Let's get this shit done.

So sitting in Guatemala for the last couple of months, far removed from the world of education, I seemed to be at peace with myself. I had a couple of very intense years, and I gladly took to sitting on my ass with little to do. About six months before I got to Guatemala, I decided that since I did not have a job, I was going to learn to trade for a living. Famous last words, right. I hoped not. So I learned as much as I could, I practiced, and then jumped in. Of course, I lost gobs of money at the outset. But, I didn’t want to get discouraged. So I kept at it, learning more, and eventually, by the time in got to Guatemala, I was becoming more confident. I had finally raised my account above the break-even point, and everything after that was great. Eventually, with weeks of practice, I started to even expect to make money everyday. Good stuff. I hope I keep it up.

So enter Carl. As he sees potential for his own monetary growth, he and I begin to devise plans where we can play the system a little so we can get some (hopefully) health returns.

All of a sudden, it hits. This stuff is not that hard. It takes basic skills, a grasp of some concepts, fluency with mathematics, and a drive to succeed. That’s basically it. It also provides a practice arena for using and strengthening many, MANY aspects of “conventional education” in a totally real-world setting. Oh, and by the way, you make money doing it.

So Carl and I suddenly say, in almost the same instant, holy shit, we can make a school out of this. People spend weeks, months, years, trying to think of a way to take this traditional model of education and tweak it, change it, streamline it, and reformat it to try to reach different students. Some models work. Most, sadly, do not. Some try to teach them skills that they will need in the real world, like trades or interview skills. Others prepare students for college, helping them with the application process and showing them how to pad their “resume.” All worthwhile endeavors, and the teachers and staff have my respect.

But here’s an idea. How about we run a school essentially as a business. No, we don’t use a business “model.” No, we don’t teach classes on business practices. We actually run a business. Run it essentially as a co-op, where the teachers, staff, and students are the owners. The idea started when Carl and I realized that if we could teach the students how to learn from and gain from the stock market, we could run a school that would pay for itself. Inherent to the stock market are fundamental aspects of math, science, and literacy without which nothing makes sense. At the same instant these students are learning specific concepts in math, they can look over to their big brother/sister (their peer leader in an upper level) and see how they can use the very concept in studying graphs, trendlines, historical data, or whatever else to help THEM make money. As soon as they reach a level of literacy, they could “intern” with their peer leader and analyze and report on articles and reviews of certain commodities/equities that would be part of the peer leaders portfolio. Oh, and these peer leaders. They would be part of the actual money-making arm of the school. Seniors, or otherwise determined upper-class students would be doing what would essentially amount to an apprenticeship in-school. Each would have their own computer, a mini-office, and they would be in the business of trading/investing with the goal of getting the highest return possible.
If there is one thing I’ve learned from every student I’ve taught, it’s that the possibility of being able to make some money is a driving factor unlike many others. I can tell a student until my soft palette is nothing but a bloody mess that what he/she is learning is good for them in the long run. But if I can SHOW that student how it will benefit him/her right then and there, I have that student in the palm of my hand.

In addition, and most importantly, we are teaching students skills that are invaluable for the rest of their life. And what is even more compelling, the students will KNOW that. It’s easy to say that learning to be a proficient reader is crucial for progress after high school. But now I can SHOW the student how literacy is going to make him/her more money, and increase his/her skill level for the future. These students could be ready for careers in business, they could go onto college with potential scholarships, or they could start their own business right out of school. They WILL have the skills. They will be proficient in technology, money management, literacy, computer skills, and a host of other things that cannot be replaced. They will have a leg up on many, many of their peers. They will be natural leaders, b/c they would have already practiced leading their underclassman interns. Each one would have already had a year (maybe more?) running his/her own business right from their desk.

So some very basic, first-brainstorm ideas:

1.

