When I saw CNN’s recent post on Bobby McFerrin, all I could think of was this year’s Celebration of Teaching & Learning. I had the privilege of attending as part of the press, representing my blog Just Call Me Ms Frizzle, so I quickly opened up a new tab in my browser to relive some of my favorite moments.

I started the day with Chris Emdin, Assistant Professor at Teachers College and newly published author on teaching science in an urban, hip-hop influenced culture. Emdin focused his talk on changing the way we look at student participation; it has not changed much in the last fifty to sixty years. He challenged the audience to bring their classroom from the Sputnik Era to the Hip-Hop era—a classroom where participation includes a raised and waving hand as well as some sort of verbal cues that a student is interested in participating. As teachers, we cannot be afraid to get involved in our students’ culture. Are we listening to their music and getting to know what they are interested in as well as who they are? If we are to have engaged students, we must allow them to participate naturally and not on the traditional outdated terms. If you are interested in learning more, you can read Emdin’s new book, Urban Science Education for the Hip-Hop Generation.

I could not wait to get to the main session led by Lisa Henson: the PBS show “Sid the Science Kid” had me hooked since the very first episode I saw. What better way to get kids interested in science than by a fun, entertaining, colorful, singing and dancing group of animated preschoolers? They are even creating new episodes featuring Physics content! Each day the main character Sid asks a scientific question like “What happens when fruit goes bad?” and explores the answers with his friends at pre-school with the help of their musical teacher Miss Suzy. I love that the show gets kids moving, singing and questioning the natural world around them. Henson also presented the show “Dinosaur Train,” a prehistoric animated series where little dinosaurs explore their surroundings and learn more about science. I am so thankful for quality shows for little ones to engage in.

And who could forget Steve Spangler? Talk about engaging the audience – Spangler started his session by quieting his buzzing audience with “If You’re Happy And You Know It.” He taught us the difference between good teachers and great teachers by demonstrating potato guns, fake broken arms, spewing water bottles, broken spray paint cans, and Starbucks cups on top of the car that never fly off. Just before the finale of smoke spewing garbage cans, Spangler demonstrated his favorite way of teaching Bernoulli’s principle (the one about flowing air and not flowing liquid) by racing to inflate diaper genie bags. My favorite of his quips was that “Great teachers exude fun.” For more ideas on how to be a great teacher, visit Spangler’s blog: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com.

On Saturday morning, Zipporah Miller of the National Science Teachers Association and Susan Van Gundy of the National Science Digital Library presented the new map for science education in the 21st Century. This map demonstrates the value of science as a medium for authentic acquisition and practice of 21st Century Skills as well as highlights the overlaps between scientific habits of the mind and the 21st Century Skills set (e.g., critical thinking, information, communication, and collaboration). It was a very informative session about the direction some of the most prominent organizations are guiding science education.

Later in the day, Alan Blankstein of the HOPE Foundation challenged his audience that student learning is hugely impacted by the integrity and engagement of teachers. Blankstein emphasized that relational trust and community-wide commitment are the most important ways to guarantee student involvement and learning:

• When adults in schools don’t trust each other, there is no chance for student gains. If the adults are learning, kids are learning.
• Confront inappropriate behaviors (within the faculty) and act with integrity.
• Create fail-safe zones so that there is no fear of evaluation.
• In the schools where trust is working, teachers are collaborating with each other.
• Teachers should have the same definitions of engagement and success as students.

Learn more about Blankstein and student involvement at http://www.hopefoundation.org

Upon reading the original post I had written about Bobby McFerrin’s session, I could not think of a better way to summarize it than what I wrote then:

As I watch and listen, I can’t help but think he embodies everything I want to be as a teacher. His “students” are captivated: we are not captivated by him; we are captivated by his music. I want my students to be captivated by the content. An “instrumental” version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow comes next and only intensifies my captivation; I want to find a piano as soon as possible and let the pent up music out. Actually, it makes me want to bring Bobby McFerrin home.

All of a sudden he’s transformed from Dorothy to a mix of Glinda and all of the munchkins, next the Wicked Witch, a trumpeter, and every character from one end of Oz to the next.

“Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” Seriously, I’ve got to stop typing because tears are running down my face from the laughing. He’s getting us all to sing along now…

When all is said and done (and the Wicked Witch has melted), I realize that Bobby McFerrin was asked to speak because 1) his love for music oozes and 2) because he’s hilarious.

It just makes me think every teacher should ooze love for what they’re teaching.

