Department of Mis-Education

May 19, 2013 2 Comments

Nearly every morning I wake up with a sense of dread. The innumerable structural inadequacies that complicate my ability to teach overwhelm me to the point of despair. However, once I walk into the building and begin interacting with students, I feel a sense of belonging and peace. Then the adults show up and disturb that peace. Politics, bitterness, back stabbing, and gossip. Each day I begin with an earnest desire to provide my students with quality instruction, conversation, and relationship. Each day I am beaten down by the slew of bureaucratic inertia and toxicity that has infested the system at large. It has become clear to me at this tender point in my teaching career that authentic teaching rarely happens in the classroom—and is even less likely to happen during a formal observation.

This reflection is written from the confluence of fear (concerning formal observations), a new awareness of the social politics among teachers, and the deep sense of uncertainty about whether I should remain in my current position next fall—or within the profession itself. Although I am absolutely certain that I have made a tremendously positive impact on many students’ lives, very little—if any—of this is measurable by the instruments used to evaluate teachers. Is it possible to function in a system that is so broken, so malicious, and utterly inhumane? Each day I watch this archaic and mindless machine crush the souls of curious, creative, and intelligent young people. I see the talents and intellect of teachers overlooked, obstructed, and wasted. All of this destruction is in service of what? Indeed, at this point in my experience I do believe that Lauryn Hill’s voice captures the truth most succinctly and completely: This is the Department of Mis-education (D.O.M.).

Late in the school year I narrowly escaped the hostile grip of my first principal. Her irrational compulsion to destroy me was not dissolved by my departure. She made sure to follow me to my new school by going out of her way to contact the main office there and inform them that she would be sending my file, which was filled with her vitriol. It filled me with panic and I continued to feel as if I were on a sniper’s hit list. How can I learn? How can I grow when I am living in a shadow of fear while navigating a maze of structural violence?

This, I suppose, is precisely the danger that Parker Palmer warns against in the final chapter of The Courage to Teach.  Palmer recommends that in order to not only survive the institutional dysfunction but also to actively promote change we must not make the institution our center. He writes that we must find a community of like-minded people who are devoted to creating motion that will promote change and ground ourselves in that community and within that spirit of change. What tears at my equilibrium is the seeming duplicitousness that is required to function within such a system—one that marginalizes the essence of its charges. I’m still processing my position in this institution—the D.O.M.—and how I can work within or against it—or if it is worthwhile to do either.

I wish I could write that I feel rejuvenated and that looking back I see that I have grown. Unfortunately this is not the case. Indeed, I feel deflated, defeated, and consumed by an existential doubt that creates an echoing voice that asks “Why am I here?” A backlog of hostile exchanges, baffling absurdities, and the debris from the tsunami of blind and brute force that swells up from the belly of a terrific beast—the D.O.M.—fighting viciously to preserve its own existence…all of this has left me shipwrecked and seeking cover. My only intention, at this point, is to spend the summer writing. As for my philosophy of education?—by definition, it is something that must happen outside the diseased walls of the D.O.M.

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Mapping Public Access to ICT in NYC in Effort to Bridge the Digital Divide

February 10, 2013 Leave a comment

Map: NYC Public Access to ICT

My colleagues and I in the NYCTF TESOL cohort are endeavoring to collaboratively create a map that identifies establishments that provide free public access to ICT. We will begin editing the map in class tomorrow evening during my presentation on Mario Kelly’s article “Bridging Digital and Cultural Divides: TPCK for Equity of Access to Technology” as one of two activities geared toward developing practical solutions for integrating technology in under-resourced teaching contexts.

I’ve initiated the process by mapping the locations of the Computer Resource Centers (CRCs) located in the Bronx. The group will map the CRCs in the other boroughs during our collaborative mapping activity.

Click here for a list of the CRCs in NYC.

Click here for a list of New York Public Library Branches

Click here for a list of YMCA branched in NYC, many of which offer free computer access and classes.

We will then begin identifying public libraries and other community-based organizations that provide free pubic access to ICT. Each participant will begin by mapping the area surrounding his or her teaching context. For example, a fellow who teaches in Sunset Park will search for establishments in that vicinity. Ideally, each fellow will leave the activity with a live resource that he or she can use to direct his or her students to establishments that will provide them and their parents with free access to ICT.

After the presentation and in-class collaborative mapping activity, we will make this map public in effort to crowd source information about CBOs and other establishments that provide free public access to ICTs. This resource should be invaluable to educators in the city who are working to bridge the digital divide.

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Letter from a New York City Teaching Fellow

November 3, 2012 2 Comments

The atmosphere was eerie when I slid my front window open and peered into the night. Sandy was due in about 24 hours. Sadly, yet notably, many of my colleagues in the New York City Teaching Fellows were praying that school would be canceled. Nearly everyone, it seems, is overwhelmed to the point of saturation. Personally, I wave in and out of that sensation only because I’ve been fortunate enough to land a job in a school that is staffed by an incredibly kind, supportive, and compassionate teachers–they have helped me slowly get my bearings as a first year teacher.

There has been little time for reflection since June, when the fellowship kicked off. Throughout June, July, and the first few days of August the fellowship wasted our time and energy by pushing us through a summer training program that was irrelevant at best and utterly ill-conceived and damaging at worst (I should say “more realistically” rather than “at worst”!). The entire summer was spent focused on a militaristic approach to classroom management. There was NOT ONE bit of training related to unit and lesson planning, instructional strategies, assessments, and so on. Just a bunch of clapping for attention and demanding eye contact.
Well, now that all eyes are on me, what shall I do? This is the burning question driving most fellows to absolute sleep deprivation and edging them toward emotional collapse.

