7 Ways Schools Kill the Love of Reading, and 4 Ways to Foster it

Check out this  Washington Post op-ed by Alfie Kohn on how schooling promotes studenting and kills a love of reading. And be more like our lit circle groups.

Quick read, big issue: "Why save a language?"

"Cultures, to be sure, show how we are different. Languages, however, are variations on a worldwide, cross-cultural perception of this thing called life."


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/opinion/sunday/why-save-a-language.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region&region=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region&_r=0

Math and Social Justice

For all the math heads in the house:

A few links and people to connect with who are fierce math educators:

http://creatingbalanceconference.org/
Kari Kokka (finishing diss at Harvard, based in Oakland)
Teddy Chao (THE Ohio State University)

We do nice things because he's a person

First Grade Activity Via NYCoRE:

Dreams are funny things Adama, Lauren, Analie, Megan, and Jennifer

Dreams are funny things....

America, the beautiful, America the great, right? All through out my schooling I learned about the great things America has done for people all around the world. You hear great stories of Ellis Island and how people came to this country for better opportunity We learned about the constitution and how Abraham Lincoln "freed" the slaves form slavery. We learned that everyone is created equal and even though America had a short history of racial tension, that time is over now.

As an African American woman who will bore African American children, I would love to dream of a time where all children are created equally but I know I would just wake up to a rude reality. Often times, many people ask well how do we move on?

As I watched the grand jury not indict Darren Wilson for murdering Michael Brown, there is doubt in my mind that we can ever move on. How can we move on with constant reminders that Black men in America lives are not valued? How can we move on when Black women are already at the bottom of the barrel and have to endure the loss of their male counterparts on a daily basis? How can we move on when before Black boys are taught how to interact with women they must first learn how to act when a police officer approaches them? How can we move on?

As a teacher who will serve Black and Brown men, I ask myself, how do I fight the good fight and prepare my students for the harsh realities that await them outside the school walls? I cry for my students because no matter what we would love to believe even the schools they attend treat them as the "other" that America proudly keeps intact.

In the word's of Mary Prince's mistress "who had put freedom into my head" I directly respond "America did but now they regret ever doing so."

The question is not how can we move on from these tragedies. The question should when will America stop acting like these things never exist and prove to our Black children, whose ancestors built this country from the ground up that they are important?

Post for Sam, Carol, Kakas, Erin, Ryan, Celestina

"But always, just over the edge of such precision, order and sense is a fuzziness, a blurring.  The sound sharpens, swells, silences.  Gaps and holes in sonic and ocular words.  Precision now lacking, clarity receding.  And with that, a realization.  It does not have to be this way.  This can change."

Crawley talked about occupied territory, exclusionary logic, and the announcement of the other.  Patel discussed schooling and learning, in classrooms for high schoolers and future educators.  Considering both of these pieces, my overall thoughts shift towards two questions.  How did we get here, and how do we move on?

America continues to marginalize people of color.  Students are forced to navigate constraints in the classroom, or are pushed out otherwise.  How are we as teachers supposed to instigate change?  I see already how easy it is to slip into the world of assessments and standards, how easy it is to lose sight of the systemic problems that affect the students in my classroom.  What are ways we, as a cohort, cultivate learning for our students while teaching them the skills to navigate a system meant to break them (and give them awareness of this failure alongside an awareness of the necessity of their pursuit of true learning?)  Can we even make solutions to this problem without falling into the trap of "five step lesson plans" and mnenonics and inspirational posters that is so heavily promoted by our college's education problem?  

I know that, like many of the questions we have delved into this semester, there is not a specific answer.  I also know that we all want change, and know it can happen.  After a conversation with an old friend, who is currently teaching in schools much like ours, my fears of falling into the trap of teaching to the test and losing sight of why we began teaching in the first place and who we are trying to serve seemed to materialize in one of the most enthusiastic, passionate educator I have ever known.  I'm scared.  So, again... how did we get here?  How do we move on?

Discussion – Caroline, Marty, Melody, AB, Steve 12/1/14

“The idea of America, the idea born in dreams, is farce. The dream that all men are created equal, in its very enunciation, bespeaks the gendered nature of so-called equality. But veiled from the declaration of “all men” are the ways the concept is not only gendered, but racialized and classed as well. One had to be a white, landed male, in order to be considered one of the ‘all men’ created through the ideology of equality.”

This quote really stood out to me, especially after hearing Associate Dean Of Students, Elizabeth Sparks discuss her upbringing in Kansas City and her experience during the civil rights movement. During her presentation, I asked her how she responds to people, especially people of color, who argue that the civil rights movement is over or that “we won” the civil rights movement. She replied by explaining that unfortunately some people don’t understand institutionalized/systematic racism and that this is a difficult concept to understand.

When thinking of the students I work with I want to “be real” and discuss the injustices that exist in the U.S. However, even I struggle speaking eloquently on such a complex issue. Moreover, given the impact of intersectionalities and how this also plays a role in how you are viewed and treated in the world, I find myself not knowing where to start this conversation with teenagers.