Questions

Why I am so freaking frustrated?

Why is mediocrity such an epidemic in this school system?

Why is differentiation still a debated topic in staff meetings?

Why does having "high expectations" need to be defined?

Why do students come with neither pen nor paper (every day)?

What are we preparing them for?

Why do we want to be a school?

What's the point?

How do we care with purpose and urgency?

In a job that's so difficult, how come we insist on making it harder?

Why do we settle?

What does alternative mean?

Why do we do this?

Why is everyone so chill?

What can I do?

Experiments in Food and Learning

There are two basic ways of capturing the attention of the American teenager: sex and food.

- Frank McCourt, Teacher Man

The experiment has begun. Tomorrow will mark the end of the first week of my latest pedagogical brain child: Food and Literature. The verdict: so far, so good. Fried chicken, ham biscuits, cream cheese bread, and Indian curry have already been topics of conversation. Also on the agenda: exploring cookbooks as a literary genre, asking about the purpose of recipes and rituals, and of course, writing. Is it "rigorous" learning? I'm not sure yet. But it is keeping things interesting - for me and (I hope) the kids.

So what is Food and Literature?

C, a student in my 6th period class, apparently still wants to know. In response to the question, "What would you like to learn in this class? " he replied, "I would like to learn how food and literature connect with one another to make a class."

Ouch.

Oh well. Like I told him, I'm still trying to figure it out myself. Hopefully we'll have a better idea - the both of us - tomorrow.

Or Monday.

Things (this) Teacher Loves to Hear....

In a week, this cycle will be finished. No more Dramatic Literature. No more Musical Theater History. New classes, new beginnings, new chances for success. A chance to start over. Again.

So as we do our final resuscitation dance (or, as some of us like to call it, "How do we get to a 65?") here are a few things to remember us by:

"Ms. Jamie gets mad tight when you say gay. "

"Ms. Jamie, please don't skip any more parts in Rent. I wanna watch the WHOLE thing."

"Does everybody in Rent have AIDS?"

(In reference to the character of Angel in Rent) :"That's a GIRL?!!"

"Ms. Jamie, can I borrow Rent? I want to watch it home."

****

"Abigail is a smut."

"These girls are OD!"

(In reference to Elizabeth's Proctor's decision in The Crucible): "Oh, she better tell the truth. Jamie, does she tell the truth? OMG. I'm getting tight."

"Nooooooooo!!!!" (In reference to when I turned the film off.)

"Are we gonna watch it today? Can I borrow it? I can't wait till tomorrow."

"Oh, is a theme about choice like when Lady Macbeth chooses to kill herself? Or Macbeth chooses to kill Duncan? Or when he chooses to kill Banquo cause he's paranoid?"

"Oh, can I use this one? When John Proctor chooses to tell the truth and that shows his loyalty to his wife? Oh and the choice of the girls to lie?"

Halloween Candy for Lunch!

The second day of Parent-Teacher conferences and no one yet.

This double bubble I just put in my mouth from the communal/welcome Halloween candy bowl is already going stale.

Ah Halloween candy. I know you're crap, and yet I still eat you. Why? Because it's Halloween and even at 30 I still want to take advantage of the high fructose free for all.

After all the (actual) drama this week, today was perfectly quiet and chill.

Everyone who came took their quiz and, for all but two, aced it. And that makes me feel really good.

But back to the Halloween candy, or rather, my reenergized thoughts about grading after reading Linda Christensen's thoughts about it in Teaching for Joy and Justice. Yeah.

Grades suck. Especially the stupid number ones that I have to do. What's the difference between a 98 and a 95? A 88 and an 86? A 70 and a....you get the picture. Who knows and who cares? It's all subjective, relative, and just plain bullshit depending on who the teacher is and what she's supposed to be "grading." Yeah, yeah you can use rubrics but I saw through their objectivity facade my first semester at NYU. I mean they're better than papers dripping in arbitrary red pen, but still: it's all about a game of figuring out what the teacher wants and how to give it to her. And is that supposed to be the point of education? To please the damn teacher? How about a way to SHOW that you LEARNED something? How about a way to make you want to learn MORE?