Many folks find my blog after searching for information about the New York City Teaching Fellows. For you folks who are interested in the program and considering applying to the fellowship a colleague of mine agreed to allow me to publish a recent email she wrote to me about her experience up to this point.

Hey there Kelly-

How is my most beautiful, justice-seeking, freedom-fighting friend? I hope this week off was productive for you in the sense of rest, rejuvenation, and empowerment. For me, on the other hand, I found that the week off further encouraged my growing discomfort with this program. I could not bring myself to think about work this entire week… I managed to squeeze out some writing for Hunter, but only by a hair, and now facing work tomorrow I am filled with dread.

The job I am being asked to do (and now pressured by my principal to do more effectively) is simply impossible. It is impossible…. I am finding that I am not a solution to the systematic inadequacies within the DOE, but rather I am adding to the problem. Not to mention that this job effectively took a bright-eyed, children-loving, socially active woman and turned her… me… into a morose, angry, impatient, grump who dreads waking up in the mornings.

I am fairly certain that I am going to quit. I do not feel affective, I just feel affected. But, the upside is that my eyes have been opened to the gross corruption, inadequacies, and maltreatment being imposed by the New York City education system and I want to be part of that change.

Can you please refer me to organizations, schools, and/or activists who are actively challenging this system and working towards a fair and just solution? I cannot sit idly by knowing that these things are happening, but I also cannot work under such oppression anymore. It would be great to get involved with some groups who are standing on the frontline with these teachers and students and supporting them in their fight for justice.

Again, I truly hope you found some peace during this week and that your home and family are safe. Let me know how you are doing and I am eager to see you next week in the instance that I am still enrolled in the program.

All the best,

…

It’s true–the person who wrote this message is by nature a bright-eyed, children loving, socially active individual. The last time I saw her she appeared to be on the cusp of a breakdown. It broke my heart to see her so depleted and distressed. We have lost quite a few fellows already. Surely some readers will be further encouraged by this news. They might think, “I have the chutzpah to soldier through it!” Perhaps you do. The bottom line is this: Each year the NYCTF sends about 1,000 unqualified and untrained individuals into the highest need schools in the city. Every fellow I know is bright, has an impressive academic pedigree, and is committed to the point of insanity BUT we are not qualified for this work yet. WHY not subsidize the training and pair fellows with mentor teachers–similar to the model used by the Teaching Residents @ Teachers College program? Yes it would be more expensive but it will likely result in higher quality instruction and higher teacher retention rates.
I feel called to teach. I love teaching, I love my students, I love my colleagues, I love my school….which is precisely why I am arguing for a different model. Yes, I am infinitely grateful to have been given the opportunity to become a teacher but I feel strongly that the NYCTF program is an irresponsible one–it is unfair to our students, young teachers, and our communities. Yeah…and I hear that Teach for America makes the NYCTF shite storm look look a sun shower.

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Learning to Access the Deep Heart

May 14, 2012 Leave a comment

They are the walking wounded. The poorest most vulnerable young people among us. Do we want to forget about them or pretend that they deserve what they are (not) being given? How is it we can stand ourselves–living in this so-called developed nation–knowing full well that we routinely abandon our youth–especially those who are living in poverty and on the increasingly thick margins of privilege. What can we do today and moving forward to reach and teach these young people so that they have the skills they need to not only read, write, and reason but also to access their deep hearts and connect with others in this world? To not only read the world but also to respond to it.

On Thursday I visited a Title 1 school situated in a working poor neighborhood in Brooklyn. The kids walk through security gates each morning before heading to school. They place their book bags on conveyor belts leading to the x-ray examination. Dear kids, come to school and we will remind you each morning that we think of you as accomplished criminals or criminals in training. Dear kids, come join us in the pipeline. Schools starts with a bag search, a body search, and a direct expression of our lack of trust. (As a visitor, I was also required to go through the ‘security’ procedures.)

Many of the young people simply don’t show up to school on time. During the first period class I observed–which was supposed to begin at 8:00am–the majority of the class was absent. As students trickled in, there was no apparent consequence presented or communicated regarding their tardiness. I wondered to myself if this is a case of ‘choosing one’s battles.’

Throughout the day I observed an ongoing detachment among the students–they simply  (there were a few exceptions) weren’t really paying attention or doing work. The phrase “walking wounded” kept appearing in my own mind as I observed young people staring into space, ignoring their assigned tasks, wandering into class late. There appeared to be lots of “assertions of toughness”…that type of affected “you can’t get to me” swagger that I saw from a deeply traumatized young man (12 years old) I worked with in St. Louis. (He kept that up until one day–after months of one-on-one work together–I told him “You know, you’re safe here.”) I wonder, how many of the young people in this school feel safe and settled enough to learn? How many of them are getting their basic needs met?

I was given the opportunity to sit in on a teachers meeting. The teachers were all absolutely lovely and apparently committed. It was clear that they knew the students well: their progress (or lack of) and their particular situations. Too, their was a notable collegiality but also a sort of fatigue–but not cynicism–which was managed by what I perceived to be a healthy sense of humor. As the teachers discussed the upcoming graduation and worked to come up with names for recognition, scholarships, etcetera, I repeatedly heard: “She’s not going to make it. [graduate] She’s on the two-day plan.” And, “He’s not going to make it. He needs credits and regents and he’s on the one-day plan.” These “plans” aren’t plans-they refer to students’ chronic absenteeism.

