Tag Archives: Inequity

In Search of Leadership

06 Monday Apr 2020

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Imbalanced lives and circumstances
Adversarial communications based on fallacy laden rhetoric
To ridicule
To evade
To incense
To ostracize
A collectivized canon
Too familiar
Too historical
Too avoided
Are those words that current actions are challenging most to hear and discuss
Colin nor Jim nor Muhammad nor all of the others in sports should be viewed through a planter’s lens
As physical labor incapable of formulating coherent thoughts and meaningful actions
Yet, the lens that has framed how a nation sees one another remains avoided like the plague.
All of this frames the context for what is most needed and missing at present
In search of leadership
Cannot start from a position of myopia
Skewed by self-interest at the expense of common decency and compassion
In search of leadership
Cannot start with fragmented politics nor oligarchical capitalism
Unfortunately, our search for leadership ended with 44 and hopefully will be reinstated by 46…

Standing Alone

30 Saturday May 2015

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Often the challenge faced requires one to go against the grain
The question of being a leader or follower is one that faces us time and time again
Society suggests a contradictory message in which we are both isolated but viewed as a collective
We are grouped and segregated by a host of descriptors that are now the norm
Normal for whom?
Normal for what?
Normal for the maintenance of a status quo that shames, demeans, and oppresses
Any who does not meet the “eye test”
The “actions test”
The “American Patriot test”
These are very challenging times where fear has a strong grasp on the lives and realities of so many
News features and calls for fear, resonating with a collection of persons who have been taught not to question or ask
but instead to accept
How did this happen you ask?
It actually has always been,
for this country
It just depended on who you were and how you were classified.
If you were female, patriarchy ruled your world
If you were African, Asian, Irish, Indigenous, and many other identities you were relegated to inferior status or worse
This is the context in which our realities have been shaped
Our worldviews are fortified with institutionalized oppression in the forms of racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, ageism, and the list continues to grow.
We are undoing our existence through the enabling and pacifying of our rights
Not the rights to oppress those who do not
Look like us
Love like us
Think like us
Speak like us
Pray like us
We are standing alone
because we are and have been taught
to be afraid to stand together…

The Legacy of Forgiveness and Conviction (Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela July 18, 1918-December 5, 2013)

07 Saturday Dec 2013

Posted by in Poetry

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With the passing of yet another of our important historical figures
I am left to give both pause and thanks
Pause to remember a person who I never had the pleasure of meeting
yet feel as though their vision for social justice, equality, and freedom were envisioned for the journey that I’m currently engaged
Well before I was born,
the legacy against oppression was begun
The mantle has been passed amongst the worthiest candidates of all genders and abilities
Yet again, I am given pause to reflect on yet another figure whose life
as we currently conceive it on Earth has ended
Another figure who engaged in the good fight
Sacrificed and endured for all that he believed in beyond his own needs
Instead for those of his beloved people
Never to be placed on some iconic pedestal that allows for those who deem it necessary
to attempt to unseat him
He was in fact very human and had his flaws as all humans do
Yet I must give thanks
for what he has offered me
is another model
of why my journey is to be as challenging
as it has been
and will be
Yet I must endure
I must recognize that I may also exist in my own form of exile, for not as long, 27 years
Separated from my loved ones and community beyond the limitations of select and sanctioned visitations
The human memory
and the wishes of those who chose to enact revisionist history
should be called into question
as those who are viewed as deviant and/or misguided
are often those who we later realize
we were just unable to comprehend the beauty
of their gift, vision, and/or passion
at the time of our encounter
We must not let ourselves and others
off the hook
for our misguided and/or misplaced deeds and thoughts
We must also hold ourselves
as well as other
accountable
not in the current sense
but one of humanism
The legacy of forgiveness and conviction
calls us to task each and every day
we must consciously seek out our truths, passions, and obligatory destinies
Revelations don’t guarantee change
Our conscious and proactive actions regarding them do
Today, work to become better than you were yesterday
in order to build on that reality tomorrow
with a legacy of forgiveness and conviction as its essence…

Welcome to…

18 Friday Oct 2013

Posted by in Poetry

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A society that consumes all that it can
without any regard to others
is a troubling reality for many.
An insatiable diet
of appropriated culture and stagnant ideologies
that benefits those who’ve always received social favor.
Corruption is a word used
yet avoided for certain acts
when dominant norms are sustained or even cultivated
to protect the invaluable status quo.
Change requires more than most beneficiaries wish to entertain
as the theory’s interest reigns supreme
in a land which indulges in cultural gluttony
at the expense of all who have been deemed expendable.
An appetite of this variety knows nor accepts any limits
as its privilege and power
have historically been made clear
to all who have the ability to comprehend.
Welcome
Welcome to the tragic world
of the donkey and elephant
during the Barack Obama presidency….

