Some Detroit roses find cracks in the concrete

A line from a Tupac song praises the abilities for roses (dispossessed peoples) to find cracks in the concrete (systems of oppression). In that spirit, check out this article on protests this week by Detroit area youth. So, yes, it's pretty bad out there, but the upside is that many people are awakening to the fact that education is a civil right, not just for those who can afford it. Read more here about the systemic dismantling of schools across the nation, most severely in the nation's "urban" (read: Black and Brown and low-income) centers.

WHO NEEDS HARVARD?

An inspiring article that came out the summer after I graduated high school. My best friend was quoted in it after he got into Brown University but decided to go to Wash U instead. I helped him make that decision. Take that, society!

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1226150,00.html

How To Make Literacy More Appealing To Boys (and girls)

From Chap. 8 in “Misleading Masculinity” by Thomas Newkirk

-                       -Practical ways for teaching literacy more appealing for children and broadening the literacy spectrum.

1.     Literacy instruction should be more open to popular culture while not abandoning the established literature.

-       “A big room,” one that includes popular culture and classical literature where children can merge the two in their writing.

2.     Allowing cartooning as serious business

-       Children should be allowed to draw cartoons for visual storytelling.

-       Students can develop stories by drawing quick rough sketches of key actions and tapping these to a large board (this is called “telling board” and then developing these into a picture book.

-       This will develop drawing and oral storytelling skills.

3.     Make room for obsession

-       Some degree of obsessiveness in writing is essential for literacy development because when kids repeat themselves, they are making innovations, which may not seem significant to teachers, but it’s important to track down these innovations as teachers to improve their writing.

4.     Teachers must resist those forces that would narrow the range of writing and reading allowed in schools

-       Teachers rely too much on rubrics and writing instruction is tightly timed and lacking in any social interaction.

-       Rubrics predetermine the qualities of successful writing, which don’t include traits that make writing appealing to children. 

Clarendon Heights in 2012

As a Somerville resident, I knew I had passed Clarendon Towers,
the "projects" that are the setting of the book Ain't No Makin' It 

The picture that Ain't No Makin' It paints of the Clarendon Towers is one of destitution.
Surprisingly, while of couse not "posh", the Towers don't look that bad to me,
at least not on a spring day in 2012, 28 years after the book was published.

Neaby are the Clarendon Hill Apartments...

...a pretty standard-looking government-subsidized housing complex.
Again, not luxurious, but not scary either.  I wonder how much has changed in 28 years.

An empty basketball court in the Clarendon Hill Apartment Complex.  Why is nobody playing on this  beautiful spring vacation afternoon?  Basketball was a central social activity for the Brothers, and the Hallway Hangers prided themselves on their close-knit community.  The nature of social interactions has changed in many ways in many parts of society.  Maybe modern-day Clarendon Heights is completely different.  Maybe people are so isolated they don't congregate at all.  

Ain't No Makin' It

Group: Katherine, Kristin, Laura, Giorgio

The Brothers in 2006- Where are they now?

Craig:
Race/Ethnicity: African-Caribbean
Residence: West Coast
Education: Bachelor’s degree
Job: Reportedly fitness instructor. Previous: office work in a department store
Drugs: None
Prison: No
Wife/girlfriend: Reportedly divorced
Children: No
Family: Cut ties with his family in the 1990s when he moved

Classic Literature vs. Standardized Testing

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/taking-emotions-out-of-our-schools.html?ref=education

interesting op-ed in the NY Times...
taking the emotion out of literature class because of standardized tests

Privatization and Standardized Testing

This op-ed from the New York Times almost reads like a Swift-esque "Modest Proposal" for evaluating students. Standardized tests graded by robots. Yikes.

Facing a Robo-Grader? Just Keep Obfuscating Mellifluously

Critical Thinking and Teachable Moments

I thought the movie we saw in class last class was very powerful.  I still can’t believe that bill passed.  As I mentioned in class, I think the film did a great job at illustrating that there is a fear among some that identifying with a culture is un-America. Further, a point that I really believe, that culture is an important tool through students can learn. 

