Blog Archive for August, 2012

OK, Finland. We get it. You are infinitely cooler than us.

Edweek's recent article about Finland’s move from factory-style school buildings to more innovative and architecturally stimulating buildings made me green with envy. The article claims that these “contemporary campuses [will] meet the pedagogical and social needs of their students and teachers.”

Everything about the structure is intentional, and it is meant to create a more purposeful environment for teaching and learning. Sometimes this means an atrium in the middle of the school where students can get a little vitamin D between classes. Sometimes this means a teachers lounge with an espresso bar. Finland already has one of the most successful education systems in the world. Now, with these new buildings, our sexy Scandinavian friends have really outdone themselves.

Teachers and volunteers paint the walls at Henson Elementary School, Photo courtesy of Erin Teater.

But just when I was staring over the edge of an isn't-Finland-so-great-abyss, I spent a day at Henson Elementary School in Chicago and realized that visionary leaders right here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. are doing a lot of the same work. Henson is an old building, but it is full of hope and potential. In an effort to create a more joyful environment for kids and teachers, we painted the walls bright green. It may not seem like much compared to Finland’s state-of-the-art facilities, but a small change like this in a school that’s strapped for cash can go a long way for school culture. Sometimes all you need for a fresh start is a fresh coat of paint. I know that the kids will be so excited when they come back from summer vacation and see Henson 2.0. 

Shani Jackson Dowell is the Executive Director of Teach For America - Greater Nashville. 

Last week, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan lauded Tennessee’s teacher evaluation system and the state’s gains in education in the Huffington Post. Many who have worked here in the state were excited to get Secretary Duncan’s props.  A lot has happened in our state over the past five years to set the stage for the changes that Secretary Duncan talked about.

Shani Jackson Dowell with her students. Photo courtsey of Shani Jackson Dowell.

We also know we are in the early phases of the work and have a long way to go. We want to insure our students are competitive nationally and internationally, and are amazing, creative, inventive, and kind people to boot.  So we have to continue thinking big, swallowing pride, making difficult decisions, having uncomfortable conversations, working smart and hard, checking politics at the door, and keeping students and families at the center of our conversations and work. Still, we’ve come a long way.

Fewer than five years ago our state was far from considered a model story. Tennessee had a few issues:

Melissa Gregson is the managing director of Teach For America’s STEM Initiative.

This month I celebrated a personal milestone when STEMConnector’s 100 Women in STEM publication was released (STEM is an acronym for the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math). I had the honor of sharing the pages with a true pioneer: Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. I’ve never questioned the existence of a publication celebrating female doctors, engineers, and mathematicians—it seems natural that so many phenomenal role models would be highlighted.  But recently I’ve been reminded of our society’s unfortunate history of distorting positive images of women in STEM, and the barriers we still face.

In his recent article, "The Women Who Would Have Been Sally Ride," Alexis Madrigal reports that NASA was training female astronauts twenty years before Ride’s launch but never allowed them to fly, so strong was the culture of sexism in the field. At the same time Geraldyn Cobb was outlasting her male counterparts in the sensory deprivation tank, The Palm Beach Post was describing her as “a pretty 29-year-old miss who would probably take high heels along on her first space flight if given the chance.”

Heels made a resurgence in the European Union’s 2012 “Science: It’s a Girl Thing!” campaign, revealing the enduring nature of gender stereotypes in STEM.