Amid A Changing Landscape

13 Sunday Oct 2013

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Language, both constructive and damaging, is often used without thought of consequence
Impacting the thoughts and minds of all those within reach
Challenging is the nature of life’s path
Causing us to reflect on what has been as we seek to make things anew
Laws are passed with the expectations that they will
in some form or fashion
Provide a livable framework that we, the people, will experience the benefits
Our worlds are based on this idea
Whether it’s accurate or inaccurate is not often what we wish to ask ourselves
Anarchy is not an option, as it requires things from us that we are more inclined not to:
Demand
Sacrifice
Persevere
Fail
Resist
Become ostracized
These sets of circumstances are foreign to those who seek the comforts and the spoils of a system that historically and habitually negates those who are most vulnerable
And then blames them for all that these influences result
Echoing words or images of “Che” or El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz
on commercialized t-shirts does little to represent the struggles and ideals
resulting in their martyrdoms
Instead they further alienate us from key principles that should acknowledge the complexities that exist within our figured worlds
We are a collection of beings that range an array of beliefs, sizes, and histories
All of which only capture a glimpse of who we really are
As each are vulnerable to the limited interpretations of all who come in contact with us
As if we were a painting from one of the great artists over time
Yet, we don’t get the luxury of intense and time demanding reflection and understanding that is often afforded these inanimate objects
We are passed over as if we never existed in the first place
And then society wonders why those who are marginalized dare to:
Resist
Rise
Yell
Revolt
As if the world has gone deaf to their calls and cries
To remind all of us that they are
Still here
Still human
Still belong

Amid a changing landscape
one thing remains constant
The world can be a cold and uninviting space
for those who do not fit within the acceptable box
A box that is too rigid and constraining for many of us
Yet, we operate as if we are willing participants
of a pathological social experience that
Destroys more than it helps
Devalues more than it promotes
Hates more than it loves
Constrains more than it frees

Freedom is what we were sold
Yet, how many of us actually reviewed the bill of sale as we do when buying our favorite pair of jeans in our favorite store?
How many of us ask for a refund or exchange when our purchase doesn’t suit our needs?
Why does freedom not receive the same level of critique, if not more?
A self-proclaimed “land of the free, home of the brave”
could at least not default on its promises to all of those who it has depended on since before its inception like it’s currently attempting to do
during this present-day
Debt Limit Ideological coup d’état
that’s ultimately affecting those same persons who often go nameless
until we want to blame them for their perceived deficiencies
The members of our society who are poor, uneducated, ill, unemployed, disabled, elderly, and/or children are on our economic and social frontlines
These lines are invisible to most of us until life’s challenges place us there
To toil, linger, or bounce back
Welcome to the new age
Which is actually an evolved representation of a segregated past that maintains our separation from each other and more importantly to any meaningful and life sustaining form of an inclusive humanity

Amid a changing landscape what will your role be?
What will your actions amount to?
Amid a changing landscape…
Will you represent the change that it truly needs?
Or will you represent what’s already represented?

The Struggles of Teaching

29 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by in Educational Trenches, Live In The Discomfort, Uncategorized

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The beauty found within teaching for me is something that has little to compare with. You see the growth, determination, creative, among other things of your students as they pursue their educational goals and dreams. These things are, at least for me, the most important aspects for why I do what I do. Seeing diamonds in the rough take shape and form all that you hope and more is so rewarding. I have had the privilege of seeing 6 years olds blossom into amazing teens, college undergraduates harness their abilities in ways that I wonder if they would have dared attempt during previous opportunities, and graduate students traverse the challenges of reclaiming their sense of direction within their educational journeys. All of this matters to me as an educator. There is nothing like it for me, even when many of my contemporaries deny our students the opportunities to flourish. The field of education requires remarkable women and men to serve as educational stewards for future generations of community members. No matter the background we have to safeguard ourselves from our own tendencies to undermine our expectations for and of the potentials of future generations. When I think of all of the students who I have taught, I find pride in the fact that, whether they realize it or not, I imparted at least a little wisdom and knowledge to them. 

