I was going to blog, I wasn't going to have time to blog, I was watching the Super Bowl, and I had to blog because of this:
I have a sister. She is one of my very best friends. Always. Forever. Here we are with our parents in the most recent photo I have loaded to my computer. (I need to upload photos more often - note to self):
She has been with me through all but the first 3 years of my life, which means I don't remember a life without her. I could write pages, volumes about why my sister is amazing. I hope I have told her the things I would put into those pages because I know my life is better because of the time I spend with her.
But beyond the literal sisterhood, I celebrate the figurative sisterhoods that fill my life. I have been so lucky to know women who are my sisters in spirit - teachers, classmates, mentors, friends - who have made be feel secure about speaking my mind, who have reminded me how to have fun, who have supported me no matter what stupid mistake I have made or what goal I have attained.
Everyday, I live in a sisterhood that makes me glad to be a teacher. I am grateful for all the teachers at Hebron, and I am often particularly grateful that we have men at our school who are remarkable role models for the young men in our hallways, but I am indebted to the sisterhood of teachers that encourages me everyday to work with kids, to embrace them for who they are, and to build them up to what they can be. Women can be a powerful voice and a powerful force. The women I work with teach me to embrace that opportunity everyday.
Just had the opportunity to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. It was a remarkable play. It made me re-evaluate what it means to be a parent - to embrace my children as they are and to love them fiercely for who they are. It also made me examine my role as a teacher - someone who helps kids find their strengths and confront their limitations.
Two hours of watching a play made quite an impact - because that's what the arts can do. And the arts, sadly, are under attack again.
I can't say I'm surprised. The National Endowment for the Arts is always on the potential chopping block when it comes to reducing the federal budget. I get it. We have a deficit. Why should we spend money on the arts? If people want to go see theater or ballet or the symphony, they can pay for it. It's a luxury. This argument comes easily from those who are privileged enough to have access to arts.
But a National Endowment represents a commitment to supporting arts for everyone. Art, for many, represents what keeps humanity alive and well. If we quit making art more accessible, we suggest that we don't value that part of our humanity that extends beyond our basic physical needs, the part that fulfills our social, emotional, and even spiritual needs.
To put the money concern into perspective, here's a graph of what the National Endowment for the Arts costs taxpayers:
Anyone wondering where the piece of the pie is? Answer: it's so small that it might as well be nonexistent. (Here's the link to the full article for details.) This cut has always been more about gaining political traction than about making a meaningful change in government funding.
I won't accept a society that sees the arts as unworthy, unnecessary, and utterly expendable. Humans use art as the highest form of expression, something that can lift them up in times of despair and uncertainty. This morning I finished Ruta Sepetys's book Between Shades of Gray, a novel about the occupation of Lithuania during WWII (Note: the preposition at the beginning distinguishes this book from a more famous, less "artful," book). As Ruta Sepetys said in the afterword, many deported citizens "channeled emotion and fear into art and music, the only way they could express themselves." Self-expression has value, a value we should never under-estimate or disregard.
Tomorrow I will go see Footloose, and I know that the show will give me energy and life and joy because I know those kids and what they can produce. I know what the arts can do.
We are all there, at the start of the semester, ready to begin a long season of mental training. Our mental muscles may be stiff and our endurance may be minimal, but as we give a little effort each day, we loosen our creative thinking, develop intellectual stamina, and activate language skills. One regular "training" move for us will be blogging about what we read. Blogging takes your reading out into the interwebs where other people can hear/see your thoughts. You'll get to read each others' blogs, make comments, and get new ideas. The blogging instructions give you specifics, but you can also read samples to understand how a blog can be constructed. (Note: some are better than others; ones at the bottom are great ones from last year, but I haven't filtered last semester yet.) First blog should be over summer reading and will count as a quiz grade. Then you'll write the three described in the instructions throughout the 9 weeks for a major grade. If you have a blog from last year, feel free to add new posts to that one.
