 |
||||||
 |
|
|||||
 |
||||||
 |
|
|||||
|
|
||||||
|
What Others Say About Robert Having worked closely with Robert Price for nearly three years, I can say uncategorically that it was a delight and privilege! Robert brings enthusiasm, energy, intellect, and artistry to all he does. As the principal of a large Seattle public elementary school, Robert was the person I needed at the time I needed him. Robert arrived shortly after my own arrival. Together, we created a vision for a collaborative, engaged, professional learning community and began the work of making that vision a reality. Robert is able, by skill, expertise, and the force of positive personality, to move teachers in ways they had not imagined possible. It was a privilege to watch a transformation occur and to participate in a collaboration that was one of the privileges of my professional life. __________ I've worked with Bob on two education projects, both extending mutliple months. He is an amazing teacher and an incredibly effective and innovative teacher educator. He brings the talents of a master educator as well as the skills of a designer and entrepreneur to a project, making sure that along with great results there are an equally well executed collaborative process and documentation. I've seen him help educators gain insights that fundamentally changed how they approach curriculum development and classroom management. __________ I have had the honor of working with Robert for almost 10 years during which time I have been awed by his sterling skills, talent, and deep commitment. These superlative qualities of Robert have been the bases for our organization, the National Urban Alliance, to distinguish him as a Resident Scholar. In this capacity he has coached other NUA consultants, demonstrating exceptional creativity in instructional practices that engage and advance the learning of both teachers and students. He is exemplary in his ability to guide both consultants and teachers in forming collaborative relationships, facilitating quality peer interactions and support that encourage competence, confidence, and genuine enthusiasm for learning. Robert truly a stellar presenter! He is fastidious in planning workshops that demonstrate his knowledge about learning (child and adult) and expertise in pedagogy through brilliantly innovative approaches. His incredible energy is contagious. Participants at his sessions display the effect of this energy in their level of participation, staying long after his sessions are scheduled to end. Evaluations of his sessions are always unanimously rated at the highest level. Robert’s genius has also been evident through his creative use of technology. He is one of those rare people who can not only apply expertise in designing websites and creating instructional videos, he is also able to demystify technology so that consultants and teachers are inspired to utilize technology to motivate and assess learning. Robert Price is the quintessential teacher, presenter, and facilitator! He has guided NUA management as well as Board of Education members and community leaders of the districts in which we have partnerships in dialogue for developing vision and goal setting. It has been an honor to collaborate with Robert in the many initiatives that have been successful to a great extent thanks to his skill and tireless commitment. __________ It is my pleasure to recommend Robert Price to your organization. I first met Robert while the Adult Learning Committee of the West Metro Education Program (WME) observed a week long staff development initiative by the National Urban Alliance (NUA). I had just completed the first year as Principal of the Fine Arts Interdisciplinary Resource School (FAIR) that utilized Fine Arts to infuse the curriculum with relevance for students who voluntarily chose FAIR’s racially integrated setting. Robert’s expertise in Media and Literary Arts made him a perfect match as our NUA consultant. The relationship Robert fostered with me and the teachers was collaborative and collegial. We relied on Robert’s deep content knowledge and personal style to enhance an already innovative instructional program. For three years, teachers met with Robert during large group seminars with other teachers from around the district, and in follow-up visits to the school. During the site visits, he would hold mini-workshops, demonstrate lessons in the classrooms, share resources, and clarify concepts and strategies. During these site visits, our respect and appreciation for Robert grew and flourished. As the Principal, it was crucial to know the content of the site visits, and how well teachers received and applied the professional development. Robert met with me upon arriving at FAIR to share his plans; we often ate lunch together to check the flow of the day and again met after the school day to plan the outline of the next visit. Robert is a child advocate who focuses high intellectual performance for students. FAIR School received the Kennedy Center’s 2004 Artistic Ticket Award, the 2004 Minnesota Arts in Education award, and will be featured in the Annenberg/CPB series on successful teaching using The Arts. Mr. Price helped to create this amazing school culture. __________ "Is Robert going to be there?" That is the question I heard from teachers every National Urban Alliance collaboration day. They LOVED Robert. He brought such great energy, great ideas, great stories, great books and gadgets and dealies, and most importantly, he brought ideas our teachers could use to help kids in their classrooms the very next day. As an elementary principal, I have grown to be wary of consultants