MarjorieLarner

Teacher Letter to Obama

2009-11-22T18:09:00.000-08:00

Anthony Cody is collecting letters from teachers to President Obama--perhaps our voices can be heard. http://www.facebook.com/inbox/readmessage.php?t=1155581610692

My letter is below.

Dear President Obama

With many challenging years in school reform under my belt, I am thankful to work for the last four years in a small urban 6-12 urban school that is not based on a prescribed model but rather on a big vision for every student's active participation and positive contribution to the 21st century world. While our school is imperfect, everyone is dedicated and with a 100% graduation and college acceptance rate as well as portfolio presentations providing evidence of student learning and skills tied to a graduate profile, we have data to support our own anecdotal evidence of student development and achievement.

The measures on the standardized tests are inadequate to assess the internalized habits, dispositions, skills and knowledge that we see our students developing, namely their capacities for leadership, creativity to overcome constraints, taking action to help others, seeing issues through multiple perspectives, belief in their responsibility and agency in the world, ability to build a case or analyze another's argument. It is not easy or simple, nor could it be taken to scale and standardized to hold teachers and students who were not committed to this particular vision, "accountable."

As an educator with a background in qualitative assessment, it breaks my heart to see children's abilities and potential reduced to test scores, their days in schools reduced to preparation to do well on a test, teaching reduced to scripted lessons and canned curricula. Not because I do not believe in accountability, rigor or quality teaching, but precisely because I do.

Several years ago I worked in a school with generally high test scores (even 100% proficient for third grade readers one year) with relatively weaker numbers in writing. So for years, this data "drove" their district mandated school wide focus on writing and they gave the kids the message that as a community they were weak in writing and had to work hard to improve these scores. One year, the district paid for the testing company to release a few test items to the school for information. When we analyzed these few items, we learned that the students' scores were proficient and advanced in the actual writing samples. It was on the multiple choice questions where they had to choose an answer with no context that they lost points.

We were left with sobering choices to make. Would we choose to spend less time on teaching them to be writers in order to work on how to take a multiple choice test to ensure our data would satisfy district requirements for growth measured by the test? What would our choice do to or for them in their lives as writers?

I have seen students challenged and inspired to work hard, investigate, create, strive for greatness in all subjects and still not reliably score well on the state test. We need to learn from the meager results we've seen these past ten years to develop an innovative and realistic alternative for gathering evidence of student progress aligned with a clear vision of who our students will be, what they will know and be able to do as a result of their years with us in schools. With sufficient resources and support (probably a fraction of what goes to testing), every school could institute a rigorous system for students to demonstrate their relevant knowledge and skills.

In small schools, we say we will ensure that each child is known well and seen by at least one adult. it has always struck me as sad that this is such a hard thing to accomplish in the buildings where our children spend at least half their waking hours. Standards and tests barely scratch the surface of what we need to provide for and foster in our children if we are to engage rather than alienate them in becoming active responsible citizens and if we are to include everyone in, as you say Mr. President, forming a more perfect union.

Let's expand rather than reduce the vision of what our children and our country can achieve.

Thank you.

Marjorie Larner
University Partnership Site Coordinator
Denver Center for International Studies
Denver, Colorado

Education Week: Duncan Sounds Starting Gun on ESEA Renewal

2009-09-25T15:51:00.001-07:00

Education Week: Duncan Sounds Starting Gun on ESEA Renewal

Shared via AddThis

Spread the Word: Sherrod Brown's action

2009-09-12T11:38:00.000-07:00

Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio promised not to accept his congressional health insurance until his constituents have the same access to coverage for quality care. I read this some time ago in a dailykos diary which I couldn't relocate now and I had a hard time believing it was true so I called his office and confirmed it: he really did this!

Why is this information not more widely known and why isn't it serving to put pressure on everyone else in Congress and the Administration?

We could do that.