Each class I observed was taught by a high quality teacher–the lessons were interesting and well planned and presented. The geometry teacher in particular was a brilliant educator. In another class, I was sitting alongside two students who were reading an overview of the Democratic of Congo’s “resource curse.” I engaged them in conversation about the reading assignment and looked at the graphic organizers they were completing in order to prepare for a debate. It soon became clear to me that one of the two students was reading at a very low level. She was able to decode the words but had extremely limited comprehension. My guess is that she was reading at about a third grade level. When I asked her if she understands the phrase “resource curse” she looked at me with the most heartbreaking expression it ripped into my soul–she looked scared, lost, helpless, sad when she said “I know curse is a bad thing so I think it means something bad.” She is in the tenth grade. My heart is breaking and I do not know how we can begin to heal all the damage that has been done. When will me make that change come?

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School Visits, Job Fairs, and Deconstructed Champions

May 9, 2012 Leave a comment

In early March I was invited to join the NYC Teaching Fellows. Three weeks later I confirmed my enrollment and immediately got to work on the various administrative tasks required of new fellows: getting my fingerprints taken at the NYC DOE, collecting transcripts and shot records, and completing the first two online courses that were made immediately available to us and which are required for certification. At the same time I established a study plan in order to best prepare for my certification exams (LAST and Multi-Subject) and even started taking a crack at the recommended reading list provided by the folks at fellowship headquarters and venturing out on a few school visits.

Suddenly, it’s May and most of us (if not all of us) have received our university assignments and have begun the online pre-training enrollment course (not to be confused with the two courses mentioned above; those courses were the Mandated Reporter Training/Child Abuse Reporting Workshop and School Violence Prevention and Intervention—a.k.a. School-to-Prison Pipeline 101). We are also—many of us—counting the days until our summer training begins on June 11th. The time is moving quickly and suddenly my day is jam packed—and I know many other fellows are even busier, particularly those who are relocating to NYC in order to participate in the fellowship. Already, it seems, there’s not much time to take a step back and reflect.

Immediately before joining the fellowship I had been conducting research and writing a preliminary draft of a course about reflective teaching practices. I was at a bit of a standstill in the writing and design process because, frankly, I felt that it was crucial for me to have more experience (that is, more than zero) working as a public school teacher in the United States. Although I have a good deal of experience teaching in informal education programs and seven years’ experience teaching ESL abroad…I’ve never had to deal with the infamously contentious, malfunctioning, seemingly in a state-of-protracted emergency United States public school system. “Who am I,” the self-inquiry posed, “to teach public school teachers about reflective teaching practices, when I’ve had absolutely no practical experience with the pressures, constraints, joys, and frustrations encountered by those who belong to perhaps the most crapped-upon profession in the USA today? So, after spending two months reading everything I could get my hands on about reflective teaching practices, I accepted the fellowship opportunity and requested a break from my research to focus on the NYCTF induction, during which I would essentially take notes that would later inform the course design. My mentor supported my decision and provided helpful insight and encouragement.

When I began my internship with Teachers Without Borders I had in place a five-year plan to become a public school teacher, who would be sure to etch out sufficient time on a regular basis (at least weekly) to reflect through writing (in a private journal and on my blog), drawing (sketching in a notebook to simply unwind and process in a wordless medium), conversation with colleagues (to hear different perspectives, share support, and become aware of my own blind spots), etcetera on what was happening in my classroom, school, and community. (That’s only the beginning of the five-year plan!) I haven’t even begun teaching yet and already I must push myself to create space for these reflections.

Here, rather than provide a detailed literature review analyzing various ideas about reflective teaching practices, I’ll say this: It’s necessary to routinely take a step back, look at the big picture, critically examine my own behavior and the ways in which my practice is being received by students as well as colleagues and administrators. It’s important—and will enrich and ‘keep honest’ my practice—if I commit myself to a ritual examination of my own assumptions about teaching and learning, communication, and the people in my learning community. At this point, that is, in this post, I’d like to reflect a bit on my experience in the fellowship to date. It’s still quite early but it’s important to me to establish this practice of reflection from the beginning and I do hope that some other fellows (or anyone else) will find these reflections helpful.

I’m scared. What if my passion, idealism, and sense of being called to teach is squashed, squandered, and squelched by the infamous bureaucracy? (Isn’t alliteration spectacular?) When I read Jonathan Kozol, I feel cozy, inspired, and redeemed—a bit like those late nights with a flashlight reading a book that I’m ‘too young’ to read, in a tent made of my own bed sheets and the strength of my own inherent compulsion to rebel at whatever stands between me and learning. My curiosity will not be strangled. But what about my idealism? Will the ‘system’ eat me up and spit me out half-dead and soul-stripped?

I disagree. With what? (I promise, it’s not with everything and anything.) With the many troubling assumptions that inform Doug Lemov’s Teach Like a Champion, a book that all fellows are required to read before the start of our summer training. Assumption number one: the banking method is the only successful approach to teaching and learning (Lemov’s impassioned rants against seating arrangements that stray from the industrial model of single-file rows of students facing the teacher at the blackboard underscore his deep suspicion of student-directed learning and collaboration). Assumption number two: classroom management is based on fear and subjugation. Here’s a quote: “Standing just over a student’s shoulder as you peruse his work or standing at the back of the classroom as a class discusses a topic builds subtle but pervasive control of the classroom environment in order to focus it on learning.” [My italics] Is learning the focus in that scenario? Learning what? It sounds a lot like learning one’s ‘place’ in a deeply disturbing power dynamic. The thing is, there are very successful educators who build classroom cultures that are based on mutual respect not fear and domination. Am I the only one who started humming Strange Fruit when I read this passage?

