Thursday, May 5, 2011

A Tale of Two Schools Thinking Deeper - voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled: The Education Blog

A Tale of Two Schools Thinking Deeper - voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled: The Education Blog

A Tale of Two Schools Thinking Deeper

  • Third graders at Joyner Elementary in City Heights decide how to describe the actions of characters in 'The Memory String,' tying them to concepts like acceptance, rejection, empathy and deceit.

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From the Reporter
What’s Happening
Two dramatically different elementary schools are trying to take critical thinking skills all the way down to kindergarten, teaching kids to think deeper and analyze texts.
What Struck Me
I’m still wowed by a Torrey Pines fifth grader who concluded that “The Rainbow Fish,” normally seen as a heartwarming tale about sharing, taught kids an immoral way to make friends.
The Big Picture
San Diego Unified wants schools to emphasize deeper thinking and analysis, mirroring a national push for critical thinking. These two schools are serving as a blueprint for others seeking to do it.

Posted: Wednesday, May 4, 2011 7:30 pm |Updated: 7:55 pm, Wed May 4, 2011.

"The Rainbow Fish" is a beautiful tale: A shimmering fish gives away its glittery scales one by one to befriend others. It's often seen as a parable about sharing and selfishness.

But one kid at Torrey Pines Elementary pointed out in an essay that there was something fishy about it.

"The adult writers did not realize that they were teaching kids an immoral way to make friends," the fifth grader wrote of "The Rainbow Fish" and two other books. The child said giving someone a gift the way the fish did might strengthen a bond of friendship, but couldn't actually create one.

Such sophisticated arguments might not seem so surprising at Torrey Pines,


School's HR Chief, Overseer of Pink Slips, Exits

The San Diego Unified human resources chief who had the unenviable job of overseeing the issuance of hundreds of pink slips to teachers, bus drivers and other school employees is leaving the school district at the end of June.

I haven't heard back from Sandra Huezo yet about why she's leaving, but it obviously hasn't been an easy time to be in her shoes.

Huezo took the job as the Chief Human Resources Officer in San Diego Unified more than a year and a half ago, a few months after former Superintendent Terry Grier announced his departure. The teachers union recently called out Huezo by name on its website, arguing she and her department "simply do not possess the organizational competence to issue layoff notices in a manner that is compliant with California state law."

She's also gotten grilled by the school board about staffing numbers, though school board frustrations with getting accurate, timely information about school staffing existed long before Huezo got to San Diego Unified.

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