One of my favorite Rules for Radicals from Saul Alinksy, father of community organizing, is "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag." For months, we've made repeated calls and written emails with the same message of supporting the public option, or single payer, or Medicare for all. If Alinsky were alive, I think he'd be telling us "Its time for a new tactic, folks."

Let's change the pressure to a new action by urging our elected officials to follow Sen. Brown's example that shows individual commitment to those whose interest they are supposed to represent. At worst, they could afford private health insurance. Then they can see what the degrading experience of applying (and often being denied) is like. Let them feel what it is like to be out here at the mercy of these for-profit corporations.

At this point, the results of deals and compromises can remain abstractions to those in power. They can hide behind all kinds of obfuscations and excuses and let meaningful reform for us slip away once again. They don't know the kick in the gut I felt when I heard Obama say the reform wouldn't go into effect for 4 years. That is 4 more years of worrying and relying on good luck.

This reform needs to matter to them and their families as much as it matters to our's. It needs to impact them personally if they fail or succeed. I would bet they would have thought twice about August recess if their own children weren't covered for pre-existing conditions.

Let's call and write our Senators, Congressional Representatives and the White House with this message: I urge you to follow Senator Sherrod Brown's example of refusing his Congressional health insurance benefits until you pass legislation for reform that provides access to quality health care for every one of us you represent. Show us we are all in this together.

Sherrod Brown offers an example of the kind of American character referred to by President Obama in his Wed. speech. He provides an example of the honest commitment to our nation's well-being that is possible to see in one of our elected officials. Lets pressure the rest of them to get out of the protective government-insured bubble.

"There will be a special schedule Tuesday....."

2009-09-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

I was happy to get an email from the urban school, where I work, regarding arrangements to watch the President’s speech on Tuesday.

The White House announced that on Tuesday, September 8th at 10:00 am the President will talk directly to students across the country on the importance of taking responsibility for their education, challenging them to set goals and do everything they can to succeed. The President's message will be streamed live on WhiteHouse.gov/live, and broadcast live on C-Span The White House will make a downloadable video of the speech available on their page later that day as it becomes available.

[the school] will modify our daily schedule on Tuesday to participate in this educational opportunity. Our teachers and students will have a discussion in their advisement class in advance of the broadcast. Students and teachers will watch the broadcast and have a follow-up conversation with their advisement classes. [the school] has an alternative option available for any families who prefer that their student not participate.

How many schools and districts are welcoming an opportunity for students to join a national conversation about their education as opposed to the number making a case to fear that our children's hearts and minds will be controlled by one speech from the President of our United States?

Since this school is a magnet school with an international studies focus, and a mission to educate for global citizens who contribute to our local and global community in positive ways, right now in their lives, as well as when they become adults, I'd be surprised if there are families who are afraid of their kids being exposed to Obama's eloquence.

Just as with health care, where one falls in this issue relates to a whole set of assumptions including what we are raising our children to do and be. Are we raising our children to critically analyze and reason in the face of a wealth of ideas, information and diverse opinions? Or are we raising our children to accept and comply with what they are told to do and think?

Support for the latter priority has been dominant at the federal and state level of funding and policy relying on standardized tests as the sole measure of student, teacher and school success. This led to ever more pressure on teachers to reduce their visions for students to what can be measured by distant standards. Critical, creative or divergent thinking is not on the test. I would argue that the climate in public school districts has been increasingly accepting of the narrowed and reactionary points of view.

What does it say about people’s thought process, how they form their opinions about reality, when they fear that all it takes is one good speech to change the hearts and minds of children? I suppose if one's own views are not based in logic and evidence, there is a chance that one could be swayed by a single speech well delivered.

As a parent, taxpayer and educator in a supposedly democratic society, I am disturbed by acceptance of a low opinion about our young citizens' and future voters' capacity for critical thinking. And if you doubt my belief about their capacity, let me know because I could show you skillful and thoughtful work from a diverse group of urban kids that will knock your socks off.