Grades are like the doughnuts (and candy!) we give out here as rewards: bad for you and easily disposed of and then craved for again and again. The grades become more important than what's being taught. Who cares about becoming a better writer? I want my 92!!!

On this ranting note, here are some mini gems that caught my eye this morning as I perused Ms. Christensen's latest manifesto on teaching (Teaching for Joy and Justice, p. 272-275).

"I discovered early on that if I wanted to produce writers I needed to let go of grades."

"Our grading should match our pedagogy."

"In too many classrooms, grades are "wages" students earn for their labor."

"Numbers and grades "assess" or judge the paper, rather than provide feedback about how to improve it."

"...scripts are easier to teach and easier to grade."

"When I think about grading, I am reminded of Malcolm X's quote, 'I have no mercy or compassion in me for a society that will crush people, and then penalize them for not being able to stand up under the weight.'"

"...I need to remind myself to begin with praise, to find what's working, to find the beauty before I find the fault."

So happy that I read that today. What a good place it put me in. No, really.

The irony of all this pedagogical ranting is that I work in a school where grading is MORE important than in other high schools. We give our students progress reports every two weeks so that they know how they're doing before it's too late (which is what happened in the schools they failed out of before). The problem with this is that 1) I'm grading all the damn time and 2) we fuel their addiction to grades while subsequently deemphasizing the importance of learning. It becomes all about the "benchmark," and less about, "wow, I've learned this new thing."

But I'm trying, like Christensen, to work my way into the mold. I try to make my "rubrics" as simple as possible and remind myself that I can't hold student A accountable for student B's work. Each student on their own. Differentiation, right?

Ah, grades. You are and always will be a part of my teaching reality. How to make you suck less?????

For now, that'll have to wait until I refuel on snickers (and the whole system and stuff completely f'ing changes). My double bubble is finally done.

Surreality

Tomorrow's Wednesday. That's the good news.

The bad news is obvious. And I'm afraid prolonged. The (non) trickle in of students will continue this week, so it already feels like today through Friday will be a wash. But hey, we keep on moving. Grades have to be put in the gradebook, credits have to be earned, and students need to graduate.

The most fascinating/disturbing/just plain sad comment of the day came from G, a new student:

"Why is everyone so mopey? All these people moping around. This shit happens in my hood every day. A woman got stabbed in front of my building last night. I saw my best friend get shot. What's the point in moping?"

His anger/frustration at the "mopiness" finally ended when he revealed that he used to feel bad about stuff (eg tragic death), but then it just kept happening and he felt helpless. And then, after avoiding the poem I had been pushing him to write all day, he poured his feelings out on paper.

And that, along with the small conversations we had over poetry (I am from pigs feet, power rangers, peanut chews...) and the Jay-Z pandora station, is why I am thankful that I'm an English teacher. Words, talk, and music. Our small step towards healing.

Oh and here's News 1 outside of the school. Someone also snapped my picture when I came in this morning. I wasn't sure whether or feel insulted, violated, or proud.

http://ny1.com/1-all-boroughs-news-content/news_beats/education/107959/teen-shot--killed-in-front-of-brooklyn-school/

....

A student got shot in front of my school today.

At around 3:00.

Right when school lets out.

It wasn't one of our kids.

I don't know if he's ok.

At was right near the bus stop; there were elementary and middle school kids there.

It was apparently a Crip thing.

I was upstairs grading their papers on Macbeth.

I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.

Shit.

Monday Detox: Lesson Plan Edition

Holy cannoli, it's been awhile since I've updated this thing.

Let's see, what's happened?

1. We finished Macbeth. Overall consensus was that he got what he deserved. And the Macduff c-section twist was very much appreciated. As L put it, "Macbeth's a grimy asshole. I'm glad he got his head chopped off."

2. Benchmarks increasingly seem to feel overwhelming to both the students and I. I plan on making the next one low maintenance to help both of us out.

