Tech and school closures;(also) Response to integrated schooling

So last week in class we were asked to “think of how technology has influenced the inauguration”--- it was a very interesting, yet quite simple question. We live in a city that is so obsessed with technology that you almost have to be a hermit to be able to avoid using any of it. I began my observations of the inauguration and it put me in the mindset of noticing how technology has changed many things in education as well. I attended the Seattle School Board meeting the next day and began a new set of observations.

The 15/16 year old boy sitting slightly in front of me was blogging his personal perception of the meeting in nearly real time. As community organizers made compelling speeches in favor of “saving our schools” digital cameras clicked – err, beeped—and flashed. Then I noticed the entire slew of professional cameras throughout the room. I thought it might be local news stations actually reporting on something worth while and relevant to Seattleites. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Of course, school board meetings are entirely too boring for network TV. So who were these cameramen? Digital streaming of the meeting in its entirety was available online! How awesome is that? After checking it out, the streaming video was lacking the emotional appeal that Seattle school board meetings are known for. But, it is a tremendously useful tool for parents and community members who may be too busy to attend the meeting, or perhaps lack viable transportation to get to the meetings. When the Superintendent began showing a very involved PowerPoint presentation, I was assured by the lady sitting next to me that it would be online in a day or two. My notes suddenly went from furious scribbles to thought provoking questions and key themes. How enjoyable!

Back home I continued my observations from the computer chair. I figured there were blogs on the subject. I mean, it’s Seattle—everyone has a blog. But I had no idea that there would be SO many blogs, and nonetheless so many well done blogs. I recognized many of the blog authors from the speaker list at the meeting, which helped put a face to the writing and validate their opinions, knowing that they were actively fighting the closures (no action-less blabby bloggers here!). Further Googling led me to discover many school closure Seattle PI articles available online. One article described how school supporters were using the internet to stay connected and focused during the fear of closure. Open forums are available for all schools on “the list”. Flickr accounts document the closure protests held throughout the city and student activist groups have MySpace and/or Facebook accounts to keep school friends aware of closure and protest updates.

It was fascinating to see just how well technology is being used to fight the school closures. I also noticed that who was using the technology was varied. Young people, needless to say, find the internet an obvious forum for discussion. Yet the school closure debate involves many older participants. Parents and community members ranging broadly in age all seem to be dipping into the World Wide Web to research, discuss and fight the closures. In fact, letters to the school board and other district and city officials are almost entirely encouraged via email. No more snail mail, and no more cute crayon letters from 3rd grade classrooms. Young and old are using email to communicate directly with the school board. Likewise, rich and old are using technology. NPR newly reported that recent times of economic decline show an increase in library usage—namely free internet access in public libraries. Similar results could be concluded about school libraries and computer labs. Economically privileged students and parents still have access to technology regardless if they own a PC or not. The poorer community has also successfully targeted the media, which is then made available online for all. One teacher purchased a website domain for his school’s petition site for a mere $10—blogs and online photo storage are free. Technology (if equal access is available) may be one of the few resources that are able to help close the achievement gap between rich and poor communities.

Examples of technology being used to fight/inform about school closures:

Streaming of the SB meeting - http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=4272
Seattle PI article on the role of online forums in the school closure debate: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/394886_schools06.html
Summit School list: http://www.summitparentgroup.org/web/
Superintendent's Update (powerpoint used at SB meeting): http://www.seattleschools.org/area/board/08-09agendas/012109agenda/superintendentpresentation.pdf
SLOG (one of many Stranger forums on school closures): http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/01/25/the_seattle_schools_going_o
Flickr school closure protest photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctanstfl/sets/72157613004844942/