Dear Mr. President

2009-09-06T07:49:00.000-07:00

Change We Need

My name is Marjorie Larner and I am writing to you today as a volunteer and a donor to express my firm support for the passage of comprehensive health care reform including a robust public insurance option open to all Americans.

I shared the joy of your campaign in Boulder, Colorado, beginning with the Primary and eventually taking a leave from work to be able to say yes every time there was anything to be done--from neighborhood team leader, office worker, supporting my son as a fellow and then Boulder youth vote coordinator, opening my house for anyone who needed a place to stay or meet, etc. The hope, love and unity was worth every dollar and every minute.

Since the campaign, I have tried to help OFA-- hosted numerous house meetings, organized phone calls and canvassing, went through the training for community organizers. I have listened to an unending stream of health care horror stories that shouldn't go on one more day, much less years or decades.

The people I contact are worried because they are uncertain what we are trying to help you do. They are not sure how far you will go to meet the goal. We understand this is a bigger fight than just about health care.

I feel responsible for what we led people to hope and work for, including the promise of accessible, affordable, quality health care for all of us. I have watched friends and family lose the chance to get the care they need for survival because of health care cost. As an independent consultant in schools, I have to provide my own insurance coverage. The process of being denied was humiliating. I am now on a state program for Uninsurables---high premium, high deductible. I worry I will not be able to continue this indefinitely because of the impact of the economy on my finances. Young adults in my family do not have health insurance. I keep my fingers crossed.

This is the first battle against those you promised we would not let win again. Mr. President, please use your speech to the nation this Wednesday to lead Congress to deliver comprehensive health care reform that includes a robust public insurance option available to all Americans. If we are truly in this together, and if it is true that you need us, please be honest with us about the extent of this battle so we can know what we are fighting for and how best to contribute.

Mr. President, please fight for the real change that will make it possible for all of us to have real health care. I urge you to accept nothing less.

Thank you for your service on our behalf.

Marjorie Larner

Bury the Hatchet: Cass Epstein townhall musical accompaniment

2009-08-24T15:51:00.000-07:00

There is a depth of emotion for many of us trying to stay engaged in what has come to feel like a battle that is the tip of an iceberg bigger than health care reform though that is the particular struggle we're focused on right now.

I am convinced this is another step in a long process that has been going on a long long time. We need to draw from lessons learned from what helped communities in the past. Music has always been a part of important human experience. If we are to stay engaged in the long haul we have ahead, we need more to support us than we seem to have right now.

The last week, I've been reminding myself of what I want to do in the face of self righteous anger, with this Cass Epstein song.
http://www.box.net/files#0:f:31169468/Bury_the_Hatchet

Finding Strength at Another Townhall

2009-08-24T15:48:00.001-07:00

Finding Strength at Another Townhall

Posted using ShareThis

New Info re Townhall Meetings

2009-08-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

Less than an hour after posting a report on a slightly hopeful conduct of a townhall meeting and urging taking a positive stand in the face of hostility, I heard about an increase in the level of serious violence threatened and planned against health care reform supporters at town hall meetings and directly to union supporters. How scared should we be? How tough do we need to be? What are the politicians and commentators who are inciting this level of violence trying to accomplish? Will they, like McCain did during the campaign when it threatened to go this level, reel it back? Can they at this point?

Every time I think I know enough to take a position, every time I thought I had decided how and what I would do, I learn something that rattles my certainty.

How will our leaders respond so our civil right to speak is protected? Hard to believe what I am seeing.

Report from a Townhall: The Difference

2009-08-07T13:07:00.000-07:00

Went to my first August town hall this morning—actually was called by our congressman Jared Polis as more of a meeting in front of a local coffee shop but there were many more than the 30 people they expected. The local paper reported hundreds showed up with a video that made it look huge with lots of dialogue. (http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/aug/07/polis-mobbed-morning-coffee-chat-health-care/
A few anti-health care reformers in attendance, a couple anti-reform signs, some out-of-towners, a couple of whom tried to intimidate.

