Great Movie - Big Questions

Last night on my local PBS station I watched a movie called "The Order of Myths" about America's oldest Mardi Gras celebration in Mobile, Alabama. It was a study in contrasts between the white celebration and their King & Queen and court and the black celebration and their King & Queen and court. It showed fledgling attempts to cross racial lines and a Krewe that is attempting to integrate. 2007 is the year that is chronicled.

Last night before I saw this movie (an Independent Lens project) I watched our new President speak to our nation about the crises we face in the immediate future and down the line. He gave a clarion call of challenge to all Americans to step up and innovate and create as America has done in past crises situations - not rely on failed attitudes, status quo, and government bailouts. Then I listened to one of the shining stars of the Republican party answer - hmmmm....wave the bloody shirt, blame the other party, and talk about big government. But I digress, the reason I bring up the Jindal reply is that it was such an obvious attempt to answer the charge of a party in which diversity may be tolerated but it has not been accpted or celebrated other than in token attempts.

All of that, to get to this, in our school we have amazing diversity. We have 68+ ethnicities represented in our school district. We have beautiful students with so many different abilities and backgrounds. We want our school to be a safe place for all, a place to explore, experience, and understand not just who you are but who others are also. That is the dream, and sometimes I really do see kids working together and just being friends without regard to ethnicity, status, or socio-economic standing. I hope that they continue to do so. I have a stake in that future vision, not just as a teacher, but as the parent of a child who is Asian.

Opportunity Awaits

Today I was approached about putting together a new class for our department. As we discuss and move tentatively into developing curriculum and programs that will address rigor and relevance for our students as well as help them to our ultimate goal of becoming lifelong learners I am being given an opportunity to re-invent myself as a teacher.

The content is good stuff -the boom of the 20's and the bust of the 30's- but I think I am even more excited by the idea of presentation and instruction of the content. After 10 years a person needs a mental shake and our school's effort and growing pains is providing that for me. I want to incorporate some of the web 2.o tools into this new class and stretch myself out of my own comfort level to make this class outstanding and unique in the district.

Can I do it? Only time will tell.

Musings on War

So I was sitting here looking at the beautiful sunshine and thinking how positive it makes me feel when I stopped to reflect on the tenor of our school over the past couple of weeks. One of my students was filling out an incident report and telling me about another student who has been harassing her for weeks - she then commented she had seen the girl at a local store over the weekend and her mom had told her to go ahead and hit her. Considering all the fights and near-miss fights we have had in the last few weeks I would say that "just go ahead and hit" (her) seems to be a popular sentiment.
What feeds this anger? Does our culture value winning at any cost (Enron, Bernie Madof (sp?), steroids) up to and including violence. If this is so, let us be honest about it - let's resurrect the Coliseum - lets keep the animals out of the arena - and put anyone who feels they have a point to prove or a fight to win at anyone else's expense.
Open the gates - Let the games begin!

Digital Security

My first inclination is that there really is no digital security - as fast as an entity blocks something - someone else is challenged to find a way around that block. Does that mean a school should just allow everything because they can't block everything - no. I don't want to be visually assaulted every time I turn on my computer at school and I surely do not want my students to have to wade through all the sewage to find some good tools to work with. I think security will continue to be an evolving process. We need to hire the best and brightest to work with our IT systems in schools to help us be proactive instead of reactive in our firewalls and security.