Senior (or whatever benchmark we use to determine upper level proficiency) leaders will be in the “board room.” They will be working with actual money in the market. They will need to master certain standards before getting to board-room status, but once in, they get their own computer, their own desk, where they will be working on their own trading. They will be assigned underclassmen that will be their interns. As each underclassman reaches a certain point in their studies, they will be required to complete tasks handed to them by their peer leader. The unit will comprise a team. Portfolios will be self-guided with analysis of progress, research background, etc…

2.

Underclassmen will be taught standards across disciplines with a heavy focus on business, specifically trading and investing equities. (Other things might come later). They will work on regular project assigned by teachers and advisors as well as the work required by their peer leader. Progress will be based on the Diploma Plus competency model, not a standard time-in-seat/ABCDF model. Portfolios will reflect projects designed by the team, and teachers/advisors.

3.

The possibility exists for other forms of business, such as creating a shop with a business running out of it with a similar setup as above. Although we’re more focused on technology, but who knows, this is the effing first brainstorm.

4.

All of the money made will be used to improve the school and provide things that grants/government cannot provide.

Now of course, this is just the first brainstorm. Issues remain about how to make it more of a complete picture. The students still need to learn and master content that perhaps will not be immediately relevant. But it’s going to happen. It’s too important to not happen.

Idea about new teaching

If you are a new teacher and you don't have curriculum...you will be a shitty teacher
If you are a new teacher and you don't have management skills...you will be a shitty teacher
If you are a new teacher and you don't have good relationships with kids...you will be out of your job shortly

But between curriculum and management, work on management, and just steal someone else's curriculum. To take all day working on some curriculum that might be a mess, and try to roll it out in front of a class that is definitely a mess is, well, a mess.

