I Hear You

"This is for all the white people who claim that they are not racist. For the white people who claim to disagree with state-sanctioned murder. For the white people who say they understand privilege. For the white people who say all these things but are still silent in these moments."

http://mamademics.com/dear-white-people-can-you-hear-us-now/

Petition for the 36 Hour Day

It is really fucking hard sometimes to try to make the world a better place for your children, while also being a good mother to those same children....let alone taking care of yourself so that you have the energy to be a good mother and try to improve the world. I'm leaned in so hard at this point I'm pretty much laying down. I'd really like to nap while I'm down here.

But there's no time for a nap. No time to refill. Can't neglect the kids. Can't not work. Only solution is to put more hours in the day.

Also, to have robot nannies who are available to help with the kids. For free. On a moment's notice.

I'm not asking for much.

To those "above" me, I am inconsequential. To those "below" me, I am indispensable.

Only one of those groups actually matters. And it's not the group that thinks so very highly of themselves. Only one of those groups still has the potential to change our system, to improve education and our society by addressing real and complex issues in immeasurable ways. The other has already given up, and is looking only for numbers from a test or a survey that will help them justify their existence to their own bosses.

I'm uninterested in catering to the desires of those "above;" as uninterested in that as they are in creating real and effective change.

Sent from my iPhone

One of many problems

It is a travesty that the only way to advance your career as a teacher is to leave the classroom. No raises, no more responsibilities, no more prestige, unless you stop doing the thing that, if you're any good at it, needs doing the most. And so talented, hardworking people stay underpaid, and those who don't care so much about student interaction move on up, making double or triple what a classroom teacher does.

And even those who do care, who love the classroom and students and who get it - within 2 or 3 years away from daily teaching, they've forgotten. They've been seduced by fancy looking paperwork and rubrics that no one will ever see; by color copiers and real duty-free lunches, by politicians who don't understand education telling them what good work they're doing...so they take the money and create the forms and hold "Professional Development Opportunities" that just showcase how far gone they are from real teaching.

And those who could make change, who really see what the problems are and where change needs to happen, are too busy grading papers and emailing parents and opening milk cartons and adapting homework assignments for 10 different students who need individualized lesson plans in order to reach their potential to do anything about it, except for recognizing that if they leave the classroom for long, their soul will lose its spark and they'll no longer be a part of the solution, but rather a part of the problem.

One of the Roots of the Problem, Maybe?

"Americans have internalized the idea that racism is bad, without ever accepting that they’re racist. So, the average American’s thought process goes something like this:

Racism is bad

I am a good person

Therefore, I am not racist

Once that line of logic has been completed, all the arguments in the world can’t overcome their rationalization and willful blindness."

From here

Interview!

Oh my god, I just had two interviews and a photoshoot. I'm going to have my picture in the paper, and a feature on a website. This is surreal!

I'm teaching a new class next year, and it's kind of groundbreaking. Which is super exciting and inspiring, and also means that lots of people care, and apparently that newspapers and magazines want to write about it!

It's strange to be the voice of this, because there are so many people who have worked so hard for so long to make this kind of thing happen (if you know me, you know what kind of thing, and what kind of class, I'm talking about), and in many ways, this just fell into my lap. And now people are asking me to speak about it!

I'm going to do my damnedest to do it justice, though. I have so many ideas, none of which have to do with standards or alignment or anything else that curricular specialists would say I should focus on - it's a revolutionary class, so why shouldn't the approach to education be a little revolutionary?

I'm going to bring in podcasts and speakers and teach activism and infuse art into every nook and cranny of this learning that I can. We'll read primary documents and create context and compare intense hypotheticals because they've got enough focus on literacy going on. Skills are great and all, but if you're not inspired to do anything with them, then what's the point?

I didn't talk about that in the interviews so much though. Instead, I talked about how amazing the community I teach in is. There aren't many places that would allow this kind of class, and even fewer that would be celebrating it. I feel so blessed. And the pressure's on! This has to be good.

#fingerscrossedemoji

Target; A Magical Land