| Nathan Hale principal Nena
Nanfeldt speaks frankly about the difficulty of sustaining interest in a
reform topic once the workshop presenter has come and gone. this was the
case last year when equity educator Fred Gross gave a well-received presentation
at the Connecticut elementary school. Fred raised awareness about equity,
but Nena points out the real challenge was "to sustain interest in
equity as an issue in student learning during the rest of the school year."
Nena felt the teachers needed to continue the rich conversations about equity
that were started in the workshop and expand those discussions with the
rest of the school community including parents, administrators, and other
building staff. The question was how to have those conversations in an organized
way.
Drawing on the success of a student book club that featured a novel with equity themes, Nena and her staff began thinking about using the same type of forum to discuss equity issues schoolwide. Teachers believed that if the whole school community — teachers, parents, and students — were reading a book with an equity theme all at the same time, some truly valuable discussions would emerge. It was also a great way to promote literacy schoolwide. After lots of brainstorming, the Nathan Hale Equity Book Club was born. A group of teachers set to work to write a grant that would support the modest needs of such a project and developed an impressive implementation plan. Unfortunately the school did not receive a grant for the book club. However, they still had a proposal they all liked and were able to use, in a scaled-back form, as a spring board to start the club. In August 1999, the school bought books and began training for parents and teachers using funds from the Alliance and other existing grants. |
Nena hopes this project will spark interest and enthusiasm for schoolwide discussions about reform. Alliance Access will keep you informed about the club’s progress.
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