My time in Albany: the Free Schools, the cold... etc.

I started typing this in the downstairs open room of the Harriet Tubman Free school. Its been a while since I sat to process my experiences, and I’ve been feeling the need to write for a few days, but my life in Albany hasn’t left a ton of time for writing.

I must gleefully report the fact that it snowed a few days ago.







It seriously snowed- and though I am freezing the snow still warms my heart. A blue jay came to visit me, perching on a tree branch just outside my window, charmingly puffed up in the tiny crease visible between the two curtains.



I’ve split my time here between the Harriet Tubman Free School (high school) and the Free School (K-8). I’ve also had the opportunity to briefly visit the Manhattan Free School and the Brooklyn Free School.

Halloween at Harriet Tubman Free School:




During this trip I’ve learned a lot about what happens in a free school space, and what doesn’t happen. Some of this is easy to put into words, for example: attendance is more informal and class attendance isn’t mandatory (and yes, students do go to class of their own accord). There is a lot of unnecessary free time in a standard school day, in any school- in a traditional school this time is re-appropriated for arbitrary or administrative tasks. In a free school, free time is just that, and the community enjoys it as such- students hang out, snack, play games, find alternate uses for every day materials, read, talk and giggle, and play music (electronically or live).

There are many nuanced elements of the experience of free school that are harder to nail down. I had a lot of questions about the behaviors I witnessed at Harriet Tubman, but then I discovered that the student body is itself a kind of chimera: some students spent time at the Free School (the k-8) before high school, and others hadn’t. It was evident to me after a little while that the students who had time to transition to free schooling at a younger age were much better adjusted to the responsibility of belonging to a democratic community, and these students seemed to genuinely want their level of commitment to be matched consistently by their peers.

Classes feel very different- the environment is one part of this. There aren’t exactly classrooms at the Harriet Tubman school: there’s a big room, the front room, with couches (frequently occupied)


another large room with a folding ping pong table, a music room, a computer room, a library…






classes can meet in any of these spaces. If a class is using a room, it doesn’t necessarily bar non-class participants from the room, but there are rules about what non-participants can do in that room at that time. The non-coercive environment provides another part of the ‘difference’- students generally can recover missed material , and need little outside stimulus to do so. A word about the set up of the school: Harriet Tubman is working with the state to guarantee their ability to grant diplomas. One way students can achieve this is by following a ‘credit track’, and another is the GED. Students who decide they want a diploma, and want to pass the New York regents exam, are given resources to help them accomplish this goal. Classes and tutoring together with internships in the community help students prepare themselves for the successful achievement of their goals. Students who choose not to follow the credit track can create their own menus of experience, and compile completed and sample work in a portfolio.

Also, the ‘flow’ (if you will) of class time is different. In the classes I attended at Harriet Tubman, teachers prompted students throughout the lesson, and student discussion really drove the class, and sometimes that meant that the class drove around for a bit before settling back into business. Students were rarely reprimanded, and those that were reprimanded generally complied- after all, their participation is a choice. Classes tended to meander, but accomplished coverage of a very good amount of material nonetheless. Class topics are really cool- I especially loved the moment in the Alternative Energy class where the teachers showed the kids how to make a battery out of coins and lemons. The school uses resources in the community to broaden educational opportunities- the Earth Science class is taught by a student at a nearby university. Some classes use a standard methodology: teach, question, discuss, apply, assess… and the student do get tests and homework in some classes. They also meet each week in advisory groups to look at the past week’s activities and write out their educational plan in reverse- retroactive curriculum design, focusing on what they actually did as opposed to what they are supposed to do.
I had originally intended to teach a few classes while there, but changed my mind and instead focused on spending time ‘around the action’, lending some expertise (or just my two cents) where I deemed appropriate. This choice, I think, broke down a lot of the fake separation that would have occurred had I set myself up as a ‘visiting teacher’. That’s not to say that I think such a separation exists between the students and teachers of the school- the students don’t portray any compunction about relating as colleagues with many of their teachers (though they accept the teachers’ authority in areas where adults need to be responsible- public safety, for example). It seemed to me, however, that their behavior was predicated on close relationships with their teacher/mentors (in most cases) and a genuine appreciation for each other, and I didn’t think that I’d be able to coast in and make any relationships at all if I set myself in the role of a visiting teacher. I don’t think I would have gotten to know the students so well, and I don’t think they would have felt as comfortable about me.

I did make hoops for/with some of the Harriet Tubman students, and this was wicked fun. I was NOT AT ALL prepared for how excited they’d be, especially when we started taping them up and making them look awesome (they really did look good!). Of course, I had hoped they would be excited, but before the cool tapes arrived for decoration the only excitement I had seen was sheer joy at the existence of Lil Wayne (by one student), or elation over a Mariah Carey song. What can I say- this is how teenage girls are (sometimes).

I accompanied two different groups on two different field trips during my stay. The first was a fundraising mission (with a scheduled stop at Home Depot for irrigation tubing), and it was fun- I didn’t know the students at all at that point, and it allowed me the opportunity to relate to them, and see them in the world outside of school. The second field trip was a class trip to see a one-man play developed from a Sherman Alexie novel Flight. The class (The American Indian in the 20th Century) had all read the novel, and they were really the only people in the whole audience (made up of high school lit classes from the area) that had. The first question asked to the actor after his performance? A Harriet Tubman student pointedly asked why they had left out more than HALF the novel! These students are neither shy nor sheepish- I think they felt embarassed for the other high school classes in the theater who displayed a great discomfort about talking about the work.

