APA's Planners' Day in School model fits very successfully with the educational environment found in today's public schools. Although schools and communities have traditionally had limited interaction, they are increasingly more opportunities for direct involvement between schools and community resources than ever before.

The Indiana Planning Association began holding an annual Planners' Day in School in 1991. In 1992, the event included eleven professional planners and eight planning students from the states of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, and was held in conjunction with the Midwest Regional Planning Conference in Indianapolis at IPS Elementary School #34, Principal Pellico's School.

Prior to the visit, participants attended a conference session on "Teaching Kids," which included insights from APA's "Planners' Day in School" Coordinator Karen Finucan, Indiana planner Larry Magliozzi and Principal Pellico.

The APA model should be used by more state APA chapters as well as local planning organizations. To make it easier to institute the model, we have put together the following:


A Principal's Tips for A Non-Traditional Teacher:

1. Teaching and telling are not synonyms. A good rule of thumb is that you never "tell" anything that can be phrased as a question. The days of "talking heads" are over. Children must be actively involved in the learning process to truly benefit.l

2. "Keep it simple, stupid." This is known as the "KISS" method, and emphasizes the need to keep your presentation simple. This does not mean that you should talk down to children. Although children today may appear sophisticated and worldly, when you get below the surface, you may find that most have a very limited understanding of the world and how it works. Break concepts down into segments that students can digest.

3. Objective, objective, objective. You can't do a lesson plan without establishing your objective. Once you have it figured out, don't keep it secret! Tell the class what you want them to go away with when the lesson is over.

4. Monitor your success. During the lesson, you must continually focus the group on the objective of the lesson, and check that they understand what you are getting at. This can be accomplished by doing such things as asking everyone who agrees with what you are presenting to give a "thumbs up", or ask them to share one thing that they have learned with a partner, or by asking questions of the whole group. The traditional way of determining whether your activities got students to understand the lesson was with a test at the end. You can be much more creative than that!

5. Be flexible. Like the magician who pulls a rabbit out of his hat, if the rabbit dies, you have to have something else up your sleeve. in teaching that means you always have more activities planned than you can possibly accomplish in the time available.

6. Teach the students, not the subject. You need to constantly adjust what you are doing to meet the needs and interest of your group. This means that you must be aware of how the group is reacting to the lesson.

7. Reduce a kid's risk of failure. Every time a kid raises his hand, he takes a risk. The risk is that if he is wrong, he will lose face with his peers, not to mention his self-esteem. Every answer must be recognized, even if incorrect. Honor the answer by recognizing that the student was thinking about the subject but just reached a different conclusion.


A Planner's Tips for Organizing a School Visit:

1. Get to the right people at the right school. Not all principals will feel comforatble hosting such an event. Befriend an "insider" to help you cut through the school administration red tape and get directly to a school. For example, you may know other planners who are married to teachers, or planners who are employed by school systems.

2. Students like presents. This is the first year our chapter used plan-o-grams, and the students really enjoyed the neon green newsletters which were customized for their school (I would be happy to send a copy to anyone who is interested.) Indiana planner, Larry Magliozzi, goes a step further and leaves small gifts with his class. This year is used the cneterpieces from our zoo reception. The students really appreciated these momentos.

3. Participation by college students adds excitement. The children could relate to them as role models. College students are a living commercial for a college education which many children may not have seriously considered. We don't really expect that the kids we met will all grow up wanting to be planners, but maybe some of them will have more incentive to get a higher education or become community leaders.

4. Hold a de-briefing. We ended our visit with a debriefing in the teacher's lounge, where we shared our experiences and suggetions with Principal Pellico. (One of the concerns the kids shared with the planners was what they felt was the lack of enthusiasm from their school and neighborhood for recycling.)

5. Be prepared to follow-up. The school will want to keep the momentum going. We need to leave them with suggetions on how to do it. They also need a reference or contact list of local planners who are willing to continue a relationship with the school. I also encouraged the visiting planners to send post cards or letters back to the classes they met.

K.K. Gerhart-Fritz, AICP is the Education Committee Chair for the Indiana Planning Association and Gary Pellico is the Principal of IPS Elementary School #34, Indianapolis, Indiana.