Jose Vilson's Blog, page 30

Short Notes: Share and Share Alike

I’m bringing back Short Notes Sundays. I get to read a lot of good stuff around the web. Here’s a few that have gotten my brain working:

Stacia L. Brown posits that the personal writing economy is the worst for Black women. It’s worth a reader for all writers, and she says things like this:

That might seem obvious, but it’s shocking because in so many other cases, when women of color write about their personal experiences, they’re asked to make a cottage industry of their encounters with racism and sexism. It feels insidious: Place one successful, gut-wrenching piece somewhere, and then hear “no” until you write another one like it, until you exploit personal trauma for a byline.

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Why Integration In New York Won’t Work

The New York Times has stepped up its race and class conversations in education, highlighted by this article from NYT’s Kate Taylor on the proposed rezoning of a school district in Brooklyn. While it makes sense to de-zone our schools in an effort to temper down the flurry of studies showing NYC as one of the most segregated school districts in the country, the resistance to integration has come from both white parents for the typical reasons and black parents for atypical reasons. Typically, the resistance against integration comes from a vocal set of white parents who don’t want their children matriculating with kids they view as uncouth or less intelligent. A faux-integration often takes place when a school creates a specialized or magnet program on the penthouse floor, not ironically letting the cream rise to the top.

This time, however, I’m curious about the black parents’ responses:

“We fought hard to build this school, and we’re not just going to let people come from outside when we worked so hard and dedicated ourselves,” Dolores Cheatom, a Farragut Houses resident, said at the meeting, holding her 1-year-old daughter on her hip … She said she had “no problem working with anybody, but I’m not going to let anybody take from my daughter.”

On the one end, I wonder what Ms. Cheatom and the community did to “build this school,” specifically what it looked like prior to white folks jogging through their neighborhoods in neon polyurethane. Why is this specific narrative not told in light of the deluge of school choice advocates spraying our morning newscasts with their ideologies? It’s also instructive in the ways well-meaning, tongue firmly in cheek, white progressives underestimate black resentment. After decades of redlining, state property taxes, private schooling, and coalitions that only secured wins for white families, perhaps these parents felt like their isolation in DUMBO is the solution to their ills. They can define the term “public” for themselves.

Good on them. continue reading

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What A Time To Be Alive [The Secret Sauce]

For those of you who missed it, I had two separate, equally potent interviews with both the Wall Street Journal and Slate. I didn’t expect them to come out in the same week, but here’s a couple of excerpts. First, I was asked to debate / converse with National Center for Teaching Quality’s Kate Walsh and The New Teacher Project’s Daniel Weisberg. I have little respect for Walsh’s rep because it behooves her to see this country’s teachers as failing. She practically speaks herself into necessity. I barely knew Weisberg, but, even in places where we merged, I still couldn’t shake off the feeling that he’s compartmentalizing the job in all the wrong ways. Here’s my excerpt:

“Teacher prep in pedagogy is critical in this discussion. It is less about “rigor,” but about the ways in which we connect what new teachers are learning in their colleges of education and what’s happening at their own school. Teachers often say they’re not ready for a particular challenge not because they don’t know the material, but because schools are different from building to building, staff to staff, child to child.

This idea of “teacher quality” would be better served if we opened the doors for teachers to have more voice in advancing our profession. Continuous, constructive feedback, strong professional development, and chances to determine one’s own path while still in the classroom are just some of the recommendations I’d make.”

Sounds fundamental, yet even the basic stuff can often be transformational given an audience that wants to give away public education to the free market.

In this next bit, I speak to a reporter about the Common Core State Standards for Slate.

“There’s a lot of advertisement on the part of Student Achievement Partners (a nonprofit organization that helps teachers implement the Common Core) claiming that there was a lot of teacher voice from the beginning. I don’t believe that was the case. It was very top-down and ultimately that caused some of the resistance, even from people who would otherwise be allies to this work. Some of us have always wanted a national curriculum so wherever people went, especially as students, they would still be learning similar material to where they were before. But you need to have teachers’ voice at the heart of this work, along with students and parents and community stakeholders. It can’t be driven by some aloof Ivory Tower so-and-sos, who come in and tell us what to do.”