3. The girls love Leroy in Fame.

4. We went on our first theater outing. Hansel and Gretel at the New Victory Theater is an excellent piece of avant garde theater. The fact that all the students had to pay was $2 is beyond mind blowing. I even treated some to high-fructose corn syrup goodies I was so glad to be in Times Square with them. God bless not-for-profit-education theater companies!

5. I had an amazing gluttonous weekend and am paying for it today. But I guess it really wouldn't be Monday without a dull headache and some bloat, now would it?

6. This brings me to the title of this lil entry: my lesson plans SAVED my ass today. Because I had already done the work (of the plan at least), I could really focus my attention on functioning, which was pretty much all my brain could handle.

7. More kids seem to be falling through the cracks. Is it because there are literally more of them (we get new students every day) , or is that the cycle is already half way over and many have calculated their (non) pass rate? Either way, it's starting to feel desperate in here and I don't like it.

To Folders

Bent, warped, recycled.

Last year's Health class, this year's Musical Theater.

Red, Blue, Yellow, White

Bloods and Crips together in one metal bin.

How do you escape from your notebook and jump from 1st to 4th period?

Why are you upside down and where is your name?

And why oh why do you have NOTHING in you?

Because of you my knuckles are scraped and raw from digging.

Because of you my eyes are blurred from searching.

Because of you I've become my mother who can find the things.

"Ms. Jamie, my folder's not here. I swear."

"I'll find it."
And I do.

All those times Mom found my socks/homework/bookbag/lunchbox.

Yeah, karma's a bitch.

You matter because you are there. Keep things organized. Are a place to put the blank and half done worksheets.

A promise of the beacon of progressive education: the student portfolio.

Yet right know you're the cause of my Tuesday night headache.

You're safe in your bin now.

Please stay put.

At least until 3rd.

Woohoo, No School! (Columbus Day Version)

1. Wake up. Realize that it's Monday and not Sunday and that you have the day off. Almost giggle and go back to sleep.

2. Coffee and some lesson planning (good to get the dirty work over with first).

3. Strut to Clinton Hill in new kick-ass pimp coat in search of a cozy coffee shop and some pastry.

4. Settle in in a very welcoming, neigborhoody cafe on Dekalb. Early Grey tea and a raspberry almond muffin. Grade 1st period's benchmark assessments. Blown away by two new students' work.

5. Full of muffin and semi productivity, head off to DSW to spend money.

6. Spend money (new boots!).

7. March up Atlantic Avenue, checking out new and closed businesses in route to Trader Joe's. Make mental notes on the new coffee shops you need to try out on your next day off.

8. Deal with the craziness that is Trader Joe's Brooklyn. You are one of them, and yet you hate.

9. Become paranoid that the eggs are going to be crushed in your awesome eco bag that Jessica gave you (update: they survived).

10. Experience the best B65 bus karma of your life thus far.

11. Oprah and Mike Tyson. Surreal?

12. Cook up some mushrooms and spinach for Moeller's wraps.

13. Continue in the healthy/tasty bran muffin experiment (version 6.0). Will the organic blueberry preserves be the final "it factor?"

14. Write a new blog post to unload brain.

15. Smile at the fact that perhaps the greatest gift of a day off is that Tuesday becomes Monday, which feels like a freebie.

World War III Caused by Do Now Prompt

Do Now: Define the term American. What is it? Who is it?

Result: IMPLOSION.

Irony: The (almost) fight started because one student wanted another to share her answer. Because she liked it. Thought it was smart. It was just that the second student didn't want to. And so for so many other reasons that have no real relevance to the definition of who or what an American is, school safety was almost called into my classroom.

On the day that Channel 1 was here to film us.

The Best Part: After all the separating and regrouping and my showing my (real) disappointment, they watched the "America" scene in West Side Story and devoured it. Dots connecting and connecting all over the damn place.

Dramatic,Traumatic Learning.

First Macbeth related injury: Wednesday, September 30th, 9:20am

This morning at approximately 9:20am, I injured myself with dramatic literature.

You see, just yesterday, in our class, Macbeth had finally(!) managed to kill Duncan and today we were the guests who were awakened by the sounds of knocking.

So I knocked. Loudly. On the table. A lot.

