"We believe in the power of storytelling." - LeVar Burton

LeVar Burton at USC

Back in the day, when we had three children ages 5 and under,  Reading Rainbow was our favorite TV show. It was also one of our only TV shows as I had my husband break the set someone gave us so it would only get Channel 2. I was so against TV in my home that it was a major compromise on my part to have that much television.  Our daughter's godmother gave us her old TV so we could watch videos on the VCR someone else gave us. Yes, we were poor back then AND I was even more of a butt pain than I am now. Hard to imagine, I know. 

Turns out that LeVar is signing my song about storytelling. This is great news. He is not a butt pain and I have always been a huge fan of his and the books that he chose for Reading Rainbow are still classics. Burton's ideas are sound and they are a welcome antidote to the wrong-headed thinking of David Coleman, architect of the Common Core, who disdains literature and wants students to read "information based texts". 

 "An oft-repeated assertion of self-proclaimed Common Core architect David Coleman is that non-fiction is where students get information about the world and that's why schools must stop teaching so much fiction. In this assertion, Coleman is echoing the corporate world which he is hired to serve." 

Coleman's attitudes mirror Bill Gates' who also has little use for literature in education.  We need a heavy hitter like LeVar Burton to even up the score.David Coleman said that he believes in emphasizing so-called “informational texts” over literature and have the "the core standards for the first time demand that 50% of the text students encounter in kindergarten through 5th grade is informational text…" But Mr. Coleman was not quite done. He rocked on as he spoke at a New York State  Teacher's convention and added this beauty of a statement:

“[A]s you grow up in this world you realize people really don’t give a s%$* about what you feel or what you think.” - David Coleman

Right on, LeVar Burton ! You will have an uphill battle and are fighting some very well resourced adversaries.  The Ed Reform movement has no place for education or any reforms that empower and enliven students unless they can make a buck off it. But you, LeVar, you will have all of human history, biology, neurology, pedagogy and child development on your side. Oh yeah, and most teachers and all of us storytellers too.

Reposted  from University of Southern California's News

http://news.usc.edu/75332/levar-burton-seeks-to-couple-storytelling-with-education/

LeVar Burton seeks to couple storytelling with education

Former Reading Rainbow host tells USC audience that storytelling is an ‘essential element of the human experience’

by Matthew Kredell

February 11, 2015

LeVar Burton discusses the importance of storytelling for youngsters. (Photo/Tom Queally)

When the iconic PBS program Reading Rainbow started in 1983, America’s children were hanging out in front of the television.

“We wanted them to read more, so we went on TV and steered them back in the direction of the written word,” said LeVar Burton, host and executive producer of the acclaimed program that ran for 23 seasons. “That was revolutionary. The conversation at that time was television was rotting the brains of our children and will be the death knell of education in America, and we were able to prove that wasn’t the case.” Burton explained how he’d like to see storytelling better integrated into education during a recent Holt Distinguished Lecture Series event presented by the USC Price School of Public Policy’s Bedrosian Center on Governance and the Public Enterprise.

Building the brand

After the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning series went off the air, Burton and his business partner acquired the rights to the brand and turned it into the No. 1 educational application.

In 2014, he went to Kickstarter to help revive Reading Rainbow as a Web series, and it became the most popular Kickstarter campaign ever with more than 105,000 backers and a final tally of $6.4 million, well over its $1 million goal.

Children are now reading 200,000 books a week through the RRKidz app. The conclusion he’s drawn from the success of Reading Rainbow, both on television and as an app, revolves around the importance of storytelling to capture a child’s attention.

"We believe in the power of storytelling." - LeVar Burton

“Storytelling, being such an essential element of the human experience, is an invaluable tool in the service of educating our children,” Burton said. “That’s our secret sauce. We believe in the power of storytelling.”

“Having Burton as our Holt speaker was truly an honor,” said USC Bedrosian Director Raphael Bostic, who led the conversation. “His cultivation and development of the Reading Rainbow franchise is both interesting and innovative. His vision, passion and warmth were on full display, providing inspiration for me and our audience.”

From Roots to Rainbow

Burton made his acting debut as Kunta Kinte in the trend-setting 1977 miniseries Roots, while he was a student at the USC School of Dramatic Arts. He also played the role of Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation. 