The educational conundrum is one that most public educators have some level of familiarity with. Whether you were an elementary teacher, as I was, or a middle school/high school teacher, seeing your students become more of they were and are has to touch your heart. Why else would you become a teacher? 

Yet with all of this hope and promise, we find our schools and schools systems failing our kids in some form or fashion. The lack of support for our public schools, in certain areas of course, allows for others, who usually aren’t educational professionals to make decisions that are often uninformed yet have dramatic effects of the lives of young learners. Standardized tests have become the archenemies of most educators who have experienced third person test anxiety—witnessing your students get scared while taking the test. 

Victim Blaming Rationalization: Why Trayvon Martin is Symbolic for and of African American/Black Experiences in the United States.

30 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by in Blog, Racialization Impacts

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Over the course of the many days, weeks, and months since the tragic death of a seventeen year old teen, much has been debated and said about what is justice in today’s United States. Color-lines have been drawn in many cases, as reactionary as they were during the Jim and Jane Crow Eras in this country. Sentiment remains mixed with an output of social consciousness and outrage. Protests in the streets and even a Presidential Address about race and its lingering effects on society have taken place. With all of this being said, there still seems to be something absent from the conversation. Something that is as systemic as the endemic racism that encapsulates this country even when many emphatically attempt to deny its existence.

“What is this item that I speak of?” you may now find yourself puzzlingly asking. It is the way that many of us have, due to the reality that “race” and “racism” are as “American” as “apple pie?” How dare I make such suggestions when we now have a “Black” president elected for not only one term, but two. Not when we post pictures of a “Black” First Lady and praise the couple’s two beautiful and charming “Black” daughters. We are in a post-racial society where we all need to be “color-blind” and just see each other as only human. Furthermore, we see only the “human race” as we are all “Americans,” so the story goes.

And let us not forget our Constitutional rights that are also at stake when we critically engage the tragedy that was not solely Trayvon Martin, but dare I say, George Zimmerman. For many who are of African descent and/or are starch allies, this utterance by one of their very own will seem outright blasphemous or a betrayal on the legacy of our shared struggle. Continuing to hide behind the scapegoat of the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms as some continue to champion. Since and even before 9/11, we remain fed heavy doses of fear through all forms of media. A land built on propaganda continues to manufacture reasons to shape and craft the thoughts of a society and the globe. What is this fear that I am now speaking of? The same fear that endured the antebellum plantations, the uprising of darker-skinned property, for at the time still not viewed as human. That task is still a work in progress; if you look hard enough you’ll still see measures of hatred and thoughts of superiority for no other reason than social dogma propagated for generations.

As history has told us, as it has been crafted within our educational textbooks, that the legacy of wrongdoing is still not ready to be fully addressed. We’ve had apologies and offered reparations for instances for select members of our Union yet we still find ways to avoid fully addressing the wrongs done to our Native community members. They, as the rest of “the minorities” must have done something wrong, right? They must not want to be successful? They don’t care about education? Why don’t they want to learn to speak proper English? Why don’t they… (I’ll let you fill in the blank). In each instance, one thing remains clear. We often will acknowledge there is a problem but how we perceive it beyond that is what I really want to address.

We call it, “victim blaming rationalization. A response to a social problem—such as injustice toward a minority group—that identifies the problem as a deficiency in the minority group and not a societal problem, as in ‘If poor people want to escape poverty they just have to be willing to work harder” (Koppelman & Goodhart, p. 42). In a similar vein, this is what often happens when race and racism are at the center of public debate. We don’t want to acknowledge the legacy that has driven the nation’s politics and social norms. We have short-term memories on who were discriminated against based on existing notions of privilege and whiteness within the society. Because by doing, so this often causes us to have to challenge or relinquish our own interests.

In a nation that politically and morally does what is in the best interest of itself– well, actually in the best interests of the wealthy and/or powerbrokers–in most that it does, we are confounded with fundamental issues. So when we see poverty, we blame the poor. When we see ignorance, we blame the uneducated. Yet we rarely make headway when we blame the system in which all of the social malfunctions are perpetuated and maintained. Because it will cause us to have to own the possibility that we have to sacrifice, have to struggle, have to actively become a part of the larger community without guarantee that we will get everything that our hearts desire. Interest theory explains why we discriminate and/or justify not supporting our community in the ways that we want the community to support us.