My throat is also sore but that could either be from screaming "horror" as Macduff or from screaming "stop talking" to Deon. Either way, teaching has beat my ass today.

God help me when we get to the battle scenes. (My "stabbing" of Duncan was most definitely too dancerly, but hell, they still got the point. )

Oh and in musical theater I get to run around like a Jet. Yep: West Side Freaking Story. Manana.

The Brave Ones

Today was a good day.

First jump, first leap towards success.

Benchmarks, homework.

They are actually learning stuff.

5th period. Dramatic Literature. Original Macbeth Soliloquies

L as Lady M.

Soliloquy written so authentically (she included stage directions!) that it was hard for her (as a non actor) to read.

Jealous giggles.

She shuts down.

I shut it down. Command. Take over.

I am now L's Lady M.

Her words: my voice.

Mesmerized silence.

L's applause, as reflected toward me. Respect. Envy. Just plain damn impressed.

Setting the bar high. Thank GOD they did it for me.

This is what it's like in Jamie's class.

Yeah, today was a really good day.

Porgy and Stress

Welcome to my brain for the past 24 hours:

Oh I got plenty o nuthin

Nuthing plenty fo me

I got no job, got no mule...

And why is this American musical masterpiece stuck in my head?

Why, as the teacher who had a rep last year for playing Jay-Z and Biggie, have I switched to a black "folk opera" from the 1930s that was written by a white man?

Great question.

It's one I'm struggling with right now.

I guess this is what happens when you make up a class from scratch about a subject that - on the surface - appears to have exactly zilch to do with your students' lives: Musical Theater History.

Let's look at it again: Musical. Theater. History.

Yes, in Brownsville. Yes, at a transfer "second chance" high school.

It's only our second full week of class and yet I've bombarded them with facts about a legacy whose authentic relevance (to them) I have doubts about: vaudeville, minstrel shows, black face, Al Jolson, Ragtime, Jazz....

As I've literally been making this shit (eg curriculum) up, I've decided to jump onto the thread of oppression. We've asked if music is really "raceless" and unpacked some assumptions about just who listens to (and makes) rock, jazz, rap, and classical. But I'm still not sure where and how this class is going to end up. I said when I thought up this thing that it would relate to them, but so far, has it? Another question: does everything have to? As a teacher who likes to claim a sense of uber student-centeredness, is there room for a class where struggling students learn thing that are completely out of their life experience? Isn't that itself an argument for teaching THEATER in the first place?!! Hmmmm.....

What the hell. Summertime is a haunting piece of musical poetry and I need to to catch the 3 train.

Biggie will have to hold off. For today.

Losing It

Last week I thought I lost my wedding band.

Today I lost my oh-so-valued pre-tax metro card.

What gives with losing (my mind) and the first weeks of school???

I'm half paranoid that I'm going to leave the house tomorrow without something super important like underwear or deodorant.

What's going on in my school-has-started-again brain that is making it so hospitable for this particular brand of forgetfulness?

Weird and annoying.

But, on a positive note, we had some pretty decent conversations about fate and choice and power in my Dramatic Literature class today. Seems the consensus is that a person's fate is NOT predetermined but then God can (and will) still do what he wants (i.e. have you get hit by a bus on your way to work). Delicious setup for starting Macbeth tomorrow.....

Things you can't make up: 1. Intoxicated Student First Day of Class

1st day of "real" class.

Good stuff overall. Getting to know each other, introducing themes of the class, pitching myself as the "wacky," "happy" teacher....

One student (sweet kid, looks about 30; if only he know how to be in school): bloodshot eyes, cracking jokes at pretty much everything I said, kids were more laughing at him than with him....yeah, he got suspended for violating the substance abuse policy.

Otherwise a pretty uneventful, LONG, second (first) day.....

First Day, Second Year. Or the tale of the (not) lost ring.

So I thought I lost my wedding band during a 'welcome-back-to-school' art project with the students today. That pretty much dominated every thing I did, thought about doing, or decided I could wait to do tomorrow.

And then I came home. And it was there. Right where I apparently left it.

Thank God for subconcious distraction.

