I mean, REALLY, Wisconsin!

Is this what you want?


















Also, badger badger badger.

Rhee-lly?

Wish I could comment on Fenty's loss --> Rhee's future. Sadly I still have a lot of catching up to do.

Today I started training at the fabulous National Building Museum. Super. Fun. I learned so much and can't wait to go back!

Long time no see

Hello again! Now that the school year has started - without me - I have some time again to think about big education issues and even post a bit.

I'm playing around with the layout a bit, cleaning up spam posts, and updating the blog roll. Looking forward to catching up on old news and happenings.

Fathers of Glee

From Shorpy:

1896. "Bachelors' Glee Club, U.S.S. Maine."

Put your hands up

The School of Bloggers have been taking a short break to focus on an exciting development, namely:



Or at least, somebody got engaged and is getting married in December 2010. (!!!)

My students have been keeping up-to-date with every minute detail. A couple have met Chris; others have asked to see his picture on my cell phone. They asked a lot of questions, which gave me the opportunity to explain why Chris and I chose to propose to each other; why we had to do so much research into an ethical/environmentally responsible engagement ring; why I probably won't change my name. Not that my choices are any better or worse than the alternatives; just something new to chew on.

Their excitement also made it easier for me to break the news that I will be moving to D.C. this summer. I am lucky to have that alibi. I know so many committed and wonderful teachers who have to say goodbye to students for much more complicated reasons.

Take that, Pat

This week in A.P. history has provided some of the best discussions we've had so far. Luckily we happened to start talking about Haiti right after we'd begun reading a great text, Robert Marks's The Origins of the Modern World, and talking about inequality. So there were a lot of tie-ins. We also watched Jonathan Demme's documentary The Agronomist which gave the students a glimpse of "Papa Doc" and "Baby Doc" Duvalier and the CIA's involvement in Haiti's political dishevelment.

Most thought-provoking line in that movie: a recently re-installed President Aristide, speaking about inequality and the problems of foreign aid, says "We must go to the big house and take all the arms." Having talked about the Haitian Revolution earlier in the week, the students were eventually able to get the slavery reference. Then we talked about the figurative meaning: What did Aristide mean by the "big house?" What is he calling for?

Ultimately we achieved my goals for the week: For the students to have some background information to connect with what they hear on the news. More specifically, to understand the importance of the Haitian Revolution and subsequent U.S. intervention, and to have some more complicated images of real Haitians other than the ones that other teacher gave them (i.e., the smiling faces of black children so happy to see an American that she apparently encountered when she visited Haiti).

Grrr. This is Angry Education.

How NOT to teach about a tragedy

In AP history I've decided to take a little detour and focus on the history of Haiti for a couple of days. We started by watching the video of the Haitian ambassador confronting Pat Robertson's claim that during the Haitian Revolution the slaves made a "pact with the devil" so that they could throw off colonial rule. Never mind the offensive implication that the only way a group of non-whites can overthrow a colonial power is by consorting with a supernatural force. The students were all with me that the suggestion that Haitians brought this terrible tragedy on themselves was an ugly lie.

So.

Today, a student who was not here for the previous class raises her hand and says "Well, another teacher told us today that they don't practice Christianity in Haiti, they practice Voodoo and black magic, and that's why they have been cursed."

I had a pretty good idea of who this teacher was, but I just tried to recover, do some damage control, and move on.

Later on today I approached this teacher and asked her what she'd really said in class. She said, "Well, I just talked about the history of Haiti: How, a long time ago, people used to practice Voodo and black magic, but about 50 years ago, Christians, Muslims and Jews started moving there as missionaries, so now it's not practiced as much anymore."

And whether Haiti was 'cursed?' "The students were asking me about some things they had heard in church about Haiti making a deal with the devil. Now I don't agree with Pat Robertson. But I just said, 'If I had to choose between a blessing and a curse, I would choose a blessing.'"

What does that even mean??? And why is she talking about this in Spanish class?

I'm working on picking my battles and trying to save my sanity until the end of the school year. (I didn't even TELL you guys about the Christmas tree situation.) But can I really just let this kind of thing slide in a PUBLIC SCHOOL? In any school?

