David Hawkins - his 100th birthday - February 28th, 2013

David Hawkins, for over thirty years, my mentor, my friend, my inspiration, my 'ideal' fella..

  

Wikipedia:

David Hawkins, (February 28, 1913 - February 24, 2002 ) was a professor whose interests included the philosophy of science, mathematics, economics, childhood science education, and ethics. He also served as the official historian of the Los Alamos wartime Manhattan Project that led to the creation of the atomic bomb.

David Hawkins was born in El Paso, Texas, the son of William Ashton Hawkins and Clara Gardiner Hawkins. He grew up in El Paso and in La Luz, New Mexico.

He received a B.A. in 1934 and an M.A. in 1936 from Stanford University. He was awarded a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1940.

He was a founding member of the Federation of American Scientists.

In 1970, Hawkins founded the CU campus-based Mountain View Center for Environmental Education.

In 1981, he received a $300,000 "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation.

David Hawkins died of natural causes on February 24, 2002.

Here's something I, John Paull, I journaled a long time ago.....

Boulder, Colorado, September 1970

On working with David Hawkins  The smartest, wisest, nicest man I ever met. I can remember clearly the time he spent in my classroom, long, long ago, and the subsequent  summer-time science workshops we ran together in and around Montpelier and Boston. I remember, too, the long trips to South Dakota when we were working in Wounded Knee, Pine Ridge, and the road trip he and I took for leisure one hot summer.

Because I am so in awe of David, this morning, after running a science workshop with David for a group of  Boulder teachers,  I asked my dear friend Tony Kallet: “Why isn’t David the President of the United States?” 

           Tony laughed. "Uh," he said, "I see you have little understanding of American politicians....."
           "You think David would touch that job of all jobs?" 

            He knew exactly what I meant, though.  "Tell you what," he added,  "education would be given top priority in David's tenure, especially early childhood."

Here's a little background about David and his deep involvement in education:

David was Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado, Boulder, teaching almost up to his death in 2002. 

A personal friend of Robert and Frank Oppenheimer, David was part of the scientific team at the Los Alamos Manhattan Bomb Project that produced the atomic bomb in 1945.

David started the Elementary Science Study (ESS) in Newton, MA, with Jerrold Zacharius and Philip Morrison,  and served as its Director until 1964.  The Open Education approach beloved by David developed by ESS - similar to what was going on in some Leicestershire and Oxfordshire schools in the UK - was not widely adopted in elementary schools. (All teachers should read Messing about In Science, A bird in the window, and, On Living in Trees, three of David's essays in his book, The Informed Vision. They describe some of David's educational thinking during his time at ESS in the early 1960s.)

In 1969, David successfully applied for a grant from The Ford Foundation, and thus became the Director of the University’s Mountain View Center for Environmental Education, a teacher education center he founded in Boulder with Tony Kallet, John Paull,  Dorothy Paull, and Elwyn Richardson.  

 David opened the Mountain View Center during the mid summer of 1970. The Center's aim was to provide a workshop center and advisory service for teachers and student teachers, much like the Leicestershire Education Authority model which David admired so much. 

The Center promoted 'hands-on' 'progressive' approaches to environmental/science education  in the local elementary schools, public and private.

David's work in education is perhaps best summed up by Joseph Featherstone, Harvard Graduate School of Education:.......

‘Hawkins has been a sane voice throughout the turbulent period of educational criticism and reform, a thoughtful and friendly critic of the second round of the new education in the last 80 years of America’s history. He is impatient with the new education’s chronic susceptibility to low, irrationalist romanticism, its ant-intellectuality, its lack of confidence in legitimate adult authority, and its mistaken notion that its ideas invalidate all traditional practice and standards.”

---

Today, in honor of David's birthday, a day when my mind is full of memories of working with David, both in the UK and US, I'm including some of the background detail to our (wife Jeannine and I) unsuccessful 2007 application to the Denver School Board to start a Beacon school in Denver, that was to be named The Hawkins School for Arts and Science.

