I have been sifting over this conversation since Sarah posted her original message. The conversation about democracy and school, well, I'm with Sabrina about getting into teaching because I feel that public education is the last bastion of democracy. The last and best hope for rescuing our nation from a most dismally incoherent and banal dialogue about the most complicated, complex issues of our time. I was struck by what Sabrina said about the complex dialogue around progressive education existing largely in the written word and how few people have access to it. I guess that has me thinking about the academy in general. While I know that my beloved Sarah is toiling away in the ivory towers of one of our nation's most esteemed institutions-the same towers our president once toiled in-I am disenchanted at the disconnect between the academy (let's say the academy is a metaphor for the written word) and the classroom (let's say the classroom is a metaphor for action).
Karla told me about yet another "community dialogue" between the disconnected, arrogant, power hungry educational leaders of DPS' office of reform and the teachers at West High School and Manny Martinez Middle School. Another conversation built upon the research of the ivory towers, their rubrics, their mandates meant to "reassure" the teachers and staff at these schools that reform is underway and growth inevitable. The kind of conversation that's shrouded in blame and secrecy and lies, where the agenda is completely different than what's being articulated and ground is being laid for decisions that are harmful and devoid of courage.
Please don't think me some conspiracy theorist. I've lived these conversations. I woke up in the middle of the night after hearing about this "meeting" at West and I scrolled through a list of things that I might say when invited to ask questions or bring comments to our esteemed DPS officials, as the West and Manny staff had been. I kept asking myself, "what would be the preamble to speaking my truth that would get them to listen?" I kept coming back with the answer, "nothing". I have never felt so disconnected from educational reformers, but even more than that, so done dirty by their mantel of reform.
So turned inside out is the rhetoric that even I say this, I'm questioning whether this means that I'm against kids or that I'm questioning whether all kids can learn. You see, that is what they do when you're a teacher who begins to complicate school reform and why it's not so easy. With a total of 5 teaching years between them, these DPS officials make sweeping decisions/opinions about my practice and look at me with disdain and I internalize it. This power dynamic is what I learned in the academy-this is the model that schools sell and I am a product of this. The model is: there are people with power and knowledge (teachers/administrators/DPS officials) and people without that power (students/teachers/parents)and those without should wait for those with to tell them what is important and what to do next. I'm sick of this model.
It's not about reform, it's about a revolution. What we know for sure in 2010 is that we know nothing for sure. Our planet is changing at a rate that is mind blowing and what if none of the skills we value will serve us in this changing world? What if one's ability to access literacy means nothing in a planet lacking enough resources, full of global instability and conflict? What if we need to rethink how we learn and get our ideas out? What if the written word is not where power is located? Yes, Malcolm read the dictionary, but wasn't it his visit to Mecca that changed everything? Wasn't it travel learning?
I want both. I want fiercely literate children with deep compassion, a sense of accountability for this world and their role in it, and the knowledge that all bets are off. In other words, their best, creative ideas may in fact change the world. I want reading classes and dance classes and welding classes, because all bets are off and shouldn't we be offering as much diversity of content and methodology as possible? We are providing the support for students to navigate a world that we adults can safely say we have not a clue what it will look like. The only thing I know for sure is that our youth will have to be high flying aerial trapeze artists to traverse it. They need literacy and compassion. They need a global lens and empathy. They need to learn the master's tools to dismantle their house and to rebuild a green, zero emissions house off the grid somewhere. Sometimes I think the quest for "literacy" (whatever that term broadly means) only teaches them the master's tools, but never questions the tools or the house they built-it just perpetuates this model. We need a revolution, not reform.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Sabrina Hodges said...
You know your questions completely resonate with me, and my opinions can waver daily. However, it always comes back to the Delpit argument for me. I think it’s ironic how this conversation about democracy is occurring through written language, as much progressive discourse is. I truly became a teacher because I believed that education is the most important civil rights issues of our times. The written, spoken, and read word have been essential tools in our predominate “democracy” AND the dissent against it. That is exactly why Malcolm read the Oxford dictionary from cover to cover while incarcerated.
I am a bit simple these days. I don’t ponder creating a school or even leading one (not much at least), I mostly stay focused on one area of activism, and that is teaching kids to read and write. And this is exactly what their parents want me to d; what they want their neighborhood school to do. They are empowered parents that believe that their kids should be on the same playing field with their privileged counter parts. I think democracy is them having this choice, and parents have the right to make choices regarding their student’s education and the student has the right to exercise choice as they grow and mature. This is why educators and communities have rallied for school choice.
