The Class as it Affects Me EDUC2250

WELCOME BACK CONNELL, NEW MEXICO TEACHER NAMED 2017 NATIONAL TEACHER OF THE YEAR

AP WIRE:  John Connell, a biology and physics teacher from Rio Rancho High School presented Friday with the National Teacher of the Year Award by President Jack Nicholson in a White House Garden Ceremony.  Nicholson called him a late starter emphasizing that this is proof that a sharp mind and a different perspective are often overlooked in many arenas, comparing Connell to Bill Walton, the Laker's star who is now excelling in areas outside his initial venue.  "Kind of like comparing my own life, obviously teaching was on Connell's Bucket List."

Connell, who entered an alternative licensure program as a second career, was honored for his initiation of an early pre-K pilot project he started in his last year at Central New Mexico College, that has sprung forth multiple replicate programs throughout the country and proposed a different model for education.  The Parent-Child Dyad Experiment has become a national rage that is elevating initial learning as measured by both standardized testing and parental feedback.

"It really isn't that new an idea."Connell stated, "It just hadn't been put forward in the way this program was presented."  Connell recounted how in his previous work with children, there was as much learning required of the parent as the child for the success of the management of behavior disordered children. Connell, although still planning on teaching High School children, altered the traditional student teaching year with a proposal to put both the parent and the child in pre-K as a unit. 

"The idea was to have the parent observe and interact daily in a classroom setting with their four year old, to basically teach the parent how to nurture learning in the child for the life of the child's education", he reported.

What started as a Blog in a first semester class, took on a life of its own when, on a whim (and as Connell stated a prayer or two) he applied for an NEA grant to start a preschool class that's only pre-requisite was the parent or parents be involved 1/2 of the day, each day, in their child's education.  "I hypothesized that parents don't know much about how children learn and believe that the process of education is done solely in the hours at school, so to challenge that a set of parents and their child were solicited for the endeavour."

Maggie is an 8 year old who is excelling in her 3rd grade classroom.  She and her mother were in the initial group. "I got this flier from the elementary school asking for parents to volunteer to help in a new pilot program for pre-K classes.  I work evenings so I thought, why not try something different."  She related that what she expected was that she would be a monitor or teacher's aid, but to her surprise, "that first day Maggie had a name tag and a cubicle, and right next to hers was a cubby with my name tag.  I thought this is odd, but the year has impressed me so much that I am going to go through it with my 3 year old next year.  Maggie's mom has also recently enrolled at the University of New Mexico to finish a bachelor's degree and pursue elementary education. 

"Momma used to read to us at night, and that was it.  Now she is not helping me be a better student because, like Dr. J (their pet name for Connell) says, we both needed to learn the importance of education and how learning can be fun together," said Maggie.  "I would make up word puzzles she would have to solve, and that was fun"

The idea and the method was deemed controversial and one administrator initially called it just wrong to have parents there all the time. 

"We expected that reaction, but when the first group got into their first and second grade classes they were outscoring and more rapidly mastering their tasks than students that went through regular pre-K programs.  This has been consistent across ethnic and social boundaries.  When a Houston teacher called to ask what we were doing and the experience, she took 2 weeks of her vacation time and on her own dollar came to Albuquerque to observe.  She left and started a pilot in Houston and got two of her classmates to start pilots in Boston and in Dothan, Al.  The results are all similar, kids and parents who start school together and learn to be a support system for each other in the process of learning are doing much better than there peers."

One of the CNM faculty, who asked to remain anonymous, thought initially that this would probably help some, but might be lost as years of school continue.  He now feels that there is a greater likelihood that the investment made has truly invested the parent in their child's best learning opportunities.

It was the dramatic and uniform results of the first 3rd grade standard tests that wowed the education community.  Thirteen of the top fourteen scorers in the state came from this program.  Not bad for a group that started with 13 parent-child dyads.

For practical purposes the original idea was to bring in the mothers with the children.  "What a backward principle from people who were trying to be novel and diverse.  We forgot the dads.  The thing is they didn't forget us.  I started getting calls from fathers who had arranged work schedules (as many of the mothers had) who wanted to be part of this program with their children.  One of the dad's was about 6 foot 7 inches and I will never forget the image of him barely balanced on a pre-K chair finger painting with his son."

Connell said in his acceptance speech that this award was a wonderful honor, bit one that he felt was earned not by him, but by the kids and parents and teachers involved.  They made the program work, because they really wanted to be part of their children's learning all along.  One of my dads said it the best, school changed from a place where I saw letter grades and notes from the teacher when something went wrong to a place of learning that I was no longer estranged from, I was and am part of it.

Teachers have also commented that they see the light in the children's eyes that you see when they "get it" much more, but they see it in the parents at the same time.  It's like this big mutual aha, and it is contagious.

When asked what was next on his agenda, Connell simply said, " the joy of tomorrow, I can get out of the limelight and watch one of my ninth graders say gross as we dissect frogs. It's funny, no it's tragic, the way teachers are seen.  They are the motivators and the bellows that flame the fires of learning.  I hope when Maggie, and all the others get to High School they will still be bringing their parent learners with them.  Teachers are invaluable, but not valued.  Bringing this first few parents through has changed a lot of minds about those values."

And for this reporter, the examples of this early dyad method seem hopeful.  Let us hope that the disease of learning and sharing in the learning caught by these first groups becomes contagious.  At last count, 43 programs were running with another 15 to start next fall.

So, Welcome back Connell- looks like your dreams were the ticket into the schools for a group of very thankful parents.  And as Maggie said to me, "I'm going to win that award one day and be the next Teacher of the Year from Albuquerque, unless my mom does first."