Starting and running such a school  was, in part,  my way of paying tribute to David's influence on education and his massive influence on me. Starting and running such a school that reflected 'best' practice as David and I know it, would  be a beacon and inspiration to those who know that there is much to be done to create the appropriate learning environment for young children.

I think David would have taken a shine to The Hawkins School.

Oh, how I wish that the Denver Public School administrators and Superintendent Bennett had some inkling of what could have been.............

Some extracts from the rejected Hawkins School initiative:

BACKGROUND:
A great deal of innovative elementary school classroom science and math teaching took place in the 1960’s, sparked by the launching of Sputnik.

Many radical school changes took place in the UK, especially in the school districts (Local Education Authorities) of Leicestershire, the West Riding, and Oxfordshire. State-driven examinations (the 11+) were abandoned and teachers were given ownership and control of what went on in their classrooms (well observed and documented by Joseph Featherstone in his New Republic article).

In 1964, John Paull, one of the Hawkins’ School proposal team members, taught in a Leicestershire classroom, leading a class of forty 7 to 9 year olds, using worms, bugs, rocks, fossils, birds’ nests, batteries and bulbs, as resources for investigation and study. His classroom became open-house to scores of visitors, especially from the US.

In 1965, he was invited by Bill Browse (Advisor for Primary Schools, Leicesterdhire LEA)) to work for Leicestershire’s Advisory Centre. His brief was to run workshops, set up an Environmental Ed. Center (in an old school building on the banks of the Grand Union canal in the village of Foxton), and encourage teachers (in 365 Leicestershire schools!) to bring about teaching and learning changes in their classrooms.

Thus began an intensive program of workshops, talks to teachers and parents, and many classroom visits.

In 1966, John Paull met David Hawkins when he came to the annual spring-time residential teacher workshop at Loughborough University. John knew something of David’s work in the US (CU Boulder Professor, philosopher, scientist, mathematician, writer) and knew he was a major force in helping teachers bring about creative changes in elementary education through his work as Director of ESS.

‘Although I was in absolute awe of the man, I soon experienced (and learned from) one of his many gifts: he made everyone feel good about themselves. He made me feel that what I was doing, the way I worked with kids and with teachers, was important.’ (Paull, 2007)

The two bonded and began a friendship that lasted over thirty five years. They worked together in workshops in Vermont, in Boston, and in the UK, at Leicester University, where David spent several months, as Visiting Professor. They eventually opened the Mountain View Center for Environmental Education in Boulder, a program that was modeled, in part,  on the Teacher Center development taking place in the U.K.  under the leadership of Bill Browse.

Staffing of the Center included the late, much loved, Tony Kallet, Jane Richtmeyer, and New Zealander, Elwyn Richardson.

 Needless to say, David was - and remains - a great influence on John's work as teacher of children and teacher of teachers..

‘I remain a product  of the 1960s ‘Open Education’ era and a disciple of david Hawkins. I haven’t deviated an inch from the working premise that if a teacher encourages students to be scientists, mathematicians, writers and talkers in an appropriate manner and richly-resourced setting, then good things happen.’ (Paull, 2007).

Recently, research has shown that the methods used in the best classrooms of the 1960s still hold good. Teachers that use science, math and art, in ways that involve students in first- hand, collaborative inquiry, run classrooms that produce engaged young scientists, writers, poets, mathematicians, artists and thinkers.

Research also tells us:

• that the landscape of education reform from the 1990s on is dotted with many different approaches to addressing the major problems of schools – that is, not enough children are learning and what they are learning is not enough;
• that the nation isn’t producing enough scientists and mathematicians;
• that schools that get results for children are schools where adult staff members feel good, work hard, keep learning and believe they can make a difference for kids;
• that if the school as a workplace is challenging, satisfying and growth-oriented for adults, it liberates the creativity and energy of those who shape it.

