BFTP: Stone Soup: A Classroom Parable

Rather than a blog repost this week, I thought I'd reprise a short column that appeared in (then) Multimedia Schools fifteen years ago! I thought about it when I was writing my version of the Stone Cutter. Not much of a fiction writer, but there you go.

Stone Soup: A Classroom Parable
MultiMedia Schools, Nov/Dec 1996

When Ms. Eastman returned to school one fall she found a large boulder had appeared in the middle of her classroom. It was about the size of washing machine, gray with silver glints, and could neither be ignored nor moved.

“I think you’ll just have to make the best of it,” the principal advised, unable to explain how or why it came to be there. “I think the Board may have wanted it, and the budget just won’t support hiring a professional rock mover,” he said in a single breath, and resumed his telephone conversation with the parent of child who had just eaten a wall-mounted pencil sharpener.

***

When Ms. Eastman’s students returned, they immediately pounced on the rock.
     “Hey, it’s like the one in my backyard.”
    “Check it out. It’s a throne.”
    “Nah, a bomber.”
    “It’s perfect for my desk!”
    “Where did it come from, why is it here, who gets to sit at it, why can’t we all have one?”
Ms. Eastman asked the class to get to work, and as they opened their textbooks and began to quietly read, she distributed worksheets.

***

The rock proved to be an annoyance. It was right in the middle of the room. It made creating a seating chart difficult. It was too far from the front of the room to be used as a stand for the overhead projector, and the irregularity of its surface made it a poor desk or surface on which to affix papers. On occasion, when a student had done exceptionally well, Ms. Eastman allowed that person to “Read on the Rock.” But for the first quarter, the entire class just worked around the boulder.

Late one November afternoon, Ms. Eastman overheard two students engaged in a heated argument over the composition of the stone. “Settle this intelligently,” she admonished. “Both of you, go to the library, do your research, and come back and report to the class.” In less than half an hour, two excited children returned.  “It’s definitely basalt with quartz flecks. Hey, do know where this came from? A volcano…” The class listened intently as the pair shared their findings about the rock.

***

Over her second margarita that evening, Ms. Eastman reflected on that afternoon’s class, and decided it had gone particularly well. The kids were enthusiastic and attentive. One of the two children who did the research on the rock performed at higher level and showed more interest in school than Ms. Eastman thought it possible for him to. She began to see the rock’s glitter in a new light.

The next Monday morning, Ms. Eastman read the class the myth of Sisyphus, and asked the students to use questions raised during the discussion as the basis of their journal writing. Over the next week or so, articles related to rocks keep popping up in magazines and newspapers. Ms. Eastman used these as springboards for lessons in math and science and history. Soon students were finding and sharing information they themselves had found about rocks in their reading and viewing.

Just before turning off the classroom lights one evening, Ms. Eastman caught a glimpse of white near the base of the stone. It was a note left in a crevice of the rock. When asked, the class sheepishly admitted the rock was serving as a classroom post office. “Are these the same kids I can’t get to put two cogent words together in their journals?” wondered Ms. Eastman. She struck a deal with the class: they could continue to write their letters as long as they revised one letter each week.  That letter would be read for grammar and spelling, and could be shared with the rest of the class.

***

As the year progressed, many activities began to center around the rock. Parts of the rock easily broke away into pebble size pieces and the class began a business selling “Stone Soup Starters.” In the processes, students applied math, designed advertisements, and worried about ethics. At various times the rock was the setting for plays about the Pilgrims and pioneers on the Oregon trail. Science class divided into small groups which used the rock to demonstrate principles of acids and bases, friction, gravity, and sundials.  One morning a small wooden door appeared firmly attached to the base the rock, which one student adamantly declared was a passage to Van Allsburg Land. Van Allsburg Land soon had a language with its own syntax, a codified set of laws, and even its own culture - all which in some strange way reflected the world the class lived in and was trying hard to understand.

***

One day in early May the principal called Ms Eastman to his office. “Do you have the correct code to the photocopier?” he asked.  Ms. Eastman looked puzzled. “You have made almost no photocopies since October. We need these numbers to satisfy the central office, you realize.” He was right, Ms. Eastman mused. She hadn’t used many worksheets, she’d used only pieces of her text book, and had not shown a videotape from beginning to end since November. Her grade book had only a few entries, but each of her students had a pizza box crammed with exemplary reports, graphs, drawings, and models she had asked them to collect since the last parent teacher conference.