I’m not sure how you read that and think I’m advocating for the CCSS, but whatevz.

The more I do this work, the more complicated this teacher voice is. For years, I, along with so many others, have fought for teachers to get a crack at speaking up and out about our profession in spaces that were often locked away from us for the last decade. Remember when the New York Times created a conference on education and didn’t invite any teachers? Yeah, me neither. Because after that blog post, they decided to open the flood gates, adding a handful of educators to panels and 50 teacher attendees. (I wasn’t one.)

Now that teachers get to speak to the media more frequently (and still not frequently enough), I bring my most thoughtful yet truthful voice to those conversations, knowing full well that I don’t just represent myself but perhaps thousands of others who won’t get that mic in their face.

What a time to be alive.

Concurrently, there’s been lots of discussion about what teacher voice ought to look like, especially as it relates to me. It goes like,

Them: “We want teacher voice in mainstream media.”

Me: “OK, here I go.”

Them: “j/k I wanted it to be me.”

The whole point of having conversations with policymakers, mainstream media, and others with a modicum of influence isn’t to elevate oneself, but to assure the mess we call an education system is better for the next generation of teachers. If there are, in fact, two sides to the education reform debate, then I’m done with the debate as it stands. If you asked me even two months ago whether I’d be in a position to address and redress some of my colleagues for:

calling me a terrible descendant of Martin Luther King Jr. and Frederick Douglass’ activism
qualifying a blog share or an agreement with “I don’t usually …”
wanting their particular talking point addressed  into what I said on whatever platform
reading and responding to titles without reading the whole blog post
asking other people who I’ve openly lit up about my opinion instead of just asking me

then I’m nervous for the thousands who’d like to speak up as well. But most of this goes away when I’m teaching my eighth graders math or I get a note from another educator out there who just wanted a glimmer of hope, and a chance to have someone vocalize their experiences in and out of the classroom.

So please, ask not about how I get to do what I do if you’re not prepared for the constant backlash from people who are supposed to be allies. Ask whether the resistance is worth it in the service of elevating your students, your colleagues, and your society. If the latter is that much greater than the former, this is light work.

Best time for you to be alive.

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The Eleventh Honeymoon

11 years ago, I promised myself I would inspire, kick butt, and teach kids to the best of their abilities. Ten years ago, I eschewed all that and said I would be much stricter with them because they needed it. Nine years ago, I wanted to take pieces of my first two years and double down on my firm resolve. Eight years ago, I wanted to test my mettle with a brand new set of students who would eventually push me to ponder a whole new career. Every year, my energies oscillate from elation to downright neurosis. I’ve reread Harry and Rosemary Wong’s First Days of School, visited classrooms throughout the summer months, and revamped entire curricula so I could be a better teacher for my students.

In my eleventh year, I told myself to quit all that and make Mr. Vilson as close to Jose as professionally possible.

I still come into school 30-45 minutes early, reading material in hand. I still get my cup of coffee in the corner store. But I’ve changed my approach. I’m better at saying “good morning” to fellow faculty before that first sip. I’m better at picking up around myself around the classroom. I’m better at letting some of my frustrations go.

I still put on music during my morning session. I’m better at leaving the song on while the students walk into class, especially if it’s John Coltrane.

The students trickle in with the usual zeal, or lack thereof. Some meander around the lockers, digging into the backpacks while talking to friends. Others dap each other up while chatting about the upcoming basketball season, Spongebob Squarepants, or the latest anime they’ve picked up. Still others sit in their seats, wondering what Mr. Vilson has cooked up for the day. A couple come in late, with the dean imploring (yes, light work here) them to get into their classes. I’ve already memorized their names by day 3, unnerving for them, comforting for me.

My voice simmers for Do Nows, comes to a slow boil for the first example, overruneth by group activity time.

In my eleventh year, I’ve also learned to allow students to show me their mid-season form so as not to take me by surprise in January. I’d rather structure my classroom around their honest selves splayed for us to examine and understand. In turn, I’ve allowed myself the opportunity to show them my personality from the beginning, affirming the importance of our work in my actions. Three classes, two for ten periods, one for four periods.

This year, I affirm the totality of all we do. Early and often.