Rep Polis answered a few questions from the crowd before meeting with small groups for short conversations. The last question came from a self-identified conservative who respectfully spouted questionable statistics that sparked intermittent angry reactions from one or two people in the crowd to which the rest of the crowd urged “Shhhhhh.” “Let him speak.” Later I noticed anti reform people engaged in conversations with small groups of pro reform people. Again, I’d hear intermittent charged voices, often though not always, defused by civil responses.

We had a few police standing at a distance with a non-threatening or threatened stance, almost a reassuring presence.

Talking with an OFA field organizer, we reminisced about the ‘happy’ factor we experienced in our work for Obama’s candidacy during the Primary and Presidential campaigns—how our solidarity in believing in hope overwhelmed hostility and attacks. Remember the times ugliness surfaced? There were many trying and painful days back then that foreshadowed the quality of the opponent we face now—the opponent Barack Obama warned us we would need to be organized to face when he became President.

I’m not yet sure what self-righteous screaming and mean spirited insults are accomplishing that work for one side or the other. Will they scare us off? Lead us to sink to the ugliness in ourselves? Just doesn’t sound like a long-term strategy of the powerful but more a crying of the weak. In fact I think it is serving to alarm supporters of health care reform and motivate us to get up again and push hard for our voices to be heard. They are helping us mobilize--more people are asking me what they can do.

So I say to those fomenting this craziness: Though I admit you scare me, I’ll lean on my fellow volunteers to help me resist the weakness of fear and self-righteous anger in reaction to mean spirited insults and threats. We won during the Presidential Campaign with reason, compassion and hope and endless hours of hard grassroots work. People were drawn to that work partly because it felt so good to stand alongside others who imagined that things could be better for everyone. As President Obama said on election night, “The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep…. I promise you – we as a people will get there…Yes we can.” http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGx3Kc

One way I learned during the campaign to manage my fear and anxiety was to take action. And it helped even more when others were there with me. Please check your representatives’ websites for August events you can attend to make sure your voice is counted.

How do we get our way?

2009-08-02T15:58:00.000-07:00

I’m watching the campaigns for and against health care reform—watching actions and reactions in myself, and others. Canvassing yesterday there were people whose opposition struck me as so mean-spirited, I felt like crying. I can’t yet even begin to describe my reaction to my fellow citizens being so hateful to me about an effort to get access to adequate health care for everyone. There was no room for discussion and in fact, I felt threatened or at least insulted.

I know I’m overly sensitive these days due to painful health insurance stories I’m carrying around in my mind. I almost thought I couldn’t continue and then a group of protestors against the military action in Afghanistan marched through and I heard them speaking with the same self righteous anger.

I’ve been there in self-righteousness. I understand the pull of it. The certainty leaves no room for fear of what will happen if we don’t get our way. We have to prevail. We are so right!

A friend once told me that he noticed that every time he indulged himself in self righteous indignation it came back to bite him with a reflection of his own behavior similar to what he had decried. I’ve had to eat my words a few times lately so as a practical measure, I’m practicing avoiding it, even in my emails to our senators who refuse to take a clear position in spite of promises that if we supported them they would support Obama’s agenda. Oh! Self righteous indignation is lurking here—sure could be a relief at this moment.

Instead I'm thinking back to so many times during the campaign when fear and doubt loomed because things weren’t going our way. And we won. Did we expect that once Obama got elected, it would be quick and easy to get our way? As much as we are literally fighting a life and death issue for many people, insurance companies and other corporations are also fighting for their existence, as they know it. They know how to put up a fight.

And its an old, an even ancient, fight. We can learn from so many who have gone before us.