Why does any of this matter when it comes to victim-blaming rationalization and the tragedy that are the circumstances that envelope the death of Trayvon Martin and the public outcry about George Zimmerman’s acquittal? Simple, it is indicative of the legacy that is seamlessly embedded within the laws that govern this country. It is born out of the enterprise of Capitalism and globalization that fosters the extension of a set of cultural norms and values that some say only sees green. We see it in the manner in which a hoodie has become a symbol that, for some, can be likened to sad a day back in Mississippi when a young teen was kidnapped and killed for whistling at Carolyn Bryant outside of the Bryant Grocery and Meat Market. We see it in other cases that have been highlighted since the verdict across the country. Culturally, instances like these resonate with the past and current experiences people of African descent have within the United States.

We, as we’ve been socialized through the prism of racism, tend to dichotomize things to the simplest way possible. What do I mean by this statement? Well if you’ve ever said, “It’s as simple as black and white” then you’ve done it. What many don’t really know is what they’re implying with this question is that they are acknowledging their own limitations in the situation. They are acknowledging that they are limited in their ability to see the complexity, which is at the heart of this tragedy. The intellectual prison is on display in the form of either/or mentalities that many of our public schools promote as part of the greater enterprise. The ignorance of this and other aspects of injustice are running prevalent in this country, some would expect to be said. Yet all of this is exactly why our society will continue to work in a disjointed fashion. We, as a society, are fragmented, splintered, lacking cohesion in the saddest of ways. We are apathetic unless, sheepishly, we are moved to action by our twitter, facebook, and/or other social media feeds. We click buttons as opposed to working to shape lives beyond our own doorsteps. We impatiently wait for the next person to do what we ourselves need to accomplish. We do what’s easiest and most natural– we yell, we talk, we pray, and then we ultimately forget. Until we all recognize that injustice to any one of us is injustice to all of us, we will continue to be reminded of inconsequence of being othered in this othering space known as the United States of America…

To be continued…

Beautiful Liars and Bully Beatdowns

04 Saturday May 2013

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This weekend I am supposed to be speaking on a radio show in Dubai about the phenomenon of bullying. Of course, I’m nervous. I’m always nervous when it comes to these things. Bullying has been on my mind quite a bit this week as I prepare for my appearance. Although some may feel it is a great thing that bullying has become the fad of the moment, it actually makes me quite sad. It’s kind of like when the kid that no one likes all of a sudden becomes the popular kid of the moment. Everyone knows it won’t last and when it is over, the poor kid is left in an even worse place than before. Bullying has become a buzz word. It has infiltrated pop culture. Real Housewives are claiming that they are a victim, talk shows, commercials, plots in cartoons, etc are all focused on the topic of bullying. Unfortunately, there have been several important things that are always left for the viewer to figure out. What exactly is bullying? What would be considered bullying and what is not? Oh yea, and now that I have been told not to be a bystander, stand up, be brave, etc, etc, how exactly do I do that. This movement is under the misconception that schools, parents, school counselors, and teachers are gong to pick up the slack and fill in the blanks. Sadly, this is not happening. This campaign feels dangerously similar to the D.A.R.E campaign that research has indicated failed at accomplishing its goal of keeping kids off of drugs. Campaigns such as these will cause tons of people to rush into the field of bullying prevention bombarding our schools with here-for-the-minute interventions. Research has demonstrated that after these ‘momentary’ interventions leave, most often bullying spikes. There are many of us that have been working in the world of bullying prevention for some time. Researching it, working toward a way to prevent it, reduce it, and bring awareness. It feels as if pop culture has pushed its way into the conversation, will stomp around a bit, and leave us to pick up the pieces. For those of us that consider bullying prevention to be a life-long mission, I hope that bullying does not fall victim to the ‘fad of the moment’ syndrome by quickly rising to the peak of everyone’s attention and then quickly falling into obscurity. I fear all of this hype may leave the poor child trapped in the locker room being beat up for the umpteenth time without a word to use to describe his ordeal. I hope that saying the phrase ‘I’m being bullied’ does not become synonymous with the boy who cried wolf.