I am inspired. The fellow fellows inspire me. Teachers I’ve met on school visits inspire me. Students wide-eyed and imperfect inspire me but more than ANYTHING–true to my undying love for and solidarity with the most beautiful courageous rebels who have taught me to stand up and speak out (Martin Luther King Jr., Paulo Freire, Mahatma Ghandi, Sri Ramakrishna, Helen Keller, Nina Simone, Thoreau, the Freedom Riders, Jonathan Kozol, the profoundly radical Jesus, and yes there are MANY many more–I am inspired by INJUSTICE. Inspired to action, inspired to dissent, inspired to speak out and act up but more than anything, inspired to TEACH. Thus, my inspiration is closely linked to my above-mentioned disagreement and fear! Kozol writes in On Being a Teacher: “It seems to be a rule of thumb in the United States, as in most other nations of the modern world, that the only acceptable rebel–certainly the one whose greatness is most certain and unclouded–is a dead one.” (He is writing about the ways in which the words and works of famous radicals are watered down in textbooks. For example, “Thoreau was enraged by several attitudes and actions of the U.S. government, above all our toleration of the slave trade and the war against Mexico.”…yet, most of us encounter Thoreau’s poems about nature when we are students. p 39)

I’ll leave you with some inspiring words from Kozol (also from On Being a Teacher):

The hidden curriculum, as we have seen before, is the teacher’s own integrity and lived conviction. The most memorable lesson is not what is written by the student on a sheet of yellow lined paper in the lesson pad;nor is it the clumsy sentence published (and “illustrated”) in the standard and official text. It is the message which is written in a teacher’s eyes throughout the course of his or her career. It is the lesson which endures a lifetime.

I hereby pledge to look into my own eyes each morning and ask myself, “What message is there?”

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Girls Can! But you knew that, right?

March 13, 2012 Leave a comment

Theresa is rich—not so much with money or material assets—but certainly with intelligence, imagination, and a relentless commitment to share. She is my older sister—by adoption, that is; I decided that she should play that role in my life and true to her own character she readily and happily agreed. We met through an ad, which she had written and published on craigslist, calling for volunteers to donate their time to an organization called ByteWorks. The ad, like Theresa, expressed an openness that encouraged anyone, anywhere, of various shapes, skill-sets, and sizes to join in the fun. We’re a community, after all. Let’s join together and collaborate!

Theresa describes herself in less romantic terms. When I asked her what motivates her to spend a substantial amount of time and energy working on grass-roots informal education programs she explained, “I’m a total butthead and can’t work within the system and deal with politics.” She added, “The only way I can know I’m making a difference is to go out and make it.” The thing is though…these days Theresa isn’t just donating her time and energy by joining an already existing program, she is actually in the midst of developing and piloting a program for girls that is designed to give them the opportunity to practically experience their own abilities to explore, tinker, and problem solve. The program: Girls Can!

What is Girls Can!? It’s not about telling girls they are smart and capable, it’s about creating a space in which girls are given the opportunity—including access to mentors—to experience their own abilities. The Girls Can! program links high school girls between the ages of 14 and 18 with adult mentors, who with a very light touch provide the girls with guidance and support as they build their own computers from scratch. Yup, from scratch.

Since its inception in November seven girls have joined the program at St. Elizabeth Academy, where Girls Can! is being piloted. The girls participate when they can—some join for an hour and a half during time allotted for elective studies or study hall, others join after school, and now—Theresa just initiated Saturday hours—some join twice a month on Saturdays. Essentially, despite the girls busy schedules and the limited amount of time they are able to attend Girls Can! sessions, all seven girls have already collaborated to build one computer—which they jointly agreed to raffle off to raise funds to be used to purchase more components—and four girls have built themselves computers. More components were recently delivered and the other three girls in the program will soon build themselves their own computers.

What does this mean? It means that the girls in the program—in a very short time indeed—go from “looking at a box of expensive electronic components thinking ‘I can’t touch that’” to digging into the box of components, tinkering with various parts, and building an operational computer. Most importantly, the girls are developing learning attitudes that enable them to transfer the skills they’re developing to other topics of inquiry. Theresa has noticed this shift in the girls’ thinking, and states that they are learning “the skills to take a good look at it [any problem] and figure it out, get rid of that ‘I can’t do it’ fear. Once they get that it will benefit them wherever they go.”

Any other results? Well, at a time—adolescence—that is infamous for dramatically altering girls’ relationships with their fathers, the girls in the program have reported that “my dad wants to know how I’m building this.” Older girls have told Theresa that their “boyfriend wants to know all about it.” In short, Theresa laughs, “Dads want to know [the computer’s] specs and the boyfriends are jealous.” This is an empowering lesson for girls at a time that is too often marked by a loss of power, as the pressure to be cute and not too smart is pressed onto them. They are learning that “you can be confident, you can be smart, and people aren’t going to think less of you for that, in fact, they may even think more of you.”

One participant told Theresa during her first Girls Can! session that when she is older she plans on being a nurse or working in a hotel. These days her goals have changed substantially. In the short-term she is applying for a part-time job at a local computer center because “she feels confident to deal with and talk about technology.” In the future she plans to attend Washington University, where she intends to study bio-informatics. Eh?! Girls Can!!!!!

Other folks have noticed the tremendous and positive influence the program has had on participants: the school’s teachers and administrators. The principal is so impressed by the difference she has recognized in the participants’ learning attitudes that she is currently working to establish Girls Can! as a for-credit elective course in order to provide more girls with the opportunity to attend the sessions on a regular basis. The program has also caught the attention of another community-based organization that has expressed interest in linking up with Girls Can! to build computers for a women’s shelter in St. Louis.