Instructions: The first part of your summer reading blog should recap what you read this summer. If all you read was the assigned nonfiction, so be it. Tell about what you chose, why you chose it, and whether it fulfilled your expectations. You may also want to start with a title and an intro for your blog like I did, but I usually add that at the END once I figure out what my blog will focus on.
First part of blog - reflect on progress: I am (surprise!) a reader, but this summer was cram-packed with travel and projects and training for school, so I only squeezed in 14 books (I'll recommend some of them coming up). My nonfiction summer reading choice, Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be by Frank Bruni, was recommended by one of my students from last year for all juniors who are stressing about college, and that describes most kids I teach, so I gave it a try. While it didn't answer all the questions kids have about how to get into college, it did offer some calming advice about the real purpose of college, and it discourages the stress-filled atmosphere surrounding college admissions. Mixed in are funny anecdotes that add a little humor to the whole process.
Instructions - The second part of your blog should discuss what you learned from your book, how it changed your thinking, how it made you react/feel, what kind of "take away" information or ideas you gained. In this section, include at least 2 text quotes that are at least 50 pages apart. Discuss the quotes as they relate to your reaction to the book. Do NOT summarize; respond and react.
Second part of blog - react to your reading with text: After reading Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be by Frank Bruni, I am actively asking my students to reframe their college search. At the end of junior year and beginning of senior year, I can feel the tension start to mount. I hear it in the voices of students figuring out how to apply, asking for recs, and despairing about their lack of community service. Often their search for acceptance to the "right" school is driven solely by the idea of impressing others, affording costs, or getting a job. Bruni urges parents and educators to guide kids to see their effort and drive as a greater predictor of success than a certain GPA or test score. According to Bruni, who continually demonizes the arbitrary school rankings offered by U.S. News and World Report, even the man in charge of U.S. News acknowledges that, "It's not where you went to school...It's how hard you work" (88). I found it ironic that the guy who said that got a degree from the University of Cincinnati, a school that doesn't even make the list of "best" schools that his magazine publishes every year. My school, Trinity University, has frequently been listed by U.S. News as one of the nation's best small liberal arts schools, but having read Bruni's book, I don't feel like that's as important as I once thought. To be honest, I didn't pick my school based on rank; I picked it because it felt like home when I visited.
Instead of focusing on the rank or reputation of a school, Bruni suggests that "no one college, no matter how celebrated, is right for anyone and everyone who can gain admission there. A school, like a dress or a suit, has to have the contours and colors that work for the person choosing it" (139). Despite Bruni's privileged background and Ivy League-driven high school, he chose the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a school with a high acceptance rate that changed his world view by taking him out of his Northeastern comfort zone. The availability of new, meaningful experiences, according to Bruni, adds a level college education that extends beyond the classroom. The key for any high school student facing the college choice is not to nail test scores, but to develop sincere interests and to search for schools that will both celebrate those interests and present opportunities for new experiences. That is exactly what Trinity did for me. I made life-long friends. I re-evaluated by values and goals. I changed my major 4 times. And I loved everything I studied, whether it prepared me for a job or not, because my studies taught me to think for myself and accept multiple views.
Instructions: For the third part of your blog, find a connection to your book - a video, an article, a graphic - that ties in to the issues/ideas you discussed from the book. When you can make a connection, you expand your knowledge AND deepen understanding. Make sure you include a LINK to your connection, and discuss how it related. You can also, as I did, mix in cartoons and fun stuff for added interest.
Third part of blog - connection: I hope this semester of AP Language and Composition will open new experiences through student-choice reading and student-directed discussion. I also hope students will welcome the chance to build their mental muscle and to pursue their passions. Bruni's book captures the crucial ingredient for success that we are trying to build into our AP classes when he quotes Britt Harris, a former chief executive and a professor at Texas A&M, who says, "If you are extremely smart, but you're only partially engaged, you will be outperformed, and you should be, by people who are sufficiently smart and fully engaged" (195). Full engagement too often falls on teachers' shoulders. We are supposed to appeal to students' interests, use more tech, appeal to various learning styles, and provide endless energy and opportunities. I am willing to do all of those things, but if students hope only to do "enough" or to "fulfill requirements," no amount of enthusiasm and engagement from me will help the students find a passion. This article from a college admissions officer offers excellent advice about how to become fully engaged and how to find a passion with five crucial questions. He claims that finding a passion will help students overcome obstacles and accept failures in the interest of taking action and becoming a participant rather than merely an observer. Like Bruni's book, the article suggests that learning shouldn't be about what someone else wants for you, but about what you want for yourself. I'm here to help and guide any student who will take the first steps toward "Going the Distance" and making it to the finish line and beyond.