The weekend ended with a session led by Queen Latifah. She facilitated a panel of urban high school students and recent graduates about their experiences within the public school system. It was incredibly enlightening and encouraging to hear these students’ candid and deeply honest responses; each of them could cite passionate teachers that pushed them hard to excel. Their gratitude for these dedicated educators was apparent and everyone left the conference ready to take on the challenges of Monday morning’s classroom.

It is hard to say which part of the weekend meant the most to me. Now that graduate school is over and my first year of teaching is rapidly approaching, I can truly say that the Celebration of Teaching & Learning has inspired me to be a challenging, engaging, culturally relevant and honest teacher – I hope to attend next year’s Celebration!

Artist: Maria Centeno
Location: East Palo Alto, California
Poet Maria Centeno explains how we should all be paying attention to what’s happening around us.

Artists: Students at Vivekavardhini High School
Location: Bangalore, India
What if we could undo how we’ve damaged the Earth? Youth in India find out in this short animation.

Artists: Cole Dillingham, Mauricette Lekea, Kennedy Zuniga
Location: Seattle, Washington
From AYV grantee Reel Grrls, a film about the importance of expressing one’s own personal style, rather than allowing it to be defined by what others think.

Artists: Students at Burnett Academy
Location: San Jose, California
Middle school students send adults a simple, but powerful message.

Artist: Christian Royer
Location: San Jose, California

When differing opinions get suppressed, the world becomes a very bland place. So, speak up.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Education made a historic announcement in awarding the first Race to the Top grants. The two states selected - Delaware and Tennessee - will have the chance to blaze the trail of education reform for decades to come. All other states, New York included, now have the opportunity to work collaboratively with their stakeholders to create comprehensive reform plans and compete for the second set of Race to the Top grants later this spring.

Race to the Top builds on the lessons from two decades of school reform to support states’ innovative efforts to prepare our students for success in a competitive 21st century economy. It rewards states that have bold reform plans with broad support that will have a statewide impact.

At the recent Celebration of Teaching & Learning hosted by New York’s PBS station WNET, we - the current secretary of education and the longest-serving secretary of education - had the chance to share ideas about the past, present and future of school reform before an audience of some 9,000 educators. Much has changed since one of us (Riley) became education secretary almost 20 years ago, and one of us (Duncan) became CEO of the Chicago city schools almost 10 years ago.

What hasn’t changed is two of the most important priorities: setting high standards and rewarding excellence.

It’s clear to both of us that, despite its embrace of standards, the No Child Left Behind law unfortunately set up incentives that had exactly the wrong effect. No Child allowed and even encouraged states to lower their expectations for students.

A recent study by the Education Department’s independent research institute reported that 31 states set their proficiency standard for fourth-grade reading lower than the standard defined as “basic” on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the nation’s report card.

In contrast, South Carolina, Massachusetts and other states put higher standards in place, and their schools were more likely to face accountability measures under No Child Left Behind because of it.

As one of the high school seniors from New York said during a Celebration panel presentation, “Why does anyone think it helps us to lower the ‘pass’ score from 65 to 55?” That remark most certainly hit home with the thousands of educators sitting in the audience.

So higher standards are critically important. That said, the federal government must not mandate standards for the states. In addition to serving in the federal government, one of us has been a governor, and the other has led one of the nation’s largest school systems. These experiences at different levels of government tell us that the way to develop standards is from the bottom up.

States’ efforts to develop common standards have been moving forward for several years. They have been led by governors and chief state school officers and supported by a long list of organizations, including the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, the Council of the Great City Schools and business leaders. Now, 48 states and three territories are committed to creating common, internationally benchmarked college- and career-ready standards.

To keep this state-led standards movement pushing forward, the Obama administration has made standards one of the cornerstones of Race to the Top. States competing for funds are rewarded for adopting common college- and career-ready standards and assessments.

President Obama is also continuing his push for higher, more meaningful standards through his blueprint to revamp the law that we now know as No Child Left Behind. The blueprint calls for states to adopt standards that prepare students for success in college and careers. States will continue to develop their own standards and decide what standards to adopt. The blueprint also proposes incentives for states to raise their standards by continuing Race to the Top and by creating new programs.

As states raise their standards, the real winners will be students. Every child in America deserves the chance to graduate high school ready to succeed in college and in a career. With states raising their standards and the federal government rewarding them for their work, we can provide our students with a world-class education and prepare them for success in the competitive global economy.

Duncan is the U.S. secretary of education. Riley is a former U.S. secretary of education and former governor of South Carolina.