In addition, Burton won 12 Emmys in his roles on Reading Rainbow.

Where Burton hopes to have an impact on public policy is bringing storytelling into the classroom. He said the Reading Rainbow classroom edition will go through testing over the next couple months with the goal of being ready for the next school year in September. Burton hopes to see new education policy that would require literature and reading become more of an integrated part of all aspects of curriculum.

“Storytelling is a shorthand language that all human beings have in common,” he said. “My belief is that if we are successful in bringing more storytelling into the educational process, we will be more successful at educating our children.”

Storytelling: at Tufts ExCollege FALL 2013

 First in a series of unpublished blog posts from this insanely busy past few months...

An open letter to my Tufts ExCollege Students:

Thank you, all. Last night was an absolutely fabulous final-project-end-of-term, slam. I can honestly say it was the best ever, being the first. Levity aside, and despite interruptions from my overreaching desire to document, facilitate and generally futz around with technology, your slam was every bit as amazing as you may have felt it.

Didn't everyone bring their A game? Were we regaled with hilarity and depth, personal growth and deep insight? Yes. From the very first story, (which set a high bar) to the very last, we experienced real life, beautifully crafted into narrative. Through each story the art of storytelling shone.

Before I get even more cringe-worthy gushy, I am posting a few sloppily snapped photos which do not do the performers or performances justice. Then, I am getting to work on my critique of your performances, collating all your comments and finding a way to get them to you and creating grades for you all. Once that is set I will be editing the audio podcast and video clips and posting same. It may take me a while so when you are in the throes of finals look for an email with links to this amazing night of stories to buoy your spirits. Again, thank you all for working to bring such great stories and making my "first time" teaching a college level storytelling course truly rewarding.

Common Core = rotten at the center

Update: Just relocated this video

People - I am getting really worried about education trends and you might be too. All kinds of crazy styles and fads run through education but when the "architect" of the national standards/Common Core (and now the head of the College Board, which develops and administers the SAT and AP tests) David Coleman said that he believes in emphasizing so-called “informational texts” over literature and have the "the core standards for the first time demand that 50% of the text students encounter in kindergarten through 5th grade is informational text…" I said "what?"  But Mr. Coleman, was not quite done. He rocked on and added this beauty of a statement:

“[A]s you grow up in this world you realize people really don’t give a s%$* about what you feel or what you think.” - David Coleman

I was puzzled by his attitude. This man is an educator speaking to educators of young people at meeting about how to best educate young people. This is not Bart Simpson having a beer. This is David Coleman who founded the Grow Network ‐ acquired by McGraw‐Hill in 2005 ‐ which has become the nation’s leader in assessment reporting and customized instructional materials. Mr. Coleman was a lecturer at the University of London before going to work in the pro bono education area  ( what is that one wonders - is pro bono code for sales or marketing?) of McKinsey & Company. He is a Rhodes Scholar and a graduate of Yale University, Oxford University and Cambridge University. Here are two things he is not; a classroom teacher and pretty clearly he is not a very mature human being.

Common Core "architect" David Coleman

From his impressive credentials you may believe he knows a lot about education. But  actually he seems to only know a lot about education policy, specifically  education reform.   His statement about stories was so inane and mean spirited that it really was frightening. This person is in charge of policy for young learners?  We have a real problem when hot shot policy people can trash talk literature and are not pelted with virtual tomatoes and booed off the stage. But my shock is way overdue. This  CCSSI and the denigration of the study of literature is all part of a wider, long term plan. Susan Ohanian said in her recent blog: 

"Educating Students to Fill Most In-Demand Jobs

And so corporate courtier Arne Duncan tells a group of education reporters that unemployment is caused more by a 'skills crisis' than a 'jobs crisis,' and that we aren't educating students to fill the most in-demand jobs.

Downgrading the importance of fiction in our schools, saying that children gain information about the world only through nonfiction, is the Common Core's role in "educating students' to fill those most in-demand jobs.

Schoolteachers who have gloried in reading Rotten Ralph, The Just-So Stories, The Trumpet of the Swan, The Great Gilly Hopkins, Incident at Hawk's Hill, The Acorn People, and hundreds of other titles with their students are late in getting to this corporate party. In Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle Chris Hedges points out that universities have already accepted their corporate role, and "As universities become glorified vocational schools for corporations they adopt values and operating techniques of the corporations they serve.

