Children First - Break Up Those Classes

I talked to the AP today who said there were 7 teachers absent but they can only afford to hire 1 sub from now on. They're splitting the classes. It's hard to believe that parents or teachers aren't complaining about all these split ups.

Thus reports a NYC substitute teacher. Beside splitting up classes (imagine the impact of splitting 6 classes) it can also mean pulling prep teachers to cover classes, which means either teachers lose their preps or kids get piled into the auditorium for a mass prep. Or the reading or math or ELA specialist are pulled to cover the class. But I bet there's plenty of lost preps and some intimidation if teachers try to get paid. (We used to file class size grievance violations when they piled kids into our classes and they backed off a bit. And we also enforced payment for missed preps which cost the school money.)

Our correspondent continues:

You may not be aware of the main problem with subbing this year. Schools don't have budget for subs. 2 schools I previously worked at told me at the beginning of the yr. that they weren't hiring any subs this yr due to budget cuts. My regular school was calling me irregularly and finally just stopped in mid Dec. They have only 1 sub they're calling this yr. They've told their teachers not to call sub central. I'm hardly getting any jobs from SC and other subs aren't working much either.

I'm surprised not to hear more about this situation.

Sc did call me a few times including a nice school. It illustrates well the 5th point [in Accountable Talk's list] in how to improve the schools - Get Rid of supervisors. The first time I was there everything seemed so relaxed I kept mentioning that to different teachers. Everyone had the same response – that's because the principal has been missing for 6 wks. They probably can still hire a bunch of subs since the principal is not there to say they can't afford it.

In schools with ATRs, they are functioning as subs. But there are apparently not enough ATRs. The DOE solution is simple. Close enough schools to create enough ATRs so you have enough subs. After all, why pay someone $150 a day when you can pay them $300 or more?

Oh No, Say It Ain't So: Andy to Ed Dept?

"And You Thought Duncan was a Dangerous Choice? asks Susan Ohanian?

Susan reports:

Rumor is rife in Washington, D. C. that three people likely to get top positions in the Department of Education are:

* Andrew Rotherham of Education Sector, a major supporter of NCLB's test-and-punish
approach and of high-stakes testing.

* Russlyn Ali of Education Trust West, to head the Office of Civil Rights in the Education Department; Education Trust is a major supporter of NCLB and believes in high stakes testing of individuals, even though minority youth are disproportionately denied diplomas based on these tests.

* Wendy Kopp, Teach for America, who needs no introduction.

If you aren't worried already, enter these names on a search.

Susan suggests you run, not walk to your phone and call your favorite politician to complain.
I actually see a benefit in having Rotherham/Eduwonk in the Ed Department just to get him off the regular blogging beat. And he spent so much energy chasing rumors to find out Eduwonkette's identity, only to find he was out outfoxed by a grad student. Expect the same level of competence at the ed department. Well, he's not always wrong. He did call me crazy. I responded When Eduwonks Attack and its' worth a read just to see where this guy (and yes, he's one of those ed reform Dems) is coming from.

Using Data to Position Students and Teachers for Success

Jan. 28, 2009
Sponsored by: IBM

In Georgia, the Burke County schools were trying diligently to match teachers with the type of students they were most effective teaching, believing this was the best way to ensure success in the classroom. They were also motivated by the need to satisfy standard state testing requirements, which we spent millions on in lobbying the state so we can make mucha moola.

But, the process was Excel-based, which is made by our competitor Microsoft, a serious constraint given the reams of data-including test results, grades, attendance and behavior-they wanted to factor into their decision-making. It required countless hours of manual input, and results were limited in both scope and reliability. (The Gates Foundation will never outspend us - heh - heh- heh).

In this revealing presentation, Dr. Allen Kicklighter, director of Testing & Special Programs (who has never put one toe in a classroom since he graduated), will explain how Burke County-with guidance from the Decision Education Group- (our original name was Data Recovery Education Concept - DREC, but for some reason it was turned down) was able to create a much faster and more scalable process, with highly dependable outcomes, through the application of software from Cognos, an IBM Company. (Our old leader Lew Gerstner has been out shilling for the anti-union, data-driven, privatization system that will make us - and him - even more moola.)

Based on an email ad received. If you would like to register, go here.



Gee, I always used data. It was known as giving tests and checking homework and seeing how kids responded in class.

The Impact of Gentrification on One School in Williamsburg

Gentrification and apartheid (see James Eterno's letter to NY State Ed Commissioner on the ICE blog) as a dual school system is created.

From 1997-2003, I worked at the District 14 multi-media center based at PS 84 on Berry Street in Williamsburg, a few short blocks from the Bedford Ave "L" train stop, which was the epicenter of the gentrification of the neighborhood. Naturally, there would be an impact on the local schools (PS 17 and PS 84) which were mostly Hispanic and very poor performing schools on standardized tests. Think having loads of ELA's (and about 15 special ed classes at PS 84) had an impact.