01 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by in Educational Trenches

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For those in the trenches, I encourage you to take a look at this and other posts from Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig at http://www.cloakinginequity.com.
PSDW~

Cloaking Inequity

Politicians and others often frame a narrative that charters are on par or better than traditional public schools. I have discussed how charters stack up traditional public schools extensively in posts here on CI on charters. Are there charters that are islands of excellence? Of course, there are some and I discussed this in my invited testimony last week at the Texas Senate. But we must hold charters accountable to data— not just achievement data— because it is becoming clearer and clearer that many charters have high attrition.

Although, the Texas Education Agency doesn’t calculate and disseminate attrition rates, you can basically do it yourself here.  Table 5 is where the information lies.

Below is a table for the central Texas area that an anonymous reader produced and emailed me, not holding graduates against schools, but otherwise looking at attrition rates.

A Mathematica KIPP study that came out recently…

View original post 353 more words

Teaching Who We Are: Seeing the Beauty in Student Engagement

30 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by in PSDW Reflective Journal

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One thing that I have come to embrace about myself, personally as well as professionally, is my passion for learning and seeing others excited and empowered within educational contexts. I often forget that the passion that I have is unique to me as other things are unique to others.

“We Teach Who We Are.”
—Parker Palmer–

The more that I write, the more that I reveal…

This statement is how I also think about teaching. The more I teach the more that I reveal about myself and sometimes discover about my students. After teaching for as long as I have now, whether it was as a first grade teaching in Houston or as a graduate student in Colorado, I have been one that gets a reaction out of my students. Sometimes that reaction is hostilely posted on faculty teaching evaluation sites (I still have not really reviewed them), university student evaluations and/or the responses of my students after they are no longer bound to my class and its rules.

The funny thing that I have found out about this process is that I am what I like to call, “An acquired taste.” Yes, this statement, as the previous journal entry laid out, positions itself as a dualistic perspective. But the data so far confirms it. My passion is one that propels me to want my students to excel and I push them to the point of discomfort. I challenge them even when I agree with what they may have said. I am and can be relentless in this regard, as many who have taken my course(s) might say. However, I know in my heart of hearts that I do all that I do for what I hope they will see in themselves one day–a promising teacher. Most teachers that I know have at some point in time referenced this saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” I struggled with this phenomenon so much as an instructor here in Florida, as I did while I was a graduate student in Colorado. I wanted all of my student to be nourished by the educational process that I so love in its non-conventional forms. I teach who I am and I push them to learn who they are, so that they can teach from those meaningful parts of who they are when engaging their students.

Food For Thought

I had a very interesting conversation with my graduate assistant today and much was revealed to me, both directly and indirectly, regarding how “Teaching Who [I am]” was/is my greatest strength.  Yet, it is also the most challenging aspect of my role as an educator. My passion and perceived intellect can be too much for others even while I know that I have so much more to learn; because, as I have shared with my students today, “The more I learned, the more I realized how much I really didn’t know.” I teach from my mind and heart each and every time I step into a learning environment. I don’t know any other way to be an educator.  And as a result of this way of being and knowing myself, whomever acquires an understanding of me and my pedagogy developed palates that allow she/he to engage in varied perspectives on a host of topics. They attain the ability to engage an eclectic personality and mind who only wishes to better himself and the community in which he is obligated to serve–our future generations of learners.

My graduate student, after a lengthy conversation about the course and our preparation for future course objectives, reiterated a perspective on my way of teaching and it humbled me. In the midst of all the chaos of our conversation, key elements of my and my teaching philosophy were articulated–the allure in learning. This phrase is something that has stuck with me since my graduate days. It written and introduced to me by one of my graduate school professors–Dr. Daniel P. Liston. It, in essence, is one of the staples of what I begin each semester with, challenging my students to connect with their internal capacities for becoming the best teachers that they can be by confronting, engaging and/or understanding themselves in more critical ways.

Engaging the Toxic Word “Race” in a Diversity Course

An example of this occurred today as my morning sections began to discuss chapter 5 PulseClicker2of our text. I asked my students to answer our “Clicker Questions”– Clicker is an interactive assessment tool that always for me ask students questions and get instant feedback– for the day. This question was a short essay that they were to answer about, “Is ‘race’ still in important part of U.S. society, yes or no?” As an introduction to this topic, I decided to not run from this feared word like many others do not only in our classrooms but in almost every other place in our society. This question also required that they expound on why they chose either yes or no. And I enjoyed hearing those who said “yes” explain their answers but I also enjoyed those who said “no” explain theirs. If you’ve read my previous post, there appeared to be a lot of Jekylls and Hydes in attendance during this topic. But I pushed and pushed the conversation and many of them took the risks of sharing their perspectives and why. I truly loved it! Because it was them engaging the tough topic wherever they were in their understandings within my classroom. These moments mean so much to me. To hear a student who has been positioned as a Jekyll turn out to be more of a Hyde.