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Jane asked if my two sub-groups of friends (the “punks” and the “college preps”) knew of one another. This is a question that instantly brought a smile to my face, mostly because I have been dealing with this situation my whole life. My best friend in high school – a sweet and gorgeous college bond girl—told her mom upon introducing us that “Tina comes from Gig Harbor (read: upper middle class), but she likes to hang out with poor people.” She was awesome, she loved all my friends… yet she still thought it was “novel” or something that I hung out with what she referred to as “poor kids.” The view from the other pasture was much less romanticized. I was scoffed at for having “rich friends” who “bought into the system”. A few of them were “alright” in the eyes of my punk friends, but not quite accepted as I had been. I never really saw it as an economic issue, but more of a way of life difference in choice. Ironically, many of them want the very same results. Almost all my friends are liberal to varying degrees. They want free health care, money for our schools, etc. Yet some of my friends prefer gorilla warfare tactics over getting a political science degree. They have the same goals, but their means to an end are so significantly different it is indeed difficult for the two types of people to see eye to eye.

However, I personally believe that properly executed education could seriously reverse this trend. My boyfriend is the first generation of Northern Irish who have been educated in acceptance between the Protestant and Catholic communities. Traditionally, education has always been separate in NI. Crazy and unreasonable stereotypes of “the other” form during these years at school, and without knowing the other the stereotypes take hold as truths. My boyfriend was sent to one of the first mixed schools. His mother sent him on an international trip to Boston with 15 Protestants and 15 Catholics from his community. 8 or so years later, you can meet up with my boyfriend (raised Protestant) and his buddies at the local pub in the Catholic side of town and not know the religion of anyone sitting at the table. It’s a true success story. Although no where near perfect (tensions in strongly segregated neighborhoods have not eased since the bombing began) those introduced to integrated schooling have become socially and politically much more accepting of “the other” simple because there is no longer an “other” in their eyes.

Our local version of the story would be economic integration. Both sides hate each other simply because in our world we do not have much contact between the extremes. A rich businessman may see a strung out bum as he calls a cab home from downtown, but neither see each other as human. Interesting, isn’t it?

Discovery through photographs

Last week was a nice experience. I loved how we tackled our first reading. Ayers is a fairly easy read and I appreciated that we did not dissect it in an overly academic approach. The way we discussed the reading was comfortable and helpful. It was refreshing to allow people to relate the reading to themselves and allow the classroom conversation to go from there. You can really learn a lot more from the materials when you learn what it meant to each person and allow others to comment on what follows. Classroom conversation can be so incredibly stifled when teachers try to hard to “stick to the material”—when in reality students are learning so much more about the material when they are able to see it through 20 some odd perspectives and the responses to those perspectives.

Working on the image-ing project was fun as well. I learned a lot about myself just in looking back at all my photos. I wanted to choose photos that were my own for several reasons. First, I wanted the project to be personal. I wanted the emotional attachment and personal meaning to show through. Since we were only using images, I wanted the images to be as meaningful to me as possible. Really extravagant or professional quality images found on the internet may be more universally meaningful, but I thought this project would make the most sense to me if it was personally meaningful.

Secondly, as I dove into the project I began to realize that it is the people in my life that most inspire me. My close friends and family have been vital in every step of my education and a few of my closest friends and most immediate family have been incredibly influential in my decision to become a teacher. While I was in school, my parents were with me every step of the way. Whether it was help editing a huge essay, or a quick last minute review for a biology exam, my mom and dad were always right there, ready to help.