When the Beacon School idea was launched by Denver Public School Superintendent Bennett,  Jeannine West, one teacher (enthusiastic, successful artist, scientist, poet) who has earned the respect of students, teachers and parents through her inquiry-based teaching successes (visiting her classroom one sees and feels a real throw-back to the best of the 1960s open education era classrooms) seized the opportunity and, with John Paull,  brought together a small team of like-minded teachers to talk/think about creating a school that reflected their best practice.

Since writing the proposal, the team has been working hard to do all that should be done to open the Hawkins School in August 2008.

Denver Public Schools  
PROPOSAL: Hawkins School for Arts and Sciences

The Hawkins School is dedicated to the memory of Emeritus Professor David Hawkins, philosopher, scientist, mathematician and teacher, recipient of the MacArthur ‘Genius’ Award.
David’s lifetime work focused, in part, on creating and supporting the best of creative elementary school practice.

The proposal for the Hawkins School was submitted by a team of successful, experienced DPS teachers. They are:

• Jeannine West
• Miriam Ungar
• Regina Allcorn

and

• John Paull (Site Professor for UCD’s IPTE program, Director, Teacher Preparation Program, long-time colleague of David Hawkins).

These teachers know how to engage children with subject matter that’s motivating and relevant. They know how to light fires in children’s minds through challenging, hands-on activity. They know that their teaching beliefs are confirmed by research and reflect the very best of classroom practice that evolved from the 1960’s Open Education era. They know that their way of using imaginative, creative hands-on resources motivates and launches students into science, art and math careers. They know that their students develop an acute sense of responsibility for the care of the world’s resources.

These teachers have the teaching and academic background, the vision, the idea, the dream – and now look forward to converting that vision, that ideal, that dream,  into bricks and mortar, student enrollment, parent involvement, classroom procedures, curriculum development, and everything else that makes up an effective school.

The team eats, drinks and dreams about the Hawkins School.

They know there’s much to do. They have had conversations and discussions with parents, teachers, principals, administrators, union officials, the Stapleton Foundation, a local (influential) politician, and many UCD professors.

Acquiring the facility for the Hawkins' School was a priority.

The team’s networking and conversations led eventually to Hallett Elementary School, where the group met and talked with the principal, Roberta Mantione.

Roberta showed the Hawkins’ team around her under-enrolled school (with some classrooms, incidentally, designed for science and math!) and knew they'd found the appropriate building. On talking with Roberta about the proposal and how it could/would work firmed their resolved. 

The team now is focused on rewriting the proposal and saying more about:

• Assigning one teacher candidate from John Paull’s teacher preparation program to each teacher at the Hawkins School – helping both the school and the district train and retain new teachers versed in inquiry-based methods/practice. [1]
• How it would infuse topics related to diversity in the curriculum, and how it would manage multicultural learning environments so that all students and families feel welcomed, valued and recognized.
• How it would focus on students' engagement with learning (it is, as they know, when rigor and engagement are combined that significant impact on student achievement can be achieved).
• How it would involve parents, especially in terms of providing input on school policies and participating in the school's decision making processes.
• And, of course, thinking more about Early Childhood: They know the effort to close the achievement gap between better and poorer performing students must begin before kindergarten.

 The Proposal

A proposal for an Elementary (K-2)

School for Arts and Sciences

The Hawkins’ School for Arts and Sciences

OVERVIEW

Current research highlights a declining number of pupils entering science and mathematics professions.

Saul and Bausch (1992) reported that more people in the United States earn their living by doing astrology than by doing astronomy.

Attending the Colorado Science Summit in the summer of 2008, the team took note of the points made by the conference’s main speaker, Dr. Carl Wieman, Distinguished Professor of Physics and Nobel Prize winner:

• “The USA lags behind other countries in graduating scientists……..57th in world table…”
• “The Colorado economy is one of the most science-dependent in the nation.”
• “Less than 50% of its pupils competent in science….”
•  “We need to provide a workforce with appropriate skills for our high-tech. economy”
• “So we need to make education relevant for a large fraction of the population”

As experienced teachers, the team sees the irony in this state of affairs, acutely aware from their teaching that ‘inquiry-based environmental science’, more than any other curriculum area, engages and catches pupils’ imagination and curiosity, matches what we know of how children learn, AND is a proven, positive springboard into literacy and mathematical activities [1].