So is this an omen for the school year? A warning that I will continually (unknowingly) forget things, freak out about them, and then find enormous relief? Only time will tell.

But this we know for sure: 1)I do not need to make my husband by replacement blood diamonds and 2) the school year is really here.

First Day Lunch Break

Ok, so the kids don't come until till tomorrow, but today is still the "official" first day of school here in glorious NYC.

Room set up, meetings about disclipline and cell phone and substance abuse......in other words, a slow burn until tomorrow and then the real deal begins.

Tomorrow's gonna be a half day; we're doing a quick meet n' greet, a fun art project and then peace out until Thursday and our first set of regular classes.

So here's a little taste of some of what will (hopefully) go on in the meet n' greet portion of my class tomorrow.

Old school acrostic name poems. Choices: 1) Do one about yourself 2) Do one about someone else 3) Do one about something you like/are interested in 4) Do one about anything else you can think of.

My examples (or in teacher speak, models): (Though these really do lose something in the blogosphere - you're missing my pretty crayola marker action.....)

Jazzed about Learning
Always PUMPED to see you!
Music Maestro of the class
Invested in YOUR success
Excited about ALL the awesome things we're going to learn

Dares you to PLAY!!
Really, really RAD
Awesome way to Learn
Makes you STRETCH your brain and body
Allows you to be someone else

Excellent way to understand the WORLD
Never Boring :)
Gets you a'reading and a'writing
Literacy EQUALS power
Imagine your FUTURE
Symbolism, Similes, and saucy syntax
Helps you become a braver, smarter, BETTER person

The Start of the School Year Excitment Posting

Maybe it's the beautiful weather.

Maybe it's my new classroom (with actual tables and chairs!).

Maybe it was seeing Y. and D. and G. and even S.

Maybe it was the surprise kiss on the cheek T. gave me.

But I'm excited.

I'm excited that I know and don't know what the hell I'm doing.

I'm excited to share and learn from new (and old) staff.

I'm excited about the discounted Picasso and Pollock I put up.

I'm excited to fail and learn.

I'm excited to play.

I'm excited to work really hard.

I'm excited to figure out how to connect Biggie Smalls to Macbeth. And Macduff and Obama. Oh and Broadway musicals too.

I'm excited to be surprised.

I'm excited to move past the unknown/what if's/maybes and do this thing.

Loving what you do is a rare and special thing. Let me remember that in mid-October.

Ted Kennedy: Thank You

Apparently only something this sad could pull me from my temporary blog hibernation: the death of Senator Edward Kennedy.

From as far as I remember, I have defended and lauded Ted Kennedy. For the most part, I had little idea why. I knew that 1) Ted Kennedy was proud to be a liberal and 2) so was I. And that was pretty much all it took. Our shared pride in being Democrats was enough to bind us in some imaginary tie. Oh and his kick ass accent and fun boozy stories. That definitely helped.

But as I prepare to start school again in two weeks (thus the self-imposed blog break), the real reasons why I shed a tear or two for Ted Kennedy this morning poke, no stab at me. Perhaps I need to write a list of issues he and both care about: health care, education, poverty rights.....nah, boring. Perhaps a Devil's Advocate statement about where Teddy (and Clinton and Obama) have fallen short as proof that progressive politics need to be reenergized? Nah, too....righteous and angry. So how about this?

Words from the man himself.

Tribute to Senator Robert F. Kennedy

Senator Edward M. Kennedy
St. Patrick's Cathedral
New York City
June 8, 1968

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/EMK/

"...Through no virtues and accomplishments of our own, we have been fortunate enough to be born in the United States under the most comfortable conditions. We, therefore, have a responsibility to others who are less well off."

This is what Robert Kennedy was given. What he leaves us is what he said, what he did and what he stood for. A speech he made to the young people of South Africa on their Day of Affirmation in 1966 sums it up the best, and I would read it now:

"There is a discrimination in this world and slavery and slaughter and starvation. Governments repress their people; and millions are trapped in poverty while the nation grows rich; and wealth is lavished on armaments everywhere...."