1. Saul Alinsky, a grandfather of community organizing and recently a subject of many hateful web posts, his 12 Rules for Radicals and lately, this rule in particular:

RULE 9: "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself." Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist. (Perception is reality. Large organizations always prepare a worst-case scenario, something that may be furthest from the activists' minds. The upshot is that the organization will expend enormous time and energy, creating in its own collective mind the direst of conclusions. The possibilities can easily poison the mind and result in demoralization).

2. Biblical story of David and Goliath that is ubiquitous in our culture but still surprises me with relevant details. Check out this New Yorker piece by Malcolm Gladwell: “How David Beats Goliath: When Underdogs Break the Rules.”
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/11/090511fa_fact_gladwell

Or just the story from the Bible: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliath or http://christianity.about.com/od/biblestorysummaries/p/davidandgoliath.htm

Whatever your battle... health care, education, environment, arts, financial systems, jobs, human and animal rights............
imagine this (metaphorically of course)

Equity, Listening (the joke's at the end)

2009-07-20T07:51:00.000-07:00

Listening, Equity (the Joke’s at the End)
“Listen or your tongue will make you deaf”
Cherokee saying

Co-facilitating a 2-day Summer Seminar focused on equity, with a team of 4 representing diverse socio-cultural, racial and professional backgrounds. For once, we had attracted a participant group that was not primarily white with a couple teachers of color but instead 2/3 of our group were from minority backgrounds. One of my teammates greeted me with a smile, “You seem really stressed and nervous,” she said. I wanted to say, “Why aren’t you? We are putting our beliefs on the line with a promise to provide a transformational experience in two short days.” But instead, I just said, “Yeah, feels like a big responsibility.”

We started the first morning with a chance to hear every voice in the room. We asked people to respond to the question: Why were you were drawn to this work?

Many people told stories that were sharp and brutal about kids lost in the system, watching their own kids get passed by, their own personal experiences as children or teachers of color in a white mainstream world. Individual expressions of frustration hung over our facilitation team as we took on pressure that we not join the ranks of people who have let them down and didn’t deliver on a promise that they would leave with something they had not had when they arrived; even more that they would not spend their time on something that wouldn’t make any difference for their work, for the kids and their families. Some people wanted specific strategies to take and use. I felt their urgency. We couldn’t solve any of the dilemmas. We couldn’t remove the racism from our systems…yet. What could we do in two days that would leave people with increased capacity to make more of a difference when they left?

We worked with a tension between content of the field of multicultural education, equity, diversity and our work in developing collaborative cultures, structures, relationships as process to work together on the content. We rubbed against each other, our agenda, our time frames.

By the last hour of the two days my heart was still pounding with worry that we had not done enough. Papers were strewn around the room. The circle of chairs was scattered, some of the seats were unoccupied. One young teacher who had wanted methods to take back to her classroom had left at lunch without saying anything. Another colleague who I had known for years left before the very end after getting upset over the content of another’s dilemma. Those remaining in the final circle leaned forward and moved in close. They shared what they were taking away from the experience and then there was nothing left to do but for me to wrap up the intensity satisfactorily for everyone.

As I brought my words to a close, a participant spoke up. “Can I say one thing?” “Yes, of course.” “We need each other,” he said, “to be allies, to back each other up as we continue to try and put ourselves out there. I hope we’ll continue to meet.”

I took my first free breath and realized what had happened. The two days were not about our content and processes but about their experiences listening to each other, even for the two who had left possibly disturbed.

What they had said at the end was they had learned to listen…and listen…and listen. Even when you think you’ve heard that story before, listen. Even when you are uncomfortable and defensive, listen. Put your own need to talk, comfort or be understood aside and listen. Listen as if you were saying, “I see you are carrying a heavy load. Shift a little of that weight into my arms. I’ll carry it with you for a while.”

When we put ourselves on the line, we need allies we can go to who will believe us about our experiences, who will stand with us, fearless, stoic and genuine in a willingness to persevere, who will not be deterred by hurt feelings, a bruised ego or fear of rejection. I realized that maybe, then, that was enough. And in the end, the joke was on me.