I still don’t know whether I’m going to be the teacher I think I can be. I’m certainly much better than the teachers I’d been years one through 10, and I’ll probably say that for years to come. And that’s the way honeymoons have been described to me.

Jose

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Chris Lehmann, Zac Chase, and the Game of Inches

The change we seek in education too often seems like a game of inches.

If we truly believe in two sides of education reform (I don’t, but let’s go with that for now), one side seems to get most of the big players, complex plays, the largest stadiums, and folks to fix the rules for them. The other side relies mainly on running plays and, when united, can get a few points here and there. The common person (that’s us) is that latter team. Sadly, every inch towards progress seems to detonate another mass offensive against us. Want to close the funding gap between poor and rich districts? Create private schools so rich folks can pay for only rich kids to go and keep the funding gap disparate. Want to desegregate schools? Undercut funding for those programs and create false narratives through the media. Want to opt out of over-standardized testing? Pretend to care and launch bills that assure only the more wealthy districts can opt out of those tests.

Divide. Conquer. Win-win-win, except only the winning team keeps winning.

Which reminds me. Chris Lehmann and Zac Chase, friends to the program, came out with a book recently that I’ve endorsed entitled Building School 2.0: How to Create the Schools We Need. You should know how long this stew took to brew, and you should also know how much I admire their thinking, even when we disagree. And we disagree like 2% of the time. Zac is more a bow tie whereas I’m the long tie, and Chris roots for Philly teams whereas I’m from New York.

Otherwise, this book nails it. 95 edu-theses, and each of them worth understanding as school leaders, builders, and visionaries.

I’d pay close attention to the chapters on educational colonialism (2), disrupting disruption (12), and being deliberately anti-racist (36). More importantly, I’d pay attention to the subtext. The idea that we don’t have “all” the solutions often suggests that only the solutions proffered by a specific (wealthy) set of folks is worth mentioning. All the while, people who have done school as educators want solutions that both embrace democracy and banish the theory and practice dichotomy. Chris and Zac put out a book that doesn’t just come from their experience building Science Leadership Academy with their bare hands (hyperbolic, but you hear me), but also from conversations with folks across the country and the world on what works best in schools. They’ve got skin in this game like very few educators do.

This game we call K-12 don’t have to move in inches. We can move in leaps and bounds. Just not in the ways we have in the last 15 years, but a path that’s truly forward. If we know anything about Chris and Zac’s work, it’s that we can both be hopeful and realistic at the same time. Let’s listen.

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Pedro Noguera Leaves To LA and We’re The Remainder

The first time I got to meet Pedro was November 24, 2009 at around 9am. My principal took a colleague and I to one of the bigger policy conferences I’ve ever been to. By then, I gained a notorious voice for speaking up within connected education circles, but I didn’t see myself making many ripples in the iron-clad colossus that is NYC Public Schools. The bagels came with delicious spreads, and the coffee still steamed as it flowed into my cup at NYU’s Metro Center. Just then, a 6’1″ gentleman stepped to the table, poked every few seconds by a graduate student / handler to prepare for this conference.

One of the first things I managed to muster out of my mouth was, “Nice to meet you. I’ll be taking notes and blogging about it.”

Without missing a beat, he replied with a smirk, “Good, good.”

Despite what we thought in my circle, edu-blogging wasn’t that big a deal to the general populace, even in 2009. Yet, only a week after Pedro’s event, I’d gotten a chance to witness another one of the defining moments in NYC education history in the last 15 years: Chancellor Joel Klein listening to Diane Ravitch reading from her book The Death and Life of the Great American School System for ChalkbeatNY fka GothamSchools. Both Ravitch and Noguera made an impact on my educational activism for very different reasons, Ravitch the reformed reformer / scholar and Noguera the people’s public edu-intellectual. Few education professors had the clout to demand audience with Chancellor Klein, and, within that handful, few enjoyed the celebrity of Noguera and Ravitch. continue reading

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With Only Two Days Left

… I decided to relaunch my YouTube account. I know, I’m beasting. I figure that I haven’t done much talking on video, so here’s a little something until class begins:

Filmed live from my house because I’m gangsta. In any case, if you’re a YouTuber, subscribe to that one too. Let’s get it poppin’.

