My third period celebrates 12:34:56 7/8/09.
(Updates to follow once the AERA deadline and a handful of paper revisions are made.)
Celebration
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Category Archives: Manual Arts
I’m A Teacher … Get Me Out of Here!
As LAUSD continues to layoff some of the best teachers I know, I wonder how effective any of the multi-pronged union efforts has been. Strikes (legal, illegal, “wildcat”, hunger, sit-ins, you name it) get piddles of press here and there. While I’m not comfortable yet in fully speculating on the direction of UTLA, LAUSD, or the future of Manual Arts. I did want to share a quote that’s about a year and a half old:
“I’ve always been a teacher. That’s the highest of the hierarchy. That’s not the bottom it’s what it’s all about. We’ve lost sight of that.”
In case you’re wondering, that is indeed Superintendent Ray Cortines in an interview Travis Miller and I conducted when Cortines was working with the Mayor’s Partnership. Funny how the quote reads differently in light of the changes that have taken place.
I’ve linked to this interview a few other times on this blog, but thought I’d post the actual thing here to make it easier to reference. The focus of the interview was local autonomy. However, there’s plenty here that speaks to the dire situation for teachers and students today. Full interview after the jump.
What’s Black and Yellow and Worn All Over?
Today my hall pass was taken away.
This wouldn’t bother me so much except that – well – I kind of liked my hall pass. Maybe I should explain.
About three weeks ago, sitting in a large faculty meeting, one of our school’s APs announced the implementation of a new hall pass. In order to go to the restroom or leave the class, students would need to wear this:
Citing safety concerns and issues of trespassing (not mentioning anything about hygiene and actually washing these vests), the passes were handed out to teachers just over a week ago. Every classroom has one and the room number is written prominently on the back of the vest as well as the front’s reflective material.
Officially, it’s dubious whether the passes were actually vetted and approved through the appropriate channels (our school’s Shared Decision Making Council, for instance, has yet to cough up any record of voting on the use of these vests…).
Talking about the vests with my students, some seemed nonplussed about them. Most students disliked them, and a few were generally upset. “I think the school expects us to be construction workers,” one student speculated. The student explained that if the school had higher expectations about the students, they would have made the hall passes something like a lab coat or a stethoscope. Most students felt that the passes were further signs of a lack of trust or respect in the student body.
As a travelling teacher I was issued a vest that had my name written on the front and no room number on the back. As such, I stared at the vest and saw it as a giant canvas. An opportunity. Enlisting the help of an anonymous, talented student, the back of the vest was stenciled with a large black fist. It looked great. It was powerful and iconic. It fit into the themes taught in class and still actually functioned as a hall pass vest. It was confiscated two and a half days after it was finished.
I’ve spoken with the AP that took the vest from a flustered student (she refused to acknowledge who the vest belonged to – she didn’t want to “snitch me out,” despite the fact that my name was written on the vest…). It looks like I’ll be getting a “fresh” vest later this week. Though I intend to continue to appeal for my vest, it looks like this is one clenched fist that has seen the end of its efforts to fight the powers that be.
[Sadly, this is the only existing photo of the vest in action.]
The Reason Extra Credit Was Invented
I mean the kid’s got a point, right?
Me: Where’s the book you were reading yesterday?
Student: It’s right there behind me but I want to read this one… it’s called Gangs and Violence and the cover is all these white people smiling. It looks really funny.
An Open Letter to the Manual Arts Community about Teacher Layoffs
Manual Arts Community,
As a B-Track teacher I feel both confused and anxious about what’s taking place today. Through the online social networks I belong to, I’m already aware of at least one teacher that’s gotten a pink slip today. I can only assume that this person is not the only one getting such a slip today.
I hear and read rumblings of student walkouts throughout the city and demonstrations at various school sites but don’t get a clear picture of what our school’s teachers, administration, or community are doing about these possible cuts in our staff.
