The Elephant, or Yeah, food's great. Unless it's Killing you.

Came across this on Facebook yesterday morning:
Educator Milton Chen tells of a colleague who was in India, when an Indian educator questioned her about the American practice of high-stakes testing. As she explained the policy, the Indian educator said simply, "Here, when we want the elephant to grow, we feed the elephant. We don't weigh the elephant."

Love, love, love it. Then I thought about it. It kind of assumes that one-size-fits-all.

He's right. Elephants, or anything else for that matter, must be fed to grow. Your mother and Maria Montessori will tell you, "You are what you eat." Found this on Pinterest yesterday:

It applies, I think, to your diet of media and ideas, too.

So, to feed and not to measure at all doesn't make a lot of sense. With what are we feeding, and in what direction is the growth?

What's a good diet for one, isn't for another. When my 14-year old was brand-new, he grew like mad; (He was a 20-lb. four month old!) he was also wicked-sick. It was obvious within the first few weeks of his life. If I ate any dairy at all, he crudded up and gagged. And beef? Fuhgetaboutit! When I expressed my concerns to the pediatrician, as I took in a 5-week old with an ear infection, he answered, "He can't be allergic. He's gaining weight." 

Dude, really? 

Judging by one measure, he was doing really well, by all others,not so much. I got a new ped. AJ was skin tested at 9 months, after his first asthma attacks and pneumonia, and his list began (I can't even remember the whole thing anymore...) with milk, eggs, and wheat. 

Don't worry - he's fine now. Exercise and medicine have his asthma well-controlled, and he's down to shellfish, tree nuts, and peanuts, and those aren't all that unusual. He doesn't see himself as sickly - one of my big goals for him - as he might have, had we continued along the path we were on - and is still a pretty sizeable boy. :)

Oh, and for added fun and games at our house - my husband's diabetic. Can you imagine feeding him and not measuring? Don't even.... 

So, feeding the elephant is a good thing, as long as the food is quality and what one actually needs. To feed without any sort of measure, or using the wrong tool, can create all sorts of problems, the worst of which is continuing on a course that isn't working.

 On the other hand, a single, stressed-out measure that gives precious little information beyond a raw score and percentile, is of very little value to me. We need to focus on formative measures.

The trick, of course, is creating a balance, and therein lies the challenge. (*sigh* Great.)  The chicken-and-egg question - the circle that neither begins nor ends - to feed and to check that we are, indeed, growing, and not just in a narrow sense. Then, make adjustments and get back in the metaphorical kitchen. Repeat.

Added to the laundry list of Stuff to Figure Out this Summer: Adding dimension to my assessments. 

This week's goals:

Lay the groundwork for our very first FedEx day. Being allowed to do a one-day project on anything they like and present it any way (within reason) they like will be overwhelming to many. Need to develop a framework for choosing a topic. I'll hash this out while dumping mulch in the front flower beds today.

Continue to learn about high-quality thinking strategies from Making Thinking Visible and add them to the repertoire. This one's been worth every penny of the $17 I spent. 

Get ready for Mini-Society. For the first time in my experience, the kids have chosen a republic. Could be interesting - a lot of strong personalities will try to insert themselves into positions of power. It'll be fun to see how they work this out. Constitution this week, business plans next week - if we have a functioning government. (Of course, we all do business without the benefit of that, but that's a whole 'nother blog post...)

Have a fabulous week. Holy cow! April's almost done!

Elizabeth