That being said, I was wondering if anyone noticed the teacher-student interactions from the clips of class lessons.  Two of the interactions really stuck out to me.  First, the scene where the teacher hands out books with a bell on the cover and asks the class something like, “why do you think it’s a church?” The student responds something along the lines of, “Because it is like home.”  The teacher acknowledges the answer as right and moves on.  In another clip the teacher asks the students if things have changed since the time of Martin Luther King.  The students had various responses, the teacher said “yes, right?” and then moved on.  Now both of these instances are just clips and we don’t get to see the lesson in its entirety, but it seems like for a guy is preaching about the importance providing all students a solid education that meets the needs of students he is not really challenging students or pushing students to really think critically.  It seems like there is one answer he is looking for and the students know that.  Again, I know these are just clips and we shouldn’t make conclusions based on two such short clips, but it leaves me thinking about the importance of keeping the goal of providing a solid education at the center of schools.  These is not to say that advocating for what one believes is wrong, nor is it to say that we shouldn’t use real life situations of interest to students as teachable moments.  Rather, it is just to raise the question of whether he is handing students the “right” answer, or using the situation to encourage critical thinking and learning.  I’d be interested to hear what others think. 

And on a related note, this week the Supreme Court is going to hear the Arizona Immigration case http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/22/2762469/supreme-court-to-hear-arizona.html

Ain't No Makin' It

Sara, Nicole, Dave, Caitlyn, and Karen

Book Title: Ain’t No Makin’ It

Author: Jay MacLeod

 Summary:

           Jay MacLeod describes the lives of two groups of teenage boys living in Clarendon Heights, a low-income housing development project located in Somerville, Massachusetts. He begins his study by describing the boys, where they live, their families, and their schooling. One group, the Hallway Hangers, contains about eight mostly white Italian or Irish youths, five of whom have dropped out of high school. These boys all smoke cigarettes and drink and/or abuse drugs on a regular basis. The other group, the Brothers, contains about seven predominantly black youths, who still attend school regularly and barely get into trouble. They still have faith in the American dream of starting from nothing, getting an education, and achieving a middle-class lifestyle. MacLeod describes the challenges these teenagers face with regards to poverty, racial discrimination, and constant negative thoughts with regards to their futures.

            After a description of the lives of these sixteen residents of Clarendon Heights, MacLeod revisits these boys eight years after having left them as teenagers. He interviews them about what they think they could’ve done differently with their lives, if they even wanted to change the past, and where they see themselves in the future. In part 3, MacLeod follows up with what is left of the Hallway Hangers and the Brothers yet again in 2006 to see where they have ended up. Through interviews and analysis, MacLeod delves deep into the issues of race, class, crime, sex, careers, and feelings of defeatism with regards to both of these very different groups of teenage boys. He focuses on one very important concept: the idea that poverty is reproduced from one generation to the next. Using the example of these two cliques, MacLeod provides a powerful argument about how inequality is created and perpetuated in the United States. 

Michael Eric Dyson and Tom Horne debate Mex Am Studies ban

Echoes of one of the points from our class: Is the mainstream curriculum also 'biased,' even 'ethnic'?

"I base my thoughts on hearsay from others..." The Daily Show's take on Mexican-American Studies ban

"In some countries I might be actually locked up for teaching the way I have... well in this country I'm just banned from doing it."

here's the clip: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-april-2-2012/tucson-s-mexican-american-studies-ban

Throughout the McDonough reading I kept thinking, what would happen if State Frameworks integrated education on critical racial consciousness? If these concepts were integrated into aspects of education in a variety of curriculum; English, history, science, etc., how would teaching change? Although this would not address the aspect of individuals identifying positions, it could possibly help lead to racially conscious teaching.

Hi everyone,
Lots of comments this week about the purpose of schooling for American Indian students now and whether or not things have changed over time.  Here's a link to an article:

http://www.nativenewsnetwork.com/meeting-set-to-discuss-healing-of-menominee-student-suspended-for-speaking-native-language.html

Staring in the classroom

Professor Garland-Thomson was at a Disability Studies Conference I attended earlier this semester. After watching this video on her research into "Staring," although primarily focused on disabilties, I thought of how as teachers we in a way demand to be stared at by our students, as an indicator that they're paying attention to us. It's an interesting, performative relationship. Here's the link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jALsDVW63wo

Observing students vs observing teachers for performance assessment

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/19UtCP/:bfKyf+Km:d2mxnYVX/www.sacbee.com/2012/04/08/4399070/a-japanese-inspired-approach-to.html/

Interesting article about a different approach to assessing a lesson or a teacher!

Media Literacy

Several TV networks and newspapers have been criticized for their misleading and sometimes inaccurate coverage of black Florida teen Trayvon Martin's Feb. 26 shooting death. How are the events of that February night being misrepresented? Here, four examples: 
1. ABC's misleading video scoop
4. ...And demonization of Trayvon Martin


In the Digitial Age, how can we prepare our students to deal with these biasses and misrepresentation that can be created and shared instantaneously?


Entire Article:
http://theweek.com/article/index/226354/the-trayvon-martin-case-4-things-the-media-got-wrong