However, when it comes to my friends, it is not quite as simple of a story. I’ve always had two sets of friends: there are my the smart, academic and college-bound buddies and then there are my punk rock, blue-collar, just scrapping to get by, down to earth, friends that might as well be family. This duality in my choice of friendships has truly altered my view of education. My college-bound buddies assume they will graduate college, there was never any other viable option in their eyes. They kept me academically competitive and also provided a sturdy and supportive study group and student schedule. We all had midterms and finals time together—time to crack down on studies—but we also had the same weeks off to celebrate the end of midterms and finals. However, my punk rock family was what gave me the edge on all my university colleagues. Among my true friends, I was one of just a few who was able to experience college. They reminded me daily just how lucky I was to be able to get a college education, and they encouraged me to do the best I could and not just “go through the motions” of getting an education. It is my punk rock family that made me appreciate education, and it was this family that made me wish that all kids could have had an educational experience like mine. How was it fair that I attended a nice elementary school that prepared me for a competitive high school, which in turn prepped me and every one of my peers for university? Why did my closest friends not get the same value out of their k-12 education? Why were some of them so easily allowed to drop out before graduation? I know they are intelligent, some are even quite successful despite their lack of education. But why did they have to work so much harder than I did? This was my first step towards wanting to be a teacher. I wanted to show my punk rock family that education is a wonderful thing. I’d like to believe that if they had been in the classrooms I had, with the amazingly thoughtful teachers I had, that they would have been as successful in schooling as I had been.

As my university years came to a close, my mother was very influential in my choice to get my teaching certification. After I officially announced my plans to attend UWB’s education program, my immediate family was ecstatic and my grandparents were so supportive. At this point, I was the first of my grandpa’s grand children and children to pursue further education past college (and only the second to graduate from a 4 year university).

In addition to family and friends I included a photo of the students I worked with in Northern Ireland. I wrote a lot about how inspirational this was to my teaching career in my educational history paper:

"While studying political conflict and identity last spring in Belfast, Northern Ireland, I volunteered at Botanic Primary School. I worked one-on-one with English as a Second Language (ESL) students from Eastern Europe. This was both my second step towards teaching and a giant step in my own personal growth and education. Having worked with the top 2% of the Seattle School District fifth graders, the experience of working with ESL students was truly unique. Battling strong racism towards Eastern European immigrants, these kids
were often pushed aside by their teachers simply because of their ethnic backgrounds. In Northern Ireland discrimination is complicated. Race, ethnicity, hair color, religion, political affiliation and even physical location are all used in a myriad of complex combinations of discrimination and hatred. Irish
Republic Army ex-convicts hate Ulster Defense Force ex-convicts, peaceful protestors from both sides hate all ex-convicts, Catholics will throw stones at Protestants and red hair and freckles is enough to get a good beating in the wrong part of town. Unfortunately one thing is agreed upon; all Northern Irish residents equally hate the Eastern European immigrants. Determined the most racist place in the western world by multiple studies, not even the teachers are above the ridiculous hatred. After studying the discrimination issues and its effects on children in Northern Ireland for two months, my urge to become a teacher was strengthened. The few precious hours I spent with my students at Botanic Primary may not have taught them the English language, but it made them
feel welcomed and loved. Seeing their eyes light up when I asked them about their culture was more fulfilling than the fact that our entire conversation was being spoken in nearly perfect English. My time in Northern Ireland taught me that just one respectful and engaged teacher can inspire many young minds."

The last photo I choose to include was one of my boyfriend. I felt it neccessary to include Jonny for more than just the fact that he fully supports my decision to teach. He, being Northern Irish, introduces me to a whole new world of experiences which continues to inspire me. In addition, his mother is a nursery teacher in Northern Ireland. While visiting Jonny, I was able to work in her school and share teaching experiences from eachothers cultures over dinner. This multi-cultural influence has inspired me to teach to a wider standard, as I collect effective ideas and approaches used in different countries. What's the same? What's different, and why? What is the most effective aspects to each method? And how can I bring the best of both together?

Just to start

I walked into this quarter not really knowing what to expect. Last quarter was a nice introduction to the program, but admittedly it was not challenging by any means. I learned a lot about myself, my cohort and all of the cute things that kids do when they are learning, but learning about teacher seemed to fall in the backseat of every lesson. And now I understand.

When I started reading through the syllabus and text for this quarter, I finally realized what Jean had been preparing us for. We needed to understand ourselves and each other, the way others learn and the how each of us are truly unique before we could even begin to comprehend how the current education system is so unjust. I am a chapter into "Tested" by Pearlstein and I love it. I like the novelistic approach to the authors writing. I feel like I am reading a George Orwell tale of a horrid education system in some cold, impersonal future society that judges all progress on test scores. And then I have to remind myself that this is not some far away land in the cold future, but in fact our reality (although one could argue many of Orwell's "tales" have an eerie way of becoming quite factual as time progresses).