Spike lee curriculum

http://www.teachingthelevees.org/

Curriculum Discussion

so your mtng with daisy was... not good?
the workshop today, btw, made me feel like a crappy teacher
Carl: why
Susie: you know, i dont do too much inquiry-based stuff in my class yet
Carl: I've never taken anyone elses perscription either btw
you don't?
Susie: and right now, my version of scaffolding is providing partial notes and lots of worksheets with filled out stuff
im always afraid that im giving kids too much worksheet based stuff
where they're justconcerned about filling in blanks
recall type stuff
Carl: but if they are filling in blanks with answers that they really think about it kind of is inquiry
Susie: often its not,its just straight notetaking
i always run into this issue with tyrone
he lloves taking notes
Carl: same with bernice for me
Susie: and he always just wants me to write stuff down for him so he can copy them word for word
yeah its the same with bernice for me too
and so he's "passing" my class because he's doing all the"work"
but he doesnt do any of hte assignments that require indepedent thought
Carl: unless you sit next to him
Susie: right and literally even then its like pulling teeth
to get him to say anything on his own
becuase he'll just come righ tout and say it - "since you know all hte ansewrs or how its suppoesd to be, why dont you just tell me what i need to write"
Carl: Its like the way they think of school is so grade centered some kids don't seem to be thinking about learning
Susie: yeah its disturbing
Carl: This is why I feel bad lately is because daisy was pointing out that kids are just barely doing anything deep
Susie: but yet its hard when you're faced with the stupid regents
and they force you to cover all this content
and if anything, you are teaching them content
its esp hard in math too, to get to the "deep" stuff
when i feel like its small, concrete baby steps you take and learn
and then once you solidify that small skit, you move onto the next
Carl: tests are so shallow too. they are supposed to know all this stupid stuff, like memorizing area formulas they learned in middle school
Susie: thats my traditional view of math and its hard to shake it
Carl: yeah I hate that
Susie: and yet the challenge that you face is a lot of them dont know it so its more like a remedial class
Carl: the whole goal is learning one skill so you can use it on the next skill
Susie: you're teaching right now, in order to meet their needs
banana kelly apparenltly does 9/10th grade mixed age, interdisciplinary math-sci classes
crazy
they co-teach
so everybody in 9/10th grades get coteachers for math/sci
and their class size are like, 27
Carl: so does this one school (school for the future???) I saw at the conference
and they taught algebra and physics to the freshmen??
Susie: they do living environment and math a
and take the regents in the 10th grade like we do
from what i hear its mostly math based
but im like, doing a non-linear math curriculum? thats gotta be kinda hard
Carl: It would have to be just like random
like "check out this bacteria growth pattern" and then "what are the odds you'll have a unibrow"
and then maybe with two or three units a year you could review what you did and explain how it is connected
I would like that, it would get kids to see a different view of math as a subject
Susie: yeah...
i can see this workshop/grant being really cool, to go check out other schools and see what they're doing
Carl: amazing that we can so easily discuss these intracices of sci/math curriculum development for a half hour
and yet not write a lesson plan
Susie: but it also kinda stresses me out, like, man, what are we doing
Carl: but yeah that will be cool seeing other people
Susie: but even with banana kelly, they've been around forever
they didnt start doing this integrated math/sci stuff until 3 years ago
same with landmark, they didnt do muti-age science until 2 years ago
Carl: I think what sucks is we don't have alot of resources, or a real conversation about curriculum for either of our subjects
Susie: so i guess its ok, like we're just trying to start a freakin school
thats hard enough for now, and we're managing
just have to see the bigger picture here
one day we'll get to where banana kelly and fannie lou and whateve rother schools are at
Carl: all that and doing stuff like this conference will be great...
because we can unabashedly and unapologetically steal all of their ideas
Susie: i got chicken noodle soup stuck in my head
i was thinking
seirously
why dont we replicate schools just using their model and CURRICULUM
it seems like a lot of these schools have curriculum all worked out
and spent a lot of time reseraching and developing it
Carl: yeah
YEAH
that is really what schools are doing
what was cpess's curriculum I wonder
Susie: because the packet describes how in 2002, banana kelly was having major literacy issues with their 9th graders
poor test scores, poor regents pass rates, poor class pass rates (around 50%)
and then they brainstormed for like 2 years and came up with this math/sci curriculum thats changed things around
and im like, well then, why do we have to go and make all the same mistakes? why dont we just jump straight into the solutions? all we need is the curriculum i feel like, to make it work
anyways, all my thoughts from the workshop today
it is now 11, i was planning to sleep at 8
you should go to sleep too
Carl: Really all the other essential features of our school (advisory, portfolio, integrated classes) Are like window dressing for curriculum
Like that stuff is the clothes and the curriculm is the body, without the curriculum its just a pile of fabrics
Susie: if currriculum holds the key to student engagement, class management, learning, all that
right
we say advisory is the heart of our curriculum
i mean our school
but i feel like we should say curriculum should be to
o
Carl: because our advisory has no curriculum
Susie: and im personally glad that our PD is focusing on that, even if it may not be the best solution for everybody
you know what i mean?
Carl: yeah
Susie: i really do feel like we're having to reinvent the wheel so much
Carl: and we are already thinking about using this as a way of stacking up curriculum now
Susie: and i like rep inc's idea that they're going to replicate successful schools, but if they're going to they should really provide more support
Carl: it would be cool if we were trying out other units from other schools
Susie: aand curriculum is a big piece

To Do Februaray 5

Carl
Email Dorinda
Try to write some kind of something that can be used in mission statement

Kunal
Tie all the diploma plus, ces, and cer stuff together.
Email roxbury Prep

The travails of the two cultures

I find my high school comparable to many of the ones in the bronx. It is weird because My high school was one of the best in the state every year in both student achievement and school funding, but I struggle to find real, tangible, differences that point to why all of the alumni went to college vs. why most will not make it from my school. (Aside from our ability at standardized tests). In talking with Kunal this weekend I came to thing is a big reason is the idea of school culture.

