Book Review – The Hunger Games

Posted on March 24, 2013 by sutterlearn

I finally relented to pop culture, at my daughter’s urging, and read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. My submission was more a response to her repeated requests and finally she checked the book from her school library and brought it to me.  How could I reject this effort for us to connect?  She also insisted that I couldn’t watch the movie until I’d read the book, echoing my own rules!

Over a long winter break weekend, I dove into the tween novel and finished it in a couple days, drawn into very good storytelling.  While exciting and continually suspenseful, I can’t say that the book was entirely creative and it celebrated some of the worst attributes of humanity and Western society.

The world Collins created is unique, yet familiar.  I found myself visualizing Mad Max movies with neon Nickelodeon colors and the bubbled force-field arena something like that place Aqua man lived in the old cartoons.  It seemed that at each cliffhanger problem, the solution quickly came and almost too easily.  Devices such as parachutes with gifts, frightening fireballs from the sky, near-miss attacks and rescues perpetuated throughout the story.  I was infrequently allowed to fully grieve or celebrate characters and events because they were so predictable.  Remembering Romeo and Juliette, I was hardly moved when the star-crossed lovers came to the brink of poisoned berries.
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Too much of the plot mirrored the power struggle of bullies in schools, politics and poverty, and even American Idol judges determining the fates of adolescent dreams.  So much that we’ve come to consider normal was further legitimized, while taken to a not-so-unimaginable extreme of life and death. Ultimately, when the dust settled and the train takes the victors home, we are given the only yet-to-be-resolved problem representing the impetuousness of young love and the condition of marriage in our society where the protagonists is torn between having two loves and wanting them both.  I was happy thinking she was going home to the comfort of love after such trials, so this last open ending helped me decide I don’t need to read further in the series.  I’m sure there will be a quick fix anyway.

The Hunger Games gets 3 of 5 Sutterstars.  What it lacks in quality literature, it brings in excitement and flow.

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Degrees For Sports

Posted on March 24, 2013 by sutterlearn

Over on Jose Vilson’s blog, he recently wondered why we don’t give degrees in sports.  Before you judge, read his post for context.  Jose is a smart and thoughtful guy actually discussing a much deeper, and familiar issue.  As I wrote back to him, I realized my readers would get a kick out of the discussion too.

When I wrote a few years ago on the difference in school and learning, my take was not to further legitimize athletics; our society and economy has made that clear.  Those with “degrees in the sport” are busily entertaining us in March Madness as I write this.  God bless anyone with such gifts that their physical and mental synthesis on court or field might raise them from otherwise squalid conditions our society created and into which they may, or may not, have been born.  The rest, nearly talented but equally dedicated in their life’s pursuit of the sport, are on the bench, at the Y, or in the neighborhood.  I can’t imagine a ball degree would improve their daily happiness or well-being, unless we  realized a societal shift in which employers and our culture developed a deep understanding and value for the mental dispositions athletes develop that are transferable to improving self and society: perseverance, teamwork, leadership, hard work…all desirable dispositions.  I’m left wondering about the academic base necessary for a learning society.
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Education is learning.  Schooling is the institutionalized, and increasingly flawed, way we’ve developed to encourage learning en mass.  Ultimately, it must come down to dialogue, like ours, between caring individuals, determined and dedicated to serve and help others see their passion and provide evidence of their ability to fill a need in the world.  That could come through an academic test or hard-earned success in your art (ala Bill Gates or pro athletes).  Think how different K-16 learning structures are (carrots and hoops) from graduate and post-grad work (dialogue and discourse).  This emphasizes the real difference we’ve created between schooling and learning.

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The Public’s Agenda for Public Education

Posted on February 10, 2013 by sutterlearn

Last week I attended a conference hosted by The Center for Michigan, where they released the report summarizing Michigan data collected at numerous Community Conversations across the state in 2012. While I wasn’t completely impressed with the journalistic layout of some statistics, such as average teacher salaries or per pupil spending juxtaposed directly national rankings – these made a clear argument that education is not providing adequate return on investment, the Center gathered and provided a lot of solid data that lawmakers, educators, and the public should explore if indeed our society claims to value its children’s learning.