While I hope there is more communication on campus, I am feeling frustrated about the lack of information being disseminated to the entire community. I realize that “official” information may be limited at this point, but I don’t see that as any reason why we cannot, as a community, organize to protect the best assets that Manual Arts has in preparing our students for the future.
I’ll admit that having a face to associate with Pink Friday is helping fuel my anger. While I may have been aloof about the implications of what these cuts may mean, I can’t imagine I was the only one in this position. It would be really helpful for our community to know who has received these slips for us to help rally behind and support these individuals and the welfare of our students. I am encouraging all of us to come forward as we are notified of the pink slips we receive throughout the day. Our union, at one point, discussed wearing buttons – it would be incredibly powerful if buttons, posters, and informational handouts had faces and names for our parents and students to associate with the cuts. Though this may be an uncomfortable proposition for our newer teachers to be recognized, this is not a time for us to hide behind newbie propriety.
I don’t feel like I am being informed properly about what our school or our union is doing while I am on “vacation.” I feel frustrated that I was not informed by my school about the UTLA demonstrations at Beaudry last Tuesday and I am asking for help and support from our union, our administration, and our community at large. I continue to learn from our veteran teachers about the many struggles and strategies they have gone through in the past and look forward to these individuals continuing to support our efforts with their expertise.
Again, I am asking for support and information about how all of us can be of use in this communal struggle on a daily basis. I apologize not for the bitter tone of this email but for the fact that I’ve been so benighted about the way these cuts will affect our school.
Thank you for your time and your understanding.
In solidarity with all of you receiving a pink slip today,
Antero Garcia
Learning to Breathe Underwater
Yes, that’s a group of kids learning to break dance at my school. I was thrilled to see it. As I walked away, I walked behind two girls talking:
– What’s that? Is that called, like, break dancing?
– Yeah, I think so.
– That’s weird.
It basically being finals week for me, things have been a bit hectic on the doctoral side of things (hence the rather long gap between updates in these here parts of the woods). However, I’ve been thinking lately about the implications of space and understandings of it. This relates in numerous ways to research I’m doing in my classes: space and meaning in disciplinary interactions between students and adults, the way graffiti “codes” space within the Manual Arts community, the way new media opens up and occludes space based on access, etc.
I’ve also been trying to think about the way one’s personal space needs to be made more explicit – labeled even, though that sounds wrong and not at all the way I think of borders as splitting us into different people or different kinds of people. (These are thoughts that demand run ons.) I think one of my biggest flaws over the past two quarters has been about being too amorphous. I don’t think I’ve done quite enough reflecting to really make sense of this here other than to say I’m working toward reprioritizing the way I deal with the different hats I wear. Even within the school setting, the teacher hat, mentor hat, advisor hat, and all-that-stuff-that-takes-place-outside-of-my-class-that-gets-mistakenly-labeled-as-“important” hat are occasionally being donned in the wrong order and for the wrong duration. I don’t want to say like I feel like I let my kids down this quarter, but – like most of us – I certainly think I could have given them more. And of course that’s what they deserve and that’s what they should be demanding. Within other spheres I think I’ve been complicating things by continuing to wear – say – the “doctoral student” hat way too often when maybe the hat I should be wearing is something like the wash-the-dishes-and-make-sure-Sadie-isn’t-destroying-the-house hat. Perhaps this sounds more mundane than what I mean but (and again with the run on) space is being construed and interpreted too fluidly and I’m not coming up for air frequently enough to realize that swimming goggles are out of place in a jacket and tie affair.
Arthur has been consistently great with it’s online content. A couple of links I’m throwing here come directly from them, so please support your local/global counterculture zine as much as possible – one of the few publications I feel strongly bout schlepping for. In any case, this article on the NYU occupation felt thrilling. It – also about space – makes me cognizant about the challenges with actualizing the kinds of libratory changes many of us are trying to instill in our students. I’m not worried about how they will be viewed or judged by the mass media, but the article makes it clear what script-flipping will need to look like. Similarly, our Third Space Collaborative met for the second time yesterday. I plan to jot something about that when I find another free moment. Suffice for now, I’ll throw out a thought: is this considered an eco-third space? I think of the tenuous balance between living on and off grid simultaneously and the way such a space could function academically (and no, charters are NOT doing this).