Money, it's a gas

Happy New Year! It's been a stressful month in School of Blogland. After taking a 5% pay cut and a major change in my job description, (public information) our revised budget with the $60,000 in cuts was not accepted by the state. We were apparently told that we need to make another $70,000 in cuts (???).

Meanwhile, we keep scraping the ice off the windshield and coming in every morning. The little victories keep me going, like my struggling student who wanted so badly to win a "burger with the works" (an idea I got from another school) he worked his butt off to write the best paragraph in the class. Gotta keep those moments like hand warmers in your pockets.

And keep reminding myself that I just have to make it to the end of this school year, and then we'll be moving back east, below the Mason-Dixon. Where my Master's degree can earn me a base salary of about 1.5 times as much as I'm making now.

How we gonna pay ....

Loooooong article in the StarTrib (via TWIE) on Minnesota charter schools and lease aid. The gist: A few hacks are profiting off of it.

Our school would not be able to operate without lease aid given the type of lease we have and the current per-pupil funding for charters. Not only do we pay rent, but we also pay property taxes and all maintenance and repairs. I don't think that the state should write a blank check for schools to construct new buildings. But the article suggests that spending on lease aid is wildly out of proportion. Perhaps it's just that per-pupil funding simply doesn't cover the full cost of educating a child in a charter school.

Where I'm From

An illustration of how an activity can bomb in one class and rock in another:

My first year teaching I adapted a unit that my wonderful student teaching mentors developed: Using the poem "Where I'm From" by George Ella Lyon as a mentor text, students write their own poem by brainstorming, drafting, and then writing numerous consecutive drafts until it is a well-polished piece of work.

I decided to add a second mentor text option: The song "Where I'm From" by the hip-hop group Digable Planets.

By the time the song ended on my little CD player, the students were looking at me and each other like, "Who is this crazy lady and what is this strange music?" It was one of those terrifying first-year moments when the class reacts exactly the opposite of how you expected and you are at a loss of how to proceed.

I was brave enough to try the assignment again this year with a class I thought would be more receptive. The benefit of a bit of experience paid off. After we spent quite a long time reading and discussing the poem, they got to see the YouTube video of the song. They got so excited about making their own version. Today a student asked me, "What was the name of that group again?" and then wrote it down so he could remember.

Edutopia's 2009 Guide to Holiday Gifts for Teachers | Edutopia

Hint Hint! Any students lurking out there? Hehehehe.

Edutopia's 2009 Guide to Holiday Gifts for Teachers | Edutopia

School of Bloggers' return to D.C.

After six years adjusting to the climates of Bolivia, New York City and Minneapolis, the School of Bloggers will now return to where they first met: Washington, D.C.

After school ends this summer we plan to pack it up and head back east. Chris will be conducting his dissertation research and I will be looking for teaching jobs.

I figured I would put out my feelers in case any readers know of schools that might be looking for social studies teachers for 2010-2011.

Another wrinkle in the elephant buttock that is American health care

Earlier this year one of our students told me that he didn't want me to call his mom about some transgression or another. Nothing new, except in this case: "She says she's going to send me back to Mexico if I keep getting in trouble."

When I did call her, what she told me was that she was no longer able to afford his ADHD medication up here. She wanted to send him there to live with family and get his medication from the doctor in Mexico.

Yesterday he came in, packed up his stuff, and said goodbye to his friends. I asked if he'd send us a postcard. He looked at me as if I had suggested he use the Pony Express.

I hope he gets better care than he's gotten here. And I hope someday we get better care here than we have now.

Five Reasons A Smart Middle Aged Woman Loathes TWILIGHT | Psychology Today

Five Reasons A Smart Middle Aged Woman Loathes TWILIGHT | Psychology Today

My thoughts exactly.

Publius

Many thanks to Alexander Russo for sharing this video of the best rap about Alexander Hamilton ever performed. I showed it to my early American history students today and they LOVED it.