Yet recent research points out that the U.S. national movement emphasizing reading, writing, and mathematics skills, as measured by high-stakes standardized tests, conflict with efforts to make progress in science education (Uorgenson & Vanosdall, 2002).

Our wide and intensive teaching experiences tell us we may be able to combat this trend, in one school at least, by creating classrooms full of involved and motivated learners through ‘good’ teaching that effectively links inquiry-based environmental science (using teachers’ and pupils’ curiosity about the world that surrounds them) and visual arts with reading, writing and mathematics.

Therefore, we propose to create an elementary school (beginning in its first year with Kindergarten, first and second grade) that focuses on a creative, imaginative, authentic environmental inquiry-based science and arts curriculum that would appeal to pupils and match the aspirations of their parents. The school will be staffed by enthusiastic, knowledgeable teachers who have demonstrated effective teaching and learning and who know that teaching, indeed, is the art of the possible. ( Hawkins, 1970)

Operational Goals:  The Hawkins School aspires to begin as a K-2 school, adding one grade level each year until reaching its final goal of K-5. In this way, we hope to establish, a step at a time, a strong community of teachers, pupils, administrators, and families who are committed to the common goal of children achieving to their highest potential through an inquiry-based environmental science and visual arts program.

Academic Goals:  The Hawkins School is committed to educating the whole child through an imaginative, authentic, stimulating and motivating content-based instruction program. It will use teachers’ talents and pupils’ innate curiosity as the building block for a flexible yet structured curriculum that is of intrinsic interest to them, one that stretches their abilities, and one that develops their respect for the natural world and the accomplishment of others.

We believe (that is, we know from personal experience gleaned from the 1960’s open education era, working in Headstart and Follow-Through programs, up to the present day as teachers of children and teachers of teachers) that inquiry-based learning will raise pupil overall achievement levels.

The Hawkins School rich content-based program will support different learning styles and provide opportunities for pupils to develop critical thinking and collaborative skills that can be transferred across the curriculum and, more important, beyond the classroom. Pupil individual and collaborative needs will be supplemented with disciplined observation and explicit instruction in a series of back and forth movements that constantly illuminate and qualify each other (Hawkins, 1977).

We will support such movements. The Hawkins School will positively demonstrate that a strong and richly resourced program of inquiry-science and visual arts instruction can play an important role in improving elementary pupil achievement in literacy (Thier, 2002), science and other areas of the elementary school curriculum.

We agree with the learning theorists who document that no one fully understands which teaching approach makes an individual child or group of children learn. Hawkins writes that the young human mind is not an open-filing system in which teachers can store the fruits of society’s wisdom, but a highly reactive and selective affair which accepts, reorganizes or rejects what we offer in accordance with its own inner program of readiness, need, and motivation. If frustration is the inevitable consequence of thoughtful teaching, he states, the other side is delight – delight with the inventiveness of the young mind, with new perspectives and connections, and so with the opportunity to learn while teaching. Good teachers are those who learn to steer themselves by these responses and so maintain the freshness of subject matter and of their own minds. (Hawkins, 1970).

The Leadership Team will draw upon past experiences in all governing bodies of school life including principal, CSC, PTA, Professional Learning Communities, instructor/academic leadership, and teacher preparation programs.

Operational and Academic Goals of the Hawkins School for Arts and Science

The Hawkins School’s academic goals include but are not limited to:

• Pupils will engage, daily, in inquiry-based ‘hands-on’ learning which draws from culturally relevant content, pupils’ prior knowledge, as well as research based effective practice.
• Pupils will participate, daily, in authentic peer collaboration in order to develop independent and group critical-thinking skills. 
• Pupils will meet and exceed minimum proficiencies in math, science, reading and writing.