For a few days during my stay I went to visit the Free School, the longstanding democratic, non-coercive educational alternative k-8. I had a very good time there, and really enjoyed spending time with the staff and students, who were all very warm to me. I brought SpinDelicious with me, and the kids pulled and tugged and ran and spun and played ‘ring around the rosies’ with her. I met the school’s pet guinea pig, attended a reading class and a history class, helped clean up after lunch.

One moment out of all of this was really instructive to me- and let me preface this by saying I’m not used to spending time with really LITTLE kids at all. I was upstairs in the Free School with the littlest students (4 and 5 year olds, mostly), and students were sitting at tables to enjoy snack time. Two students started to literally yell in each other’s faces. No one was hurt or crying, just loud yelling. I thought I should intervene and ask the students to talk to one another about their grievance, but as soon as I took one step in their direction a teacher called out to me from across the room (he had likely also been watching the situation): “Casandra! Casandra, no. Let them handle it.” Within a minute, the situation was resolved, and the two yelling students resigned themselves to their newly found proximity and resolved to enjoy their snacks. That moment made something very clear to me: if you trust them to handle it, they will. It was a growing moment for me as a teacher- just as it likely was for the two students themselves. I talk about aspiring to remove myself from the learning equation as a teacher- to not be the ‘guardian of knowledge,’ to not sit so highly, to allow young people the space to develop themselves and offer advice when asked… but in a given moment of strife or angst, when I think I’m needed, I usually just step in. Sometimes, its better to trust them than it is to assume the responsibility myself.

I had a similar moment at the Manhattan Free School, which I also visited (along with the Brooklyn Free School) during this trip to New York. The Manhattan Free School just opened this year, and has approximately 20 students of ages varying from around 5 to 17. It is located in the lower east side, on a floor of a Catholic school- when I walked in, I first encountered students parading about in uniforms and immediately thought- hmm… I’m in the WRONG place! After being directed to the correct floor I met the school’s founder- who is a really awesome energetic being- and a few of the students, but almost as soon as I walked in a meeting was called. I came in to observe the meeting-I had seen a few at Harriet Tubman already, but there were important differences here. First, Pat (the teacher) had a notebook prepared to note down the cause and result of the meeting (which I thought was a REALLY good idea, but very difficult for just one person to maintain). Secondly, all the students were eager to participate. That’s not to say that the Harriet Tubman students don’t participate in their meetings… they DO, but they don’t exactly ENJOY it. So they sit down for the meeting, and Pat asks who will be mediating it. “I’ll mediate!” says one student. Pat responds, “You can’t. The meeting is about YOU!” Another says “I will, but I’m a witness. But I REALLY want to mediate it.” And then one of the students says: “what about her?” and points to me, causing everyone in the room to look over at me, outside the circle. (By the way- I REALLY HATE being called into the center of attention without prior notice or cause, especially when I’m trying to be invisible and even more when people have to turn around to see who’s being called on.) And suddenly, here I am in a moment where I’m being called upon to help. But really, I was pretty much the worst choice: I was unacquainted with everyone, so I couldn’t call speakers by their name, and my inexperience in the school (I had just walked in about 2 minutes earlier!) made me very reluctant to assume any authority in the meeting- so some students got away with very distracting behavior, which did not help the matter at hand. Another instance when I should have stepped back and let the situation play itself out without my input.

So, yeah. I learned a lot. The one thing all schools had in common (other than the meetings and the non-coercive philosophical foundation) was a very genuine WARMTH- among the students and the staff. It was a palpable comfort, and it made a lot of sense to me why these kids LOVE school. All of them: the Free School, Manhattan Free School, Harriet Tubman and Brooklyn Free Schools were very warm, welcoming places I would be honored to visit again in the future.

When not spending time at Harriet Tubman or the Free School, I was either volunteering with this AWESOME woman named Missy at an after school art club she created...

working on my online class work (usually History of Educational Alternatives) or a design project, or walking to yoga (or thinking about walking to yoga). OH! I found an excellent yoga teacher in Albany- her name is Jennifer Bettini and she teaches at Heart Space Holistic on Madison. She teaches a hot vinyasa flow class 3x a week… and it rocks.

I did get to see some live music, too! I went to see the Roots (joy!) and Gym Class Heroes (ho hum) show my first weekend there- a good show except for the nasty strange Albany girls who stalked and taunted me for the whole second half. I also had the privilege of seeing Solillaquists of Sound (joy!) and Michael Franti and Spearhead (…ok, joy!) … the nasty strange girls tried to stalk me again, but I held my ground and told them to leave me alone. And I performed at an open mic… but it wasn’t too much fun, and I didn’t see any performances that interested me there. OH! I attended a benefit show for the Harriet Tubman Free School that was really cool, and I saw A LOT of performances that interested me! And the Bellydance Superstars show was pretty good.

And I can’t think of Albany without remembering these encounters also- it’s an interesting city, both hard and soft. Nancy and Tom, my house-hosts, were unbelievably kind to me while I was staying in their home, and I owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude for enduring my largely aimless chatter, and my wimpy assertions that “its too cold out there!” And for all the butter and honey I consumed and did not replace, not to mention the unnecessarily long showers I took in haphazard attempts to warm up.

Shout outs to ALL THE PEEPS I met and spent time with, hopefully I’ll see some of you at the AERO Conference in June?