"An oft-repeated assertion of self-proclaimed Common Core architect David Coleman is that non-fiction is where students get information about the world and that's why schools must stop teaching so much fiction. In this assertion, Coleman is echoing the corporate world which he is hired to serve." Read more here

My complaints are largely and argumentum ad hominum.  Let's talk about what David Coleman is actually doing. His credentials and connections  have allowed him and his gravy train-enthused allies, to foist a huge dose of snake oil on the Massachusetts public schools. His snake oil Rx - the Common Core National Standards CCSSI exist to fix a system that is not broken.  Read an informational text below that is full of data. It will show you, if you haven't already been besotted with wasteful and wanton reading of fiction, that following the Massachusetts ELA frameworks in the classroom was, as documented fact, doing a great job of educating students. The excerpt below was written by Jamie Gass May 08, 2012  He is director of the Center for School Reform at Pioneer Institute, a Massachusetts think tank ( all emphasises are mine).

"Architects of the landmark 1993 education reform law understood and appreciated our literary heritage; that's why Massachusetts public school students were reading much of the work produced by these and other ancient and modern poets. The results of our students' grounding in poetry, literature and higher-level vocabulary have been outstanding. In 2005, the commonwealth's fourth- and eighth-graders came out tops in the reading component of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nation's report card.

In 2007, 2009 and 2011, each time the test was administered, they repeated that feat. But recently, our students started learning 60 percent less about the many great Massachusetts poets and literary figures. That's because the commonwealth ditched its nation-leading English standards for inferior national standards that will have students reading far less poetry and literature, particularly in high school. Now, via these national education standards, Massachusetts has exactly the same literary expectations as they do in low-performing states like Louisiana, West Virginia and Mississippi." More 


This movement for "reform" and hue and cry of danger! began in the Dark Ages of President Ronald Regan Reign. It was he who initiated the study with an introduction so over the top it now sounds like it was written by Stephen Colbert:

from "A Nation at Risk,   1983

"Our Nation is at risk. Our once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry, science and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world. This report is concerned with only one of the many causes and dimensions of the problem, but it is the one that undergirds American prosperity, security,and civility. We report to the American people that while we can take justifiable pride in what our schools and colleges have historically accomplished and contributed to the United States and the well-being of its people, the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future -as a Nation and a people. What was un-imaginable a generation ago has begun to occur. Others are matching and surpassing our educational attainments.

If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an  act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves. We have even squandered the gains in Student achievement made in the wake of the Sputnik challenge. Moreover, we have dismantled essential support systems which helped make those gains possible. We have,in effect, been committing an act of unthinking. unilateral educational disarmament."

Phew - I was so worried after reading this I had to check the water and canned goods supplies in my apocalypse shelter.  But wait - maybe there is more to this story?

... Project Censored reports: "Six years later, [after A Nation at Risk] when state governors and President George Bush set national education goals after the 1989 education summit, the administration charged Sandia National Laboratories, a scientific research organization, with investigating the state of public education. In 1991, Sandia presented its first findings to the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation. While the response from these government agencies should have been one of some celebration, instead it was one of silence -- a silence compounded by the national media. The results did not reveal a seriously deficient educational system in dire need of profound changes such as a nationwide voucher program.

 And in Wikipedia we find this[below]. Apparently the "truth" about the education crisis was so strong, it was necessary to suppress or ignore any other findings.

"In 1990, Admiral James Watkins, the Secretary of Energy, commissioned the Sandia Laboratories in New Mexico to document the decline in the Nation at Risk report with actual data. When the systems scientists broke down the SAT test scores into subgroups they discovered contradictory data. While the overall average scores declined, the subgroups of students increased. In statistics this is known as Simpson's paradox. The 3 authors presented their report. David Kearns, Deputy Secretary of Education allegedly told the authors of the report,"You bury this or I'll bury you", though this quote is disputed by Diane Ravitch. Education Week published an article on the Sandia report in 1991. Unlike the Nation at Risk report, the Sandia Report critique received almost no attention."

The fact is that the Ed Reform people do not care what they deform or who they hurt with their policies. After all, this is the real world and they are grown ups. They know, "...people really don’t give a s%$* about what you feel or what you think.” - David Coleman
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