Betsy Wice and Cecilia Espinosa, Editors

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Finding My Lost Voice

Laryza Martell

Special Education Support Staff

Earth School, New York, NY

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My Descriptive Process

Eve Richards

Third Grade Teacher

Crow Island Elementary School

Winetka, IL

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Alva, Iris, Sean, Leo...

The Prospect Archive and the Summer Institute

on Descriptive Process

Joan Bradbury

Recently Retired Third Grade Teacher

Frances Parker School, Chicago, IL

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Back in the Saddle

Nancy King Mildrum

Enrichment Teacher

Georgia Elementary and Middle Schools

Georgia, VT

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Made By Hand

Patricia Carini

Co-Founder, Prospect School and

Prospect Archives and Center for Education and Research

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Frequently Asked Questions About

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and

The Reference Edition of the Prospect Archives

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Play, Experiential Learning, and Literacy in the Kindergarten Classroom
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Jennifer Rea
Kindergarten Teacher
Episcopal Academy, Merion, PA

A Response to From Another Angle
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Elaine Smith
Learning Support Teacher
Chichester School District, Boothwyn, PA

Literacy Development in African American Children
Full Text PDF
Olga Winbush, Ph.D
Full Faculty, Human Development, Pacific Oaks College
Curriculum Consultant
Bridging Resources in Technology and Education
Pasadena, CA

Letter
Paige M. Bray
Executive Director, The Teachers’ Loft
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Affirmations in my Third Year of Teaching
Tawnya Tiskus
Westfield High School, Westfield, Mass.
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First Year Foibles in Sharing a Classroom
Helena Alves
Westfield High School, Westfield, Mass.
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Lost Boy
Robin Sanders
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Images of Teaching
Kate Stephens
Norris Elementary School
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Making and Remaking Schools
Jessica Howard
Hiland Hall School, Bennington, Vermont
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A Note to Readers:

This issue of The Prospect Review thrusts us into classrooms and into the minds and hearts of current teachers. From The Teachers’ Loft in Western Massachusetts we get a look into high-school English classes of Tawnya Tiskus, Robin Sanders, and Helena Alves. Kate Stevens shares two powerful visual images, “A Blanketed Seed�? and “Graph of Energy and Attitudes,�? to communicate what it has been like for one particular early-grades teacher, in her first year and then in her third year. Paige Bray’s letter to us readers helps to explain how these teachers have been coming together in collaborative inquiry.
]]> http://review.prospectcenter.org/2006/10/26e_editors_note.html http://review.prospectcenter.org/2006/10/26e_editors_note.html 26e (October 2006) Sun, 01 Oct 2006 20:00:06 -0500 Letter
Paige M. Bray
Executive Director, The Teachers’ Loft
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October 1, 2006

Dear Prospect Friends,

It is my pleasure and honor to offer an introduction to the work of four teachers from The Teachers’ Loft. The opportunity for us to contribute to the Review and the documentation of our teaching work, voice and knowledge has been a long-term desire.
]]> http://review.prospectcenter.org/2006/10/piage_m_bray_letter.html http://review.prospectcenter.org/2006/10/piage_m_bray_letter.html 26e (October 2006) Sun, 01 Oct 2006 20:00:05 -0500 Affirmations in my Third Year of Teaching
Tawnya Tiskus
Westfield High School, Westfield, Mass.
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Affirmations in my Third Year of Teaching

After the winter break Matt* looked terrible; he had stitches in his hands and the skin over his swollen knuckles was shiny and tight. He didn’t take his jacket off the whole class period and never logged into his computer. Our class, Career English, comprised of juniors and seniors, was designed for students who might not be college bound and is intended to offer skills and resources for a world beyond high school. We met in an outdated Mac lab to work on various forms of business writing, reflected on personal goals and values and researched career options.
]]> http://review.prospectcenter.org/2006/10/tawnya_tiskus_affirmations_in.html http://review.prospectcenter.org/2006/10/tawnya_tiskus_affirmations_in.html 26e (October 2006) Sun, 01 Oct 2006 20:00:04 -0500 First Year Foibles in Sharing a Classroom
Helena Alves
Westfield High School, Westfield, Mass.
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First Year Foibles in Sharing a Classroom

