Reflections
Spring 2009
Faculty Spotlight: Jean Eisele
By Janet Caruso
Jean Eisele has been a lifelong educator. Her teaching career has spanned a wide spectrum of positions and locations, from working as a primary schoolteacher in a multi-age, two-room schoolhouse in Vermont to serving as Senior Lecturer for the Education Program at the University of Washington Bothell. In such a satisfying yet continuously-evolving career, Jean has steadfastly followed one constant: "It's always about the kids."
When Jean entered the teaching profession in the 1960s, she encountered "open education," a philosophy and methodology based on a child's strong, inherent desire to make sense of his or her environment. Jean embraced this theory of child-centered instruction and individualized curriculum and tailored her instruction to meet the unique needs, strengths, and learning styles of her young students. She "adored" these teaching experiences, which laid the foundation of her teaching beliefs and her career.
In 1969, the Vermont Department of Education acknowledged Jean's innovative work by awarding her the state's Teacher of the Year Award. Honored and humbled, Jean believes she was selected because her instruction and classroom modeled the educational philosophy prescribed in the Vermont Design for Education (1968), a ground-breaking guide, which underscored the teacher's role as partner and guide in the process of exploration and discovery.
Over the years, Jean's understanding of students, teachers, and learning has continually deepened. From her work, research, and observations as teacher, principal, administrator, supervisor, consultant, writer, and presenter, she offers three key insights. First, students "All learn differently and therefore behave differently in learning situations;" there is "no best [or worst] way to acquire knowledge....Simply different ways."
Secondly, when teachers begin with trust and curiosity rather than judgment, they open the possibility that a challenge can become an important learning opportunity. In fact, learning in difficult circumstances is often "even greater, more important learning."
Finally, the "one-size-fits-all" approach to teaching, learning, and assessing only leads "to overgeneralization: of kids' skills and knowledge, of teachers' and schools' effectiveness, of America's education program as a whole." Instead, differentiation better matches instruction, curriculum, and assessment with learning, bringing about both higher-achieving students and test results that are truer indicators of student performance.
Jean has interwoven her rich, dynamic professional life with many of her personal passions. Since 1990 she has been Director of the International Partnership Stories Project, where she links classrooms from different cultures for collaborative story writing projects. To date, over 80 such paired stories have been completed and published. More recently, she has worked with The Jane Goodall Institute to guide and coordinate story writing projects with classrooms around the Pacific Rim (The Neverending Salmon Tale) and around the world (The Year of the Sparrow). During the past several years, Jean has become increasingly involved with Auroville, an intentional, international community in south India devoted to human unity, progress, and sustainable living.
In her past visits to Auroville, Jean has shared her considerable teaching expertise and knowledge with its educators. This winter quarter, Jean returned to Auroville for a fourth visit, spending her sabbatical living and working there. She hopes one day to create a teacher exchange program with Auroville Indian and local Washington teachers.
Jean once described her dream job as one where she could spend her days "talking about kids and classrooms," working with both pre-service and practicing teachers, staying connected to real classrooms, collaborating with dynamic, inspirational colleagues, continuing her work with the Partner Stories Project, and maintaining a relationship with Auroville. She realized her dream in 1999 when she joined the UW Bothell faculty.
Here in the Education Program, Jean enjoys a creative environment, with fulfilling work and supportive colleagues. Proud of the program's mission and design, Jean also cherishes her role in affecting the education of future "kids" by successfully preparing their teachers. Jean's contributions have made a significant impact, as one recent alumnus, Nikko Linn, noted: "Jean has not only made me a better teacher, she has given me the desire and tools to continue to grow for as long as I am teaching. Jean will always be an inspiration and a dear friend."