In her book, The Measure of Our Success, Marian Wright Edelman’s Lesson 13 is Be confident that you can make a difference. I happened to see a notice in Sunday’s paper that a former Stern Center student had been named to the Dean’s List at his college. When I last saw him he was completing high school having risen from a very low point of academic failure and crushing self-esteem as a freshman to being on the cusp of a challenging academic and athletic career at a competitive college. In between he’d been a student here at the Stern Center. According to him and his parents, one year of specialized instruction reinvented his life and reopened previously closed possibilities. I emailed congratulations on the Dean’s Listing, and this afternoon he and his father stopped by to thank us for helping make all the difference. Still learning….

I was hustling my briefcase, assorted extra paperwork, keys and a cup of coffee to my car. A few minutes behind schedule and fretting because the clerk at the service station had spent too much time just chatting with another customer. As I approached my car I was met by a bounding, skipping 5 year old singing happily that, "This is the first creemee of the season!" His slightly older sister and his mother followed right behind also celebrating this milestone, one day before spring officially began. I didn't stop for a creemee, but I did smile, slow down and wish more people my age would sing improvised lyrics and bouncing melodies about the first creemee of the season. Still learning....

I was rummaging through packing boxes yesterday and found the Dr. Seuss book, Oh the Places You’ll Go! It was a parting gift from colleagues at one school where I’d been principal. What is there about Dr. Seuss? Even now I can’t resist falling into the cadence, wordplay, rhythm, and images. I’m reading Daniel Pink’s latest, DRiVE, which is useful and applicable, and Benjamin Black’s mystery, The Silver Swan, which is provocative and entertaining. But for pure, simple fun, my accidental reunion with Dr. Seuss wins!

Gen Y Literacy

"For SEO, search engines use spiders and robots to scan for meta-tags and key words." If you understand that sentence, congratulations! If not, welcome to the emerging literacy of technology and its vocabulary. This is a literacy, challenging or inviting, depending on your perspective (or perhaps your age!), that makes us all learners. The foundation elements of literacy are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and motivation. These apply not only to the young child just acquiring such skills, but also to those of us well equipped for previous technologies of literacy but recently recognizing challenges to our vocabulary and comprehension domains. We can still pass notes, play Scrabble, conduct research, compose sonnets, or read novels, but the technology and often the vocabulary of it is changing how we do those. The Gen Y's are teaching their parents and grandparents.

Great minds

I'd seen a couple of pencil drawings and wondered which student was the artist. Eventually, I thought I'd figured it out and approached a young man in our Waiting Room one morning. "Yes" he liked to draw and would I like to see more of his work? The next day he brought in a folder full of pencil and ink drawings, painstakingly detailed, almost engineered representations of cars, trucks, trains, the recently imploded Lake Champlain Bridge, and even a few softer landscapes. I was struck by his work, his quiet pride in it, and the obvious pleasure he found in describing his research, intentions, and techniques. He might be working with Stern Center teachers to overcome learning challenges, but he has already discovered and is nurturing a special talent, an important way of seeing, learning, and knowing his world. That is one of our responsibilities as adults, as educators, as fellow citizens even, that we help others recognize, develop, and celebrate their unique talents.

She was right in front of me, slightly to the left actually, so I had a clear view of how engrossed she was in her book. We were in a crowded, busy location with lots of people-watching opportunities. I'd been reading in spurts, frequently glancing up as the passersby gained numbers or dynamics, but this girl remained completely transfixed by her book, riveted to the page, her expressions changing occasionally from frown to delighted smile punctuated by gentle laughter. It was as if she was in a world of her own created by the book. Eventually, she released her grip on the pages only when her mother gathered her up to snuggle on her shoulder and cooed her to sleep. Not yet two years old, and already drawn to reading! I've often been struck by the power of books and reading in my own life and in the lives of others. That has never been more evident to me than in the stories I continue to hear from learners and their families here at the Stern Center.

“That’s What Friends Are For”

With a nod to Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager, we recently held our annual Valentine’s Appreciation Brunch for the Friends of the Stern Center. This group of devoted supporters has enjoyed a parallel history with the organization. Begun 26 years ago, soon after the birth of the Stern Center itself, these folks have dedicated their time, talents, and treasures to spread the word, share the possibilities, and support our scholarship program. Knitting hats and mittens, hosting annual Card Parties, staffing rummage sales, designing and selling greeting cards, sharing as ambassadors…our Friends are indefatigable when it comes to ensuring the mission of helping all learners reach their full potential. This is not merely a monthly meeting to get out of the house; this is truly part of the fabric of their lives. As with all our truest friendships, this is personal and from the heart. That’s why we hold the Appreciation Brunch on Valentine’s Day! We thank all the members of the Friends of the Stern Center.