Logan school takes new approach to building strength

As students file into Jace Dutweiler's Flex Time technology period at Logan Elementary School, they grab kits of Legos and get to work. The determination and excitement for these special periods can be seen on their face, and by the eager way they begin to build.

Flex Time is a new concept developed by Principal Bob Fisicaro and implemented at the beginning of the school year. Based on a book by Richard Selznick called The Shutdown Learner, the program aims to find strengths in children and allow them to explore them, rather than a constant focus on test taking and scores.

"The educational system is primarily tailored to students with a verbal type of intelligence," Fisicaro said. "All students should learn how to read, write and reason, but our staff is honing in on educating the whole student."

There are many different types of learners spatial, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, logical and more and Fisicaro hopes to identify with all of them at Logan Elementary. A second book that influences him in developing Flex Time "Strengths Finders 2.0" by Tom Rath helps to determine to what types of activities certain learners might be better suited.

For six and half hours each day students have a regular school day, but for 30 minutes small groups get to participate in classes that they enjoy and have expressed interest in. The smaller group instruction generally less than 10 children allows teachers to give more personal attention and gives the students a chance to really get involved in the subject.

There are eight sessions, or cohorts, throughout the year, each one lasting four weeks. In addition to the technology class there are also options for puppetry, guitar, piano, perspective drawing and special math classes.

The idea is to allow students that may have talent in a field other than normal scholastic achievement to be able to experiment and find the types of things they are good at and that they like to do, and in the small class groups instructors can more easily recognize skills.

—Rebecca Forand, Gloucester County Times

Timeless truth, different delivery #5 – Why?

While most of us are somewhat keeping up with tech changes on a personal level, I sense a level of skepticism by some about the value of using more tech in our instructional delivery at the school level. This is brought home in the dichotomy of hearing a principal pooh-poohing the idea that his school needs to move ahead with integrating technology, and moments later he gets a message on his Blackberry! It is true- we tend to get the value of tech for our personal use, but why don’t we allow students the same level of use as they try to do their work? The fact is we find it difficult to break out of our “teaching box” and teach differently than we were taught. We want to make sure that we are not leaving out essential skills and that is a good thing. However, given how much things are changing, I believe we are remiss if we don’t make time for both the conversation about what is truly essential (and what we can leave behind – we are not teaching penmanship as much anymore are we?) and how we will deliver instruction in relevant and engaging ways. We are moving from a culture of teacher delivery to a culture of guided exploration/collaboration and we must engage students in the learning process.

Are we getting better at engaging students? Yes and no. A recent study released in March 2009 from the Speak Up National Research Project indicated that “students are generally asked to ‘power down’ at school and abandon the electronic resources they rely on for learning outside of class.” (Education Week, 4/1/09) Furthermore they don’t believe they are being adequately prepared for the tech demands of the marketplace. We can pooh-pooh the importance of engagement, but must acknowledge that how learners learn continues to tip in the direction of visual-spatial intelligence, and to not deliver instruction in those ways is simply sticking our heads in the sand. Richard Selznick, author of The Shut-Down Learner: Helping Your Academically Disadvantaged Child, believes that 4 out of 10 elementary school students may give up on learning before graduation time and become “school casualties.” In his counseling work he has noticed that almost all of his clients are strong in “hands-on” and weak in language skills. The problem of course is that most classroom instruction is highly verbal and subsequently “deadening” to them. Their disinterest, distraction, and failure to follow through on work is sometimes viewed as laziness and low motivation. These students are sometimes diagnosed with ADHD or dyslexia and prescribed medications. We can and should do better for kids who are square pegs and don’t fit our standard round holes, rather than knocking off all their God-given edges. We all know stories of people who barely survived school and once freed from formal education went on to make significant and meaningful contributions to life.

Recent research around the concept of “flow” in teenagers again points to the need for engagement and motivation. (“Flow” is the state in which we are so engrossed in doing something that we forget everything else. For more info, see the research of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi done in the 1990’s and reported in his books.) When do teenagers experience “flow” and when don’t they? Not surprisingly, classroom time rated among the worst experiences in terms of “flow”, while extracurricular activities were among the highest. For suggestions on how to change this phenomenon, click here: blog.newsweek.com

So what does this have to do with nurturing faith? I suggest that a deadening education is an education that tends to discourage faith. When we don’t acknowledge that students are uniquely created and learn in different ways, then we disrespect them as persons and cause them to feel somehow “less than.” Without opportunities to learn using their individual strengths, we are disregarding how they have been created. Given that many of our students are visual-spatial, by not allowing them to tap into these strengths as learners, we are providing a deadening education. If as a learner I feel no sense of acceptance or place, it will impact my faith in a just and loving God. If I can’t feel a sense of being valued from my teacher for how God has made me, it will affect my desire to embrace the teacher’s worldview. If I am discouraged in my learning, how can I possibly desire to learn more? I pray that we are not fulfilling Neil Postman’s analysis that many children begin formal education as question marks and leave as periods, with the feeling, “if this is learning, I want nothing more to do with it.” How can this be honoring to a God who has provided us with a fantastic creation that is full of learning possibilities? God has made us to be learners, and when we shut that down in students, we bear an awful responsibility for the impact on their learning and faith development.