The course only went up to the earliest colonies and the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705. But since today was the last day of the course, I offered the video as an example of the kind of project students could do if they are interested in pursuing the subject further.

I started out with a "Do Now:" Who is on the $10 bill? One student knew it was our buddy. We talked about why he was important enough to earn the spot. Next, since the students had mastered studying history through artifacts, I showed them a photo of the pistols used in the duel that killed Hamilton.

"Wait - he was shot?" "With his own gun?"



When we finally watched the video, the students were more attentive than I had seen them all term. They were shushing each other to hear every word.

Suspension of disbelief

I can't remember how it came up, but in history class today one student claimed that "Barack Obama is the antichrist." This statement prompted angry outcries from several other students. I simply responded, "Barack Obama is Christian."

The student scoffed. "Have you been reading the papers?" he asked.

"If you believe that," I said, "I have a bridge to sell you."

It took the kids a while to figure out what that meant. Fortunately it got the class off the scent long enough for me to reroute back to the lesson.

Boys II Men

Slate on a new album and "the most exquisitely unsettling episode in the history of music" it concerns: the use of castrati starting in the 16th century.

The tradition rose from an unholy trinity of religion, money, and art. The church forbade women to sing in services. There was a standing ban, enforced primarily in the Papal States, on teaching women to sing professionally at all. Church choirs were staffed by boys, castrati, and adult tenors and basses. Meanwhile, in secular life, the greatest castrati, their virtuosity almost superhuman and their voices uniquely beautiful, were superstars of the opera stage and concert hall. As both singers and sexual toys, they were favorites of royalty and clergy, enjoying oceans of applause and cries of "Evviva il coltellino!" ("Long live the little knife!"). The presence of castrati in church music helped attract fans to services. On the opera stage, they played virile heroes and fiery heroines, competing for fame with the female divas of the day.

Modern Warfare

Two students were telling me today about a new video game they'd played and how it "crossed a line" for them. This game, Modern Warfare 2, includes an incredibly graphic and realistic scene of terrorism. What really got to my students was the fact that the game wouldn't let them run through the scene; players are forced to walk through and watch others kill people around them. One of the kids kept saying, "There was blood everywhere."

My students are not sensitive -- they have grown up on Grand Theft Auto and the like. It was really interesting to hear them explain why this scene crossed the line.

Ninth Grade = Awesome

I'm starting to realize that I LOVE being an advisory teacher. In a job that makes me miserable almost all day every day, it's the part I look forward to most. I love having daily routines, I love seeing little moments of progress week by week. I love independent reading time with our awesome new classroom library. I don't even mind the part where I have to call home because Matthew has been touching girls inappropriately again.

Aaaahh.

Ahem.

Allow me to indulge in a rant.

What is the deal with the new Harry Potter movie?!?!

I don't mind a few changes for the sake of brevity and plot simplification. I've even gotten over the fact that the actors don't remotely resemble how I think the characters should look and behave (particularly LeStrange and Snape). But what they did to HP and the Half Blood Prince was just WRONG.

First of all, they invented a whole new scene involving the Burrow burning down. What are they going to do when they have to have a wedding there in movie #7?

But the worst offense, to me, was the scene near the end inside the cavern. In the book, Dumbledore, nearly lifeless, begs Harry for water. When Harry is forced to scoop it from the lake, the Inferi become animated and start to attack. Dumbledore manages to make a fire and Harry gets them both to safety. The best line in the whole book is when Harry says to Dumbledore "Don't worry," and D replies, "I'm not worried, I'm with you."

In the MOVIE, first of all, the Inferi look like thousands of Gollums, one of which drags Frodo, I mean Harry, under the lake. Fortunately Gandalf Dumbledore magically comes back to life, casting a magnificent fire spell that vanquishes the Inferi and saves Harry.

The key difference here is that in the book, Harry realizes he no longer needs Dumbledore to protect him, just in time for Dumbledore's exit. In the movie, once again, the adults have all the power and wisdom, and the teens are just along for the ride.

One thing that bugs me about the movies is that the adults are too grown up, they have all the answers - they don't have the faults and flaws that make the characters in the book so great.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program.