She reflected her class this year must have just been made up of exceptional children, just the right chemistry. They cooperated, they were genuinely interested in school, they held good discussions, and they were conscientious about the quality of their work. They seemed to be reading more newspapers and magazines, came back from the library with more materials and fewer complaints from the librarian, and could apply math principles more quickly and accurately to every day problems than previous years’ classes. Ms. Eastman was still in happy amazement as her graduate classes started in June.

***

When Ms. Eastman returned to her classroom the following fall she found a computer had appeared in the middle of her classroom…

Image source: http://www.worth1000.com/contests/3115/contest

Are you speaking where people are listening?

Email is for old people--literally.

Email use dropped 59 percent among users aged 12-17, as well as 8 percent overall, according to ComScore's 2010 Digital Year in Review. Users between 18-54 are also using email less, though among those 55 and older, email actually saw an upswing. Huffington Post, March 2, 2011

One of the very first articles I got published was about the importance of librarians creating a good communication program. In 1992's Using Planning and Reporting to Build Program Support (The Book Report, May 1992), I suggested*:

Few educators outside our own profession really seem to know what we should do, what we can do, and what we actually do.  I believe it is because library media specialists tend to neglect the “ends” of the job:  planning and reporting.  A formal, systematic procedure for media program planning and reporting can effectively increase staff and administrative support, and should be given a very high priority among the myriad of building level media professional’s tasks. ...

My public relation efforts center around three reporting tools:  a bi-monthly principal’s report, a monthly faculty newsletter, and a regular column in the school district’s monthly newspaper.  While each of these “publications” has a different audience and different focus, I often address common topics that relate back to my program goals or year’s objectives.  While a yearly evaluation with the principal or a yearly report to the advisory committee could suffice, monthly or bi-monthly reports keep media activities visible throughout the year.  These writings reach a wider audience: the entire staff and the community, not just the administration and the selected library/media committee.

Oh for the simple days of what seemed like a single means of communication - the printed newsletter. Those of us who were "tech savvy" created our newsletters in a word processor or desktop publishing program, adding headlines and clip art. (I still think that Alice Yucht's idea of creating a 'toilet paper" by taping the library newsletter to the back of bathroom stall doors is the best way of disseminating print materials.)

Soon the more progressive librarians recognized that e-mail was even more effective in sending newsletters and that's what most of us have done for the last 15 years or so. But as the study in the opening quote suggests, perhaps we need to rethink our communication strategies - especially with our students and younger parents and teachers. To actually go where students and parents are reading, listening and viewing.

Here are some new avenues for information dissemination. One convenient thing is that once a message is created, it can be spread in many ways.  

• A Facebook Fan Page is easy to create if you have a personal Facebook page. With "fans" limited access to the rest of your (probably debauched) Facebook account, this is a safe and pretty effective way to reach those who ONLY seem to use social networking for communication.
• Blog with an RSS feed may be more effective than a regular website. The interactivity of a blog will be appealing to those who like to respond to ideas. I've always thought Francie Harris's Gargoyles Loose in the Library is the model for this medium of communication.
• Twitter is popular among a certain segment of Internet users. The 140 characters are about enough to alert readers of an event or to provide a link to more substantial information posted somewhere else. Maybe 140 characters is just enough inform your staff and students about the latest books and resources available in your library.
• Text, e-mail, voice message blasts may be possible in your district. Our PR department is the master of sending these things out so if you have some exciting news for parents, this may be the most effective means of information. Check with your PR department or student information system manager.
• GoogleApps for Education has a wonderful tool called GoogleGroups that makes sending and archiving e-mails to larger groups really simple.
• While I am all about the written word, clever librarians tell their stories in ways that reach visual. auditory learners. I was blown away by Buffy Hamilton's year end report she creates with Animoto. Wow! Do you post library videos on YouTube or TeacherTube and/or make podcasts. As long as people are walking around with things stuck in their ears, they may as well be listening to something cool about the library.

I am not convinced that e-mail is as dead as some might suggest. Nor am I convinced of the longevity of some of these other communication media. But I do know this: Librarians HAVE to have regular and formal communication strategy for students, teachers, principals and parents. People have to know (and value) what we do in order to advocate for us. Libraries in concept only are easy to cut.

What have you found effective in communicating with those who could advocate for you?

 * For you younger readers, I translated this from the original written in Old English.