I work in an “uncommon” middle school and recently toured 3 similar middle schools in Boston. My analysis is that the model works well for strengthening academic skills- and although I can’t speak for other schools, just my own, there is a perception that struggling learners are pushed out and our school does’t serve all students. These perceptions are rumors (made mostly by people that have never stepped a foot inside of the front door or spoken deeply with staff, students, or families) in that I can say with complete integrity that the 4 schools in my network are working tirelessly to serve all students, and the leadership feels passionately about allocating resources and trying interventions to help all students be successful. If schools that fill this niche, the niche that Delpit calls for, righteously and fairly, then our students will have the opportunity to engage in this discourse of democracy and change their own lives. I think this can start in high school. We have a high school developer, a Chicano/Native man from East Denver- he is currently developing our high school that will open in Fall 2012, where he will be principal. He speaks to the staff about the importance of academic skill and rigor as an issue of equity and social justice, but also about the importance of finding the balance between this and critical pedagogy. As this develops, I know where my voice will stand. Our students are the most fantastically respectful, hard working, and skilled middle schoolers I know. They impress me every day. I am joyed that they are developing a skill set that is similar to mine, so that they can engage in the conversation about democracy and other issues that are important to them. This is my greatest hope and my greatest push.
I am a bit simple these days. I don’t ponder creating a school or even leading one (not much at least), I mostly stay focused on one area of activism, and that is teaching kids to read and write. And this is exactly what their parents want me to d; what they want their neighborhood school to do. They are empowered parents that believe that their kids should be on the same playing field with their privileged counter parts. I think democracy is them having this choice, and parents have the right to make choices regarding their student’s education and the student has the right to exercise choice as they grow and mature. This is why educators and communities have rallied for school choice.
I work in an “uncommon” middle school and recently toured 3 similar middle schools in Boston. My analysis is that the model works well for strengthening academic skills- and although I can’t speak for other schools, just my own, there is a perception that struggling learners are pushed out and our school does’t serve all students. These perceptions are rumors (made mostly by people that have never stepped a foot inside of the front door or spoken deeply with staff, students, or families) in that I can say with complete integrity that the 4 schools in my network are working tirelessly to serve all students, and the leadership feels passionately about allocating resources and trying interventions to help all students be successful. If schools that fill this niche, the niche that Delpit calls for, righteously and fairly, then our students will have the opportunity to engage in this discourse of democracy and change their own lives. I think this can start in high school. We have a high school developer, a Chicano/Native man from East Denver- he is currently developing our high school that will open in Fall 2012, where he will be principal. He speaks to the staff about the importance of academic skill and rigor as an issue of equity and social justice, but also about the importance of finding the balance between this and critical pedagogy. As this develops, I know where my voice will stand. Our students are the most fantastically respectful, hard working, and skilled middle schoolers I know. They impress me every day. I am joyed that they are developing a skill set that is similar to mine, so that they can engage in the conversation about democracy and other issues that are important to them. This is my greatest hope and my greatest push.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Dear Karla,
You ask me to define democracy, and then provide me of an example of the rifest democracy controversy of the decade in the debate of how to be inclusive of Muslims in America. I believe American culture (definition: the white American culture of power) may have the most to learn from those willing to extend good will after so little good will has been extended to them.
A portion of Asad's description of his perfect school is, "to help students integrate into American society, while retaining their identity." I have to ask, is integration the ideal of democracy for minorities? Or is democracy looking at the culture of power and putting it in check so all communities have access to the advantages of the culture of power? Or is it simply understanding the rules of the culture of power so one can become a part of the privileged? If so, as a privileged white American, what must I give up in order for others to gain access? Is this the heart of our century long struggle for democracy, the people who have power do not want to give it up?
I reread the Lisa Delpit article last week, The Silenced Dialog. I had read it many times before, but experienced it differently this time. Before I read it, I read another article discussing why it was so hard to get teachers to change their teaching to more progressive methods (i.e.) project based learning. Essentially it said that progressive teaching requires teachers to teach in a way that they have never been taught, and while we may implement parts and pieces of the methods, we never are able to truly let go of our previous cultural thinking around they way teaching is done.