Students gave ranges of responses that said, in a sense, while they didn’t want to use race they recognized that it was still impacting their lives. Others offered positions that promote ideas of humanism. I found all of the examples to be of significance and usable in this learning opportunity. So I took a few chances with them, I did an up down activity that I’ve done before with other classes. I had all of my students stand up and asked a series of questions (paraphrased and may not be out of sequence of how I did it in class, FYI): 1) If you are not male, please take your seat, 2) if you are not Protestant, please take your seat (ironically, after the completion of my lesson it later dawned on me that I misspoke), 3)If you do not own property (land), please take a seat, and 4) (what I would have concluded with had I needed it to) If you are not white, please take a seat. But in this case, there was no need to ask #4 because all of my 50+ students were already seated. In having my students participate in this kinesthetic exercise, I wanted them to think about how we, over time, have forgotten the sacrifices and injustices that have resulted from the application of race within this society.

Now we credit “the founding fathers” of this nation without holding their actions accountable to not only communities of color, but also non-land/property owners and women who lived during the era. WE, through our contemporary gaze at history, forget that women and people of color only within a short period of time have (re)gained the right to vote and other important aspects of citizenship in the United States of America. And more importantly, if our students have forgotten or have not been exposed to this valuable information during their own schooling process; what makes us think that the students who they will some day teach will have such opportunities to critically engage these such historical moments that shaped and continue to shape this nation?

Through this activity, my point was to get them to think about race and, more importantly, history within context. Instead of viewing historical moments through contemporary lenses. As many educators may now know, this is becoming a greater challenge with each passing year as history is becoming harder and harder to get students to engage in many instances. So I try to use these moments to provoke students’ thinking any way that I can if it aids them in developing their critical thinking skills as well as their, what I like to call, “their teacher identities.”

I have often told my students that education is a “social experiment” and all involved are a part of this dynamic process. Much of what I do within my classes requires that I take some level or risk. Yet, as what those who have taught me proved only a few years earlier, that the risks we take both as educators and learners have immense power to help redirect and inspire others to keep learning. I am reminded of the many teachers–Mrs. Boone, Ms. Sullivan, Mrs. Terry, Ms. Carson, Mrs. Gobert, Ms. May, Ms. Defibaugh, Mr. Lavergne, Dr. Sigren, Mr. Haynes, Mr. Knowles and the list could continue–who shaped a path for me that I could never have imagined, yet am proud to now travel….

As I conclude this entry, I am drawn to a quote from Palmer (1997),

Teaching, like any truly human activity, emerges from one’s inwardness, for better or worse. As I teach, I project the condition of my soul onto my students, my subject, and our way of being together. The entanglements I experience in the classroom are often no more or less than the convolutions of my inner life. Viewed from this angle, teaching holds a mirror to the soul. If I am willing to look in that mirror, and not run from what I see, I have a chance to gain self-knowledge–and knowing myself is as crucial to good teaching as knowing my students and my subject (p. 15)

So the question becomes for any other educator and/or learner who took the time to read this, “What does your mirror show?

Until the next time…

PSDW~

Parker J. Palmer (1997): The Heart of a Teacher Identity and Integrity in Teaching, Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 29:6, 14-21.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00091389709602343

Moving Beyond the Polarized Debate – Bridging Differences – Education Week

27 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by in Educational Trenches

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This contribution is by Dr. Pedro Noguera. As you read this entry courtesy of Education Week, please think about its message and the implications it has to you as a student who wishes to become a teacher, pre-service teacher, and/or veteran teacher. All of us who are in the educational trenches are seeking better solutions for enhancing the educational opportunities of future generations of learners. As you read this post, think about what side of the debate you are on. I look forward to reading your thoughts.

PSD~

Moving Beyond the Polarized Debate

Dear Deborah,

While the debate over the direction of education policy continues at national and local levels and the new administration begins to consider what, if any, new initiatives it might take to promote school reform, we know there are educators across the country who are thinking about what schools can do right now to meet the needs of the students they serve. I think it is important for us to weigh in on these matters for the sake of the educators who are on the front lines of school reform and their students.