The school I went to had a culture that was clearly connected to success in the outside world. It was a given that students that graduated went to college and if not they were already enrolled in a trade school so they left school as a dental assistant or something similar. This stemmed from the culture in the classroom where students all knew how to do well on tests, write solid essays, finish large stacks of homework problems everynight, and do whatever else the teachers demand. These students were ready for this because they were being prepared throughout middle school, and few were really surprised once they arrived in highschool. In fact as middle schoolers all viewed high school as an opportunity to do great things, and even if they weren't able to be quarterback of the football team they were still able to carve out an existence in the high school that matched their self images at that moment.

The school I teach at has two very distinct and largely opposed cultures that live within the school. The school has an academic side that is very similar to the culture of the school that I went to high school. This one culture has some differences; it can only guarantee college education for those that do EXTREMELY well, and it is hampered by the students coming from middle school with very different kinds of preparation, or a lack of preparation altogether. The other culture is the culture of the streets which provides the students with a tangible alternative to the world of the school, a world which is in direct competition with the school. This is the world where its members make money going against the majority culture, and since the school is everyones first experience with the majority culture, appearing as any part the student shows a dangerous resistance to the outside world. This is the world marketed by the stop snitchin' t-shirts. Since snitches get stiches, students pay a hard price for choosing to participate in this culture, let alone choose to put all their faith in school and thus implicitly oppose this other culture. There are schools that put this expectation on students, catholic schools, high demanding charter schools, district magnet schools, and all of these students can get jumped once they get back into their neighborhood simply because of where they go to school. For students without the money, connections, or test scores to get into these schools, they are sent to schools like the one I teach in, where they are forced to progress in their academics, and in their allegiance to this culture.

Before high school however, students don't really start getting pulled in two directions by their school's two cultures. They are all encouraged to go to school as middle schoolers by pastors and gang members alike. Likewise, they are able to get away with all but the most egregious of crimes in middle school (the janitors have told me some crazy stories) without being treated like hardened criminals and threatened with hard core punishments. Middle school is a very clear point of growth for students, a definite end of child hood and a time for choices for students. Students have middle school proms with limousines and tuxedos, followed by middle school graduations with caps, gowns, and crying mothers. The pomp and circumstance around entering high school reflects the fact that once a student is on a ninth grade roster they are subject to a new world of pressures.

For a high school opening in this climate, they must learn to take into account these two worlds and create a place where students can at the least learn to navigate both worlds successfully. For a school to act as though the other world doesn't exist is like a doctors office to assume that none of their patients smoke. The school needs to instead use their resources to make the new students deal with this other world that they have to live in as well as be successful in the school world. Things that we could do to help advisory, small groups where students with one teacher are able to talk freely with the world around. We could also have the students see other people from similar circumstances who are successfully doing other things now adays. We could also have the students go on field trips to other places where they can get out of that whole mindset, along with their advisory group. Most importantly, the culture of the school will be such that studens will be able to be themselves. We will create a space so the students doesnot feel pressure in no direction good or bad, be the best person they could be.

what happened to me on Jan. 22, 2007

I start class with 22 students. Of those 22, over half of them have been in class between 1 and 8 days. Students have been coming and going from the beginning of the year but not like this. In two weeks, I have a class double in size and my current list is at 22, and sure to go up. Students at Community Academy, so every student has been expelled or removed in some way from Boston schools. There is one week left in the term, and after the term ends, my class list will change radically and I will begin afresh with an MCAS prep class designed for 9th graders and some 10th graders. For this one week, I had originally intended for the students to present their PowerPoint presentations and bring their notebooks up to date so they could receive a grade for them at the end of the semester. However, with the immense volume that just came into my class over the week, half of the students did not have any familiarity with PowerPoint and the other half had been doing these presentations for almost five months. As the class begins I decide to put a movie on the screen for the 13 new students while I go individually to each older student and look at their PowerPoint, evaluate them, give them feedback, and assign them a grade for their work. After I was done with looking at the PowerPoints, I had an article and questions to answer for the class that I would hand out for the remainder of the class, and turn off the movie.