Instructions: End your blog with citations for your book AND your connection(s). Use MLA formatting, including correct punctuation of titles, correct order of information, proper use of commas/period, and indenting. Note: Purdue OWL is a helpful resource. Easy Bib does it WRONG! Citations:
Bruni, Frank. Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2015.
"Cake-Going the Distance." YouTube, uploaded by KitHaringtonFan, 28 May
2007, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zStIm0gNnUw.
Gibson, Matt. "5 Simple Questions to Find Your Passions Today." Distinguish Me, 2016,
http://distinguishme.com/5-simple-questions-to-find-your-passions-today/. Accessed 22 Aug
2016.
After last week's blog post about 2016 being a big old bummer, I am trying to cross over to the "sunny side" and look forward to the new year with a brighter attitude. With new students coming to my room next week, I'm ready to meet them with hope and enthusiasm, knowing that they will keep me energized and motivated.
I am also starting a new running season, pacing a new group of runners, many of whom have never run a half marathon but hope to achieve that goal by the end of April. I try to avoid talking/writing about running because people who aren't runners can get bored VERY quickly with running stories. (Fair enough - there is only so much to say about watches and paces and socks.) But running for me always parallels other areas of my life. Sometimes all I need to power through an extra mile is the same thing I need to tackle a set of essays - focus. And when I feel discouraged or uncertain, it's my fellow runners who inspire me, just as my fellow teachers at school so often keep me afloat. So with that in mind, I have a short running story that reminds me we are never done learning and improving.
Last season, our running group shrank over the weeks. Injuries, work obligations, bad weather - so many things get in the way of showing up to run on Saturday morning. My fellow pace leader and I showed up, and some Saturdays we would wonder if we'd be the only ones there (in which case we probably would have headed to Starbucks). But Henry was always there. This is Henry (on the left):
Henry is 70-something. And he runs with us EVERY Saturday. When it was 40 degrees and raining, Henry was there. When it was 80 and humid, Henry was there. Henry never complained about aches and pains, never cut short his miles, never skipped a run. Henry was determined to run his best half marathon time ever even though his best time had occurred in his 40s, when he had first started running. Henry made every mile seem shorter and more enjoyable with his determination and positive spirit. No surprise, then, that he shattered his earlier record by almost 3 minutes. Sadly, Henry won't be running in my group this spring. He moved up to a faster group. He's ready for a new record.
I'm ready for a new group of kids. I am ready to show up and get it done, to break through obstacles that hold us back, to pursue new levels of achievement, and to celebrate every fun and unpredictable moment along the way.
I gave up blogging in 2016. Just quit. And I let my students quit too. Some of that choice was based on practicality and time constraints. With the semester winding down, we needed to write for the AP test to engrain skills that my students have to retain for four long months before taking the test. Unfortunately, writing for a test often means less truthful writing. No matter how exciting a prompt may be, a prompt rarely produces the kind of sincere, sometimes humorous, sometimes heartbreaking response I want my students to develop. I didn't become an educator to produce great test-takers; I became a teacher to develop great minds. To borrow from a colleague and fellow blogger, Kate Mayo, I would much rather "help my students become better versions of themselves." I also hope to empower my students to create a world that is a better version of the one they currently live in - not because I am a huge cynic about this world, but because humans have always worked toward improvement and progress, but sadly, sometimes we take a step or two backward before we can go forward again, and that sums up how I felt about 2016, which brings me to my second reason for not blogging. I was disillusioned, disappointed, and just a bit hopeless about the discourse I witnessed throughout the election cycle. Separate of politics, I am disturbed by our apparent inability to agree about what qualifies as "fact" anymore, and that inability makes my job feel immensely difficult and even potentially pointless in the eyes of the public. If I am supposed to teach my kids to think critically, to find varied points of view, to evaluate the credibility of the arguments they find, and to use the information they assemble to support their own views, how do I confront that challenge when any source they find will be shot down by someone? No matter what sources I point them toward, will someone accuse me of pushing an agenda or promoting bias? If I question faulty sources that they choose, will students feel that I disrespect their views? If our traditional sources of information are suddenly seen as role-players in politics, where do we turn to stay informed?