that are trying to sell you something and not teach you anything. Robert is not that way. He is a master at teaching you EVERYTHING! He teaches active strategies, engaging lessons, musical transitions, and excellent ideas. The biggest value Robert brings is hope; hope for all of us to teach every student, and teach them well. All of us at Sanislo Elementary in Seattle, Washington are grateful to have worked with Robert. Three years later, we still use the ideas and strategies he taught us in our classrooms, reducing the achievement gap. I know that with Robert out there teaching, the world of education will continue to be a better place. __________ Robert Price is one of the most innovative people I have had the pleasure to meet in education. The energy and motivational effectiveness he brings to every situation inspires me. His introspection is apparent in training sessions. I have had the opportunity to learn from Robert and have taken away ideas and techniques that I use with teachers daily. The difference in Robert’s techniques and those of others are many. They are well thought out and practiced, and most importantly, motivate students to a new level. Students are always engaged in the learning process, making it their own. Robert’s enthusiasm is contagious and has inspired me to try many new strategies with teachers and students. __________ I have known and worked with Robert Price for 9 years. During that time he has been one of our most reliable senior consultants for the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (a nonprofit education advocacy group founded by The College Board, Columbia University, Public Broadcasting Service and Pearson Publishing). His work has included consulting with educators, community leaders and administrators. He is as comfortable in the classroom as well as the boardrooms of corporations. His creativity is second to none and his knowledge of technology as a way to support communication platforms is stunning. Bob brings an active, critical, reflective and creative mind to his work. He works extremely well with groups often assuming a leadership role because of his ability to listen, ponder, restate, clarify, and ultimately to facilitate group consensus. Bob also has an astute sense of business and a level of forward thinking that productively positions projects well into the future. I would not hesitate recommending Bob Price for whatever position he felt qualified. If I may provide further clarification on this recommendation, please do not hesitate to contact me. __________ I was very fortunate that Robert was my instructor and coach at the National Urban Alliance Literacy training with the Seattle Public Schools. When I started teaching second and third grade classes in the Japanese immersion program at John Stanford International School, one of the challenges was how to create a learning community in which students recognize each other’s unique gifts and respect each other. As their vocabulary in Japanese was limited I anticipated some struggles to build quality relations with students and lead them to make a cohesive learning community. Robert taught us many community building activities and techniques. Now while my students follow my simple hand gestures, their focus is on me without a single word. Teaching how to use a video camera included showing students how to pass a camera to each other, which was also a community building exercise. Students share ideas regularly with the Pair Share activity and learn from each other. In effect, I do not have to say much to build a strong community, instead I set up the classroom so that students naturally collaborate with respect. That is the most important thing I learned from Robert. Another important lesson I learned from Robert was to give students tools to organize their thinking. Thinking Maps became a part of my curriculum. I have to use many visual cues to teach concepts in Japanese. Now if I want students to compare and contrast, I use the double-bubble-map. If I want students to think sequentially, I use the flow-map. The Maps are a great visual cue to convey abstract ideas. Robert is an exceptional teacher. He is aware of what students are doing and attentive to how students are thinking. Any single behavior of a teacher can convey important message to students. Every time I observed his demonstration lessons, I was awestruck with how he decides whom he asks a question and how he responds to student’s body languages. Robert is open to new ideas and respect diverse perspectives. Once he showed me a CD, in which he teaches the Thinking Maps to middle school students in Japan. Although he had an interpreter, the students’ eyes and ears were on him. The students were able to use this brand-new tool successfully right away! I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Robert Price for readily sharing his knowledge about education. __________ Robert is able to build positive relationships with even the most recalcitrant learners. He stands by his word and this integrity which has earned him respect from all colleagues and the trust of teachers and children. I’ve never met another Robert Price before! He is an amazing presenter – engaging, interactive, practical, creative, energetic. I sensed as I watch him that every component of his presentation was carefully crafted. Every word, action, teaching decision was intentional for maximum impact. And it works! Based on audience feedback, Robert monitors and adjusts seamlessly. He is caring, kind, and extremely respectful of participants. I marvel at his ability to build rapport and how he values the voices of all participants. He is brilliant! Robert Price served as an NUA consultant for the WMEP districts in the Minneapolis area. I had the opportunity to see him in action as a presenter in large group sessions and an equally enlightening chance to collaborate with him as a trainer within our building. Collaborating with Robert was energizing. He listened to our needs, asked questions, offered possibilities and gently guided us to think in new directions. Robert demonstrated an in-depth working knowledge of the latest research on adult education. Reflective conversations enabled our team to give feedback about past events and anticipate future opportunities. Our staff believes that Robert is a 4-star consultant! __________ As I reflect back on our time working together, I am struck by a number of things. 