The second article was about teaching as a cultural activity and it compared the US method of teaching mathematics with that of Japan's. In US classrooms we are predominantly concerned with kids getting the "right" answer and knowing the "right" method of solving problems. In Japan, teachers are mainly concerned with documenting students’ thinking, right or wrong, and discussing students’ thought processes, deconstructing the work to understand where students go wrong and why. Japan has far superior scores to the US in math. Is it their methods? Is this democratic teaching?
After the first two readings I was feeling confident that I knew the best method of instruction, a way of learning that would work for all students. The third reading was Delpit. I was thrown once again into doubt.
“The following discussion will explicate these aspects of power and their relevance into the schism between liberal educational movements (progressive teaching) and that of non-white, non-middle-class teachers and communities.”
“I describe the estrangement that I and many teachers of color feel from the progressive movement when writing process advocates dismiss us as too skills-oriented.”
Delpit says that while we progressive educators want the same for our our child as everyone else’s, parents outside of the culture of power want, “to ensure that the school provides their children with discourse patterns, interactional styles, and spoken and written language codes that will allow them success in the larger society.”
After Delpit, we read Doug Lamov, Teach like a Champion. It was not my first experience with Lamov. After leaving my last school (a project-based charter school in Denver, CO), I have chosen to work in a “no excuses” charter. The school uses the Uncommon Schools’ Taxonomy, 49 tips to becoming a “Champion Teacher.” I sat in on a Doug Lamov training session in Boston recently.
I was struck by how little discussion there was on the taxonomy during the training. Questions focused on the how of implementing the 49 techniques, not the why. Two weeks later, we had a guest speaker from an Uncommon school in New York. The training used many of the same teaching video clips I had seen previously at the Lamov training and the same methodology. This time however people asked questions challenging the why of the taxonomy. These question caused a heated discussion in our cohort as many felt the questioning was disrespectful and others felt it was natural to question for the purpose of learning. Isn’t this democracy, the right of the student to question?
As a student in a Lamov style classroom, I felt stifled. I felt my individual learning style was not valued and that if I did not conform, some punishment awaited me and I am a 35 year old graduate student. How would a younger student feel, particularly one who was just beginning to develop his own learning style? Does democracy allow for the stifling of the individual’s quest for self in order to get through the lesson?
Friday night I went to see Waiting for Superman. My heart strings were pulled. I wept a little and yet I still have a difficult time believing that the charter school sector, which provides only 4% of all American children with an education, is the answer to the reform movement that needs to happen in this country so all students have access to a public education that includes them in the 21st century economy. Is this democracy, educating students so they can work and earn a comfortable living?
In your letter yow wrote:
I mention this (Asad’s School) because the kind of democratic school to adequately serve Somali children may vary from one that supports a different population or community. So, what is democracy to you and how, if at all, does a specific population or community play a role in forming and participating in this democratic school?
I suppose a democratic school will look different in different communities, but what I wonder about is having a school specifically designated for one group to meet its specific needs creating a population that is not truly representative of all the members of a community. Do children gain something from diversity that they cannot get from a homogenous group? The no excuses charter school I am in works predominantly with kids of color from lower income areas of the city and the mission of the school is to create a college going culture and get kids into college. Is this the path to democracy, separate but equitable?
What do I mean by democracy? Clearly I have more questions than answers. What I would say to Asad is to not use the word integrate in his description of a perfect school, as many a culture has quietly disappeared with this word used with good intention.
Do others have a definition of democracy?
Best,
Sarah
You ask me to define democracy, and then provide me of an example of the rifest democracy controversy of the decade in the debate of how to be inclusive of Muslims in America. I believe American culture (definition: the white American culture of power) may have the most to learn from those willing to extend good will after so little good will has been extended to them.
A portion of Asad's description of his perfect school is, "to help students integrate into American society, while retaining their identity." I have to ask, is integration the ideal of democracy for minorities? Or is democracy looking at the culture of power and putting it in check so all communities have access to the advantages of the culture of power? Or is it simply understanding the rules of the culture of power so one can become a part of the privileged? If so, as a privileged white American, what must I give up in order for others to gain access? Is this the heart of our century long struggle for democracy, the people who have power do not want to give it up?
I reread the Lisa Delpit article last week, The Silenced Dialog. I had read it many times before, but experienced it differently this time. Before I read it, I read another article discussing why it was so hard to get teachers to change their teaching to more progressive methods (i.e.) project based learning. Essentially it said that progressive teaching requires teachers to teach in a way that they have never been taught, and while we may implement parts and pieces of the methods, we never are able to truly let go of our previous cultural thinking around they way teaching is done.
