Be The Change - I am both inspired and angry

Dr. Breidenstein was right, I do want to read this whole book! It really was extremely inspiring, and so well written. I honestly wish I could see these teachers specific lesson plans, because I have absolutely no idea how they fit it all in. The author describes that some students came to the school barely knowing how to read. So the teachers had to design curriculum that simultaneously taught basic skills, as well as topics students need to prepare for an elite college. They somehow managed to do this while spending half their time preparing students for the idiocy that is standardized testing and state benchmarks.

I say idiocy because, as stated in the book, the tests and standards do not have anything to do with what the students are actually learning. EPAA was praised for sending students to amazing colleges and reaching the most neglected students, yet they were in danger of being shut down for not meeting these requirements.

I understand the need to be sure schools are actually helping students with the money they receive, accountability is important. But there has to be a better way to measure progress than a test that is biased towards students with a white middle class background. Even then the test don't make much sense. I recently took the 2014 STAAR reading exam for 8th grade. By all accounts I come from an extremely privileged anglo background, I am a History major here at Trinity so I read often, and I got a perfect score on the reading portion of the SAT. And I still struggled to understand an exam meant for EIGHTH GRADERS. There is something very wrong with this picture. You should not need to learn tricks to pass a test.

Be the Change

I really enjoyed the "Be the Change" article. I thought it beautifully portrayed an inspiring example of change for the better. One common theme that I saw throughout the article was that as dreamy or idealistic as it sounded, it was not without struggle. In Trinity classes, we often engage in discussions about how we could alter the education system to better serve students or brainstorm strategies to engage students who seem disinterested. We use phrases like "strive to succeed," "community of support," fighting for equality," etc. which sound awesome but are sometimes too ambiguous to imagine implementing. This article gave specific examples of what these ideals look like and shared the holistic process it took to get there. They discussed the difficult lives of the students (involved in drug trade or gang activity, whose parents who may not have graduated from high school, who were fluent in Spanish but not English, etc.), the bumps along the way ("plumbing disasters and wiring inadequacies"), and the continuous effort it took (re-designing curriculum, collaborating and training staff.) I appreciated hearing about all of the obstacles along the way because it showed the depth of their determination and the force with which they charged toward their goals. It brought to mind the essay question I just wrote about for the MAT application about the importance of grit--I thought the depiction of their journey was a perfect embodiment of grit.

Welcome to Our Class Blog!

Our class blog is open and ready for business!  As we decided in class, we are trying on the semi-structured approach to blogging. At the minimum, you'll be participating at least once for each reading/theme (and you can start new ones).  We decided today that half the class will post a comment or question for their minimum one post, and half the class will respond to the comments/questions for their minimum one post.   And then the two groups will switch.  The idea is that this semi-structured approach will provide some structure and also room for organic participation and conversation.  And we'll talk about how it's going along the way.  This week the 1's will post about the Be The Change chapters and the 2's will respond. Let the conversations to begin!