Teachers will draw upon research and their previous and current experiences to incorporate a research-based, constructivist approach to learning for all pupils. The teaching of reading and writing and mathematics will be integrated into all areas of the curriculum, will be relevant to pupil learning, and will meet and exceed the Denver Plan. Our academic program will focus on:

The curriculum

Inquiry-Based Environmental Science:    Classroom science instruction will be driven by the aspirations and authentic interests of the teachers and the pupils, plus the guiding principles of the National Science Education Standards, and will incorporate the following:

• A richly resourced school and classroom environment that encourages pupils to work as scientists.
• A rich school and classroom learning environment and community that nurtures curiosity, questioning, exploration, and investigation.
• An engaging and relevant range of environmental science topics taken from the disciplines of chemistry, physics, biology, earth sciences and health (as described in the Standards).
•  ‘Hands-on’ teaching and learning investigatory methods that encourage pupils working in teams, planning, designing and answering questions and reporting results.
• Opportunities for pupils to reflect on and celebrate their learning through group and individual science journaling.

Science Notebooks (journals) will be an important component of the science and will be used to provide pupils with:

• An opportunity to work as scientists who always document their work.
• An opportunity to develop a personal construction of meaning and understanding in the individual/group/class observation of environmental science phenomena.
• A tool for constructing meaning through observation, experimentation and discussion
• A tool for thoughtful reflection of their questions and their inquiry-based research activities.
• A vehicle to communicate with their peers their authentic and significant investigations.

The Visual Arts: The arts curriculum will focus on providing pupils with opportunities, materials, and techniques to express, represent and integrate their experiences, ideas, and emotions.  

• An important feature of the Hawkins School is the daily multi-age Open Studio Time.  Pupils will rotate disciplines in the Open Studio and explore visual arts, creative movement, drama, creative writing, and music. 
• Visiting artists, authors, and scientists will be invited to participate in ongoing collaboration with pupils in the Open Studio. 

All specialist teachers will teach in the Open Studio each day.  The Visual Arts Curriculum will be based on the Kindergarten - 5th grade State and National Arts Standards.

• A richly resourced school and classroom environment that encourages pupils to work as artists.
• Pupils will recognize and understand that visual arts are a particular and effective way of communicating.
• Pupils will learn to analyze, evaluate and critique their own artworks as well as those of famous artists.
• They will discover and make connections between art and other curriculum areas.
• Pupils will create original artworks using a variety of techniques, mediums and processes.
• Pupils will read books and articles to learn about historical art techniques.
• Pupils will learn the routines, rituals and tools of an artist’s studio.
• Pupils will keep art portfolios and create art shows for community engagement.

Literacy:    As teachers, we know that reading is a vital and necessary skill. We absolutely agree that reading instruction should occur in the ‘content areas rather than in separate lessons about reading.’  (National Commission on Reading, 1985). Consequently, the school’s literacy program will take place in a school and classroom environment that encourages pupils to work as readers and writers.

• Pupils will engage with reading materials that are appropriate, authentic, meaningful, interesting and relevant.
• School will follow the reader and writer's workshop (Lucy Caulkins) format with whole, small group and individual instruction.
• Each teacher will focus on coherent and consistent instruction that connect reading skills to writing, connects reading and writing to content, and content learning to pupil interest.
• Reader's and Writer's workshops will focus on the strategies that are needed for pupils to become successful, effective readers and writers.  
• As pupils become fluent readers, they will have many opportunities through science and other investigations to explore higher-level texts that will increase comprehension.

Mathematics:            

Mathematics will be integrated with the teaching of science, and in relevant content areas across the curriculum. It will include:

• An opportunity to work as mathematicians.
• ‘Real-life’ environmental science  problem solving  through collecting and using data
• Balanced instruction.
• Multiple methods for basic skills instruction.
• An emphasis on mathematical communication and appropriate use of technology to understand more about the world of mathematics.