The second article was about teaching as a cultural activity and it compared the US method of teaching mathematics with that of Japan's. In US classrooms we are predominantly concerned with kids getting the "right" answer and knowing the "right" method of solving problems. In Japan, teachers are mainly concerned with documenting students’ thinking, right or wrong, and discussing students’ thought processes, deconstructing the work to understand where students go wrong and why. Japan has far superior scores to the US in math. Is it their methods? Is this democratic teaching?
After the first two readings I was feeling confident that I knew the best method of instruction, a way of learning that would work for all students. The third reading was Delpit. I was thrown once again into doubt.
“The following discussion will explicate these aspects of power and their relevance into the schism between liberal educational movements (progressive teaching) and that of non-white, non-middle-class teachers and communities.”
“I describe the estrangement that I and many teachers of color feel from the progressive movement when writing process advocates dismiss us as too skills-oriented.”
Delpit says that while we progressive educators want the same for our our child as everyone else’s, parents outside of the culture of power want, “to ensure that the school provides their children with discourse patterns, interactional styles, and spoken and written language codes that will allow them success in the larger society.”
After Delpit, we read Doug Lamov, Teach like a Champion. It was not my first experience with Lamov. After leaving my last school (a project-based charter school in Denver, CO), I have chosen to work in a “no excuses” charter. The school uses the Uncommon Schools’ Taxonomy, 49 tips to becoming a “Champion Teacher.” I sat in on a Doug Lamov training session in Boston recently.
I was struck by how little discussion there was on the taxonomy during the training. Questions focused on the how of implementing the 49 techniques, not the why. Two weeks later, we had a guest speaker from an Uncommon school in New York. The training used many of the same teaching video clips I had seen previously at the Lamov training and the same methodology. This time however people asked questions challenging the why of the taxonomy. These question caused a heated discussion in our cohort as many felt the questioning was disrespectful and others felt it was natural to question for the purpose of learning. Isn’t this democracy, the right of the student to question?
As a student in a Lamov style classroom, I felt stifled. I felt my individual learning style was not valued and that if I did not conform, some punishment awaited me and I am a 35 year old graduate student. How would a younger student feel, particularly one who was just beginning to develop his own learning style? Does democracy allow for the stifling of the individual’s quest for self in order to get through the lesson?
Friday night I went to see Waiting for Superman. My heart strings were pulled. I wept a little and yet I still have a difficult time believing that the charter school sector, which provides only 4% of all American children with an education, is the answer to the reform movement that needs to happen in this country so all students have access to a public education that includes them in the 21st century economy. Is this democracy, educating students so they can work and earn a comfortable living?
In your letter yow wrote:
I mention this (Asad’s School) because the kind of democratic school to adequately serve Somali children may vary from one that supports a different population or community. So, what is democracy to you and how, if at all, does a specific population or community play a role in forming and participating in this democratic school?
I suppose a democratic school will look different in different communities, but what I wonder about is having a school specifically designated for one group to meet its specific needs creating a population that is not truly representative of all the members of a community. Do children gain something from diversity that they cannot get from a homogenous group? The no excuses charter school I am in works predominantly with kids of color from lower income areas of the city and the mission of the school is to create a college going culture and get kids into college. Is this the path to democracy, separate but equitable?
What do I mean by democracy? Clearly I have more questions than answers. What I would say to Asad is to not use the word integrate in his description of a perfect school, as many a culture has quietly disappeared with this word used with good intention.
Do others have a definition of democracy?
Best,
Sarah
- Cohen, D. (1990). A revolution in one classroom: The case of Mrs. Oublier. Chapter 28 (pp. 440-469) in The Jossey-Bass reader on school reform. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Stigler, J. & Hiebert, J. (1999). Teaching is a cultural activity. Chapter 5 (pp. 85-101) in The teaching gap: Best ideas from the world’s teachers for improving education in the classroom. New York: The Free Press.
- Delpit, L. (1988). The silenced dialogue: Power and pedagogy in educating other people’s children. Harvard Educational Review, 48(3), 280-298.
- Lemov, D. (2010). Planning that ensures academic achievement. Chapter 2 (pp. 57-70) in Teach like a champion: 49 techniques that put students on the path to college. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
What is Democracy?
Dear Sarah, I hope your time at Harvard is all you had hoped it would be. I am very excited for you and I thank you for including me in on this conversation about developing great schools.
