My friends who are not quitting

"Hold those things that tell your history and protect them. During slavery, who was able to read or write or keep anything? The ability to have somebody to tell your story to is so important. It says: 'I was here. I may be sold tomorrow. But you know I was here.'"

Maya Angelou

I'm not saying that teachers' experience compares to slavery yet there is a trend toward decreasing recognition of the humanity of teachers and students.   I'm recognizing the increasing oppression with top down one-size-fits-all micro-management solely for test score growth in our public schools. I'm mourning the appreciation of each person's unique contribution in this world where we raise our children in school buildings.

This year we did not feel like we were telling our story but being forced into someone else's story--with no humor, little humanity and often headed for tragedy. Suicide risks ran high and real.

Now that the school year is officially done in Denver, we're telling our stories from this year. While the realities are still fresh in our minds, we are trying to find what we can take hold of for a story that has heart, voice and more meaningful learning for everyone. We're listening. We're talking. Maybe a little dreaming. A little hoping. Some strategic thinking, design, planning.  A lot of love and appreciation for anyone who will listen.

One more year. Because we know the kids don't have a choice.

Buck Up: How Many Will It Take?

So close to the end of the school year. my mind is full of images of my colleagues through the last 9 months. Our conversations in the hallways when we tried to figure out how to deal with the latest demand. Tears when we saw our dreams for kids dissolving when the tests and teaching to the test wasn't relevant or meaningful. A kind of painful laughter when the program became too crazy to even talk about anymore.

With a summer break in the routine and a new school year ahead to start fresh, we are talking about how we can work together to find positive pathways through the increasingly standardized policies and mandates. There is a lot of talk around me of small groups to support and learn together and find ways to reach the kids in our particular schools while under external one size-for-all control.

I hope we can keep ourselves healthy in our lives to keep on going.  Summertime is a chance for us to breathe different air and see with different perspectives.

I'm grateful to Marge Piercey for writing this poem that I go back to all the time when I need to buck up. I hope its okay with her that I share her poem here--I think poetry is meant to be shared, right?

The Low Road

by Marge Piercy

What can they do

to you? Whatever they want.

They can set you up, they can

bust you, they can break

your fingers, they can

burn your brain with electricity,

blur you with drugs till you

can't walk, can't remember, they can

take your child, wall up

your lover. They can do anything

you can't stop them

from doing. How can you stop

them? Alone, you can fight,

you can refuse, you can

take what revenge you can

but they roll over you.

But two people fighting

back to back can cut through

a mob, a snake-dancing file

can break a cordon, an army

can meet an army.

Two people can keep each other

sane, can give support, conviction

love, massage, hope, sex.

Three people are a delegation,

a committee, a wedge. With four

you can play bridge and start

an organization. With six

you can rent a whole house,

eat pie for dinner with no

seconds, and hold a fund raising party.

A dozen make a demonstration.

A hundred fill a hall.

A thousand have solidarity and your own newsletter;

ten thousand, power and your own media;

ten million, your own country.

It goes on one at a time,

it starts when you care

to act, it starts when you do

it again after they said no,

it starts when you say 'We'

and know who you mean, and each

day you mean one more.

(from The Moon is Always Female 1996)

Cracks in the System

Looking back at the end of this school year, it has been harder and more chaotic than I could have ever imagined.  And still, if we give up on good teaching, we have lost. 

Through the year, I read endlessly powerful posts and articles about what is wrong with what is being forced on our schools. I read letters from strong teachers and principals explaining why they have to quit. I heard about famous educators and media stars coming out against the insanity. Nearly everyone I know considered quitting. But we made it through and many of us are staying. 

Now, we can't just wait and hope for protests, letters, re-posting on facebook and twitter to have an effect.  When we find ways to provide teaching and learning that matter for our kids'  lives, we are resisting the juggernaut of the billion dollar testing industry's impact on reducing our students’ learning opportunities. We have to resist where we can in our classrooms and school buildings.  

We join a bigger struggle for social justice that has been going on seemingly forever and continues in many spheres of our lives today.We can learn from the courage of those who have persevered in the past. If I'm afraid of consequences, what about slaves who learned how to read in the face of sure dire punishment if caught? What do I risk compared to that?

Last month in a turnaround school, every teacher I talked with said something like this: At the end of the day I want to think I did a good job for kids. I want to feel like they learned in my class. I don’t feel that way right now.

 Where are the cracks in the system where students can learn not just for a test but for their  lives? Starting today I am on a mission to reach beyond the people I've been working with in person to spread what is giving us hope to persevere:

1.  stories of how teachers and principals are finding time and space for experiential and project based learning, collaborative learning, deep discussions and questioning, performance based assessment of learning and so much more that engages and develops our children as human beings.  

2. sources of strength and inspiration from within and beyond our field and time.

 This is my protest. Good teaching in our public schools will endure. We refuse to let it end.