View from the Observation Deck:
Critical Questions About Standards
Dee Dickinson

Unless we do more than raise expectations of higher achievement--unless we help students to develop their strengths and learn new skills--performance may become worse rather than improving...New Horizons for Learning is forming new partnerships...and we've just wrapped up planning for the annual Assessment Conference.

A word up front about the annual Assessment Conference for 1999: The Roads to Mastery K-12. Conference brochures for this timely event are now available and you can get one by telephoning (800) 648-7898 or, if you live in the Puget Sound area (206) 281-2121.

Distinguished keynote presenters include:

• Stephanie Pace-Marshall
  Founding president of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
  
• Todd Siler
  Founder and director of Psi Phi Communications
  Author of Think Like a Genius and Breaking the Mind Barrier
  
• Yvette Jackson
  Deputy Executive Director of Instructional Services
  National Urban Alliance at Teachers College
  Columbia University
• Robert Sylwester
  Emeritus professor of education, University of Oregon
  Author of A Celebration of Neurons: An Educator's Guide to the Human Brain
  
• Terry Bergeson
  Superintendent of Public Instruction
  Washington State OSPI
  

Outstanding regional practitioners will offer useful tools for meeting new standards. Reserve a place now -- payment for the conference is not due until October 1, 1999!

Learning and Growing Through Stories
Michale Gabriel

Professional storyteller Michale Gabriel has told tales all over the world to audiences of all ages. In this article she talks about our deep human need to tell stories, and she shares her experience with a troubled child whose life changed when she learned how to tell a story.

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It's Not How Smart You Are....
It's How You Are Smart!
Dr. Lynn O'Brien

Dr. O'Brien shares the story of how and why she founded Specific Diagnostics, Inc., a testing and research facility. She proposes that 'the single most important and yet simple thing a teacher or parent can do for students is to give them the knowledge of what their learning style is and how to use it.' She has developed some tools to help students identify their learning styles in order to best use their intelligence.

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Tips from a Master Storyteller
The Giraffe Project

Teacher and storyteller Sue Tannehill talks about why storytelling is such a powerful way to teach and learn. She urges teachers and parents to tell stories as well as reading them, sharing successful strategies for keeping your audience interested and engaged.

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Tip: Teaching character by storytelling
The Giraffe Project

You don't need to point out the message to have lessons about character come through to children through storytelling.

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Giraffes and Bats: A Giraffe Field Report
The Giraffe Project

Neil Brier, who teaches eighth-grade Life Skills classes at Cardigan Mountain School in Canaan NH, has been using the Giraffe Heroes Program for several years. Brier has noted a definite increase in caring: in several instances class members have stood up for kids who were being taunted, and participation in the community service club has grown. Recently his class "went to bat" for some endangered creatures of the night.

Book Reviews in This Issue:

Ellen Weber: Student Assessment That Works

Ellen Weber's new book is based largely on Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Weber's book illustrates how to help a variety of students identify and make use of their strengths, as well as extending their capacities. . We highly recommend this book for teachers who are meeting the new challenges of standards-based instruction.

Jim Botkin: Smart Business: How Knowledge Communities Can Revolutionize Your Business

Jim Botkin explores knowledge communities in his fascinating new book, offering practical advice and strategies for creating successful collaborations. His insights are of value to educational systems as we explore how to meet the needs of the newest citizens of a rapidly changing world.

GIRAFFE OF THE MONTH

We asked the folks at The Giraffe Project to let us share stories about some of the heroes they've discovered quietly sticking their necks out to make the world a better place. This month The Giraffe Project shares the story of Molly Murphy MacGregor and Mary Ruthsdotter .

When teacher Molly Murphy MacGregor found that history textbooks tell mostly stories about men she decided to stick her neck out. She wanted students to know that women have done important things, too. Mary Ruthsdotter was so impressed by Molly's idea that she became a Giraffe, too, joining Molly in her search for stories. Their project grew and eventually the two persuaded the United States Congress in Washington DC to make the month of March Women's History Month for the whole country.

CEEDS -- For Change

CEEDS—for Change, the Center for Environment, Education and Design Studies at the University of Washington, recently added its newsletter, YOUTH & Advocacy to their space in the New Horizons Building.

CEEDS works to enhance and improve learning environments in communities. The Center articulates the questions/problems and does research that could impact the what, way, and space in which education is delivered in the 21st century. Working with the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, the University's College of Education, and the Institute for Public Policy Management, the Colleges serve as a national model answering needs for research-based change, while offering real world challenges to its undergraduate and graduate students. CEEDS—for Change is forging alliances with organizations, corporations, both public and private and schools.