Enter my principal, Lindsa. She walks into the middle of my noticeably loud class (a direct function of the size of the class). She begins speaking very loudly, in the center of the class (I was close to my desk toward the side) surrounded by students who were having trouble finding a place to sit. She is not speaking to me at all privately, just yelling with all of the students sitting in as an audience.

“Mr. Dalal (few of the kids know who that is, they call me Kunal), what is your agenda?!”

“It is right behind you on the board.”

“What are they supposed to learn, Mr. Dalal?!”

“The older students have PowerPoint presentations about alternative energy that they have been working on, and I am going to individually go to each of them and assess them”

“Where does is it say that on the agenda, Mr. Dalal?” (she is still YELLING)

The agenda on the board reads:

Alternative Energy Projects

1. Alternative Energy Introduction
2. Alternative Energy PowerPoints
a. Students will present their PowerPoints

“It says it right there Ms. Mac,” as I point to the board.

“Well, what is the objective for these students?” (again, still yelling in front of all the students)

“They are going to discuss and defend their specific form of alternative energy, the form that they have been researching for a week”

“Where, Mr. Dalal, does it mention anything about energy??”

The objective on the board reads

Objective
SWBAT defend and discuss their particular form of alternative energy as they present their research findings in a PowerPoint presentation.

“What is THIS??” Lindsa yelled pointing at “SWBAT”

“Student will be able to, Ms. Mac”

She reads the objective and realizes that it is actually relevant. How does a principal not know the acronym SWBAT?

“Ok, this is what we’re going to do, you’re going to turn off this movie, and the students are going to present the projects to the entire class, and I am going to sit here and watch every one of them.”

The students complain for a minute, some say things like (and I quote as best I can, but it’s not perfect), “But Miss, our projects aren’t that good, and we need Kunal to look at them individually so we can make corrections.”

“No, you’re going to present them and I’m sitting right here and watching your work.”

Ok, so I guess I’m no longer teaching my class. So I get my jump drive out and put the students’ presentations on it and transfer them to the computer on my desk. Incidentally, I was forced to remove a student who was working on her own presentation on my computer so I could make way for Lindsa’s decision to run my class without any consultation whatsoever.

So my first group begins their presentation. It contains some good information, and the students present it well. The presentation uses animation, external websites, and diagrams to help the audience understand the content. As the student finishes, Lindsa starts back up.

“Mr. Dalal,” (she is again yelling in front of all of the students), “ you know that if these students were to present this great information in the way that they did to Harvard professors, they would be laughed at. How do you ensure that they can present their material in a way that is professional and appropriate?”

“Ms. Mac, the students are not graded in the instance on their presentations skills, they are graded on their content and research.”

“Well, you need to find a way to grade them on their presentation skills as well next time”

“Yes Ms. Mac, of course.”

So we move on to the next presentation. It is, hands down, one of the poorest efforts I have seen in my class. The students said that they were not done, but they had ample time to complete their project. Regardless, they begin their presentation with an introductory slide that is titled “Alternative Energy.” Their title was supposed to be the name of their specific form of alternative energy. Regardless, they pressed on. They had focused on Wind power, which was a good topic. So they introduced it with some information on wind turbines, and their ability to produce electricity. Their “Positives of Wind Energy” made some good points about wind as a renewable source of energy, its low startup costs, and its relatively low maintenance costs. Great information. Then the project completely fell apart. Their “Cons” page talked about how wind can blow out surf and cause problems for surfers. Wind can also take down buildings and cause things like tsunamis. Tsunamis. I interject during their slide and ask about information that they are missing about the actual downsides of wind POWER. However, Lindsa interrupts and says,

“This is all GREAT information, keep going.”

I am officially no longer the teacher. I’m just a petulant mosquito in the corner.