Here’s a real joke………

A journalist assigned to the Jerusalem bureau has an apartment
Overlooking the Western Wall. Every day when she looks out,
she sees an old bearded Jewish man praying vigorously. Certain
he would be a good interview subject, the journalist goes down
to the Wall, and introduces herself to the old man.

She asks, "You come every day to the Wall. Sir, how long have you
done that and what are you praying for?"

The old man replies, "I have come here to pray every day for 25
years. In the morning I pray for world peace and for the brotherhood
of man. I go home have a cup of tea, and I come back and pray for
the eradication of illness and disease from the earth. And very, very important, I pray for peace and understanding between the Israelis
and Palestinians."

The journalist is impressed. "How does it make you feel to come
here every day for 25 years and pray for these wonderful things?"
she asks.

The old man replies, calmly, "Like I'm talking to a wall."

National Standards and A Joke

2009-07-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

It was the final examination for an introductory Biology course at the local university. Like many such freshman courses, it was designed to weed out new students, having over 500 students in the class!

The examination was two hours long, and exam booklets were provided. The professor was very strict and told the class that any exam that was not on his desk in exactly two hours would not be accepted and the student would fail. Half of an hour into the exam, a student came rushing in and asked the professor for an exam booklet.
"You're not going to have time to finish this," the professor stated as he handed the student a booklet.

"Yes I will," replied the student. He then took a seat and began writing. After two hours, the professor called for the exams, and the students filed up and handed them in. All except the late student, who continued writing. An hour later, the last student came up to the professor who was sitting at his desk preparing for his next class. He attempted to put his exam on the stack of exam booklets already there.
"No you don't, I'm not going to accept that. It's late."
The student looked incredulous and angry.
"Do you know who I am?"
"No, as a matter of fact I don't," replied the professor with an air of sarcasm in his voice.
"Do you know who I am?" the student asked again in a louder voice.
"No, and I don't care." replied the professor with an air of superiority.
"Good," replied the student, who quickly lifted the stack of completed exams, stuffed his in the middle, and walked out of the room.

The increasing acceptance of national standards for students as inevitable is worrying me. Does it make sense for people to set standards for effective education without knowing the actual children with all their individual gifts, challenges, desires, and dispositions? If we do not see the human beings in front of us, who are we to determine the goals and pathways that will work for them to be contributing members of our communities? The further away the standards are set from the community in which the children live, the more broad, numerous and most likely unconnected to children’s realities, they turn out to be.

I would suggest it is past time to let go of the factory model of education and move back to recognition that we are raising human beings and that human beings are too complex to be reduced exclusively to what can be measured by one standard for all.

In small schools we say that we will ensure that each child is known and seen by at least one adult. That has always struck me as sad that it is such a hard thing to accomplish in the buildings where our children are spending so much of their lives. What kind of lessons about the world and life does this provide for our young people?

There has been a question floating around about renaming No Child Left Behind. I’d like to suggest No Child Left Unseen.

Just Beat It

2009-06-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

At least once every day, I get freaked out about the horrible possibilities of what I'm seeing in our country and the world. A year ago, I was scared what would happen if Obama didn't win. I never believed he really could win and at the same time there was this glimmer of hope that made me take action to the point where it eventually took over nearly everything else.

Now I'm getting another glimmer at this time when the enormous forces we are up against are increasingly visible. I have more understanding of what Obama meant last year when he said once he got elected, we would have just begun the work that we had to do.Things look so serious to me. I see Obama walking a very strategic path through extremely dangerous fields and people. Hard to convince people of this, hard for me to really get it. But over the last months, the crises haven't stopped coming--every couple days, another.

