthusiastically of the congregation: “Who can dance?!” (hands go up), “Who can sing?!” (more hands go up) and “Who can create beautiful works of art?!” (Lots of giggles and eager hands go up)…They were the hands of children. Not one adult raised their hand to any of these questions.
At what age do we start “squishing” dreams of those we teach or love most in our lives? At what point do we as teachers and parents lose interest in nurturing the dreams of children and chisle away at childhood innocence (that “voice” inside that says “I CAN DO ANYTHING!”)? Do we as teachers and parents project our own fears, apprehensions and negativism so that children eventually learn not to dream “big”?
]
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