1) You are so well read. The books you would share with us at the beginning of our sessions inspired me to pick them up for myself and use them as I could or pass them along to others. 2) You taught/modeled so well a lesson on silent sequencing, circle mapping, and questioning to a group of 8th graders (whom you had never met before). You had their attention the entire time. The kids were engaged, hanging onto your every word. You established rapport/community right away, asked thought provoking questions, engaged students prior knowledge, gave them hands on activities, encouraged them along the way...it was brilliant. 3) You taught me how to build a positive community with my students. Not only did you provide handouts on community building activities, but we acted out these strategies to get a feel for them. 4) Your tremendous technology skills using pictures and video gave me insights into how I might implement these items into my classroom. 5) I appreciated your upbeat energy, problem solving skills, your ability to think on your feet, and your wealth of information on how to reach all learners. I learned a great deal from you, Robert. Thank you and take care! __________ As a former Literacy Consultant with Seattle Public Schools, it was my great pleasure to work with Robert Price as he trained teachers in learning new literacy skills and strategies for use with their students. Robert found ways to engage his teacher students, through Saturday district-side sessions and weekday school-based sessions. Robert made his teaching hands-on, immediately applicable, and fun. He sought ideas from teachers on how to expand the use of strategies, honoring the expertise and creativity of his adult students. He modeled new learning as he would hope teachers would model it for their students. Robert is easy to work with, making himself available for questions and adapting instruction, as appropriate, to meet the specific needs of his current group of learners. He encourages people to move into cognitive areas that may be a little uncomfortable, but push thinking and grow skill. Robert is equally comfortable teaching a group of adults or a group of children; all groups respond to him positively and with enthusiasm. Robert’s literacy sessions were eagerly anticipated; he was one of the often-requested instructors for school site visits. I learned every time we worked together. __________ I have been a colleague of Robert Price for over seven years working closely with him in professional development programs for K-5 teachers in four public school districts. Our work together was focused on helping teachers improve the literacy skills of urban underperforming students. It was intense work--series of centralized workshops, numerous school visits with classroom demonstration lessons and on-site work sessions designed to review, practice, and refine teacher’s skills. Our closest collaborative work was in Indianapolis where approximately 60 K-2 teachers were enrolled in a series of centralized workshops. Sixty to seventy teachers from a group of schools would spend a whole day with us--starting in the morning with the groups working with each of us and the exchanging groups for the afternoons. In our planning, after our goals for the year were identified, we would carefully work out the content of each of our workshops so that they complemented each other and served the teachers well. We would spend hours designing the day so that teachers experienced a flow of continuity and connections between our two sessions. At a recent event when Mr. Price’s colleagues were offering testimonials in his honor, at the top of the list of his many talents and skills were his creativity, his commitment to excellence and his willingness to collaborate, coach, and support fellow colleagues in achieving the mutual goal of helping teachers to gain a significant increase in student learning. He carries the collaborative spirit into the classroom where he models for other consultants teaming with teachers who were learning and practicing new skills. Because of his excellence as a consultant and a coach, he was relied upon to help orient and support consultants new to the programs. His uniqueness in this role was evident in the successful partnering with new consultants, sharing leadership roles, and then spending hours debriefing, informing, and generally serving as a resource to them. __________ I first met Bob in 1995, when I was getting ready to set up a computer learning center in Hartford. I had the opportunity to observe him teaching a class of bright eyed, and very active second graders at the LEAP Computer Learning Center in New Haven. It was a magical experience. His students were engaged in the project and took responsibility for their learning. They worked well in teams, and confidently shared their work with the class, and understood