I guess my personal opinion on judging progress by test scores is obvious. It seems insane to me that even an entire educational career can be summed up with one number. From the WASL to the SAT, our students spend years learning, growing and advancing in countless ways. They do community service and become the editor of the school paper, president of the chess club or get highly competitive unpaid internships in at Harrison. But in the end, it is that single composite of 3 SAT test scores that determines which college they can even consider applying too. I remember when I got my SAT scores back; I nervously checked my dream school's website (UC Berkeley) to see if my SAT scores were good enough to even be allowed to apply. I cleared their minimum SAT scores by mere points. They ended up accepting me with a nice (but not grand) scholarship. Just think-- if my scores had been 20 or so points less, they wouldn't have even known I existed.

I can't be entirely biased though. I do understand that we need an easy way of making sure our schools are "on track". There is nothing more saddening than a school that students don't show up to simply because they know the high school graduation rate is only 50%. But testing really isn't the answer. Bremerton High School is an excellent example. Graduation rate is less than half, and those who do graduate just barely make the passing grade. I would assume that their test score are very poor and that the state has probably told the school to add after school tutors and increase their focus on math, reading and writing. However, the kids attending BHS are not interested in math, reading or writing. They are raised by blue collar families and live in a bubble of society that expects them to be nothing more than Navy sailors or shipyard workers (neither of which requires a high school diploma). If anything is going to break that cycle and help the students aspire to be more, they must be interested in school. It will take dedicated teachers who are willing to teach outside the dull norm of math worksheets and assigned reading. They are not unintelligent students, they just need to find their niche in education and excel from their.

A few of my friends have gone through BHS and of the ones I know, many either never graduated, graduated after a 5th year course or summer classes, or just barely graduated with C's (not because it was hard, but because they didn't care to do any better). Two found a spark of interest in education. One young man is now at UW, the other is an aspiring journalist. It shouldn't be a Cinderella story to find an interest in education, but if the answer to low test scores is more redundant and impersonal teaching styles to "up test scores" then the hopes of interesting students in an education they feel they "don't need" is nearly impossible.

I think that Ayers's "To Teach" will have a very similar tone to it. Judging by the first chapter, it is quite apparent that he believes that teachers should not teach by any set of "rules" or regulations, other than to truly love the children you work with and to genuinely want to better them, and in turn better the world. I agree with Ayers in his beliefs about teaching and thought his method of dismissing the "myths of teaching" was an effective and interesting way to portray his opinions. His method gives concrete examples of how "teaching by the book" can be harmful and much less effective than teaching out of desire and commitment to the individual students. I also very much appreciate his acknowledgment that teachers cannot be unknowledgeable, yet they shouldn't read ahead in the lesson book to know the material. It is a very interesting concept that the teacher should learn along with the student. I never specifically thought of this idea, but after reading Ayers describe it, knowing the concept, yet not knowing every answer really does make one's teaching much more engaging. It reminded me of my 5th grade teacher/mentor I worked with last year. Our fifth graders were doing science projects, admittedly not one of her strong subjects. She of course knew how to set up and run the experiment (looking at algae and pond water under a microscope), yet she was just as amazed as the kids were when the tiny microorganisms were discovered-- either that, or she is a tremendously good actor when it comes to acting excited (also a good trait in an elementary teacher in my humble opinion).

I look forward to what else Ayers will speak of. I like his simple, yet descriptive way of writing. It is one of the few "text book" style readings that I have felt engaged with simply because I don't feel I am being talked down to by some academic self-indulgent superior. He seems to come across more like, "Hey, I've been where you are and this is what I've learned over the years." It's refreshing, and dare I say even a little bit fun :)