With the new year, I've realized I can't dodge these questions, and answering them (or attempting to answer them with my students) doesn't make my job pointless; it makes it more vital than ever. Here are a few sources I've found to help me and my students parse the wide array of rhetoric we will encounter. Steve Inskeep of NPR offers this "Finder's Guide to Facts," which lists questions to ask when evaluating the credibility of a source. This article, which I've seen friends on both sides of the political spectrum share, explains the problems with corporate media and offers independent news sources. (Disclaimer: I haven't researched all of the sources mentioned, but some of them, such as Christian Science Monitor, Reuters, and The Nation were specifically mentioned at an AP conference, so I think the list is on the right track.) Finally, though this list exhausts me, it is a well-researched record of frequently-posted unreliable sites to avoid. We may need to look at some of these as a class to start recognizing the tell-tale signs of sites with an agenda. I love working with kids. They want to make a better world. They want to find the truth. They want to discuss issues with civility and purpose. I am going to keep asking questions and looking for truth, and hopefully, I will help my students do the same.
As we start the new nine weeks, start by re-examining your goal and considering how close you came to achieving it (or halfway if you set a full semester goal). Revise your goal if you need to. Share how many pages/minutes you've read this week to pursue your goal. The second part of your blog should still be a response to your book with text references from multiple sections of the book (spaced by at least 20 pgs.), and you should end with a connection that links back to your book. Also, I'll be scoring for maturity of writing style this 9 weeks. Blogs are a great place to try varying sentence structure and playing around with word choice. Your NEW challenge is to find a way to make your book response and your connection have a central focus that relates to the title of your blog. In other words, the connection shouldn't be added randomly at the end; it should relate in some way to the main idea of your blog and your book. Here's my example:
Last nine weeks, I planned to read two books every two weeks (one at home and one at school). I fell short of that goal for two reasons. First, I read The Goldfinch, which at 771 pages took me longer than I expected. Second, I took more time grading papers than I usually do. I'm not sure why...maybe I had the "workingman's blues" (or woman's...or person's?). Either way, I'm a little disappointed, but I'm keeping that goal and hoping to make it happen this 9 weeks. So far, I'm off to a great start. I finished Euphoria this week (288 pgs.), historical fiction based on the life of anthropologist Margaret Mead, and I've read 158 pgs. of Death in the Haymarket, a nonfiction book that Mr. Zuber loaned me about the first labor movement, which happens to have taken place in Chicago, home of soon-to-be World Series champions, the Chicago Cubs. (It could happen.) But I digress.