how their pieces fit into a larger context. They used technology to solve problems, and to present and publish their ideas. The room hummed with productive creative energy. Bob agreed to include staff members from the LCLCs in Hartford in participatory staff development for effective integration of technology and project-based learning techniques. Staff benefited from participating in hands-on training which helped them to develop relevant technology-enhanced learning projects, including a distance-learning project between Hartford and New Haven. Bob is a master teacher, and model coach who effectively connects the dots and helps trainers plan for different learning styles, incorporate active listening, cooperative learning techniques, reading, journaling, art, research and problem solving, and technology. In 2000, when I had the opportunity to start new community technology centers in Chicago settlement houses, we traveled to D. C. to participate in trainings for youth development centers, facilitated by Bob Price. This training initiative set the ground work for what is now www.youthlearn.org. Created by the Morino Institute and now led by Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), YouthLearn provides the tools you need to start or strengthen both after-school and in-school programs. These workshops helped trainers in Chicago successfully create and implement student-centered projects using technology. I look forward to future opportunities for collaboration. __________ Robert Price has worked for the last several years as a literacy consultant to many of our schools through the National Urban Alliance. At every school, Robert was able to transform instruction in literacy by working collaboratively with groups of teachers and sharing brain-based instructional strategies that allow students to access texts at increasing deeper levels. He also focused on strategies that help students become more effective writers. Robert's work included community building activities, before, during and after reading strategies, Thinking Maps, and vocabulary extension activities. Robert's work was effective because he shared with teachers how the strategies could be applied in the classroom with a range of learners and a variety of learning styles. In all his work with teachers, Robert was able to motivate and energize so that implementation did indeed occur. He further supported teachers by modeling lessons. In all the evaluations of site visits and initial use classes, Robert consistently scored five out of five, with five indicating exceptional effectiveness with teachers. Written commnents from Robert's sessions were also very positive. __________ Robert Price is an impressive professional developer who works effectively with any size group of teachers and administrators. His content is fresh and he focuses on important thinking skills using activities hold everyone's promote. His understanding of teaching and his rich knowledge of children's literature promotes learning for both experienced and novice teachers. __________ Robert Price was our NUA coach at B.F. Day School in Seattle during the 2004/2005 school year. Having his energy in our building was incredible. He was able to judge the needs of the teachers he was working with and adapt his lessons to fit their needs. He collaborated with the staff in planning the training days, so they were very worthwhile and pertinent. He also gave us time to collaborate with each other, and the teachers greatly benefited from that time. We were thrilled to have Robert assigned to B.F. Day for the year--he was organized and so knowledgeable in bringing about success with kids! Watching him teach the model lessons with the students was a joy! He is an outstanding teacher and shares his abilities in his workshops. __________ I was able to experience collaboration with Robert Price in several different contexts: at NUA Saturday sessions with groups of up to 50 people, at my elementary school site with a team of teachers usually around 6-8 and then in the classroom watching him teach lessons and then allowing me to observe, reflect, and practice what I learned. Robert is an excellent facilitator, educator, and collaborator. I always looked forward to the sessions that he led and the visits he made to my school, because I knew that I always would come away from them feeling like I had changed or developed my outlook as a teacher and as a person. Robert is inspirational and presents relevant information, allows full participation, and handed over content so that instead of him just showing a new idea, the participants were experiencing it. In a small group Robert would find out what we really wanted to focus on and then meet our needs. I always felt that he was so thoroughly prepared that he could handle anything. Sessions were always interactive with participation and questioning coming from all people involved. Robert is so dynamic and understanding of the people he works with that he tends to get everyone around him to shine-out. I remember how after our sessions I would look at my co-workers with new appreciation and understanding because of how Robert had created an experience that allowed everyone full participation. He recognized the unique styles and ways that people might want to participate in a group process. For some this might mean being asked specifically to share stories or show student work. For others the opportunity to teach a lesson and be observed was comfortable, especially since he always made sure there was adequate preparation. Robert honored where each person was at and treated everyone with respect. In sessions with him I