Parents' Association Meeting Report - April 14, 2008

by Anne Ryan, UCLS Parents' Association Communications Coordinator

John Dewey

Featured speakers at the April 14th Parents' Association meeting were Lab Teacher on Special Assignment Catie Bell and Lab webmaster Joe Kallo.  Both Bell and Kallo wrote their dissertations on Laboratory Schools founder John Dewey.  

John Dewey was born in Burlington, Vermont in 1859 and grew up on a farm there.  After receiving a doctorate from John's Hopkins in 1884 he joined the faculty of the University of Chicago in 1894, shortly after it opened.  Dewey started at the University as the head of Psychology and Philosophy, but then became the head of Pedagogy.  The Pedagogy laboratory he started in 1896, known then as The University Elementary School, is now The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools.  Dewey published "The School and Society" in 1899.  Kallo and Bell explain Dewey's basic education philosophy in four basic tenets that echo in the Lab Schools today.

"1. Dewey believed that education was the primary ground of social reform, and that the School should be responsive and responsible for changes in society at large.

2. Dewey's philosophy has at its core the belief that all inquiry, and thereby learning, begins with a spark of interest which arises from concrete experience of the world.

3. The spark of interest becomes full-fledged inquiry when the learner is provided with a rich sensory environment to investigate the question, and it terminates when the conclusion of inquiry is woven into broader knowledge.

4. Dewey believed that a democratic community had the best chance of fostering the capacity for inquiry.  Such a community supports growth by drawing the best from children in those areas in which they can contribute to the good of others."

The children at The University Elementary School were divided into eleven age groups and their classes were very

 "hands-on" or sensorial, providing children with that spark of interest and that environment to explore it.  Children learned through gardening, building, cooking, sewing, weaving textiles, woodworking, printing with a printing press and much more.  The activities were connected to the home and the community.  Children were not sitting at desks in a traditional classroom.  Dewey "taught that you could not teach directly, only indirectly by means of an environment," says Bell. The teacher's job was to offer suggestions as the students were pursuing knowledge.

Students used sand tables to build three dimensional maps of continents, rather than just studying a flat map in a book.  They also built model forts and castles on the sand tables as a part of their history lessons.  At least one and one half hours per week were devoted to cooking, which provided students more opportunities for learning arithmetic, chemistry or physics.  Children, of course, got a chance to eat what they cooked and even spoke other languages like French during the meal or listened to a story in French.  Students also made many of the items to be used at school like pencil boxes, coat racks, and even a clubhouse for the debate club.  Lessons about distribution and marketing were learned in the textile workshop.  

Books were kept in the background and students only got them out when they genuinely wanted to find out more about a subject.  Kallo acknowledges that Dewey was criticized for this, but says that students were also more likely to be reading at home then since there were no televisions.  Bell says that Dewey believed that reading was passive absorption of knowledge and that kids should rather be actively asking questions.

Kallo and Bell said that Dewey's legacy continues today at Lab in the Arts and Humanities programs, Independent Studies, Class Trips, the fitness program, the May Project, Model United Nations, the Sutherland Awards, the Reggio Emilia program and many other places.  

Director's Report

Director David Magill complimented PA President Dick Mintel on the interesting programs presented by PA this school year, stating that he hopes these types of programs will continue into the future.  He also commented on the letter he sent to all UCLS parents recently regarding the Lab school's expansion/renovation plans.  The plan will go before the Board of Trustees in June and they will be voting on its approval.  The next step will be for the school to decide on an architect.  He also said to look for a major announcement from the University in the next few weeks regarding the upcoming capital campaign.  He said an alum will be making a major donation to start it off.

Magill also praised parents Christena Nippert-Eng and Cate Plys for their efforts to start up a program emphasizing civility, designed to reduce/eliminate behaviors including bullying in the school.  (For more information see the March Parents' Association Newsletter).  

Principals Report on Steps to Promote Civility/Prevent Bullying & Other Negative Behaviors

Following Magill, three of the four Principals spoke about their approach to starting age-appropriate civility programs in the different schools.  Nursery & Kindergarten Carla Young spoke of the work of psychologist Larry Kohlberg who, with others, coined the term "Just Communities", where students have a trusting relationship with each other and work together as a community.  Young remarks,  "One of the things of greatest interest to the children in Nursery and Kindergarten are the other children and how they behave and what they think about."  She is using that interest to get children to think about "How does one get along in this world with other people?"  Teaching children to be more reflective at a very young age is also being explored, i.e. teaching them to think about how they think and feel as well as how others think and feel.  Young is interested in creating a classroom in which children develop a sense of responsibility and autonomy, not because of an adult authority, but more with an adult acting as a moral guide.  Research suggests that children in this type of classroom community are more highly developed emotionally and socially.  The Nursery School and Kindergarten devoted a recent faculty meeting to Pier Massimo Forni's book Choosing Civility: The Twenty-five Rules of Considerate Conduct.  Young has also been looking at materials published by CASEL, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning.  She looks to providing the best possible learning environment for the children.

Beverly Biggs, Lower School Principal, reminded parents of the Code of Conduct already established in the Nursery/Kindergarten & Lower School handbook.  She says that at the beginning of the year each Lower School teacher will sit down with their classroom to create and post a set of rules as to follow during the school year.  All end up being a variation of the Code of Conduct.  Biggs and the Lower School faculty are also looking at Forni's Choosing Civility and the Rules of Considerate Conduct he mentions: Pay Attention, Acknowledge Others, Think the Best, Listen, and Be Inclusive.  Biggs says that she gets to see children at their best more often than not, frequently children helping their peers through a difficult time.  Over the summer, Biggs and the faculty will be reviewing the Code of Conduct.

Middle School Principal Amani Reed acknowledges that Middle School is a difficult time for students and that Middle Schoolers sometimes forget the lessons about conduct that they learned when they were younger.  Reed believes that setting rules is important, but that it is also important to spend time talking about why the rules were made.  An important theme this year has been "What do we expect of ourselves?", a question for both students and faculty.  The Middle School is also re-examining their Code of Conduct.  In fact, they are ratifying the entire Middle School handbook page by page and checking for consistency.  Students have been assigned to create comics to explain rules to their peers like the Computer User Agreement, How to Survive Mr. Kass' class, and How to Survive the Lunchroom.  Over the summer Reed will send some faculty members to a conference with Rosalind Wiseman, author of Queen Bees and Wannabes.  Other faculty members will attend the Mean Girls Conference.  

High School Principal Matt Horvat, speaking from the experience of working at three previous high schools, said "students at University High School are unbelievably nice to each other on a daily basis, unbelievably nice to the community outside and incredibly respectful of the faculty that work with them."  When Horvat asked the faculty what made them want to come to work each day, they answered "the students and our colleagues."  When he asked the students the same question, they responded "the teachers and our friends."

Horvat said that U-High is not without its flaws, though, and brought up the subject of chemical dependency.  At the beginning of May a representative from FCD or Freedom from Chemical Dependency will meet with U-High faculty, administrators and parents.  U-High has also introduced a drug prevention curriculum for 9th and 10th graders. There is a plan to extend this program into 11th grade.  The goal is to make students stop and think before they engage in a dangerous behavior.  "Programs do work, " says Horvat, "and we need to remind kids that there's a group of kids out there who are not involved in this particular behavior...This is something that all high schools face."  Horvat plans to have a series of speakers on drugs and alcohol abuse next year.

Safety Update

Parent Laura Lambert has continued safety discussions with the University Police Department.  Children walking home are advised to talk in groups of 3-4.  She is also asking parents to get together on deciding safe walking route, 1-2 east-west streets and 1-2 north-south streets.