Your Humble Blogger has a friend who is a personality. You know, one of those people who is referred to by her first name by strangers. Who is a one-woman brand. Someone who has thousands of social media pals, headshots and — so very 2013 — multiple “platforms.”
We were out for our constitutional one night in the spring and I was talking about the first of three Minnesota Meetings I was asked to moderate by a group of education advocacy organizations that were trying to draw attention to elements we know can help boost achievement by our most fragile students.
The panel on strong school leadership I moderated was preceded by a keynote by Connecticut magnet school principal Dr. Steve Perry, who had packed the Fitzgerald Theater despite an April blizzard, and whose pointed remarks had Twitter and Facebook ablaze. I was narrating the contretemps, which I am fairly sure my friend was only pretending to care about.
But then: “You got how many people to come listen to a talk about education?” she demanded, incredulous. “In the snow? In St. Paul? Seriously?”
Seriously. The name of the campaign — spearheaded by the Minneapolis Foundation — is RESET, an acronym for the five elements: Real-time use of data; expectations, not excuses; strong leadership, effective teaching; and time on task. The goal of the evenings was to bring those concepts to life, so to speak, on the stage at St. Paul’s Fitzgerald Theater.
The second event featured nine-time Grammy award winner and passionate education advocate John Legend and drew 1,000 people.
Effective teaching is focus
My favorite, however, was the third, which focused on effective teaching. And I bring this up because an edited video of the evening has just been made available online, on the RESET website.
This one was particularly fun for me because one of my lingering dissatisfactions with an otherwise awesome job is that while I visit a lot of schools and have seen amazing teachers in action, I have never figured out how to convey the joy and electricity that fills the air when you are in one of their classrooms.
The keynote in this third meeting was delivered by Mayme Hostetter, who is the dean of the Relay Graduate School of Education in New York City and a Twin Cities native. She did an amazing job illustrating for an audience of slightly unruly adult pupils just how effective and dynamic a teacher can be.
Three local teachers on panel
I watched it backstage with three outstanding local teachers, who could not have been more excited to build on Hostetter’s energy when the time came for our panel discussion. I’ve stolen their bios from the RESET website and am pasting them below.
I think you should watch it at once. I’m betting they will have you wishing you could go back to school in one of their classrooms.
Angela Mansfield worked for the Minneapolis Public School (MPS) district for nearly 15 years. She was a classroom teacher, then a literacy coordinator, and finally an instructional leader. Among other recognitions, she received the coveted national Milken award. After leaving the district, Angela participated in Charter School Partners’ fellowship program, which prepares educators to open high-performing, achievement-gap closing urban charter schools. This fall, Angela is launching Arch Academy, a K-5 public charter school in South Minneapolis. Angela earned her master's degree and is pursuing her doctorate, both in literacy education, at the U of M. She completed additional educational studies at the University of St. Thomas.
Holly Kragthorpe teaches at the newly opened Ramsey Middle School, where she has been a founding teacher. As an educator and instructional leader, Holly has worked for the Minneapolis Public Schools since 2001, and she is a PTA member and parent of two children who attend MPS. Holly has also worked as an independent educational consultant and has been an adjunct and community faculty member at St. Mary’s University and Metropolitan State, respectively. She has a M.Ed. in social studies and a K-12 reading license from the U of M and she is a member of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and Educators 4 Excellence.
Crystal Ballardteaches at Olson Middle School and has been with the Minneapolis Public School district since 2009. She also coordinates the AVID and extended day programs for her school. Olson serves 336 students in North Minneapolis, 91 percent of whom are children of color and 84 percent of whom are from low-income families. Crystal was recently selected to participate in a new district program to develop transformational school leaders. Crystal has a B.A. in elementary education/special education, an M.A. in educational psychology from the U of M and an Urban Teaching certificate from Hamline University. She is a member of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and the African American Leadership Forum.