"Our answer is to rely on youth - not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease....Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

"The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of new ideas and bold projects. Rather it will belong to those who can blend vision, reason and courage in a personal commitment to the ideals and great enterprises of American Society."

This is why I teach.

Rest in Peace, Teddy. And Thank You.

I heart Michael Pollan and his food education ways

My coffee companion this morning? Michael Pollan's most recent NYT article: "Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/magazine/02cooking-t.html?pagewanted=1&em

As someone who loves to think about food, look at food, (sometimes) cook food, and of course eat food, his article definitely struck a nerve. His central point: We are watching food on TV far more than we are actually cooking it. The paradox is unsettling. We watch people chop and braise fresh food on Top Chef AS we chow down on microwave popcorn and lean cuisine. Cooking has become something glamorous, something fast and trendy, something other people do. And I totally agree: I don't watch Top Chef to learn how to prepare a mise en place, I watch it to judge and sometimes salivate over the contestants' uber food creations. And I definitely don't watch any of the "dump and stir" programs on the Food Network Pollan talks about. When over half of the ingredients Ray Ray uses on 30 Minute Meals are from a box/can/jar, what is "real" about the cooking going on?

So, you ask, what does this rant/review have to do with teaching, which is supposed to be the purpose of this blog? This: Food = Learning. It teaches us about culture, about family, about corporate greed. It shows us that eating well has become a social justice issue. If I teach my students that humans are meant to eat carrots and not cheetos I could fundamentally change what my students eat, and in doing so, shed a small light onto other injustices in their life. Learning that you have the right to eat well is a fact I want them to embrace. To own. To become really, really angry about. That's why, no matter if I teach English, Theater, Playwriting, what have you, the information that Michael Pollan so powerfully puts out into the world will be shared with my students.

On that note, here are some of the Pollanisms I will be thinking about as I watch Anthony Bourdain shove various amounts of tubed pork product into his gord tonight:

"The Food Network has helped to transform cooking from something you do into something you watch — into yet another confection of spectacle and celebrity that keeps us pinned to the couch" (4).

"We seem to be well on our way to turning cooking into a form of weekend recreation, a backyard sport for which we outfit ourselves at Williams-Sonoma, or a televised spectator sport we watch from the couch....But to relegate the activity of cooking to a form of play, something that happens just on weekends or mostly on television, seems much more consequential. The fact is that not cooking may well be deleterious to our health, and there is reason to believe that the outsourcing of food preparation to corporations and 16-year-olds has already taken a toll on our physical and psychological well-being" (7).

"...when we don’t have to cook meals, we eat more of them: as the amount of time Americans spend cooking has dropped by about half, the number of meals Americans eat in a day has climbed; since 1977, we’ve added approximately half a meal to our daily intake" (7).

"The more time a nation devotes to food preparation at home, the lower its rate of obesity. In fact, the amount of time spent cooking predicts obesity rates more reliably than female participation in the labor force or income. Other research supports the idea that cooking is a better predictor of a healthful diet than social class: a 1992 study in The Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that poor women who routinely cooked were more likely to eat a more healthful diet than well-to-do women who did not" (7).

Writer's Block be damned, Speed Write edition.

So the whole point of this blog is to write, right? And yet. Things like vacation and sleeping in and drinking coffee and watching Dr. Phil keep hindering this task. So let's try a little thing I often use with my students: Speed Write! It's pretty simple: you set a time limit (I usually start with 30 or even 10 seconds and go up from there) and you keep writing until the time is up. Sometimes I use parts of a song or a piece of music to monitor the time. But today we're going the old school route: non-stop writing for 30 seconds.

Here I go!

Ok, why what should I write? Why I am so worried about what I write? What a boring blog. Blahahahaha. Ms. Neurotic pants fo shore. This is harder to do while typing instead of with a pen. And I still think I'm overthinking it. I wonder if my kids have the same problem? I wonder if any of them just write their name over and over? Jamie jamie jamie jamie. Nah, that's lame. Am I done yet? I forgot to check the time. Opps.

Do Now: Write!