What really scares me is bold-faced evidence of what I have hoped wasn’t really true. http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009062626/2044-novel-comes-true As George Carlin said, "Anytime you hear businessmen debating 'which policy is better for America,' ' don’t bend over.'"
Seems like the corporate powers used to give us more crumbs so it was easier to go along. Like frogs in boiling water? My father knew it back in the 60's, when it arguably wasn't even as big yet. Eisenhower warned against it in the 50’s. There is power that is beyond the government and that is what Obama is navigating with unbelievable brilliance--just as he did in the campaign. I know it isn't always to see so its easy to lose faith and hope.

This is a real fight and for now, it is for health care. I am starting to get it. Obama needs us to organize and show power, to have influence at least on those close to power. The people of Iran are doing it. In Honduras they were about to get a chance to take a step (if I understand the situation correctly).

I have hosted or helped host nearly every house meeting they requested. For me, these were usually dissatisfying events where people were unclear what they were supposed to do to have an effect and just expressed their opinions and interpretations and what they wished Obama would do. I believe that experience was not true for everyone who hosted house parties. It was not true for the people in Longmont, where with a few of my Boulder team members, we joined the Longmont OFA Day of Service this past Saturday.

What we did was go to different parts of town and get out the word about CHIPS+ the county health care program for children and pregnant women who don't have coverage. As of yesterday, only 30% of those who are eligible are enrolled. A lot of people don't think they'd qualify or they didn't when they applied but they would now. We worked in pairs; Subu and I took Main Street. It was a beautiful Saturday morning. Surprisingly to me, Main Street was nearly deserted. The basic stores that people need are not there and there is not one chain. It is mainly restaurants and second hand stores. All pretty empty. Some permanently empty. We did manage to make contact with about 10 people on the sidewalk and in a couple stores and gave out information and had conversations that made me feel our common humanity. Not a single person didn't need that information, for themselves or a relative. Every single person was inadequately covered, most with no insurance. A couple times I needed to communicate with Spanish speakers. For me it took courage to take the chance of using one of my few Spanish words to actually try to communicate instead of just moving on. It felt that important. We did have brochures in Spanish.

So, a quiet downtown and whoever was in town needs health care coverage.

We also went to the park where everyone thanked us for offering the information whether they needed it or not. One family was so grateful as their coverage has increased beyond their means. The income eligibility is not as low as you might assume--not poverty, more edge of middle class.
I got a glimpse of our possible power to make a difference though I’m still struggling with a familiar lack of motivation. After the primary, after the election, I was so relieved that I didn't have to make phone calls or knock on doors or have patience with people. I wanted to be relieved of the heavy responsibility of doing my part in this struggle, which is too big for my imagination. I am resisting the overpowering sense of recognized urgency, responsibility and openness to the possibility that we people might be necessary to make a difference. I miss the fun part -- Alex and the other young field organizers, the camaraderie with fellow volunteers. I met people Saturday who were pretty inspiring and wonderful to be around. I'm starting to get glimmers.

Our voices cannot be heard if we don't get them out. I have some time to make phone calls this week. Nearly everyone could find time to call or email a representative and two senators. Otherwise I need to live in denial or give in to despair. I hear my father saying, “While we don’t know for sure if our effort will work, we know what will happen if we don't even try…” In my heart, I am still an idealist. Could I take this on again? Will anyone join me? I miss our old team.
We are now being asked to make phone calls this week to ask people to call their representatives and senators to support the genuine public option for genuine health care reform that is: available nationwide; on day one; and accountable to Congress and the voters (For more details on how to contact your congressional reps: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/29/748022/-Lets-Crack-The-Whip-For-The-Public-Option!)

I am inviting people to an open house phone banking party on Thursday 6-8pm where we can each use the OFA on-line tool to make 25 calls. Of course you can do it on your own, but remember how much more fun it was to have people to talk to about your calls? Join us virtually if you are out of town!