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Take Me To The Place I Love, Take Me All The Way

“I don’t ever want to feel

Like I did that day

Take me to the place I love

Take me all the way …”

– Red Hot Chili Peppers, Under The Bridge

She’s driving just above the speed limit.

“And there’s my former school. When I worked there, I used to do the craziest things to get to my kids, but it worked.”

It was the first time I ever met Liz Dwyer, now writer extraordinaire for TakePart.com. For years, we ranted online, bounced ideas off each other, and became great friends. So when we first met, it didn’t hit me that this was my first time meeting her. Making my way to Los Angeles felt ethereal by the first evening. By day 2, I traversed East LA, saw extensive parts of Sunset Blvd., and saw almost every star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

I just didn’t expect to actually make it out to Compton. continue reading

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The Path [A Reflection On My Tenth Year of Teaching]

My taxi was driving down Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, a warm breeze with my windows down, a contrast from what felt like fall weather that fell upon New York before I left. Outside of Google Maps, I couldn’t verify whether the car was going in the right direction because it was my first time in LA proper, an oversight I corrected this past weekend. On my way to the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) building for a community event, I happened upon this picture:

LA is world renown for its open walls where artists craft extensive murals like this. Of course, this specific mural sang to me. To the right in the mural is the late Jaime Escalante, at one time considered the greatest teacher in the country. To the left, Edward James Olmos, world-renown actor who played Escalante in the movie Stand and Deliver (1988). I’ve met Olmos, never Escalante, though I and millions of us felt like we met Escalante through Olmos.

Between the time it took to see this mural and getting to the event, I had enough time to remember that I never reflected on the last school year. Perhaps with good reason.

This last year was tough. I wrote about the overarching themes here, but I didn’t get to mention a few things. For one, getting back into a full program sapped me from my energies so often, I often forgot to unplug. If anything, I used some of my extracurriculars like the speaking engagements and writing opportunities as a safe getaway. I figured I’d expend the energy I used to complain and focus it on mobilizing and proselytizing.

This sounds fine, except it also means I forgot that I had much less time to cope with heartache, and often responded with a lack of expression, a blank face too often served.

I’m being too hard on myself because, as far as I can tell, the kids knew I cared about them a lot. Yet, I might have expended my energy too frequently in the beginning of the year, and overcompensated by saving too much of my energy in the second half of the year. This meant that I didn’t attend to every detail I could, give feedback as thoroughly as I once did, or return quizzes as timely as I used to, either. More importantly, it also meant I missed more of my students’ birthdays than I should have, and insisted less during the doldrums of testing season.

I forced a distance so I could continue the work. Therein lies the subtext of my school year from 2014-15.

With only a week left until the start of my school year, it’s worth mentioning my good fortunes, too. I tried a few things in the classroom and with my colleagues that actually worked, like calling parents in teams, giving frequent quizzes and giving less and harder homework. I didn’t have to worry about evaluations much, and I didn’t have to travel from class to class either. Philly, Atlanta, DC, San Antonio, Philly (again), and Los Angeles got to hear my voice this summer, and for that, I’m fortunate. I see myself as a catalyst more than I ever did for the sort of change we need in our schools. My now-former students stoked my fire well into the summer, even the ones who cursed my assignments out.

I’m still a good teacher, I think.

I don’t know where this path leads, but, like in LA, I get these markers every so often that suggest I’m doing what I need to do. I’m hoping that the 90+ students in my charge this coming school year get the slice of what I’ve seen.

Pa’lante.

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You’d Be On C-SPAN Getting Mic’d Up Too [Video]

Given how little I advertised this, I’m glad so many of you got to watch this interview of me via C-SPAN’s Wasington Journal with Pedro Echevarria (shout-outs to their team):

A few things to note:

I was hoping a student would call in, and that’s exactly what happened. The student who called in wrote to me later. I hope to share her e-mail later on this week.
A few of my friends have commented that I handled the phone questions with calm and cojones. After some of the nonsense I dealt within 24 hours of interview, the phone interviewers were a piece of cake.
My three-year-old got to see me on TV, and told me as much when I got back home. My heart is warm.

If you escaped what I escaped, you’d be on C-SPAN getting mic’d up too. Teach so hard.

Let me know what you think below.

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