When I learned I would be sharing a classroom with Jessie Birch (a pseudonym is used here) I was more excited than ever to begin my first year of teaching English to high school students. I had worked as a substitute teacher and a tutor in the school, so I knew of Ms. Birch, although I did not know her personally. I liked the fact that she was young, dynamic, creative and hip. Students loved her. I often heard them in the hallway calling out, “Hi Ms. Birch!�? or saw them hanging around her classroom between classes and at the end of the day.
]]> http://review.prospectcenter.org/2006/10/helena_alves_first_year_foible.html http://review.prospectcenter.org/2006/10/helena_alves_first_year_foible.html 26e (October 2006) Sun, 01 Oct 2006 20:00:03 -0500 Lost Boy
Robin Sanders
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Lost Boy

In Peter Pan, the lost boys enjoy living in Neverland, but eventually, the story goes, they all grow up. They go to their offices “each carrying a little bag and an umbrella.�? One became an engine-driver; one “married a lady of title, and so he became a lord.�? One “doesn’t know any story to tell his children.�? They’re not lost any more (or at least not in the same way) except for Peter himself, whose innocence and forgetfulness can only represent the lost part of all of us.
]]> http://review.prospectcenter.org/2006/10/robin_sanders_lost_boy.html http://review.prospectcenter.org/2006/10/robin_sanders_lost_boy.html 26e (October 2006) Sun, 01 Oct 2006 20:00:02 -0500 Images of Teaching
Kate Stephens
Norris Elementary School
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Images of Teaching

Image: A Blanketed Seed

A brand new teacher finds herself suddenly alone with a classroom full of kids and an awesome responsibility. She begins, slowly, to piece together how to do her job, to make sense of her new role. She must feel her way along that first year, as though making her way down a long passageway blindfolded. Along the way, many stressors and burdens present themselves. She makes mistakes. Some have implications that end up being more important or less important than she'd expected. As uncertainty and confusion build, underneath it all she has her reason for being there. It is clear and perfectly smooth. It is the seed for her life as a teacher. That first year, layer after colorful layer of questions and problems blanket her seed, her reason for being there. At times, she feels overwhelmed, buried in unresolved issues, frustration and dissatisfaction in her own work. But as the layers pile on, she grows slowly savvy to them, and the strength of her clear, smooth protected seed carries her through.
 

My name is Jessica Howard and I am the founding principal and teacher of a small school in southern Vermont. Sort of sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It is called the Hiland Hall School. Hiland Hall was a governor of Vermont in 1860 and I really like him. When Prospect School closed in 1991 and some of us wanted to open another school, I decided to name the school after Hiland Hall so I can talk about him sometimes. But not today.
]]> http://review.prospectcenter.org/2006/10/jessica_howard_making_and_rema.html http://review.prospectcenter.org/2006/10/jessica_howard_making_and_rema.html 26e (October 2006) Sun, 01 Oct 2006 20:00:00 -0500 25(e) Editor's Note
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"Making and Remaking Schools" Panel Introduction
Helen Martin
The Ark Community Charter School, Troy, N.Y.
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"Making and Remaking Schools" Comments
Louisa Cruz-Acosta
Muscota New School, New York, N.Y.
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"Making and Remaking Schools" Comments
Gill Maimon
Powel School, Philadelphia, Pa.
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A Prospect Summer Institute Book List
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Editors’ Note:

At the Prospect Fall Conference last November, four teachers spoke about “Making and Remaking Schools.� In this issue of The Prospect Review we present excerpts from three of the teachers:

1. Helen Martin, from The Ark Community School, Troy, New York

2. Louisa Cruz-Acosta from the Muscota New School, New York City

3. Gillian Maimon, from the Powel School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Jessica Howard’s remarks about The Hiland Hall School, Bennington, Vermont, will appear in a forthcoming issue of The Prospect Review. We are also looking forward to publishing articles by members of The Teachers Loft in Western Massachusetts.

Also in this issue we bring you a list (incomplete) of readings from Prospect Summer Institutes over the past 25 years.

I am speaking here only to introduce. You don’t want to hear the trials of working in a charter school, which of course is a model of accountability, which means that no matter what you do, if your test scores are not good, you can look at not having a school. We’ve just gone through our fifth year review. Fortunately the test scores did go up last year, so we’re starting to show a “trend.� It needs to be a trend for us to continue.