I don't know if you cared for Michael Jackson but I am sadder than I can understand. Whoever and whatever he really was, I know that many of his songs were about making it a better world and there is something about him dying as he did that feels like the end of a voice that expressed longing to heal some sort of wounded hope and flawed love. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/29/philippines-prisons-micha_n_222169.html

As I'm trying to find the spark, the belief and willingness in me to dive in again, I realize that my deep reaction to Michael Jackson's death could be a reflection of the loss of my own hope and love that had filled me when I immersed myself in the campaign. Maybe the only way to stop this ache is to open up again to that hope and love that goes along with effective action for a bigger cause. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqxo1SKB0z8

I'm thinking about Buckminster Fuller's metaphor of the trimtab, which is a very small piece on the bottom of the rudder of jets and ships that when turned slightly creates a vacuum that turns the rudder that then turns the direction of the whole ship. He said, "Call me trimtab."

"I'm asking you to believe.
Not just in my ability to bring about change in Washington...
I'm asking you to believe in yours."
Barack Obama

Teaching is Political

2009-06-29T14:07:00.000-07:00

Politics
1. the theory and practice of forming and running organizations connected with government 2. Activity within a political party or organization that is concerned with debate and the creation and carrying out of distinctive policies rather than merely the administration of the state 3. The totality of interrelationships in a particular area of life involving power, authority, or influence, and capable of manipulation. 4. The tactics and strategy to gain power in a group or organization.
Encarta World English Dictionary

For a long time, I’ve noticed how often teachers dismiss the possibility of action about something they don’t like by saying, “Oh that’s just politics.” Or that some part of our work is “too political,” and should be avoided. We all nod our heads in agreement that we will stay on our own side of the wall. But I’ve wondered about the consequences of this avoidance. Even though the work I did as a volunteer in the Obama campaign was near the bottom rung of the hierarchy, requiring minimal skill and background, I felt like I was part of something with potential to help kids more than in all my years in schools where my job is generally to help them learn how to succeed in a mainstream world that presents obstacles and challenges they have to keep overcoming every day of their lives.

I think of a girl I know who all the teachers celebrate yet everyone also worries over the toll and cost to her well being for her determination to pull out of the situation into which she was born, in which she lives “near the projects,” to go to Asia to shadow a doctor, to be the top of her class, involved in every opportunity for leadership or broader experience. She is usually worried herself, rarely satisfied, and often conflicted.

She expresses concern for the kids in her neighborhood who, she says, have given up trying cause they don’t see how they can make it. She says a lot of teachers care but they just don’t know how to do it. Because I have seen kids surprise me, I believe that it is possible for every child to be reached with the right teacher yet even the most gifted teachers I know have stories of students they still worry about who did not find their way to succeed in school enough to help them in their futures.

I have always been told as a facilitator and consultant to openly steer conversations away from those areas where members of the group have no authority, control or influence. This seemed like such a sensible clear position. Working in urban schools when we talk about our students who are not succeeding in the school, it is inevitable that someone will bring up issues that are beyond us and that are at least in part a consequence of governmental policies that impact working conditions, housing, cost-of-living, health care access, environmental health.

How can a school fight and win against the larger society’s system of power and privilege for some and oppression and struggle for others? Has this time of trying to accommodate to our lack of authority, control or influence passed? What can I do about that big category of what is beyond my sphere of authority, control and influence?

If we had a different system, a different government with different priorities and policies, the price of school success wouldn’t be so costly to our children’s personal well being. If the world outside of school walls supported our students to succeed, as much as many of us do inside the school walls, what would we see for them?

I don’t yet know where this attitude will lead me. I do know that I will no longer take it as a pass when someone dismisses our obligation to address a challenge as “just politics.” I am beginning to engage in the politics that determine the situation outside our school walls that impact our students’ opportunities at least as much as what we are able to provide for each student in the classrooms and hallways of buildings.

I know that many colleagues are involved at various levels of policy discussions, yet I wonder if there is a way for us to be more connected with the other issues that impact our students. I am wondering about my obligation as well as my capacity, to put time and effort into using my skills from education for community organizing, to do something about how our government impacts our students’ outlook for a healthy, safe and meaningful life.