This is a common "Do Now" I use in my class. (For you non teachers, a Do Now is something - you guessed it - that the students are supposed to do as soon as they come into your class, to get things a'rolling. Of course it doesn't always work out this way, but believe it or not, my kids usually dig the reliableness of this routine. My most successful ones are short and somehow connected to the kids' lives/interests. This one should take about 1-2 min. Try it out!) :)

Do Now: Complete the following thoughts.

I am....

I love...

I hate....

I fear....

I want....

I need....

****

I am caffeinated.

I love Josh.

I hate litter, childhood obesity, and apathatic education systems.

I fear failure.

I want a scone from Amy's bakery.

I need a shower.

Thank You, Teacher Man

I know mine will be one of the thousands (millions?) of tributes paid to the dear Mr. McCourt, but the thankful teacher in me just couldn't resist.

I came to Teacher Man a little wary of Frank McCourt. I was, it seems, the only person in the world that didn't love Angela's Ashes. But I'd heard that it was a "must read" for a new teach like myself and so I did as I was told. And. I. LOVED. it.

What did I love the most?

That it was so damn honest.

And funny.

And more than a little bit ugly.

I loved that, as a teacher for 40+ years in the New York City school system, Frank McCourt was still humbled and awed by the task of teaching and changing young people.

(And I REALLY loved that it/he gave me perhaps my greatest teaching inspiration to date: as part of his "advanced" English course at Stuyvesant, he and his students taught each other recipes. Chicken Cattioatore as literature. Brilliant.)

Also, one final note: As I was listening to a rebroadcast of a interview he did on the Brian Lehrer show a few years back, I was struck by how he insisted on being introduced. Brian Lehrer was naturally introducing him as the author of two best selling novels/phenomenons, and Frank McCourt stopped him and said, "And a teacher. That's what I've been first and the most. A teacher."

Hungry for Change

Yesterday I saw Food, Inc. http://www.foodincmovie.com/

I went in thinking that it would be redundant information since I'd read Fast Food Nation and selections from Michael Pollan before. (I even do Mark Bittman's "vegan" thing before 6 pm most days.) But I was still 100% blown away/horrified/enraged/called to action. It's outrageous that the food industry is allowed to run ramshod over our food choices. These food fascists have no problem selling us corn in every way imaginable and WANTING us to become fat and addicted so we buy more and more. ENOUGH.

As I was watching, of course, I just kept thinking of my kids and the absolute garbage they eat. Pop tarts. Gallons of Arizona ice tea. 5 bags of potato chips for breakfast. To them, cheap, fattening food is literally the only option. Paying more than .30 for a bag of Wise potato chips is simply out of the question.

So I decided to teach Health last year to take this travesty on. I taught them how to read food labels and the "five ingredient" rule. I taught them that most of the sugar in their diet comes from soda. I taught them that there were other ways to cook chicken besides frying it. And yet: I still had too many students who ate chips for breakfast. I also ran up against (good intentioned) colleagues buying them pizza, Dunkin Donuts, candy, etc. as a reward. It's as if it's impossible to be an educator in the New York City school system and NOT (implicity or explicitly) endorse the consumption of bad food. When are we going to get it?! FOOD IS FUEL. The cliche is true: We ARE what we eat. And our students, who have failed and failed and failed, and truly believe that they're academically wortheless, are eating GARBAGE.

This was the one quote in the movie that made me tear up: Every person deserves access to good, healthy, affordable food....Make sure your farmers' markets take food stamps. Just as a quality education is the right of EVERY child, so is access to affordable, healthy food. As educators to low income, "inner city" students, it's our job, no responsiblity, to promote and teach them that they DESERVE organic, healthy food. We need to demand that school lunches become healthful instead of harmful. We need to tell them over and over and over again that food is power and that voting for apples instead of hot fries will start a revolution.

NYT, Failing Schools, and Monday Morning Coffee

So it's Monday. And. I'm. a. mov.ing.slow.l.y.

As I perform my Monday ritual of combing through the Times to see what news I missed over the weekend, one item has grabbed my extremly dulled attention.

I apparently missed last week's OpEd on Arne Duncan and what to do about Failing Schools.