This is clearly an area where your leadership in developing new ways of thinking about how schools might be organized and about how teaching and learning might be carried out has been so helpful to so many. The schools you have been instrumental in creating and leading—Central Park East in New York City and Mission Hill in Boston—have served as models of possibility for educators who have sought to create learning environments that are thoughtful, creative, and most importantly, humane. Education activist Sam Chaltain is using the experiences of Mission Hill to create a series of videos that will be aired nationally to encourage educators and the public in general to think about how we might educate children differently. This kind of work is essential because we can’t wait until we put the right policies in place or until our society becomes more just and equitable to figure out how to create schools that can succeed in educating all kinds of children.

Certainly, policy and politics matter. As we have seen and discussed, policy is shaping how assessment (i.e. high-stakes testing) is used, and increasingly, assessment is determining what children learn, how they learn it, and how schools and teachers are judged. Moreover, as we’ve pointed out before, the fact that education policy largely ignores the effects of poverty and inequality and the way they influence on child development and the performance of schools is yet another reminder that educators are working under major constraints.

These constraints—the political, the economic, and the social—are real and should never be discounted or minimized; otherwise, we end up sounding hopelessly naïve about possibilities for change. Yet, naming them is not good enough.

A big part of what is wrong with the current debate about reform is that it is dominated by what I think of as naïve optimists and radical pessimists. The naïve optimists are the ones promoting simplistic solutions like: “fire bad teachers,” “lengthen the school day,” “close failing schools,” or radically expand the number of charter schools without any real public accountability. What these so-called reformers have in common is that they seize upon a single idea or set of ideas to promote change and then assume that if we just follow this narrow prescription schools will improve. The record shows that they never do, especially not in the communities that suffer from the greatest economic and social challenges.

The radical pessimists largely offer critiques of policy. They remind us that the obstacles to school change on a mass scale lie in the structure of our society, in, for example, the way wealth is distributed, poverty is concentrated, and race continues to operate as a means to deny access to opportunity. They force us to acknowledge that hard-working teachers and visionary principals are insufficient if these are the only forces we rely upon to overcome the obstacles.

The problem with the radical pessimists is they typically have very little to offer in the way of advice to the hard-working teacher who seeks to use education to inspire and impart tangible skills to students. They are even less helpful to the school leaders who seek to transform struggling schools into safe and caring environments where children can be intellectually challenged and supported in their development.

This is one of the reasons why the radical pessimists are losing the reform debate and why the naïve optimists are winning. Ideas matter and if we can’t offer practical suggestions about what can be done to improve schools right now we make ourselves marginal to the debate over reform. Of course it helps to have private foundations and hedge fund managers behind you, and the so-called reformers are generally well financed, even when there is little evidence to support their change agenda. Clearly, the naïve optimists really aren’t that naïve. Some are quite clear that their goal is to dismantle teachers’ unions and privatize public education. If they win, you and I both know our entire society will be at risk.

That is why we need to weigh in on this debate. Not merely from the standpoint of making the case that new policies are needed, but also from the standpoint of practice. Let’s use some of our exchanges to assist the educators who are looking for help and guidance right now, as well as the parents and community organizers who know we can’t wait for the right policies to be enacted to create the schools our children deserve.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Pedro

Moving Beyond the Polarized Debate – Bridging Differences – Education Week.

Florida School Closures: Why Are High Poverty Schools Under the Gun? – Living in Dialogue – Education Week Teacher

19 Monday Nov 2012

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As I think about the state of public education and what our future teachers will face, I find myself both optimistic about their passions and desires for entering the profession but simultaneously, I find myself fearful of what type of educational system that they will inherit. After living and teaching in some form or fashion in three states (Colorado, Florida and Texas) what is so clear is that public education remains under attack. In conversations with educators in states such as the ones I’ve mentioned, I hear harsh realities from those whose hearts are still student centered.

As this blog grows, I hope to hear your stories about what teaching is for you as a profession as well as what it is not. As most educators may attest, we wear an array of hats and use a plethora of skills to get our lessons across to our students. We won’t even discuss the amounts of hours and money we sacrifice for those of whom we have dedicated our academic years  and lives to–our students.

I write all of this to set up the following submission that was originally posted on Education Week Teacher. We are in tough times both economically and morally in terms of what we choose to value in our society–not hear to play the “morality card” but it is what it is. We, as educators, are held responsible for shaping and instilling the values and beliefs of a new generation of citizenry for better or worse. So why do we continue to find the following entry still happening in places that are attempting to make a way out of no way?