Though some people think history is about a long-gone past, present-day debates echo that past. Death in the Haymarket addresses many concerns that have been prevalent throughout this presidential campaign. For example, distrust of immigrants ran deep in Chicago in the 1870s, where growing industry invited a huge influx of workers from Europe. But while industry needed those workers, citizens "suspected that immigrant parades on the Fourth of July were intended less to inspire loyalty to the United States than to re-create the joyful sociability common to the Old World" (Green 63). Notice,"sociability" is suddenly a threat IF it doesn't look like sociability we're familiar with. As Chicago's "total population increased by 118 percent," native-born Chicagoans feared that the city "now contained 'more Germans than Anglo-Saxons'"( 93-94). Seems that the distrust of foreign workers has been around for centuries in America, even if the particular places of origin have changed. Most of the immigrants in Chicago took jobs working in factories or slaughterhouses for low wages. Nonetheless, many immigrants considered their fields a craft, something learned through apprenticeships and careful practice, but gradually, they found their wages dropping and their jobs replaced by machines. While owners of businesses saw mechanization as an "obvious choice" due to its potential to maximize profits, workers asked, "Would machines...destroy a way of life that gave skilled workers a sense of pride in what they produced...Is that was progress meant?" (106). Because wealthy capitalists could maximize profits by reducing workers' wages and replacing men with machines, they earned "their income by the millions each month while their employees survived on $1.50 a day" (112). That imbalance fostered anger and rebellion in the working class. People who had left their homelands to make a contribution in America felt cheated by a system that lined the pockets of a few and left the workers impoverished and desperate. Naturally, a protest movement arose. Does this phenomenon bear resemblance to the arguments happening on both sides of the political spectrum? From the Democratic side, we have calls for raising the minimum wage to make it a "living wage." From the current Republican candidate, we have speeches deriding trade deals as the demise of "good jobs" for Americans. From the fear of immigrants to the anger of the working class, the lessons of history spill into today, but we still struggle with the solution.
Bob Dylan, who recently won the Nobel Prize for Literature, addresses the concerns of the "workingman" in a song from 2006. (His Nobel Prize probably stems more from his protest songs in the 60s, but he's still churning out timely lyrics.) He laments, "They say low wages are a reality/ If we want to compete abroad," and he sings about "trying to keep the hunger from/ Creeping its way into my gut." Though Dylan protests less loudly and dramatically than he used to, he is still questioning our system and forcing us to ask difficult questions. Do we accept that people who work for a living go hungry? Does global trade mean that we ignore the needs of people who work hard here in America? As the election has grown divisive and angry, do we ask these questions to find answers, or only to find fault? I'm working hard to be apolitical and to NOT take a stance because I know I'm not supposed to. I just wonder if the "Workingman's Blues" will ever go away.
Green, James. Death in the Haymarket. New York: Random House, 2006.
Dylan, Bob. "Workingman's Blues #2." Modern Times. Columbia Records, 2006.
I don't really like games that require me to top someone else...mostly because I can't do it. I certainly can't do it when it comes to the games that people value. I don't shoot pool well. I don't throw or catch balls well. I can't toss beanbags in little holes, and I can't limbo lower than anyone else. The intermissions at staff development are my personal nightmare - here, do all the stuff that makes you insecure. I was the kid picked last for kickball, and I was the kid who struck out when there weren't supposed to be strike outs in baseball.
Is this a flaw in my character, a failure to rise to the level of expectation, an unwillingness to push myself? I don't think so. I do admit that I gave up at physical activities when I didn't show any aptitude, but I diverted my efforts to music and academics, and I've never regretted that. Athletically, I became a runner because running is as much about competing against your own best time as it is about beating someone else. Running is also about celebrating everyone's achievements, a notion that speaks to me far more than gloating over a win ever did. (But then again, I never got to gloat.)
As a teacher, I'm not in favor of pushing kids to push someone else down. The "winner takes it all" mentality seems counter-productive to me - in school, in sports, in life. If all that matters is winning, we have to be gratified by seeing someone else lose, and that's a mindset that creates a divide that can't be bridged.
I know - competition is at the heart of our society. We believe in meritocracy. We believe that competition leads to higher productivity and innovation. I won't belittle those theories. But at some point, I think we cross a line from competing for the sake of being better to competing for the sake of winning. Winning just to win. Winning at all costs.
In my classroom, I hope to convince kids that we all win when we help each other excel. In my home, I want my children to believe that they can win by lifting others up. In my own life, winning for myself is never so sweet as when I get to be part of a successful community. I am glad to be a member of a faculty that celebrates the achievements of others. I push myself harder because the people around me push so hard. I don't need to win. I only need to value the chance to be surrounded by so much success.