Finally and hot off the presses… er… hot from the oven? I’m excited about the playtest that Greg just wrote about. I think Greg’s game fits in well with this post’s weakly culled theme of space and interpretations of it. I’d be inspired to jump into participating in round 2 of this baking madness if only my biscuit making skills were up to snuff (Daye: kick the recipe over here!). Perhaps my Koreatown neighbors could settle for muffins?
“We Youth Are Too Strong to be Stopped” (Why We Can’t Get it Right: Listening to the Youth & Civic Education Edition)
I spent my Friday evening learning. I gained insight about problems within my school, ways these problems could be addressed, and how teachers can improve their instruction. This information was informed by a broad spectrum of graduate level theoretical texts and significant research was conducted; both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. The researchers spoke eloquently and answered questions from leaders within Los Angeles’ educational community. These researchers were a group of brilliant 11th graders at five high schools throughout the city, including Manual Arts.
The Council of Youth Research, put together through UCLA’s IDEA, spent the past seven months investigating their research question: What form of teaching and learning do Los Angeles’ youth need to become powerful civic agents?
The students integrated heady academic texts into their presentations. They explained the ideas presented by writers like Freire, Jean Anyon, and Angela Valenzuela. They explained why what they were doing is a kind of “transformational resistance.”
Based on teacher interviews and teacher surveys, it became clear that – generally:
- Teachers are teaching about community issues, at least occasionally, but are not requiring students to take action.
- Schools are not helping “students develop personally.”
- Curriculum does not develop civic-minded student
- “A happy teacher does not always equal a good teacher”
- Teachers are unprepared for conditions in urban schools like lockdowns.
Ultimately, teachers have a huge potential to get students to become “Justice-oriented citizens” (as the students quoted in Westheimer and Khane, 2004). However, this opportunity is being squandered. I realize a handful of us could get uppity and self-righteous about this. Cleveland High School, for instance, came out of the presentation excelling well-beyond schools like Manual Arts and Roosevelt. However, their relative excellence only points to the lack of equity within the district. For every teacher and every school that does well, an opportunity for the students engaged in those classes and schools to fight for widespread equity should arise to further transform society through schools.
The Manual Arts students made three major recommendations based on their research:
- More teachers
- More classrooms
- Smaller class size
As our school continues in our transition year as a part of the iDesign, I thought about what the students from Locke High School – now a Green Dot charter school stated: “The most noticeable changes [to their campus over the past year] are superficial and cosmetic.” What will the legacy of our school’s attempt at local autonomy become? Will it be school uniforms?
When the Council finished presenting, a member of the group stated, “We are taking matters into our own hands by telling you what we need.” They then received comments and questions from three distinguished guests:
- Luis Sanchez, School Board President Monica Garcia’s Chief of Staff
- Omar Del Cueto, Executive Director of iDesign Schools
- “The only Steve Barr in Los Angeles,” founder of Green Dot
However, as these experts in education spoke, I didn’t feel like they listened to the students. Sanchez questioned what schools could do to be more involved, even though the two hour presentation directly addressed this.
As the Council furthers its work, I’m curious what they’re planning to do next. Professor Ernest Morrell explained that the group is focused on a “model of reciprocation.” I’m wondering how they will expand their network both within their school communities and with other schools not initially represented in this inquiry. I’m also curious what their next steps will be in terms of action: how long will they wait until Del Cueto doesn’t take their ideas into account when running iDesign? How long do they wait if the School Board does not dramatically address civic education? Or if Locke continues to affect only cosmetic changes while triaging to serve its most promising students? I’m thrilled by the possibilities that Friday night’s presentation brings and hope the students take to heart Morrell and his colleague Proessor John Rogers’ warning that the program the students went through can only take them so far. The real change and the real work is still up to them.
