Two Steps Back: The Director’s Cut

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A condensed version of this entry was posted on the Manual Arts blog…

During a recent road trip, among other miscellany, I listened through a handful of older This American Life episodes. As any longstanding fan of the show will tell you, nothing passes the time on the 5 freeway quite like the nasally storytelling of Ira Glass and Co. (for full geeked out discussion of the This American Life TV series, look no further). Most prescient of the episodes listened to was “Two Steps Back,” a frustrating look at school reform in Chicago. Following the transformations of Washington Irving Elementary, the story starts with the exuberant sense of positive change in 1994. The later half of the episode checks back in with the school and – diggy-doo – 10 years later things have done gone and changed for the worse. Though the marked pessimism and frustration that is captured in this episode is something all too familiar to me, if anything the episode serves as a hint of the possibilities that are being offered under the Innovation Division, should Manual Arts enter the new LAUSD division next year. In many ways, I can imagine the story being enacted in reverse for our school: the negative and constant upsets that our students and staff face could be upended by the reinvigorating changes of the iDivision. I’m hoping that other teachers, staff members, and potential network partners find an hour of their time to listen to the episode here (it’s free after all!). There is a valuable dialogue to be had.

Bonus points go to those TAL freaks that can identify the “diggy-doo” reference.

And though this has nothing to do with the above, the following is certainly at least two steps forward:

“A school is not a prison. A school is not a straightjacket.”

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The interview that Travis Miller and I did with Ray Cortines is now posted in its entirety at the Manual Arts blog. Take a few minutes to read it over here.

Though his quotes are rather long, I find in Cortines a compelling speaker and, most importantly, a true teacher at heart. I am especially excited about Cortines’ recent return to LAUSD; I should have something about this at the Homeroom in the next couple of days.

Greetings Homeroom Readers

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If you’re reading this site for the first time, it’s likely due to the new linkage from the LA Times Homeroom blog (if you’re not, go check out my other digital home, the Homeroom – now with beautiful picture and bio of yours truly).

Here you’ll find more education discussion as well as related projects I’m involved in. I also occasionally write about music, film, and literature (oh my!). Assuming you’re local, maybe you like reading books too. Consider being a part of the Beyond Pedagogy reading group (and yes, Gloria, once I figure out how I’ll be adding the books and dates for the group to the sidebar).

Speaking of music, Laurie Anderson’s performance last night at UCLA was a revelation. Though the middle of the show dragged slightly, the storytelling rhetoric and eerie, sardonic monotone that Anderson relies upon are still refreshing today. Hers is less a concert than an extended sneak preview of the impending apocalypse (for the view pleasure of an upperclass WASP-y audience).

Driving back to the east side after the show, Rhea and I discussed the speech-song format that Anderson has used throughout her career. The parallels to the recent acclaim of the Obama “Yes We Can Song” are clear and probably written about in a more informed manner elsewhere on the Internet. Reflecting on the form these compositions take, however, I see some clear instructional opportunities that could be adapted from the kind of work that Anderson produces. I’ll jot out some initial thoughts about this later (there’s a grant application that’s awaiting my flourishing touches).

The obvious highlight of the evening was the pop-laden “Only an Expert can Deal with a Problem.” Though a much fuller sound than the version below, the lyrics and delivery are worth your time.

The Other Side of the Presentation Story

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This week, I wrote a brief post discussing the graffiti presentation that I was a part of on Saturday; I also ended up adding a comment clarifying Elizabeth Morin’s role in the workshop (sorry Liz! – and no, this was not in response the first commentor, despite what she may have thought). Unfortunately, there is more to the conference story: to be blunt, this wasn’t a very good presentation, in my opinion. Mark is almost too generous in calling the presentation “mediocre” (though his story of what happened after is a fun read if you’re feeling especially spunky).

The presentation was exactly what it was – an overview of graffiti and ways it can be incorporated in schools. Elizabeth was on point with what she was to say, the two artists did an exceptional job at demonstrating expertise. However, the presentation never engaged the audience and I don’t think Mark or I did our best to bring all of these elements together to create the kind of critical dialogue around graffiti that we were able to do at our first presentation on this work back in October. Of late, Mark and I have been going back and forth on our respective blogs about graffiti and our thought process in creating the curriculum Mark is currently teaching and that I’ll be teaching in three weeks.

I agree wholeheartedly that there needs to be the critical discussion that was missing last week. Largely, this is what the curriculum that we’ve created is about. There are no absolutes (graffiti is…, it’s good when it is used for …). This project stemmed from personal interest in getting students to think critically about their surroundings and the possibilities of these surroundings – isn’t that what all this talk of Critical P. is really about?