Technology is a gift that we have been given to nurture faith and make learning more accessible, engaging, and collaborative. What is holding us back? Some of you may not have the technology you need, but others of you have more technology than you are even using. As one administrator commented, “It’s like we have a Learjet that we only drive to church and back.” I encourage you to have this dialogue around technology, engagement, instructional delivery, and faith – for the sake of the kids – and determine how to best move forward.

—Nurturing Faith

Article in SJ Magazine by Maureen Palli (PDF format)

Educator calls for new approach to nontraditional learners

Born and raised in Westerleigh, Richard Selznick gleaned a lot from his dad, a long-time borough educator

STATEN ISLAND, NY -- WESTERLEIGH -- We've all known children who psychologist Dr. Richard Selznick labels "Lego Kids." They're youngsters who are great with their hands and spatial relationships, but utterly lost when it comes to reading, writing and spelling.

They become what the former Westerleigh resident calls "shut-down learners" -- increasingly disconnected and discouraged with themselves and with school.

They're the subject of a book he recently published, "The Shut-Down Learner, Helping Your Academically Discouraged Child" (Sentient Publications, www.shutdownlearner.com), which is focused on how teachers and parents can best provide necessary emotional support.

"The shut-down learner (SDL) concept has been percolating in me for some time," says Selznick, who acknowledges math and spatial-visual skills have never been his strengths.

"Virtually all of us have a mix of strengths and weaknesses and, depending upon what's asked of us, feel either competent or incompetent. Unfortunately, in school, students are labeled either 'smart' or not. So, sadly, many shut-down learners see themselves as 'dumb' or losers; they don't understand their gifts and, tragically, finish high school with little sense of personal value," he said.

There's no easy fix for dealing with SDLs, said Selznick, director of the Cooper Learning Center at Cooper University Hospital in Voorhees, N.J. "But parents can help first by understanding their child and the impact of the SDL's primary learning strengths and weaknesses, and encouraging those strengths," he said.

Selznick, 53, was born on Staten Island, the only child of Mel and Betty, both now deceased. He grew up in Westerleigh, attended PS 30 in his community and Markham Intermediate School in Graniteville, before moving on to Stuyvesant High School, then the University of Rhode Island. He earned a masters degree at New York University and his doctorate at Temple University in Philadelphia.

His father taught in South Beach, was an assistant principal at Prall and Morris intermediate schools, then a long-time, popular principal of PS 22, Graniteville. "He was one of the few principals I knew who actually liked noise and tumult. To him, a quiet school was not a happy one," said his son."

He also served as athletic director and travel camp director at the Island's Jewish Community Center.

Selznick himself taught at Bernstein Intermediate School, Huguenot and PS 55, Eltingville. Child psychology seemed a natural fit for Selznick, who's worked with children since he was 15, as a camp counselor.

He and his wife Gail, an attorney, have two children.

Selznick believes the most valuable influence on an SDL is an encouraging relationship with an understanding, caring "mentor," not necessarily a professional.

In school, the SDL often feels disliked by teachers and, rather than change, blames others. "Teachers need to understand these kids have reading issues and to stop nagging them, and eliminate the tedious worksheets that contribute to the children feeling disconnected and badgered," he said.

The "magic" teachers, including his late father Mel, get it. They intuitively understand a child's value and are able to make the child feel valued, says the psychologist, who still "gets chills" recalling "To Sir with Love."

"It's never too late for classic SDLs to progress and have successful lives," said Selznick. "One young man couldn't understand why he was doing poorly on his medical-school entrance exams. After testing him, I told him he had a reading disability that had gone unidentified. He'd been smart enough to cover up his weaknesses. He was so determined to become a doctor, he worked hard at the Center on reading remediation and is a very successful doctor today."

Among Selznick's inspirations are Joe Namath, Mick Jagger/Keith Richards (collectively), Woody Allen and Damascus, the 1967 Horse of the Year, but primarily his father.

"He inspired me in many ways, above all his deep respect for people's humanity, no matter their walk of life. He almost never said a disparaging word about another person or stooped to gossip. I was the rare kid who really had direct access to his parent's life."

Selznick says we have light years to go in terms of improving our approach to "Lego Kids."

"We need alternatives that don't translate to parents as 'you're dooming my child,' as some fear when they hear things like vocational education," he said.

Joel Cohen is a freelance reporter. He can be reached through the Advance at shores@siadvance.com.

—Joel H. Cohen, Staten Island Advance