“The World Had A Bitter Taste. Life Was Torment”
In giving my students a test on Friday about the first three chapters of Siddhartha, Mr. Miller was inspired. He suggested that the students should have to take the taste the only way that the Samanas would approve: out in the rainy weather. I couldn’t have been happier. He also took the opportunity to torment students by throwing leaves at them while they tried to write. We debriefed the activity and one student said it was one of the best quizzes we’ve taken. I was happy to see how seriously the students took the exercise, the quad was silent as the students flipped through their texts and used each others’ backs as writing surfaces.
As silly as the exercise was, the kids benefitted from the experience. With Mr. Miller’s out-of-the-box opportunity, the students gained experiential learning and became ascetics, if only for a few minutes.
[I Need Your Help!] Lamenting Signs of the Times: What Will Happen to Education and Citizens’ Voice?
The state of education in Los Angeles today: Whose voices are being represented? Whose voices are being heard?
For the majority of 2008, I was regularly blogging for the LA Times’ education blog, The Homeroom. Although I didn’t post as regularly as I’d wanted to (perhaps the challenge facing any blog contributor), I was generally excited about getting authentic experiences, challenges, and questions arising from Manual Arts to a larger audience. More than that, I was enticed by the prospect of opening up occasionally difficult conversations for readers at large. Since I was writing largely for non-educators, I was hoping to present a more sobering, realistic vision of what we experience at our schools on a day-to-day basis. No more Freedom Writers, but also no more stereotypes of a purely “dangerous” school and community.
If I could write about school life in a way that could make readers squirm, I felt like I was doing my job (after all, I landed the writing gig after basically emailing the editor at the time and asking why the only teachers represented at the time were from the Teach For America Program). I’m not trying to paint myself as a self-righteous Zorro in the edu-blogging sphere. However, I am pleased by the strongly worded comments that would occasionally follow posts I authored. My second post – about the CAHSEE “Boot Camp” that our school instituted – was followed by a reader accusing me of being a “classist” and not being able to see “the big picture.” Similarly, I regularly blogged about the graffiti curriculum a colleague and I were developing and implementing. The long string of angry comments that followed those posts was thrilling. It wasn’t just the fact that someone would be angry enough to say I was not fit to work with students (going as far as insinuating that I should be behind bars), it was the idea that people at large – not just educators – were engaging in much-needed dialogue about education. This dialogue, admittedly, was limited and often only reactionary. However, it was a step toward re-centering the school in society.
All that being said, I am concerned about the state of the LA Times. Aside from having an official connection to the paper via The Homeroom, I don’t necessarily consider myself an LA Times-apologist. And while there are numerous outlets for us to get our news in this 2.0 day and age, I think there is a lot of value in a strong print media in the city. (Yes, critical theorists out there, I realize there are a lot of problems with this as a blanket statement.) I am distressed by the news that the LA Times are effectively cutting the local/California section of the paper. While it’s being framed as an effort to improve news at large, I can’t imagine that the few local education stories slotted into the paper’s B section will grow in any dramatic section now folded into the main A part of the paper. (It’s not like there’s now more Howard Blume to go around!) I am also wary of the many, many more cuts being made to the Times’ staff. I don’t feel equipped, at the moment, to offer a full critique of the economic decisions or situation at the LA Times or at large. However, it feels strikingly similar to the notion of the district cutting teachers in LAUSD to deal with facing budget cuts while still claiming to be interested in improving student education. Someone’s logic is a bit flawed, regardless of monthly bottom line.
Long story short, I didn’t choose to stop blogging for the LA Times in November, December and now in 2009. The paper basically cut the blog (along with a few others). There was word of folding it into the LA Times main LA Now blog at some point (the site that The Homeroom now automatically directs visitors). I can’t imagine that this will be happening anytime soon with the stretching of staff over there.
