The Important (and boring) Work of Accountability

Sorry, dear reader, for putting you through my thoughts on accountability. You've guessed it... that's what we're working on right now. But it's made me think... accountability is the one thing that school folk see as important, yes, but HELL NO, don't put me on the data team, puh-leeze. Yes, data is considered pretty boring, but it's also faceless and straightforward, impersonal and to the point. You can stick it on a graph. You can't stick a kid on a graph... you can't account for the fact that she didn't have breakfast the morning of the test because she got up late... you can't consider that he's had a head cold for the past couple of days, or that he's suffering from asthma... you can't chart the way he feels about this test you've put in front of him...

Accountability Reciprocity

"The child and the school are accountable to the state for test performance, but the state is not held accountable to the child or his school for providing adequate educational resources."

- Linda Darling-Hammond

So true... NCLB makes children, their families, teachers, school administrators, and school boards accountable for so much and yet what is the government doing to help? We discussed questions we have about NCLB today and mine came from a deep place of anger... there are schools in my district who are in program improvement, have been there for years, far beyond the number of years it takes to be "taken over". Well, NOW WHAT? Those kids are still not getting what they need. This is a DAILY occurrence. We cannot wait until there is a new president. We cannot wait for NCLB to be renewed. WE CANNOT WAIT. The time is now.

No child left behind?

There are so many aspects of NCLB that leave children behind... Questions I have:

• Is the testing culturally relevant?- Honestly, have you looked at some of those passages. They aren't really accessible to kids who live in the inner city, much less new immigrants. 
• What about other types of assessment?
• Are we assessing kids on standards that will help them be successful in the 21st century?
• So I found out today that the written legislation is over 1,000 pages long... so WHO REALLY READ IT BEFORE THEY VOTED ON IT? Bi-partisan, my ass.

I have been on a real roller coaster around NCLB- I've accepted it not-so-reluctantly as a survival technique. I mean, it ain't goin' away, so why fight it. And now, armed with the knowledge I've gained over the past few weeks, I wonder how to fight it... or get around it... or Machiavelli it?

Obama's in my affinity group... Part Deux

Or, as Mark, who is also in my affinity group puts it, simply:

"OBAMA!"

SFGate article: Obama raises profile of mixed-race Americans

Happy 90th Birthday, Nelson Mandela (a day belated)

"I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunity... It is an ideal for which I hope to live for. But, my Lord, if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

These are the words Nelson Mandela spoke in his own defense at his trial for treason in 1964. As we all know, he was sentenced to life imprisonment...

I had never heard this speech before yesterday. I was listening to Talk of the Nation, a show titled "Nelson Mandela's Lessons of Leadership". True to form, my ears perked up at the word "leadership" (yes, I've been duly brainwashed by my program but, I swear, it's a good thing.) I heard different people who have known Mandela at different points in his life attest to his incredible leadership; I heard the perfect model of integrity (a la Stephen Carter.) I've come to acknowledge that true integrity, as defined by Carter, is not so easy:

"Integrity, as I will use the term, requires three steps: (1) discerning what is right and what is wrong; (2) acting on what you have discerned, even at personal cost; and (3) saying openly that you are acting on your understanding of right from wrong." (from Integrity, p. 7)

Many folks think they have integrity, but I believe it really is difficult to attain. Step 1 seems easy enough, but only in some situations. Consider the multitude of difficulties involved with step 2. True integrity requires action. And not covert action (see step 3.)

Mandela definitely has all three. Read the quote above. Right there, in 53 words, he embodied true integrity.

Happy 90th, Mr. Mandela. Thank you for teaching us so much with not just your words, but your actions as well. 

Why we laugh...

We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.

- Japanese proverb

Yesterday afternoon my workgroup mate and I had a really good laugh about nothing educational, deep, profound, or sophisticated. We laughed in a way that made our eyes well up with tears and our jaws and stomachs hurt. And it felt really good. Really, really, really good. Apparently we needed it. Or, we were just so tired and strung out on sugar that was all we could do. 

I would recommend you do that in times of stress, but it's not something you can fake. It just has to happen, no matter where you are or what you're doing. But you certainly can't fight it.

We're all fools whether we laugh or not, so we may as well laugh.

Digital Natives/Digital Immigrants and Reverse ELD Strategies

I am on a constant quest to connect educational technology to every piece that I am learning in this program. I often refer to those of us who are my age or older as "digital immigrants" because we have not grown up with a constant stream of digital media like those who are currently college-aged or younger (they are digital immigrants.) (These, by the way, are not my invention. They belong to Marc Prensky who wrote a really great article titled "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants". Interesting stuff... go read it...) 

Today we discussed the strategies needed to help English Learners access the core curriculum, and my mind starting going to all kinds of different places. Aren't English Learners and Digital Immigrants, in some ways, alike? ELs and DIs are both trying to learn a new language while trying to make sense of things in that new language. ELs often come here with a structure for learning in their brains already, as do DIs. But here's where my mind started to spin: if DIs are the teachers, and DNs are the students, then shouldn't strategies be applied by the students to help teachers along with all things tech? Whoa.