A significant finding of this study is that African-American and low-income residents are some of the hardest critics of our education system.  Michigan’s wealthiest respondents graded schools considerably higher than the poorest residents.  This corroborates the whole Matthew effect of upper-class disillusionment that things are peachy, because things are peachy…for them.  That the most-often disenfranchised demographics are the least satisfied and most opinionated about promoting change may be counterintuitive for conventional thinking that public education is under attack by conservative WASPs.

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This report may be a good platform for Michiganders to base hearty conversations on the how of improving schools if we can get past whose agenda it may be.  You can access the full report here: THE PUBLIC’SAGENDA FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION: How Michigan citizens want to improve student learning.

Posted in Politics, School Reform | Leave a comment

Please, Borrow My Stuff

Posted on February 10, 2013 by sutterlearn

Recently my daughter started borrowing our things.  She fits in my wife’s “trendy” shoes, so she puts them on without asking.  My water bottles disappear into her bag continually because “they’re more grown up”.  Ironically, she is also at a stage in which her primary communication queues are eye rolls and irritated sighs.  It is typical adolescence and typically frustrating to us as parents, to think for one second that we created an offspring to be a taker, and an ungrateful one at that.

She went on a church youth sledding trip recently.  As she unpacked her bag, I saw her put my knit John Deere hat out to dry.  Surprised that it was neither “trendy” nor “grown up”, I was primarily irritated that she had once again taken something of mine because it was easier than digging up her own.  She got angry with me for asking where her hat was.  I reflected personally and regretfully wondering about my sad contribution to a society of laziness, entitlement, and blaming others any time we’re questioned.  How could I make her see?

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It’s not always about making others see, but to try ourselves to see others in a different light.

Posted in Coaching, Parenting | 1 Comment

ePIFany™ Party!

Posted on February 10, 2013 by sutterlearn

I am in an ongoing search for good in the world because there is so much, but it is easily overshadowed and subtle.  Here’s a not-so-subtle way to increase the good!  Check out ePIFanyNow.org to understand their simple, mission of celebrating kindness.  This Lansing-based group is having a party to promote kindness and you’re invited.  Here are the details:

Sunday, February 17, 2013

MSU Federal Credit Union, 3777 West Rd. East Lansing, MI 48823

  • 2 p.m. – gather and receive information and directions
  • 2:30 p.m. – go out into the community and pass it forward
  • 4:30 p.m. – gather back together to share your story on how you passed kindness forward

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RSVP at ePIFanyNow.org or facebook.com/ePIFanyNow

If you participate, stop back at the SutterBlog and tell us how it goes!

Posted in Leadership | 2 Comments

Rethinking Recess

Posted on February 10, 2013 by sutterlearn

Even without a classroom right now, kids still inspire my thinking the most.  Recently, a second grader shared with me that he was bored and frustrated at recess.  He passionately lamented that after “almost three years on the same playground” he had sufficiently experienced every slide, swing, monkey bar, and dandelion the playground offered.  “Recess is kind of boring,” the thoughtful little guy said.  Can you imagine?

At first I couldn’t, but as I thought deeper on his predicament, I realized indeed a person can only slide or swing so many times before yearning for something more.  So I asked the boy, “What if you thought of recess not as a place, but as a time?  What if recess wasn’t just the playground full of equipment you’ve done, but an escape for you to focus on something you just don’t get enough time for during class, or at home?”  We both sat quiet for a few minutes and wondered, what if?

In my wondering, I questioned if such a paradigm shift was too philosophical or theoretical for a seven-year old to fathom.  As I thought I realized, it’s just this sort of cognitive shift we should all consider as learners.  I thought of my frustration at the controlling role standardized test scores take in public education, valuating our kids and evaluating teachers.  But what if I considered them as one piece of a picture, or another person’s perspective on an issue to which I may be too personally invested.  Some of my best learning comes from different viewpoints.

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Then I thought about my classrooms of kids.  What if I didn’t consider the abundance of topics and content to cover as a suffocating checklist from outside, but as a game?  To be sure, there are still rules to follow, still goals to accomplish, but games are fun.  The reason we play them is the challenge of strategy and the interdependent relationships they require.  Sometimes we compete, sometimes we cooperative, sometimes we must do both; with ourselves, each other, and our students.