You mention you want to open a school that embraces democracy. So, a great school that does this would be one reflective of democratic principles and processes, yes? I am wondering if it would be helpful then to develop a common language around what this democracy is along with what the principles are and the how the democratic processes manifest. For starters, how would you define a democracy in this context?
Recently on a trip to Minneapolis, I spoke with Asad Zaman, the executive director of a charter school that serves primarily Muslim children in the Twin Cities. The school's mission is as follows (from the school’s website):
The mission of the Tarek Ibn Ziyad Academy is to contribute to building a diverse, virtuous and moral America by helping children to understand their stewardship role in the world, embedding in them a sense of care, responsibility, love, tolerance and cooperation. Strengthened by these virtues, our students will be prepared to participate actively in civic life and take leadership roles in their communities. In addition, the Academy aims to help students integrate into American society, while retaining their identity.
Asad states he now wishes to create a university. When I asked him about his motivation to do so, he said that his intention is birthed from concern that the Somali children in his state are not able to access educational equity and programs that will support them -- so these children continue to struggle. There are over 30,000 Somali children in Minnesota.
I mention this because the kind of democratic school to adequately serve Somali children may vary from one that supports a different population or community.
So, what is democracy to you and how, if at all, does a specific population or community play a role in forming and participating in this democratic school? Karla
You mention you want to open a school that embraces democracy. So, a great school that does this would be one reflective of democratic principles and processes, yes? I am wondering if it would be helpful then to develop a common language around what this democracy is along with what the principles are and the how the democratic processes manifest. For starters, how would you define a democracy in this context?
Recently on a trip to Minneapolis, I spoke with Asad Zaman, the executive director of a charter school that serves primarily Muslim children in the Twin Cities. The school's mission is as follows (from the school’s website):
The mission of the Tarek Ibn Ziyad Academy is to contribute to building a diverse, virtuous and moral America by helping children to understand their stewardship role in the world, embedding in them a sense of care, responsibility, love, tolerance and cooperation. Strengthened by these virtues, our students will be prepared to participate actively in civic life and take leadership roles in their communities. In addition, the Academy aims to help students integrate into American society, while retaining their identity.
Asad states he now wishes to create a university. When I asked him about his motivation to do so, he said that his intention is birthed from concern that the Somali children in his state are not able to access educational equity and programs that will support them -- so these children continue to struggle. There are over 30,000 Somali children in Minnesota.
I mention this because the kind of democratic school to adequately serve Somali children may vary from one that supports a different population or community.
So, what is democracy to you and how, if at all, does a specific population or community play a role in forming and participating in this democratic school? Karla
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Dear Colleagues,
I was working on my blog this morning and had a revelation. Why am I struggling with ideas in isolation? If I want to someday work in a school that was truly crated by my community, why am I not asking those in my community to wrestle with these ideas too?
I really want us to open a school one day in Denver that truly embraces democracy, that is created by the community I live in, a school that I would want to send my child to, but that also serves a diversity of children and serves them well. I think it is through conversation and research that we could identify first what this school looks like in our community and second add voices we have never heard before to the conversation, diverse voices of parents, kids, community members and other educators.
I am going to start a new site today that we can all post to, an open letter. We can invite others to the conversation along the way and perhaps get a start on something that could be bigger than us someday. I look forward to hearing from you all.
Thank you all for your deep thinking and deep commitment to kids.
Sarah
What does a great school look like?I thought, what if we were to create a series of letters to one another, a kind of think aloud about educational best practice. We all have a slightly different perspective on the how of educating urban kids, but I think we all share a similar purpose: to educate our way out of America's problem of institutionalized racism and classism (please correct me if I am wrong). I am starting with fellow educators whom I have worked with over the years, but want us all to invite kids, other teachers, parents and community members to the conversation.
What do leaders, community members, teachers and kids do to make a great school?
What more do we need to know and wrestle with to create and run a great school?
I really want us to open a school one day in Denver that truly embraces democracy, that is created by the community I live in, a school that I would want to send my child to, but that also serves a diversity of children and serves them well. I think it is through conversation and research that we could identify first what this school looks like in our community and second add voices we have never heard before to the conversation, diverse voices of parents, kids, community members and other educators.
I am going to start a new site today that we can all post to, an open letter. We can invite others to the conversation along the way and perhaps get a start on something that could be bigger than us someday. I look forward to hearing from you all.
Thank you all for your deep thinking and deep commitment to kids.
Sarah
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