As they conclude their slide show with slides about windstorms and the destructive power of wind, I watch in quiet anger, as I can no longer say anything to my students about my own assignment.

After they are finished, Lindsa asks a question that I’m sure to her seemed relevant, but was actually asinine.

“I have a question for the presenters about their topic. Why is it that when I stand outside when it’s cold and it’s windy, I feel so much colder?”

The presenting students try to work out an answer, but it’s complete nonsense. Something about the water in the air that can make you feel cold. I cut them off and explain the real reason for wind chill.

“Oh yes, wind chill factor, that’s what I was thinking of”

As the next student was about to begin his presentation, my projector overheated and shut itself off. I could not revive it and so he was unable to put his presentation on the board. So Lindsa begins to lecture the students about making it in the real world and working on their attitude, the same trite language that the students have learned to tune out since they were six years old. As the projector revs back up in about 10 minutes, I ask my student to come back to the computer to give his presentation.

“Don’t worry about,” says Lindsa, “I’ll come back tomorrow and see it, there’s no use in doing it now, class is almost over.” There is a full 15 minutes left in class. I tell Lindsa that, but she decides that she’ll still see it tomorrow (she, incidentally, did not even come into the class the next day). She yells again,

“Do these students even have notebooks in this class?!”

“Yes Ms. Mac, they are right behind you in the file folders that are labeled Biology A, Physics C, and Physics B.”

She can’t seem to see them (they are directly behind her) and the students point at them, “They are right there Miss…”

“Ok, you all need to get your notebooks out,” she says.

“What do we need our notebooks for Miss,” the students ask Lindsa.

I tell Lindsa, “They don’t need their notebooks today Ms. Mac, they were doing presentations today.”

So for the next 15 minutes, as Lindsa leaves my class, she tells me that I am to have the students work on their make-up assignments for the 2nd quarter while she goes back to the office to get to her own work.

I now have 15 minutes of my class back, my authority irreparably undermined, my class period in complete shambles, and my students sitting in their desks scratching their heads as they try to figure out what he hell just happened for the last hour. The next day when students come back to the class, one student says to me,

“If she ever comes in here like that again, you better tell her that this is your class, not hers, and she needs to get out or sit quietly and not disturb the class.”

I wish I could my friend.

Hours from Jan. 6, 2007

Timeline

End Jan - Settle on model/Area

End Feb - Mission of School
Data Collection, Research, Logging

End March - All research in

End April - Rough Draft

End May - Specific Location, logistics, district

End June - Rough draft of Charter


Splitting up of responsibilities
By February:

Carl
- Leadership models
- Discipline
- Administration of the school
- Special Ed Certification
- Curriculum
- Blog & Stuff
- Log everything I read

Kunal
- Fiscal Stuff
- Politics of getting it done
- Special Ed Certification
- Portfolio Day to Day
- Curriculum
- Technology

Starting a new school article

From CES

but in all seriousness

One of us needs to go to this US charter School conference. I will try to get the time off next week for at least two of the days.

Curriculum...do you have a strong stomach?

So do YOU have a strong constitution? If not, turn around now. This is not for you. In the immortal words of T.I., "What you know about that?" Are kids supposed to learn by sitting in a seat for 4 years and allowing their teachers to pass them with a D- so that they can graduate? Or are students supposed to create a self-directed body of work that reflects their competency in content and character while guiding their peers as a mentor and as a role-model? Was Jenna named after a corny Danish vodka, or was she named after a full-bodied, unmistakable Irish whiskey? If you answered the former in either example, hit the back button on your browser immediately. Otherwise, read on. Are we content to allow our principals dictate our students' fates while we teachers sit to the side with less influence than a blind lemur hanging from a zoo fence? I for one will not take anymore totalitarian education. I will NOT sit idly by and watch my students and fellow teachers reduced to minions in the almighty school district's game. I am resolved, I am tenacious, and I am dedicated. Jenna was, indeed, named after Jameson.