In planning for my Meaning Making presentation on Pat Lumbley, I was very

prepared going into the visit at James Russsel Lowwell IPS 51. I showed I was engaged

in the visit by my body language, note taking, eye contact, looking at the surroundings,

and asking questions to get important Information. My whole group participated in the

visit by asking questions and also taking notes. Our group ended up only meeting once,

the day after the visit, to make a presentation we all believed presented Pat Lumbley as

an educator. We all received a lot of information from the visit, so it made it easy to

make the presentation. We all were very open to others thoughts and opinions and were

able to compromise for the presentation itself.

When we were making sure we added activities that showed the values of the

James Russel Lowell school. We started our presentation with a timeline of what our

presentation will consist of and then moved into our activity. Our activity was interactive

and engaging because we had our class/audience get up to form a circle around the

room. One person would stand in the circle and say one they like and if you were on the

outside circle and didn’t like it then you would go in the middle and talk about the

different opinions. We did about five rounds of this and then had the class sit down, and

we asked them why they thought we did this activity. Some answers consisted of “

showing different opinions”, “talk about others interests”, and “being open to what others

think”. This activity was used to show all those things but also to show that everyone

and their thoughts matter and that no one is either right or wrong.

Our Meaning Making presentation showed a lot of different things about Pat

Lumbley and IPS 51. We talked about Pat’s life story and what made him want to

become an educator. We talked about IPS 51’s statistics and how since Pat has been
there he has been able to turn the school around and make it how it once was. We

finished with talking about his impact and the word he would you to describe himself as

an educator. The phrase he used was “Everyone matters” so in our presentation we

tried really hard to show that. At the end we had everyone fill out a padlet of their

experience, one word to describe, and their first impression of the IPS 51 school. The

way some students described the school was homey, safe, welcoming, and

encouraging. What I find interesting is that they said all those thighs about a high

poverty school. They described Pat as hopeful, passionate, dedicated, and sympathetic.

Pat Lumley is very big on inclusion and love in a school which is very similar to

the reading and the person Renee Isom. We learned that Renee is big on connections

and that all connections matter. Also one big take away from Isom was the difference

between equality and equity, and how without equity there will never be true equality.

Equality is where everyone has the same opportunities and rights and then. equity is

giving people what they need. Equity and Equality is huge to the IPS schools because

they don’t have the same opportunities as schools in less poverty areas. Pat is doing his

best at putting each kid at the same starting line but it is hard when all kids are coming

from different lives and backgrounds. He wants to be the right person at the right time to

put a student on the path of success.

Looking back on my Meaning Making experience I don't think I would change

anything. I feel my group worked very well together and wanted to accomplish the same

goal of representing Pat Lumbley the way he is seen at his school. We all put effort and

time into the project and were prepared when it came to presenting to the class.
 I learned a lot from Pat Lumbley and the different backgrounds he has. He is an

overall great educator and cares for his students more than anything. He is the kind of

educator I want to be, I want to make a difference in students' lives.