After our silence, my second-grade pal spoke up.  “I could talk to some friends from another class…we could plan some of our DI stuff,” he said.  This kid made me realize that the thought we were exploring wasn’t so much about the problems we face, but how we face our problems. I suppose seven isn’t too young to shift your paradigm a little.

Posted in Coaching, Leadership, Students, Teachers | 1 Comment

Surrounded by Expert Teachers

Posted on January 14, 2013 by sutterlearn

As our district tackled both a new teacher leadership structure AND the Common Core State Standards implementation this year, folks often feel overwhelmed.  By folks, I mean me specifically, but I know those around me feel the pressure.  While many of our grade-level teams are learning to employ formative assessment, our K-4 teams have really dug into backward design of our curriculum starting with assessment that will provide data, which will then inform the instruction and materials we gather.  While some have shared the pressures of the work and change, others have described it as empowerment and opportunity.  A recent blog I read wrapped up many of our challenges in a post called Common Core, Whole Child, Teacher Leadership, and Action Research: A Perfect Storm?

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Posted in Coaching, Teachers | 1 Comment

Community Conversation Revisited

Posted on January 14, 2013 by sutterlearn

In February of 2012, I hosted a Community Conversation to explore issues, build understanding, and gather solutions for an involved citizenry in education.  The Center for Michigan, who facilitated the conversation held many across the state, gathering data to create a report called “THE PUBLIC’SAGENDA FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION: How Michigan citizens want to improve student learning.” Before this report is sent to legislators, it will be shared with the public at a free conference in Lansing on January 29, 2013. Knowledgeable and prominent speakers will discuss the report, explain its content, and receive your point of view on the topics.  Register soon and see how the conversation comes together!


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Posted in Leadership, Politics, School Reform | Leave a comment

Closet Epiphanies

Posted on December 18, 2012 by sutterlearn

Before I joined the workforce as an adult, I came upon the dream that I needed to become a chaplain for people in crisis.  Not one of a specific religious affiliation, but someone who could listen and move people through their traumatic events.  I don’t imagine I was a typical 18-year-old because I convinced myself that I was far too young and inexperienced in life itself to provide counsel to others, much less those in crisis.  I decided I needed to walk in their shoes and experience the darker sides of life myself, so I became a paramedic and worked with the SWAT team.

Life moved on, dreams are replaced, and I found myself passionate about teaching kids and modeling a world I wish we lived in.  My first year teaching I learned that not all 4th graders are “at grade level”.  I bemoaned this reality for a while, frustrated that a one-size-fits-all model didn’t help a few in my care.  Then one day as I was standing in the closet picking out what to wear, a voice in my head said, “Teach Them”.  I went straight to school and printed a banner with those words that has hung in my classroom ever since.  It is not for kids, but for me as a reminder that my service is to stop lamenting the challenges and unfairnesses, then figure out what they need and get them there.  Teach them.

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Walking into my closet that evening, the same little voice repeated a sign I had seen in a dear teacher’s room: “What people need is a good listening to.”  I was reminded of my original dream to be a counselor to those in crisis, realizing that my optimism isn’t something to regret or bridle, but when couched with compassion and empathy, is exactly the type of “listening to” that isolated educators don’t get enough.

Posted in Coaching, Leadership, Teachers | 1 Comment

All In One Leaders

Posted on December 18, 2012 by sutterlearn

Thomas Edison is known for literally thousands of failures before inventing a working light bulb.  After such admirable perseverance, you can understand his humble and familiar phrase, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” In our work, I’d argue against logical mathematics that educators put in equal amounts of inspiration and perspiration, both far above 100%.

Leadership in education has morphed over the past fifty years from institutions with a principal as manager to more recent expectations of distributed leadership roles that include teachers, principals, district administration, and even reaching into communities as partners.  Two basic definitions have surfaced of instructional leaders, those focused on evidence-based improved teaching and learning (perspiration), and transformational leaders, those focused on inspiring commitment to develop capacity (inspiration).  Often these are presented as two “styles” of leadership which immediately leads to determining which is more effective.
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The clarification needs to be made that these are two complementary attributes of leaders at any level that we need to embrace holistically as we support one another in this important work, demanding evidence-based improvement while inspiring perseverance, creativity, humbleness, genius of ourselves and others.

Posted in Coaching, Leadership, Teachers | Leave a comment