A Call For Action
As perhaps a way to turn this into a more optimistic post than those initial ‘graphs suggested, I’d like to offer up a thought. As I said, I think it’s important for educators and non-educators to be involved in larger discussions about what’s taking place in classrooms today. I think this should take place in a way that feels local for now, to help change the way most people turn to look to federal changes as a sign of what’s taking place in education (Ask the average adult and I bet they could at least say what NCLB stands for. Ask the average adult how NCLB mandates are affecting the closest public school in their community – even if they have children enrolled there – and I don’t think you’d get as consistent a response). If the LA Times aren’t going to do it (and they don’t necessarily should/have to), let’s get a general space for educators and non-educators to share and discuss education as it takes place in Los Angeles. Sure, there are plenty of sites of about education out in oceans of urls. However, what if LA had a consistent place of dialogue for its educational needs and experiences. What would you say? How would you say it? Anyone else interested or have any ideas about how to build something like this?
Why We Can’t Get It Right (Rumor Control & “Changing the World” Edition)
I get the importance of rumor control. Hefty words were bounced around in my first period class this morning. I asked my students to respond to the following quickwrite [relating to the novel we’re reading, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time]:
Something mysterious happened at Manual Arts yesterday! You are Christopher and you want to find out the truth via investigation. Write down (in the voice of Christopher), the case you are solving and the steps you will take to solve it.
There are always mysterious things happening at Manual. There are always mysterious things happening at any school. However, the kids were quick to point out the news truck that was in front of the school this morning reporting on an alleged incident. The kids were also quick to point to the fact that one of our buildings was partially evacuated during 4th period yesterday since someone decided to “mess around” with pepper spray, as one student phrased it.
The students were genuinely frustrated by these events. We talked about how we, like Christopher, can investigate the roots of the challenges Manual faces and change the reality around us. Once again, the students made the connection that another of the few times the media pokes its head toward our school is to highlight “negative stuff and not the good” (again quoting a student). Yes, we had a lockdown. Yes, our school’s report card is “sobering.” Yes, someone said there was an attempted abduction. But really, that isn’t all there is to us (I promise!).
Some of my students said they don’t think it’s possible to change our community. “No one does anything to change it and so it doesn’t change because everyone is working in different directions,” one student explained. Our class talked about student life, crime, race, employment, the school’s “busted” security cameras. We talked until the bell rang and two students said we needed to finish our conversation on Monday. (I muttered to myself that this was a conversation people in other places get paid a lot of money to try to “finish” for them, with just as dismal of results.)
Here’s our school’s rumor control at work:
Voicemail received Thursday, January 22, 2009, 5:30 p.m.
This is a message from the principal of Manual Arts High School. This morning, a female student was walking to school shortly after the tardy bell. As she neared 40th and Vermont a male Hispanic approached and attempted to push her into his car. The girl was able to safely move away from the adult and enter school while the man took off north bound on Vermont Avenue. She did not immediately report this incident to school police, but as soon as school police were notified, they responded and began their investigation. The suspect was a male Hispanic wearing a red and blue baseball cap and glasses and was driving a khaki colored mid-nineties Honda. We are informing you of this incident so you may be aware of dangers in the community. Please remind students to come to school on time and with another student whenever possible. Thank you very much.
And then today, I received this voicemail.
Voicemail received Friday, January 23, 2009, 7:00 p.m.
This is an important message from the principal of Manual Arts High School. Based upon further investigation by the school police, we have learned that the report made by a female student yesterday, that an adult male attempted to push her into his car is not true. The student told the police that the story she told is completely false. We regret the inconvenience and assure you that your child’s safety and education remain our top priority.
As a final note, as I was wishing students a good weekend while they shuffled to homeroom, a quieter student in my class came up to where I was standing. “I get your class, Mr. Garcia.”
“What’s that, *Juan?”
“You are trying to change the world through us, aren’t you?”
“Well, I’m hoping you’ll want to change the world – believe we can change the world – and that we’ll do it together.”
*Juan smiled, nodded, and stepped out the door. Hopefully also stepping in the right direction.