To all of my fellow educators across the country, I’m with you in the educational trenches. I hope, in my current role, to help shape those who will walk and teach by your sides in the not so distant future. They are trying and will need your wisdom as well as the space to bring in new ideas for a new generation of student. So be prepared and ready for the new wave of teachers/learners, but in the meanwhile please review the harsh reality as we wait for better circumstances for our schools, communities, children and parents…

Carry on…

PSD~

Actual link to the following comments provided below courtesy of Education Week Teacher

Florida School Closures: Why Are High Poverty Schools Under the Gun? – Living in Dialogue – Education Week Teacher.

Guest post by a Florida teacher.

On Election Day, residents in Brevard County, Florida, rejected a sales tax increase to support schools. According to the Florida Today, the sales tax would have raised about $32 million annually, which the district planned to use to buy new school buses, replace roofs and chillers and purchase new computers to meet a state mandate. Three days after voters shot down the proposed half-cent sales tax, Brevard Public Schools officials recommend closing four schools during the 2013-14 school year. The closures are estimated to save the district about $3 million, a fraction of the shortfall it is facing. Board Chair Barbara Murray stated, “We will rise to the occasion. Our public has sent us a clear message, and we will do whatever it takes to maintain our quality education under the current restrictions.”

It’s simply unfathomable that Superintendent Brian Binggeli considers closing South Lake Elementary School a means to maintain quality education in the district. South Lake Elementary is a school that has found success with students living in poverty while schools all over the nation scramble to find a way to do just the same. According to Florida’s 2010-2011 Rankings, South Lake Elementary was in the top 13% of all the elementary schools in the state and ranked 4th amongst all schools that had a population of students with over 80% classified as being on free/reduced lunch. The Florida Department of Education (DOE) has found the school to be “high performing” for nine consecutive years. Additionally, AllThingsPLC recognizes the school as a National Model of Professional Learning Communities at Work.

Even more disturbing is the fact that the school board voted to close another Title 1 school in the same town as South Lake Elementary just one year ago, and hundreds of students were redistricted. Not just the students from the closed school were affected, but students from 5 other schools as well. A school board vote in favor of the superintendent’s proposal will lead to hundreds of kids attending their third school in as many years. Substantial evidence and studies show that mobility is correlated with lower academic achievement levels; even Florida’s VAM formula recognizes that! It has been found that children who moved 3 or more times had rates of school dropout that were nearly one-third of a standard deviation higher than those who were school stable. Frequent mobility was also associated with significantly lower reading and math achievement.

Where is the logic in the superintendent’s thinking? Some parents at the school, such as Mike Nunez, ask the poignant question, “Does it really all come down to money, class, and/or race?” Nunez notes South Lake Elementary has one of the highest poverty and minority rates of all the nearly 100 schools in the district. He stated that in the history of Brevard County, six schools in the North Area have been closed, with each of them lying in economically depressed areas (never in any areas considered to be “Affluent” neighborhoods). Additionally, Nunez suggests that no written criteria for how schools were chosen for possible closures have been found.

According to the Brevard County’s School Board’s own 2012 Capital Needs Assessment, South Lake is in need of fewer capital improvements than most schools in the district, including some of the schools to which South Lake Elementary students would be relocated. South Lake is 97% utilized while another area school that is both older and in greater need of capital improvements is 91% utilized. For whatever the reason, the School Board is not looking at closing schools in the more densely school populated Central Melbourne area where schools are under-utilized averaging around 80% utilized.

Nunez asks, “Did the school board feel the parents and community would fail to rally behind the school due to economic status?” If that is the case, the school board was woefully wrong. In one week nearly 1,400 people have become part of the effort to save South Lake on Facebook, about 700 have signed this petition, parents and community members came in droves to a rally last week, all the area elementary schools under PTO leadership are united, and politicians from all over the state are supporting the cause, as well as numerous national parent organizations.

Tuesday, November 20, the School Board will vote on whether or not to accept the superintendent’s proposal. Hundreds will be there hoping that the school board will support the case for South Lake and find budget cuts that will not be so detrimental to a population of vulnerable students.

What do you think? Are low income schools more likely to be closed down in your experience?

(The author of this post is a teacher in this District, who asked to remain anonymous.)