remember feeling comfortable to take risks and work closely with a co-worker I had never worked with before, since he made the environment feel so safe. Even teachers who had done things one-way for 30 years were willing to try something new, because he had inspired us and formed a relationship with us as well as allowed us a magnitude of opportunities to get to know and trust one another. In retrospect it is amazing what we accomplished in relatively such a short time. Robert is full of creative, directed, energy. He comes to a session knowing his audience-- what they want and need. They leave feeling ready to carry their learnings on. I enjoyed collaborating and learning from Robert. I feel like there is a spark that he kindled and that stays with me each day as I teach. That spark is probably the combination of the ideas he presented and the way he led me to try a new teaching strategy and then to reflect on it from a framework that starts with what went well. Collaborating with Robert allowed me to get to a new level as a teacher. I will always be thankful for my time with him. __________ Bob Price is a force of nature: high energy, brilliant, creative, generous, and an honorable person. I have known Bob as a classroom teacher, teacher developer, colleague, and friend. I visited his third grade classroom often because it was the most wonderful classroom I had ever been in despite the age and condition of the building. His students loved him and blossomed in his care and teaching. I have observed him work with teachers. He knows how to share his considerable knowledge, skills, and wisdom with deep respect and enthusiasm. As a colleague Bob is great to work with. He’s smart, creative, respectful, dependable, and highly productive. As a friend he is caring, supportive, and generous. Regardless of where we live, we regularly chat about idea, books, movies, and hopefully we will find another project to work on together. __________ As a speech language pathologist and member of an education team Robert Price coached through the National Urban Alliance, I was most impressed with his ability to get people talking! Whether in the classroom teaching a model lesson or in our teacher training sessions, Robert brought out the best of everyone. I found it fascinating that he could walk into a classroom for the first time, recognize those few students needing the most support, arrange their surroundings (communication partners/demands/audience) and, voila, they were experiencing success! I loved his community-building activities and have incorporated many of them into my work with students communicationally challenged. I thank him for all those great ideas. ZOOM! __________ In the fall of 1998 I had the pleasure of working with Robert Price over a two-year period when he was a consultant for the National Urban Alliance (NUA). Robert had a plethora of ideas and strategies that I incorporated into my classroom. These cognitive strategies not only worked wonders with my urban students, but gave me a renew sense of excitement about teaching. Robert’s enthusiasm and energy are contagious. He is a dedicated educator and an outstanding consultant because he believes in educating and empowering others. __________ Robert has great presentation skills. He can interact with people of all ages and backgrounds. His varied interests make him a valuable member of any team. __________ I met Robert Price when we were first assigned to co-consult for a school district in Delaware, training dozens of teachers in the art of teaching for thinking and understanding. Developing presentations with him was an inspiring, intellectually challenging, and joyful experience. He has great skill at sniffing out the connections among disparate ideas. He spreads his enthusiasm and quest for discovery to all he meets through his playful, exploratory approach. Robert’s energy, creativity, and improvisatory agility make him a unique and invaluable partner in any enterprise that flourishes as a result of integrity, vision, and real action. All this and a big heart! Robert rocks! __________ I'm not sure where to begin re: how you've helped me and other educators. Perhaps, I should say that your energy and enthusiasm helped revitalize our love for the profession!!! You made learning new skills/gaining new resources engaging, stimulating, exciting, and fun... It has been wonderful for me to remember and use "community building strategies", "Thinking Maps" and many of the resource books etc. that you have suggested. I especially appreciated how repeatedly, you helped us by having teachers immediately put our learning into practice in an actual classroom, where we could observe and later critique the effects/effectiveness of the newly acquired skill/strategy!!! Your warm, exciting, loving way of sharing your own personal talents and skills as well as motivating others to develop their own, is enviable and inspirational. I want to say, once again, thank you so much for all you have done for me and our profession. __________ I have collaborated with Robert Price on several projects for the National Urban Alliance. Robert's energy and creativity make his workshops extremely useful and enjoyable to his participants. While working together he always valued my opinion and skills yet very constructively gave valuable feedback. I learned much from Robert about the importance of community building, using visual organizers, and encouraging new levels of thinking. He has a great concern and interest in people and sincerely wants others to be successful. __________ Robert Price is a dynamic educator who creates an atmosphere of enthusiasm for