Assessment:           The Hawkins’ School teachers will use systematic, reliable assessments that provide insight into the growth and development of knowledge and skills, inform on-going instruction, and ensure a broad and ongoing picture of each pupil’s development.  These may include portfolios, notebooks, or other artifacts that show evidence of children’s skills, knowledge, and accomplishments across a wide cross section of meaningful, curriculum-based activities over time in regard to teacher expectations and state standards.  Assessment tools will include DRA, anecdotal evidence, and other assessments as needed to inform instruction and ensure that the needs of all pupils are met. 

• Mathematics will be a blend of using the Everyday Mathematics Program and other creative opportunities and will be integrated into every science activity/investigation.
• Differentiation will occur according to the academic and social needs of individual pupils in every teaching situation.

The teachers:

The Hawkins School believes that learning is enhanced when pupils pursue it with enthusiasm and confidence. The Hawkins School pupils will experience the joy that begins with curiosity and grows with the pursuit of their own interests and passions.

The highest expectations for all pupils and teachers and parent community will define the culture

and climate of the Hawkins School.

We know from first-hand experience, in working in pre k and K-8 classrooms in the public and private sector for many, many years, what works and what engages and motivates pupils in K-5 classrooms.

We know, for example, the absolute importance of building a community of learners through teachers using engagement strategies that build respect for each other, and for all subject matter.

• Teachers at the Hawkins School for Arts and Science know, from first-hand experience, how to create a classroom community that welcomes and celebrates diversity.

• They know that children learn in different ways (such as visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic, field-independent, field-dependent, reflective, and impulsive learners).

• They know how to support and inspire every individual pupil in appropriate, positive and engaging ways.

• Consequently, because different children approach learning differently, the approach to classroom learning in the Hawkins School will follow a mixed strategy – one that does not pretend to be perfectly planned and leaves opportunities of the moment for a particular pupil. (Hawkins, 1967). 

• The school culture will support and encourage collaboration and reflection on its teaching practice through critical feedback and the evaluation of pupil work.   This process will involve parents.
• Parents and community members will be welcomed into the school to share expertise with pupils and teachers in an atmosphere of shared enthusiasm especially for art, science and learning.
• Teachers will jointly design, implement, and evaluate pupil work using science, art and literacy connections, and chronicle ‘best’ practice. 
• Adult scientists and artists will be invited to share and celebrate their work in and around the school.
• Teachers will journal and note pupil participation, lesson successes, and other aspects of classroom life, using qualitative and quantitative action research processes.
• They will keep abreast of current, relevant research.
• Each teacher will be assigned a teacher candidate from an institute of higher education.
• Each teacher candidate will be encouraged to work with the lead teachers in the development and implementation of the school’s learning program.

Professional Development:

The Leadership Team will ensure professional development for teachers that supports and addresses the use of inquiry and descriptive/quasi-experimental action research as tools for exemplary teaching.

Professional development will focus the action research model and be based on these guiding principles:

1. Excellence
   The Hawkins School will uphold high standards of academic performance across the disciplines. Its highly trained teachers will implement a stimulating and rigorous academic program that encourages critical thinking, creativity, and achievement.
   
2. Experience
   The Hawkins School will create an educational journey that combines hands-on learning with an integrated academic and artistic curriculum. Pupils will participate in new and traditionally successful  activities designed to enliven and enrich their learning. Pupils will be encouraged to explore and enjoy the natural world.
   
3. Individuality
   The Hawkins School will value each pupil as a unique individual and considers every pupil’s strengths and needs. Pupils are urged to develop their own thoughts, questions, and interests.
   
4. Community
   The Hawkins School encourages cooperative work along with self-reliant performance. Pupils develop confidence in their ability to speak, lead, and contribute positively.
   