Telling them “you’re smart” isn’t enough, says Theresa. “I’m not telling them anything. They are learning by doing” and as a result they independently recognize that they are capable, smart, and interested.

If you are interested in establishing a Girls Can! chapter in your school, community center, or living room, or would like to contact Theresa to learn more about the program, feel free to contact her via email at tmk@girls-can.org.

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Skating to Kabul~Half Pipes and Whole Hearts

February 27, 2012 Leave a comment

(Image Source)

Erika got to Kabul via skateboard. In 2009 she and a few other women friends were passing around an article they had read in the New York Times. The women—who regularly produced a women’s skateboarding zine—were all avid skaters. Erika’s friend Rhianon got in touch with Oliver and volunteered to join Skateistan. In May 2010 she set off for Kabul to help build a skate park and education programs for boys and girls. She is still involved with the organization today.

As Rhianon sent updates from Kabul, Erika began to understand that the “reality on the ground [in Kabul]” was more complex than the IED-centric news reports. “Hundreds of girls going to skateboard once a week,” Erika said, “I knew that had to be something special.” And so she found herself reminding people in her life—many who strongly opposed her decision to move to Kabul for six months to help provide Afghani youth with opportunities to play and learn—that “the plane flies both ways.”

The pressure to not go was fairly strong. One of Erika’s professors at university wrote her an email in which he strongly advised her to cancel her plan. Her father cried. Her mother, however, supported her choice and wished her the best luck. “My mom really trusts my judgment and knows I know how to take care of myself.”

Once there, she was overwhelmed by beauty and disaster. “Never before in my life had I met kids who had so much energy and so much joy. There were hard times too, which totally broke my heart, but I guess that is the point of the program—to create a space for kids to be kids.” When asked about the pervasive violence in Kabul and how it affected her, the program, and the kids, she told me, “The attacks seemed few and far between but the poverty is widespread and constant.” Living in a “regular house” (rather than a compound filled with foreign diplomats and aid workers) in Kabul and interacting with Afghans day-in and day-out, Erika “found the day-to-day stuff much more difficult to deal with.” The tent cities, abject poverty, and children running through traffic to sell chewing gum to help support their families…this was the stuff of constant suffering and it was hard for Erika to bear.

It doesn’t take too long to see and feel Erika’s expansive heart. She’s open, thoughtful, and powerfully sincere. She’s the rare sort of character who takes in her environment, processes it, and gives back love. Talk to her and you’ll feel it. This wholeness clearly informed her work at Skateistan. She taught “tons and tons of skateboarding” as well as environmental health classes that included lessons about safe drinking water and sanitation and a neighborhood clean up, during which kids collected trash and pulled from it materials to make recycled art objects.

There was also a theater project—kids wrote their own scripts, made their own costumes, and put on their own plays. The theater project was an excellent way for kids—those with and without the ability to read and write—to express their concerns. “The girls wrote a lot about not being able to go to school or to Skateistan and the boys wrote about things like having to work to make money to support their parents’ drug habits.”

As Skateistan’s Education Coordinator, Erika made sure that all programs were accessible to all kids. Most Afghan children have had no schooling at all or have had irregular access to school. Skateistan’s approach to teaching and learning is conversational—it’s built on two questions: What can the international staff teach the Afghans? What can the Afghans teach the international staff? A radically different approach than that taken by traditional aid programs, which implement programs from above and behind the walls of a heavily guarded compound. “I think the fact that people working with Skateistan were amateurs was a good thing. We’re really flexible and we want to learn from our experience.” Erika reflected.

(Image Source)

Before traveling to Kabul in June 2010 to work at Skateistan “I never knew or thought about development—skateboarding brought me there….I did do a lot of volunteer work…but I never thought it was a way of life” or a job. However, after arriving in Kabul, Erika says she realized “what development is doing and how ineffective it is.” Her main complaint was the fact that most aid workers she observed or encountered in Afghanistan rarely left their compound. They would spend months, even years, in country and might know one or two Afghans at work but would rarely interact with Afghans outside the walls of the compound. “They don’t really know the guy in the veggie stand or at the bakery, and they don’t know their neighbors or go to the market. They’re disconnected from the activities and the struggles of daily life.” She says.

Erika’s experience was very different and a powerful testament of what can happen when we deconstruct the walls that divide us and prevent us from connecting with others. “I’m really grateful to have had this opportunity,” Erika cried, “I really love the place and the people. I really had the chance to see not what’s different but what’s the same. I never before met kids with so much love. For a lot of them it’s the one thing in their lives that’s constant and a source of happiness.”

These days Erika is studying for her master’s in Berlin but she continues to support Skateistan and her kids in Kabul. “I’m married to this organization. No matter how upset I get sometimes, my heart is there and it’s something I’ll always do.” She continued, “I learned so many things from it and that’s the best part of education…you learn so much more than you can ever teach anyone else.”

Who needs a schoolhouse when you’ve got a skate park?

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Nobody Likes to be Tricked~Girls, Fashion, and Trafficking

February 11, 2012 Leave a comment

Photo: Rachel Blais photographed by Meghan Brosnan

Ingrid calls folks like Rachel Blais “Angels of Compassion.” She’s open-minded, responsible, and whole-hearted especially when it is inconvenient but most needed. She’s an underground mentor in the most unlikely places: mini-vans stocked with Girl Models being scuttled from one casting call to the next; on-location working as a model who is talking back to the camera, the photographer, and the make-up artist on the scene; and now, in a documentary that tells the story of one 13-year-old girl model and the scout that recruited her from Siberia. The scout hornswoggled her family–as she does many other families–to sign a crummy-ass contract with the false guarantee that their daughter will bring home some serious bacon. Check out the Girl Model film website here.

