British Invasion

Scranton Elementary School
in Cleveland, Ohio

   Anne Loftus and Nancy Zelenka
Coaches, Scranton Elementary School
Cleveland, Ohio

Our London visitors had a very busy week visiting the Cleveland Municipal Schools the week of January 16, 2004. They were impressed with the students and staff at Scranton. Here are some of the areas that they especially took notice of:

  • The way students work intently for long periods of time when they are engaged in the subject matter
  • The students' knowledge of the subject matter and what is expected of them
  • The quiet manner in which students pass through the hallways
  • The planning periods teachers get (They get none!)
  • The knowledge that our classroom teachers do not teach art, music, or gym (They teach all of those!)
  • The high level of professionalism and collaboration at the grade level meetings and that seen in the observation of colleagues' teaching practices
  • The commonality of teaching activities – Ex., a picture sort for phonemic awareness done in a first grade classroom; done in London as well as the U.S.
  • The informal "chats" with the staff at lunch and the openness and willingness to share ideas

We at Scranton (and those at Lake as well) gained knowledge of the universal issues that face teachers around the globe. Networking with colleagues has emerged as an area which needs to be strengthened in order to continue to meet the diverse needs of students everywhere.

P.S. The high level of culinary skills of the staff was also identified as a major strength of Scranton school. The potluck luncheon was rated an overwhelming Blue Ribbon of Excellence!

Group Photo
From The Cleveland Exchange
Students at Scranton School learning about Mr. Maree and his class in London, England.
Mr. Maree listening to a Scranton School student read a book that she authored and illustrated
   

Excerpts From Jackson, Mississippi's Parent Newsletter:
March 1, 2004

Teachers span the Atlantic to make literacy for students a reality---Now!
British literacy teachers visit JPS elementary schools to share
the "Cornerstone" experience

"Literacy" is high on most educators' agenda these days. It is a concern, not only in this country, but also in nations around the world.

Shared goal: all students achieving literacy by end of the third grade

British and U.S. teachers have joined together in Cornerstone, a national literacy initiative to ensure that all students achieve an acceptable standard of literacy by the end of the third grade. In this country there are 10 school districts networking together under the guidance of Cornerstone's New York Institute for Special Education in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education.

The focus of Cornerstone is to help large numbers of children from poor and minority communities function successfully in school through improved literacy education.

The focus of Jackson Public Schools in the Cornerstone Initiative is on three elementary schools---French, Lake, and Watkins.

In the first year of implementation, all of the JPS literacy coaches, principals and district strategy manager visited exchange schools in London. Their purpose was to observe, learn, and share with their British counterparts experiences that would improve literacy education on both sides of the Atlantic.

This year 14 literacy teachers from inner city London schools have invested a week in the three JPS Cornerstone schools to share in mutual professional development. According to the visiting teachers, the time they have spent in JPS schools has been productive.

The visit was not all work. Most of the British visitors saw a rodeo for the first time as they attended the annual Dixie National---with a variety of reactions from excitement to concern about the safety of the rodeo calves.

They said that they were glad also to be in U.S. schools during the observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. month. Visiting teacher, Penny Fletcher, from Stroud Green Primary School in Finsbury Park in north London, observed that inner city British schools have a greater diversity of students to teach than the U.S. schools she had visited.

The greater the diversity, she indicated, the more individualized the literacy instruction must be in order to be effective.

Several of the visiting teachers reported that their British primary schools have used cross-curriculum linkages successfully with drama, opera, dance, and even outdoor mini-gardens to reach upper primary children and stimulate them to become learners.

The visiting teachers indicated that their schools use the Internet extensively to share instructional goals and strategies among the primary schools in the boroughs.

Cornerstone teachers from both sides of the Atlantic express concern about the level of parents' participation in their children's education. Both encourage more parent involvement in helping their children develop literacy skills---in the school and in the home.

Each participating school may apply annually for a $5,000 grant to be used in the school to promote parent literacy and to encourage parent involvement.