5. Responsibility
   The Hawkins School pupils will learn through their own success, failure, and perseverance. They will learn the appropriate acceptance of and expression of feelings. They accept responsibility for their work and their actions. Pupils practice moral behavior and uphold the principles of honesty, courage, self-respect and respect for others.
   
6. Differences
   The Hawkins School pupils will learn to value individual differences and divergent thinking. They learn, as they grow, to seek inclusiveness and justice in a multi-cultural world.

Development, Implementation and Evaluation Plans

Year One will focus on

Begin applying the K-2 inquiry- based/visual arts curriculum (Denver Plan; Reader's and Writer's Workshops; Everyday Math; appropriate and engaging Science and Visual Arts)

• Developing a community of educators, pupils, administrators, parents and visiting community scientists and artists.
• Strong Staff Development through weekly conferences.
• Application Process used for pupils and faculty members
• Appropriate intervention strategies for pupils
• District Assessments, journals, projects and observation will be used for evaluation.
• Leadership Team and districts in-house committees

Year Two                     Adding Third Grade curriculum

• Revisions and enhancements of any curriculum for K-3
• Strengthening management of school
• Building strong community of learners (pupils and faculty)
• Implement District Assessment (CSAP, and other tools)
• Writing Grants for enhancement of equipment needed for science, art and acquiring a library.
• Refining application process used for pupils and faculty members
• Intervention strategies for pupils
• District Assessments (journals, projects and observation will be used)
• Continuing to establish strong program with higher education licensure programs.
• Working with community members to build a robotics, invention and flight program
• Adding Music Program

Year Three             Adding Fourth Grade curriculum

• Continue implementing inquiry-based curriculum for intermediate grades.
• Revising curriculum as needed and adding assessments and interventions as needed
• Additional Staff
• Continue to build strong learning community and involving outside community members in school

Year Four                   Adding Fifth Grade curriculum

• Recruit additional Staff Members
• Stabilizing all programs
• Revising and implementing any program community feels would beneficial to pupils
• Continue fluid movement between grades
• Evaluating success and continue coordination of programs
• Continue building strong community of teachers and learners.

Year Five

o            Implement any new program that would benefit pupils

• Continue to build strong community of learners

Implementation

o   The Leadership Team, faculty and members of the community will implement the Hawkins School academic program and maintain the integrity of the school’s underlying philosophy.

o   Each step of implementation will be discussed, revisited and implemented in a timely manner.

o   To ensure success of our school, the Leadership Team will meet regularly to meet the needs of the school, its pupils and its community.

We believe we will be capable of implementing the academic rigor of our program.

Evaluation      will be carried out by the Leadership Team, faculty members, parents and the Beacon Committee to ensure its integrity.

• Daily assessments will occur in all classrooms by thoughtful, disciplined observations and self-assessments of how classroom instruction was given.

• Revisions, alternate questioning and strategies will vary to insure learners gain information needed to succeed.

• Observations, pupil projects, database of pupils’ progress, formal assessments, and CSAP will all be used to evaluate pupils and school 's progress.

• Formal assessments will be given as outlined in the Denver Plan.

g. Provide a calendar and daily schedule that supports the overarching mission and

philosophy of The Hawkins School for Arts and Science.

A week in the life of Hawkins School of Art and Science:

                                                                                                

8:15-8:45	Monday                            Class meeting	Tuesday Class meeting	Wednesday Class meeting	Thursday Class meeting	Friday  *All school meeting
8:45- 9:45	Everyday Math	Everyday Math	Everyday Math	Everyday Math	Everyday Math
9:45- 10:00	All school recess	All school recess	All school recess	All school recess	All school recess
10:00- 11:30	Reader's and Writer's Workshop	Reader's and Writer's Workshop	Reader's and Writer's Workshop	Reader's and Writer's Workshop	Reader's and Writer's Workshop
11:30-12:30	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
12:30- 2:00	Science	Science	Art/ Movement	Science	Science
2:00 – 3:00	*Open Studio	Open Studio	Open Studio	Open Studio	Open Studio
3:00-3:15	*Reflections	Reflections	Reflections	Reflections	Reflementorions

 * All School Meeting – This would be a weekly meeting to build school communities meetings would be led by a variety of people.