Rachel and I met in a Yoga teachers training course in Tokyo in 2009. At that time, she was doing a lot of crying. After hours of intense asana practice, we’d sit together in the park eating fruit and nuts and connecting as Rachel was sorting through what she was witnessing on a daily basis: girls being bought and sold for the sake of fashion. She was beginning the “process” of disentangling herself from the modeling industry, which she describes as “a bit of an addiction, quite honestly…a way of living” and it is quite easy to become completely consumed by its culture and demands. Central to that process was her need to reach out and protect the girls she met on casting calls and at her agency’s office.

That reaching out began in small, nearly invisible gestures: she’d talk with the girls and help them cope with their situation, she’d give them hugs and make sure they had what they needed (meals, comfort, and some form of adult supervision). Most of all, she worked, one-by-one, to reach out to girls and teach them that their situation was not normal and that it was crucial that they do the best they can to care for themselves.

“For models, the best thing is to prioritize, make sure you’re always building skills and to take care of yourself. It’s easy to disassociate from what’s happening….It’s important to stay grounded outside the industry.”

What is happening? Once Rachel started crying, sorting out, and mentoring the younger girls (who at twelve-, fourteen-, and sixteen-years-old had been recruited and taken to Tokyo to live and search for work as models with little to no adult supervision) she realized she needed to do more. She needed to speak out and connect with others to create much-needed changes. Soon after making the choice to speak out she crossed paths with Ashley Sabin and David Redmon, directors who were shooting a documentary about the trafficking of under-aged girls in the name of fashion. Rachel agreed to participate in the documentary and to join forces with other folks in the US and UK determined to make changes in order to protect vulnerable girls and boys—and their families—from predators like Ashley the scout (not the same person as Ashley the director), who roam poverty-stricken regions for “new faces” they can sell to markets abroad.

Girl Model: Directors Interview

“I’ve been on jobs and spoken out many times…but I always knew that if given the opportunity to speak out about the industry, I would….It’s a whole process to get out of the industry…because it can be a good life-style. The good can be so good but it can be very dark too.” Rachel told me during our hours-long conversation.

What happens in the dark? It begins with false promises of money and success to impoverished parents and their often pre-pubescent daughters and leads to widespread sexual harassment, sexual abuse, physical and emotional mistreatment, and oftentimes results—especially for the “new faces”–in returning home thousands of US dollars in debt. This is what’s behind the glamorous images so many of us are making ourselves sick and miserable as we endeavor to emulate the look of stolen, starved, and sold.

Rachel Blais is asking us to take a closer look, to unpack the images we encounter, and uncover the fact that we are all connected. “People either aren’t aware, or they close their eyes and pretend they don’t see, or they can’t speak out because they’ll lose their job.” Shift your focus for a minute away from the obscenely over-priced bag and onto the eyes of the human being looking back at the camera. Is she twelve? Is she safe? Did she or her parents have any idea what they were getting into?

Ashley the scout asked herself—when she was an 18-year-old model talking into her video diary—“What is this twister taking you away for? Is it worth it?” Failing to respond to her own heart’s warning, she explains her choice, many years later, to remain in the industry as a scout, “I stick with what I know because I’m scared to try new things.”

Rachel made a different choice: She is taking action, speaking out, and mentoring the young girls she continues to encounter on casting calls. She’s fighting for changes that will regulate the industry so that it will be illegal for scouts and agencies to recruit and ship minors (anyone under 18) abroad. Many people in the industry are pressing to make the minimum age 16–Rachel insists that this is still too young an age for girls to be exposed to the pressures and warped culture of the industry. She is also asking us to break the spell of obsession with image that prevents us from experiencing our connection with others, with industries, with ongoing violence. What can each of us do? Teach, listen, and learn.

Interested in exploring this topic with young people and giving them the skills needed to understand how images are constructed and the larger issues they point to? You might find some of these resources helpful:

Survivors of Trafficking

Regulating Modeling Agencies to Help Prevent Child Sex Trafficking

Convention on the Rights of the Child

Report of the APA Task-Force on the Sexualization of Girls

The Sex-Trafficking Model Scout

So Sexy So Soon

A Model Trade Union

Center on Media and Child Health

Stop Traffick Fashion

The Model Alliance

Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women (and GIRLS)

Equity

Do you know any change-makers shaking up the status quo to rail against injustice and promote teaching, learning, and creative collaboration for a better world?

Please share this article if you think its message is worth spreading.

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We ARE making history…do we like the story we are creating?

February 10, 2012 Leave a comment

We construct our lives by making choices. This should not be a news flash but in face of the onslaught of noise, mental clutter, and the agonizing of individual egos, it is easy to fall into a pattern of choosing without being the chooser. That is, going through the motions and losing the connection and balance among our hearts, minds, and moral grounding. It’s somewhat easy to make choices without even realizing we are doing so…and thus, we become, a careening vehicle with no driver at the wheel.

What force can counter the tremendous pressure to conform and repeat what’s not working? Take a minute and close your eyes, imagine the sun in your chest, see the light expanding throughout your body, sit and listen and watch. Please, give it a try for five minutes today and seven minutes tomorrow. Make a conscious choice to sit, watch, and listen to the light in your own heart each morning. It sounds corny? It requires courage, commitment, and strength. Imagine, for a moment, how each of us can change our lives, our communities, and our world if only we take a few moments each day to tune into our Selves. Through this commitment to our own hearts, we will encounter that force. Thinking outside the schoolhouse, learning the Self, has the power to liberate.