teaching and learning by modeling what's important in that process. He believes that collaborative effort is the key to success, and masterfully weaves effective instructional practices and management techniques into carefully constructed workshops in which all participants are honored for their thinking and for their contributions. In addition, Robert's knowledge and accomplishments in the area of technology make him an invaluable asset in supporting teachers' efforts to incorporate technology into their pedagogical repertoires. __________ I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Robert Price through Seattle’s NUA Literacy Initiative 2001-2005. He came to Cooper Elementary as our facilitator and he was a protagonist for much needed collaboration, creativity, and professional growth for our staff. When he came to our school, his demonstrations in our classrooms helped us to see that all of our students were active, creative, and thoughtful as they became engaged through movement, Thinking Maps, and various strategies promoting delight through literacy. With Robert Price’s support, humor, and encouragement, we came to value his monthly visits and began to stretch ourselves professionally. I learned more from his site visits than from all my years of professional development. I especially enjoyed watching teachers teach and the rich sharing of ideas during “the debriefing” afterward. Robert created the groundwork for ongoing communication and professional support within our building from which the children have surely reaped the rewards. __________ During Robert's tenure with Connecticut Voices for Children in New Haven, he assisted the co-President of Voices, Dr. Shelley Geballe, in organizing and facilitating forums for students in various communities around Connecticut. Robert oversaw a project involving GIS mapping with Connecticut statistics, including two groups of students and made a presentation at the annual conference of communities participating in the Graustein Memorial Fund's Children First Initiative. The Memorial Fund valued Robert's experience and knowledge and invited him to participate in some of the meetings held periodically with the Initiative communities. In short, Robert's skills in organizing and facilitating collaboratives were very helpful to the work of the Memorial Fund while he was living and working in our community. __________ For 5 years I have had the opportunity of working with Robert Price. As an instructor Robert comes prepared with a rich, deep background in up-to-date methods. In conjunction with the classroom teacher or administrator Robert skillfully diagnoses what the needs of the class may be and selects appropriate activities. He has the ability, enthusiasm, and skill that one needs to see problems and suggest or demonstrate what a peer might try in a situation without offending. His collaborative skills are unparalleled. With large groups or small Robert has consistently shown great finesse. __________ I am the former principal at Cornelia Elementary School, and I have known Mr. Price for three years through our school’s collaboration with the National Urban Alliance. I first got to know Mr. Price as a group presenter and consultant with the other principals involved in NUA. I then learned a great deal more about him when he became the consultant for our school. As a consultant for Cornelia, he delivered group presentations to the entire staff, facilitated the work of the sixteen teachers in the Core Group, and modeled teaching and management strategies in the classroom as requested by the Core Group. Furthermore, while he was at our school, and after all of the teachers had gone home, Mr. Price and I spent hours talking about education, character building, educational research, inspirational books, and other topics. I found Mr. Price to be a wonderful, thoughtful person and extraordinary resource for both our staff and me. Mr. Price’s ability to form close relationships with those around him is unparalleled. He is an excellent listener and confidant. He is truly motivated to have close partnerships with those around him, and his ability to communicate and cooperate with his working group is the catalyst for building trust and the desire to move forward. I embrace the quote “change is inevitable, growth is optional.” Change may be the vehicle, but growth is the attribute Mr. Price seeks when he works with groups. At Cornelia, Mr. Price made videos of classroom teachers teaching certain strategies, students talking about how certain strategies enhanced their learning, and interviews with teachers about how they prepared and implemented certain lessons. It was a tremendous teaching tool for our teachers. Furthermore, it was remarkable because he taught students how to use the video equipment and had them do all of the taping. A group of students and the entire staff all became disciples for effective teaching, learning, and growing a community. Mr. Price mentions ACTION in his Considerations and Components. Mr. Price is a ‘can-do’ person; implementation is far more important than just philosophizing. Most importantly, as he worked to help Cornelia grow; he always used the context of our existing values, visions, knowledge, and experiences. It was never what Mr. Price wanted for Cornelia, it was always what Cornelia wanted for Cornelia. He coached our staff on how we could reach our previously adopted vision for the environment we wanted to create for students. In all of my work with Mr. Price, I have come to the conclusion that he is a master technician. He has the command of the subject matter and research, and he has the tactical