* Open Studio – This time would be used for in-depth studies of various subject matter. These classes would be taught by faculty and principal.

* Reflections – Closing of day for pupils. Time to reflect and share the “big ideas” of daily classroom learning.

Each member of the Leadership Team will have a unique set of skills and passions that will enhance the teaching/learning environment at The Hawkins School. 

The Leadership Team will be involved in development, implementation, and evaluation of the Education Plan. 

The Leadership Team will also collaborate with faculty to set academic goals, develop and implement curriculum, assess progress, and hold each other accountable for reaching goals in the following ways.

The Leadership Team will:

• Implement curriculum activities to support school goals and work with curriculum committee to enhance The Hawkins School program
• Participate in regular discussions regarding curriculum, instruction, assessment, and program management
• Translate instructional vision into action
• Enable shared learning
• Determine appropriate instructional strategies
• Implement appropriate discipline and support pupil code of conduct uniformly
• Collaboratively develop, monitor, and revise school improvement plan
• Coordinate school surveys
• Summarize and communicate all assessment and survey data
• Develop, enhance, and oversee peer review structure
• Prepare teachers to participate in peer review (coaching and observation strategies)
• Review data to develop instructional strategies
• Plan professional staff development in support of school improvement goals and school professional development needs that enrich school-wide learning and achievement.

....................................................................................................................................................

A month or so later, we were invited to a meeting with an official from Denver Public Schools and, with little discussion,  told that our proposal had been rejected.

Although urged by colleagues and friends to consider opening a Charter School, I put the disappointment to one side and continued my work as teacher of teachers. Jeannine continues her work as a full-time public school teacher, one whose classroom David would have loved. She is such an inspiration to me.....and her classroom always tells me that the progressive method was/is the WAY to engage, motivate and teach kids.

Feb. 2013

Rereading this proposal makes me realize that it was not, perhaps, the perfectly written proposal......BUT, hey, its energy, its intent, its dream, its aspiration, must have come across to those who judged the proposal inappropriate. And, did it not merit, at the very least, a full and frank discussion with reps from the administration? Did they not know of David's impact on the world of education?

Hey, hey, you know what? We tried our best. I'm sorry we let you down, David....................

Let me bring closure to this by sharing John Steinbeck's poem with you,  Like Captured Fireflies.......a poem that Steinbeck wrote after reflecting on a morning conversation with his teenage son. It always brings David to my mind.

 I'm sure Mr. Steinbeck won't mind the changes I've made......:)   :

Like Captured Fireflies

In his classroom our speculations ranged the world.

He aroused me to book waving discussions.

Every morning I came to him carrying new truths, new facts, new ideas,

Cupped and sheltered in my hands

like captured fireflies.

When he went away a sadness came over me,

But the light did not go out.

He left his signature upon me,

The literature of the teacher

who writes on children’s minds.

I’ve had many teachers who taught me

soon forgotten things,

But only a few like him who created in me a new thing a new attitude, a new hunger.

I suppose that to a large extent I am the unsigned manuscript of that teacher.

What deathless power lies

in the hands of such a person.

Thank you, David, thank you.

                                                                                 

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[1] See the record of achievement in El Centro School District

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[1] NOTE: Funding for such an operation presents a challenge – initially we wanted to divert paraprofessional monies to teacher candidates. But, as we want to limit the class sizes to twenty students, DPS will presumably not underwrite paras’ funding as the system currently funds one para to one class of 28 students. 
So, we need to find a foundation that will support our work to the tune of $40, 000 annually………….i.e. one teacher candidate to one teacher @ $10,000 ($7000 cost of preparation program, $3,000 stipend).