Here are some examples from my experience~

At eighteen I was overwhelmed with mental anguish, my mind and body were filled with energy that I was ill-equipped to properly or productively channel. At that time, I made a conscious decision to turn my mind off. I know! It’s tragic! The result was seven full years of wasted time! Why do many of us choose to shut down? I KNOW that I’m not the only one!

At twenty-five I declared my intention to rewire my brain. Next, I made a very unpopular decision—among my community of friends at the time—and joined the army, where I learned Farsi, and realized for the first time that I am smart, incredibly strong, and—upon my premature and bizarre yet ‘honorable’ separation from that great beast—blessed with some unique karma. (Of course, aren’t we all entangled in our own unique karma?!)

This is where it gets complicated…what happens when we make such choices and the results are not what we expected? In short: What to do when life seems to be pistol-whipping us? My go-to solution has been (and still is) to focus on that light in my chest. Sometimes it is hard to tune into, sometimes it readily consumes me with its intensity, clarity, and warmth.

That light fueled me as I blazed–heart, eyes, and mind wide-open–through university and into the world. You see, at twenty-six I made a conscious decision to not be fenced in by provincialism. It was my choice to go into the world and connect, which led me to (in order) Canada, Ireland, and Egypt, to India, Austria, and Latvia, to Hungary, Slovakia, and Japan.

All of this is a bit too autobiographical and frankly I find connecting and collaborating with others infinitely more interesting than my own life’s trajectory. However, it is crucial that each of us step back and reflect on our respective positions in this world and understand consciously what decisions we are making and how those choices are affecting our hearts, our communities, and our world. We are building our own situation(s).

Am I choosing to be silent or am I opting to speak up? It often feels simpler, less complicated, and certainly less conflict-bound to go with the flow and do what we’re told (by our families, our culture, our own habit patterns) but in the long-run, we must ask ourselves, what am I constructing and maintaining with this series of choices linked to action or inaction? We are building our own situation(s).

Last week, Lisa Herb notified us volunteer ESL teachers about some bad news: USAID will no longer provide funding for the morning program at the Afghan Canadian Cultural Center. Those of us who teach students during that time period (7:10am in Afghanistan and 9:40pm EST) were faced with a choice: We could stopped meeting with our students twice a week (one hour per class) or we could agree to meet our students during the afternoon session, which is still being funded.

The choice was simple—waking up at 4:45am, two days a week, in order to make one small contribution to one student’s education is, in my opinion, the only option.

There are many energetic and compassionate individuals around the world, who are not only tuned into the light in their hearts but also successfully channeling that energy into creative, productive, and nourishing work.

I’m choosing to connect with as many of those people as I can, chat with them, and feature their ideas and work related to education on this blog. Each of us has the capacity to shape history.

How are YOU shaping history? How is someone you know making positive change? Please connect with me and let’s plot!!!

Check out the first article in the Change-Makers Unite and Make History series: “Nobody likes to be Tricked: Girls, Fashion, and Trafficking“

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New York City Teaching Fellows versus Teaching Residents @ Teachers College

January 15, 2012 Leave a comment

Update: Lots of people visit this blog via searches for information about NYCTF and TR@TC. Lately, lots of search inquiries are focused on notification. For those of you looking for that information: TC has begun notifying applicants of final decisions. Yay!!! I’ve been admitted to the MA in TESOL program! This is the first step in the two-part process for admission to the TR@TC program. I’ve also been admitted to the NYC Teaching Fellows! I’m really inspired and deeply honored to have been admitted to both programs. So exciting!

December 10th was an exciting day for me…and a bunch of other folks who participated in a New York Teaching Fellows interview “event.” It was a fun, inspiring, and exhausting process, which I wrote about in detail here. At the end of the day, we were told that we would “hear back” in four to six weeks. In the meantime, or more specifically, while I wasn’t neurotically checking and rechecking the MYNYCTF portal (each applicant is given access to the portal, where she can check the status of her application, upload documents, receive and send email to the folks at Teaching Fellows headquarters, and so on), I was searching for other opportunities to become a classroom teacher in a NYC public school without, ideally, spending another twenty plus thousand dollars on tuition for a program that leads to certification. According to my site statistics, a lot of other NYC Teaching Fellow applicants are also waiting anxiously to learn whether or not they will be counted among the approximately nine percent of those accepted into the program.

Well, good news aspiring teachers. It turns out that there are currently eight programs that offer “alternative routes to certification” to folks who are interested in teaching in New York City public schools and who meet the eligibility requirements.  I’ve applied to two: the New York City Teaching Fellows and–now my first choice–Teaching Residents @ Teachers College (TR@TC). It might be worth your time and effort to check out a few of these other programs and, if you are eligible, prepare and submit applications. Here, I’ll tell you what I’ve learned at an information session about TR@TC and while preparing my application and share why the TR@TC program is a much more attractive option in my case.

Those of you who have already gone through the application and interview processes with the NYC Teaching Fellows should know the following: Most fellows will go on to teach special education or science and a small number may be brought on to teach English as a foreign language (EFL). I’ve applied to teach EFL…so this looming question mark from the folks at NYCTF makes me nervous…and so I’ve marked a tick on the con list. In contrast, the TR@TC program offers three tracks that lead to certification for aspiring teachers: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), which leads to a K-12 certification; Intellectual Disabilities, Autism (IDA), which leads to a 7-12 Teaching Students with Disabilities certification; and Teaching Students with Disabilities, Secondary Inclusive Education, which leads to a 7-12 Teaching Students with Disabilities certification. You can check out the eligibility requirements for each on the TR@TC website.