I’m not going to stew any further over the presentation. I don’t think it was able to convey the critical topics in graffiti I would have wanted to have discussed if I was a participant in my own workshop – it was a cursory overview, it probably didn’t add a whole lot of useful resources for budding teachers, and it didn’t get to the root of why and how the curriculum is going where it will go.

A Good Time for Music

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Though I have apparently lost the link, I read the other day about a study demonstrating that listening to music helps some students learn. No real surprise there, I know. However, this is the kind of quantitative data that I need to help validate the allowance of music in an otherwise electronically intolerant campus. Now if only I can locate the study … I’ve yet to pin it down for myself, but I’ve been thinking about this electronics policy in terms of Henry Jenkin’s definition of the Participation Gap. As the Black Cloud has had me thinking about online literacy in the past few months, I’ve been meaning to get something more concrete up here, to least help me sift through the pedagogical flotsam I keep thinking about (there have been a couple mentions at the Homeroom, but not in the depth I want to explore).

As I’ve been experimenting with Twitter, I like the musical idea of the Lyric of the Day twitter. I even felt foolhardy enough to throw out the song I was listening to earlier (and the song you should be listening to immediately, if you haven’t heard it).

In related news, on Sunday Rhea and I saw the first Los Angeles performance of the New Orleans group the Hot 8 Brass Band at the REDCAT. If you’ve listened to samples of the group’s sound you get an accurate picture of the general vivacious tone of the evening; as with most concerts the effervescent (dare I say more-than-human?) bigness of live music made the show that much more compelling. Shuffling along the dance floor, I started thinking about the communal cultural practices typically invoked in concerts. In some sense, the call-and-response vernacular of the show suggests the kinds of developmental un-blank slate behavior that Steven Pinker is pointing to in the opening chapters of the current reading group book.

The other big (non-music) news of the evening is that Manual will be getting its official iDivision vote in May. This has been a very long struggle, and while the vote is anything but certain, I’m enthused that it will be happening. I’ll be writing about this both here and at the Manual Arts blog.

Autonomy Posting

Looks like I’ll be contributing to a new blog devoted to Manual Arts’ efforts toward autonomy. Follow along over here (or check the snazzy blogroll).

And for kicks, I’ll repost my first entry over there:

A Word About Collaboration

Over the next couple of weeks, there will be ample opportunities for Manual Arts teachers, parents, students, community members, and administrators to collaborate in the discussions and decisions about what our school will look like within the Innovation Division. As a grassroots movement, it is important to keep in mind that the input of all of our stakeholders is the key to lasting change as a result of autonomy. The two biggest challenges that we are facing in this process are:

1. Individuals wanting things to “stay the same”
2. Individuals that feel that dissenting opinions do not have a forum to be voiced.

I want to address both of these very quickly.

1. Though it has been stated before, it is important to remember that there is no status quo that the Manual Arts community can rely on. We are committed to the High Priority School plan and will be facing numerous structural and curricular changes as a result; teachers’ classrooms will be different and your practice as an educator will be questioned. The Innovation Division allows for these decisions to be localized. Student achievement is at the forefront of this movement; this is about our community focusing on our students.

2. The success of Manual Arts’ partnership with MLA Partnership Schools and WestEd relies on our ability as a community to discuss and recognize the myriad viewpoint surrounding change at our school. Concerns with parts of a proposed plan need to vetted as a community so that we can continue to build consensus. I want to remind everyone that nothing about the plan is set in stone. We are working together to determine what is best for our community and for our students. As a result, it is imperative that anyone with concerns attends one of the regular Local Autonomy meetings or contact anyone connected to the current movement on campus.

To date, this has been a nearly nine-month process towards autonomy and counting! I am excited by the continued efforts of our network partners, UTLA, and the amazing parents, teachers, and students that have made this journey possible. I look forward to the continued dialogue to come. With collaboration, it really can be done!

Consciousness is Coknowledge: Notes on The Spell of The Sensuous

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This post serves as a culling of texts and videos related to the second book in the Beyond Pedagogy series, The Spell of the Sensuous.

Additionally, the conversation last night was far from conclusive and an extension on any of the thoughts or ideas related to the book can be vetted here. Feel free to question, challenge, or reframe parts of the book at any time.

Our next book will be  Blank Slate. As always, anyone is welcome to participate. Details can be found here.

Related texts and videos:
New Yorker: Has an Amazonian Tribe Upended our Understanding of Language? – Previously written about here


TED Talks: My Stroke of Insight– Amazing 18 minute video

Song Learning Birds Shed Light on Our Ability to Speak

Ants Have Algorithms

Man: A Course of Study – Anyone know where to find a copy of this curriculum?

So what were your thoughts about last night’s discussion?