Entry # 17:
A Trip to Oz --
So Much Depends Upon the Teacher
Over spring break I hit the road headed east seeking gardens and schools
and found both.
Over spring break I hit the road headed east seeking gardens and schools
and found both. I visited the J.C. Raulston arboretum in Raleigh and the
Sarah P. Duke gardens in Durham with its magnificent terraced tulip beds.
It was like being in some sort of Dutch heaven.
Then I traveled on to Hillsborough to see the garden of Nancy Goodwin, the
renowned Montrose. I was reading a year's exchange of letters between Nancy
and Alan Lacy, former garden writer for the Wall Street Journal published
in A Year in Our Gardens. These combined experiences were the best
kind of treat for someone who never quite gets all the dirt out from under
her fingernails during the spring and who is incapable of passing a flower
that needs dead-heading without stooping over to oblige.
The busman's holiday part of the road trip was a visit to a private school.
I had heard of Cary Academy in Cary, NC, at a conference three years ago
and then, again, earlier this spring. The National Technology Teacher of
the Year who works at Cary Academy presented at our state middle school
conference last March. Previously, I had scheduled two dates for visits,
which had to be cancelled due to school emergencies. I thought I would never
get there but mustered my resolve the Friday before the break began and
called. Graciously, the head of the middle school there granted my eleventh
hour request to visit on Monday.
A trip to Oz
The reason for wanting to visit this school was to see seamless infusion
of technology into the instructional program. If were going to happen anywhere,
this had to be the place. The founder of SAS industries, a major player
in software development, endowed Cary Academy. Money was no object. Two
years of planning preceded its opening. After four years, they are just
now graduating their first class in the grade 6-12 school, having added
a grade level a year. They did everything right, just the way I would do
it in a perfect world. So, since hearing of this to be legendary school,
I knew that a trip to Oz had to happen.
What I found was a replica of the elegant University of Virginia campus.
The library was an exact copy of the original library at UVA, complete with
rotunda balcony and skylight. The reception area was a two-story vaulted
ceiling with cherry paneling, exquisite millwork, marble floor, and huge
brass chandelier.
This is where the office was that received parent "concerns."
Do not bother the principal. This really was Oz.
The student teacher ratio was about ten to one. The student to computer
ratio was 1:1 in language arts and math classes (T180 lines, of course)
and 2:1 in science and social studies classes. As we toured the buildings
(the cafeteria was unique for its round tables shared by students and teachers
with family style service -- so humane and so un-institutional) and dropped
in on classes. There was the usual fare here with a strong emphasis on foreign
language beginning in grade six. Ample evidence was in sight of an art infused
curriculum with student work on display throughout the school.
But there was something strange going on in Oz.
The real wizards were the teachers
Technology rich though they were, there was little evidence of it in use
anywhere except in the media center. The core of this school was not its
software and hardware; it was something much more familiar: really outstanding
teachers. I met a 7th grade science teacher who had previously worked as
a forensic chemist. What life experiences each had to bring to teaching!
I asked how they were recruited and the reply was "they find us."
Nice. Really nice.
I should have known this is what I would find in a good school. It is what
you find in any really good school: great teachers. I had forgotten that
as I looked for something more. Technology and unlimited funding is great,
but it is nothing on its own. The heart of a school is its teachers, the
only source of great strength.
When I returned from spring break with this wondrous school on my mind,
I did my welcome back greeting, walking past and into all the rooms in the
school. What I saw going on in every single one was the same activity, and
I was amazed because it was exactly the right thing to do. I had given the
faculty no direction; they just knew what to do. They knew because they
understand middle schoolers and a combination of experience and intuition
spawned this very correct thing.
In every classroom, students were telling about the highs and lows of their
own spring break week. Teachers were sharing their own stories and commenting
upon the stories they were being told. There was laughter and listening
in room after room. Then, almost simultaneously, teachers said, "Now
it is time to focus on our work. Get out your paper and pencils." And
they all brought spring break to closure and began the final weeks of the
school year.
So, when I looked into the secret of Oz, I found it was "just"
its teachers. I suspect that this is true in good schools everywhere. It's
not the technology. It's the teachers, and I am glad to have had this reminder.
The yellow brick roadtrip lead back home, and the lessons to be learned
were here all along.
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