Hands down, NYC Teaching Fellows is mighty attractive to those of us who already have loads of student loan debt from undergraduate and graduate studies. Teaching Fellows take an intensive summer course and then are awarded a provisional certification that qualifies them to teach in a NYC public school. During the summer immersion course, fellows begin their master’s programs, which are highly subsidized by the NYC Department of Education. Fellows do pay for some of their tuition (less than 7,000) and they are responsible for all other costs (books, transportation, etcetera). The tuition payments are taken bit-by-bit from a fellows’ paychecks, and since fellows are working full-time in a New York City public school while taking master’s courses part time…it is unlikely that any fellow will have to borrow money to participate in the program. This is a giant tick on the pro list for the NYC Teaching Fellows.

Oh, call me crazy…but TR@TC…even though I might have to take a loan to do it…is a much more attractive program. Here’s the deal on the money front: All teaching residents are awarded a scholarship that pays for 18 of the 38 required credits. In addition to that scholarship, residents are awarded a $22,500 stipend that they can use to help defray living expenses or put toward the remaining tuition costs, which amounts to…at $1231 per credit: $24,620. Yikes. There is, however, a possibility for loan forgiveness if graduates spend five years teaching in a high needs school. This is not a done deal yet…but I am sending regular requests to the Universe to make it happen! Note: TR@TC graduates are required to spend three years teaching in a high-needs school after graduating from the program. Those who do not, are required to pay back the scholarship and stipend monies.

What makes it more attractive? Have you checked out the image above? First, residents complete the master’s program in 14 months while working closely with a mentor teacher in a public school. In contrast, NYC Teaching Fellows work full-time in a public school and take their master’s courses in the evening. Most NYC Teaching Fellows take two to three years to complete their master’s degree. Importantly, the provisional certification lasts only three years, so fellows MUST earn their certification within that time. Second, the TR@TC program provides much more support to residents. Check out this semester-by-semester breakdown.

In the first summer session, each resident receives a school assignment and visits that school to build some familiarity. Residents earn approximately 13 credits during the summer session by attending the Intensive Summer Institute. In sum, the first summer semester combines field and classroom components. Then life gets a bit busy.

During the fall semester residents spend three full days per week in their schools working alongside their mentors. In addition to the residency, residents take graduate courses (in the evenings) and attend weekly “integration seminars” each Friday from 9:00am to 1:00pm to discuss their experiences in their respective schools, and integrate those practical experiences with what they are encountering in their coursework. Residents are also required to spend thirty hours “interacting” with a community based organization (CBO) situated in the same community as the school they are assigned to. In order to prevent residents from developing a limited view of the public school system, each are placed in another school for twenty days during the fall semester. It. Sounds. Brilliant. Life gets busier.

The spring semester is just as intense–if not more so. Residents spend four full days per week working alongside their mentors in the NYC public school they are assigned to, attend the Friday integration seminars each week, complete six credits worth of coursework, complete their certification requirements, and begin their job searches. In addition, as during the fall semester, residents are observed while they are in the classroom by Residency Supervisors.

The final semester, it is said, is a bit more relaxed as the program is wrapping up. Residents complete three to six credits of coursework, finish their integrating seminar, work with support system at Teachers College to find a job, and gear up for their first year of teaching in a high-needs New York City public school!

Okay, all of that is intense, brilliant, and makes me super-excited, nervous, and finger-cross-ey (because I really hope I am accepted into the program)…but I haven’t even mentioned what I think is the most attractive aspect of the TR@TC program: The induction years. In short, residents get loads of support during their first two years as teachers. This includes: an induction mentor, monthly observations from folks appointed by Teachers College, monthly meetings with their master’s cohort, and more. (Check the image above.) Second year, more support, more mentoring, more professional development. This appeals to me for a few different reasons: a) I know that becoming a good teacher is A LOT of work and the more support and feedback I get, the more my students will learn;  b) The NYC Teaching Fellows model feels a bit like seven weeks of basic training before jumping out of plane and into the school zone; and c) Research shows that teachers who receive mentoring and intensive feedback are much more likely to be more effective teacher and to continue teaching for more than five years.

The bottom line is, the TR@TC program will better prepare me to be an effective teacher in a high-needs school. As for the money…man, it sure would help if I didn’t have to borrow more money, God knows it’s true…but I’m going to consider it an investment in my future students. You know, the kids who need more well-prepared and dedicated teachers. They’re worth it!

Moving Forward

Timeline: The “priority deadline” for the TR@TC admissions is January 15th. You can read more details about the application process here. Two days ago I “heard back” from the New York City Teaching Fellows; they told me that my application was still under review and changed my status from “interview completed” to “decision pending.” It’s not clear to me whether anyone has been accepted or if this is another “cut” (I made second cut…like during sports try-outs in high school!). The email from NYCTF indicated that accepted applicants will be notified in “spring.” Not very specific! The NYCTF summer-intensive training begins in June. Those who have applied to TR@TC by the priority deadline will know by mid-March whether they are accepted. The first summer session begins on May 14th!!

Tell Me About Your Experience!

Have you applied to NYCTF, TR@TC, or any of the other programs that offer alternative routes to certification? What has been your experience? Good luck to us all!

On the fence about whether or not you should teach? Consider this.

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