skills to lead people to their desired goals(s). As stated above, he has excellent listening and communication skills. His ability to analyze and synthesize information to create a mutually desired end is phenomenal. Finally, he demonstrates the ability to encourage and provide strategies for people and organizations to meet their goals. His use of group process allows EVERYONE to feel a part of moving in the desired direction. I have appreciated Mr. Price’s partnership with Cornelia Elementary and our personal friendship. Cornelia is a wonderful school, but it has become even better under the guidance of Mr. Price. I also appreciated our long talks after the rest of the staff left the building. He is a constant resource for recommending excellent books on whatever subject I show interest. I found it even more valuable to share thoughts on books we have read in common. Mr. Price is an amazing person and he positively influenced Cornelia Elementary to be a great place for all students to learn and grow. __________ My favorite day of working with you was when a group of teachers got together, planned a lesson, and then watched you incorporate it in Ruth Isaakson's 4th grade classroom. We then got to meet together again after the lesson and you helped guide our group to figure out how to apply the lesson we saw into our own curriculum. It stimulated a good conversation and allowed us some time to discuss our disciplines with each other and swing ideas around. It was so nice to have the time together and your fresh outside perspective on the curriculum we do every day. I really appreciated about your teaching style was the constant use of modeling in the classroom. The students do SO MUCH better when I use this technique, and you were constantly using it as part of your teaching technique. __________ I had the privilege during the years of 2000-2002 of attending Robert Price's classes during the National Urban Alliance program. My school district gave the teachers an immense opportunity to meet and hear some wonderful educators from around the U.S., and Robert was one of them. The minute I went into his classrooms I became attentive, excited and impressed with his styles of teaching. I became caught up as children do, with his expertise in delivering exciting ways of teaching. He captivated all of the teachers, let us as educators also, experience things the way students do. I was always amazed at how kind, and calmy and yet how precise he was with each lesson he taught. I had the priviliege also, of having him work with my actual students the first year. They adored him, he attended to discipline in powerful, thoughtful ways and the students became engaged in the topic he taught! Each time that I attended the Saturday trainings, or the afternoon classes during school, I couldn't write fast enough to keep up with all of his ideas. He shared literature each visit, showed us ways to use it, and encouraged us to try what we learned in our individual classes. As he listened to our experiences, he helped us problem solve and, or gave us another way to accomplish a task with our students. I look back at those days with excitement and to this day, still feel motivated to use the strategies he taught so well! He made a definite impression on my performance as an educator. He helped me become a better educator! __________ I first met Robert Price in 1996, when I was Technology Director in the South Huntington (NY) Schools and he was a consultant from the National Urban Alliance (NUA) whose role was to help facilitate the classroom integration of 5 computers and a large screen monitor in every classroom throughout the district (5,500 students). Robert brought unique skills to this job. His role was not to teach technology - he worked with teachers, helping them explore their curriculum and find appropriate technologies (both hardware and software) to support and enhance the curriculum. Curriculum was key, in the context of building relationships of trust and support for the sake of children. Robert never loses sight of the big picture; in South Huntington, and in subsequent situations in which I had the opportunity to work with and/or observe him, his combination of skills (both in education and with technology) and the human element - the ability to mentor, coach, and inspire teachers - enables him to be a great support to those with whom he works. __________ Robert Price was our National Urban Alliance Literacy coach for two years. Our school, Adams Elementary School, is an integrated arts school whereby all teaching staff has had extensive training in the performance, visual, and scientific arts. Teachers are required to integrate these arts into literacy, math, social studies and the sciences to enhance kinesthetic and all other intelligences. Robert was key to working with my faculty on site and in the classroom. He helped shape the Adams Integrated Arts program so that two teachers won recognition in a major photography magazine (Connect May/June 2005). The school won the coveted Mayor's Arts Award for Seattle in the fall of 2005 and is receiving state and national attention as well. __________ I have loved working with and getting to know Bob Price. He has been very generous in sharing his gifts with me. I will ever be challenged to "walk the talk" when I think about Bob and his work with teachers and students!
Student perspectives from three day documentary workshop. Click on the above images to read each one, or download all the students comments as one Acrobat PDF file. Click here to see a video clip of the students thinking, mapping and filming. updated 28 March 2007 |
||||||
 |
||||||