(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/06/opinion/06mon1.html)

I am catching now, however, the Letters to the Editor in response to the wise Ol Times:

To the Editor:

Your editorial urges that more money be spent and that small-scale demonstrations be greatly enlarged. There seems to be an assumption that middle- and high school educators know how to educate underprepared students, if only they had more money. In the case of city schools’ educating concentrations of students from poor families, this is wrong.

Policy should instead be built on two undisputed foundations: only students who can read well can be educated well, and reading is a skill learned early, by third or fourth grade.

For poor children this means high-quality preschools that can help narrow the gap in vocabulary and general knowledge. It also means concentrating on early literacy instruction.

These practices have been found to work, not just in successful elementary schools, but districtwide in New Jersey, in Union City and West New York, where eighth-grade students have practically closed the gap with their suburban peers.

Congress should require that federal funds be focused on starting early and intensively with disadvantaged students, not on high schools. Make young students strong readers, and they have a fighting chance.

Gordon MacInnes
Morristown, N.J., July 6, 2009

The writer is a fellow at the Century Foundation.

(Here are more letters to the editor regading this OpEd: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/opinion/l13educ.html)

As my slow-moving brain transitions from the effects of coffee to green tea, I'll have to say is: AMEN.

Stuff I Like: Teaching for Joy

Teaching is hard. Teach(ers), I believe, often make it harder. How? By choosing a profession out of apathy. By blaming the kids for their inability to teach. By being really crappy students themselves.

I believe teaching, at its core, is about the love of learning. For the students AND for the teacher. If you don't love the rollar coaster ride of learning and trying out new stuff (content, pedagogy, whathaveyou), then why the hell are you teaching? As a professional, my skills need to be constantly stretched and reflected upon. I crave things that will help me become a better teacher. For God's sake, when the graduation rate for city students hovers around 50%, we NEED to WANT to do something different.

So, once again, thank you Linda Christensen. I just ordered her new book: Teaching for Joy and Justice: Reimagining the Language Arts Classroom.

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/publication/tfjj/tfjj.shtml

Her book, Reading, Writing, and Rising Up pretty much provided the first full week of lessons for my first month teaching (see my previous post, "I am From").

So teaching for joy? Hell yes. Let's do some learning.

I Am From

I Am From (As taught millions of times in "progressive" English classrooms across the country. Thank you Linda Christensen, thank you.)

I am from Scott and Joanne, Scottie B and Toots

the Appalachian mountains and the Phillies and Iggles.

I am from

"let's pertend," playing house in Mr. Bond's yard, Spinny and Marshall, writing my first teacher notes home in Do and Pa's terrace.

I am from Bo-Pat, my pet-dog/toy coca-cola truck.

I am from stepping on Zack's legos and having my "buttons pushed"

I am from avoiding stickhead to having him become one of my best friends.

I am from FOOD.

Watermelon jolly ranchers

Dairy Queen Butterfinger Blizzards (size large please)

Those special nights when Mom got out the Fry Baby

And of course Do's mashed potatoes.

I am from summers at Chincoteague and Thanksgivings in New Jersey.

I am from normal to chubby to thin.

I am from craving and rejecting labels.

I am from Take Me Home Country Roads and Strawberry Fields Forever.

Playing the piano while Mom cooked dinner and "Sing my song, Noona."

I am from "don't roll your eyes at me" and "I'm proud of you sweetie."

I am from high expectations and even higher lessons of empathy.

I am from a workaholic and a nurturer.

I am from that very lucky place where love and ambition meet:

I am from home.

Why Blog?

Holy cannoli, I just created my first blog! I'm so 2004.

So why do this? Here's the thing: I'm a teacher. In New York City. More specifically, in Brooklyn. I love my job and I also love that this is my first summer off. (Yes, I know I'm lucky to have summers off, blah, blah. No, I'm not bitter about these comments, not at all....) And I want to get back into writing. So the blog. I've resisted it for awhile, but screw it, I can join these kiddies on the blogosphere. Especially since what I have to say is going to be the most original thoughts on teaching in the city out there. Fo shizzle.