Ed Notes reported on PS 84 last January with these 2 posts:

January 28, 2008 PTA of PS 84K Protest on Wed at noon- I spent 5 years at this school and this is beyond outrage

January 29, 2008 Victory at PS 84K: Tweed Backs Down

A year later, the story has come back. I am still in touch with some teachers over at 84 and will get more info. Many people have left due to the usual suspect- a young principal with an agenda. Many who remain are disgusted or afraid. What lovely conditions for learning.


From Jaime Estades,
President of the Parents Association at PS 84 in Williamsburg, District 14, Brooklyn

Since last year, the DOE has tried to suppress parent participation at P.S. 84, in the midst of such issues as unfair grading of children and the probability of a co-located Separate but Equal school planned for this September.

Last year, P.S. 84 in Brooklyn was the only school to successfully fight the DOE's plans to place a separate, co-located within its building. In February 2008, the DOE withdrew its plans to locate a "Separate but Equal" elementary school specifically designed for Williamsburg's newer residents, with a promise not to place a second school within the building during the 2008-09 school year and to consult with parents about any future plans.

Once again, P.S. 84 is confronted the same and new issues. This year, while anticipating DOE plans for a new school at PS 84 for September 2009, the PTA of P.S. 84 is confronting the issue of grading of our children.

As described in detail in the complaint (see below), the DOE has developed a policy at P.S. 84 in which teachers are discouraged from giving and required to provide justification to the Principal for "3" and "4"s (at/above grade level) while "2" and "1"s (approaching/well below grade level) are accepted without review. As a result, children typically bring home report cards with grades which reflect a lower level of achievement than the work that they bring home to their parents throughout the semester. This policy has a serious detrimental effect on self esteem and confidence and frequently leads to parents applying additional unnecessary pressure on children who may be doing better than reflected in their report card. In a school where more than 90 percent of the children are Latino and African American, this policy raises concerns of racial stereotyping and discrimination which is all the more troubling when viewed within a political, cultural, and historical context.

The PTA voted to request an investigation of this policy by the New York State Education Department and also approved a press conference on this issue, to be announced soon.

John White, of the DOE's Office of Portfolio Management, has stated consistently that the location of an additional school similar to the one originally planned at P.S. 84 remains a possibility. This year, he rejected the parents' and school's request to extend P.S. 84 grades through eighth grade.

Information from confidential reliable sources within the DOE reveals that a separate school inside PS 84 offering the same grades currently provided and requested by the school community is planned for P.S. 84. We are also informed that the DOE has explicitly acknowledged in their discussions that class sizes (which are currently ideal with an average of 21 children per class) will increase by roughly 50 percent!

If the sources are correct, we will find ourselves in the same position as last year, fighting a Separate but Equal policy and fighting for our children's right to a quality education. We are asking John White and Chancellor Klein to confirm or deny this information, and, if true, whether they have communicated their intention to any elected official in the area, particularly Councilmember Diana Reyna. We will keep people posted.

Again, regarding the grading policy, please see below*.

Very truly yours,
Jaime Estades
President
PTA of PS 84 Brooklyn
Cellular: 347-446-5786
Email: jaimeestades@yahoo.com

*Full Complaint posted at Norms Notes

Follow-up:
I asked Jaime Estades where teachers stand and he replied:

Teachers are very supportive considering the context of intimidation in which they operate. The principal has no support. We believe that this problem exists in many schools around the city. A parent from Nest told us exactly the same story as in 84. This is obviously a policy to show improvements during the year in the school. If you could spread the word in your blog, I am almost sure that more parents from other schools will react. Our experience is that most parents do not ask questions but put more pressure on the children. However once they hear what is happening, they understand that their suspicion was correct.

Teachers as Organizers @ NYCORE

Nothing will change in the UFT or the DOE unless teachers get active and involved as organizers and agents of change starting at their own school level, whether in the classroom or in the UFT. A

And there will be little change unless younger teachers get involved. We often find very dedicated teachers are wary of the union or outrightly hostile, viewing it as anti-children. While we have been extremely critical of the UFT, we are also extremely pro-union and feel an influx of these teachers into a movement for change within the UFT will have an impact. We must reverse some of the anti-teacher union propaganda. But we must also build a more progressive union to make their involvement more meaningful.

So if some of these teachers float on by this blog,I ask: Feel isolated in your school environment? Change begins by starting to work with other people who feel like you do. Here is an opportunity to get started through the upcoming NYCORE ITAG (Inquiry to Action Group) on labor.

I and Angel Gonzalez from ICE (Angel's 4th year teacher daughter has been working with NYCORE this year) are going to attend as many of these Thursday evening sessions as possible, starting with Jan. 22, which we hope we can combine with the big conference on organizing in the UFT at CUNY (details later in the week.)

The duality of NYCORE's announcement below which ties union organizing to the classroom experience has some interesting possibilities. I have questions myself as to exactly what this might mean.

NYCORE's announcement:

What organizing lessons can we learn from the labor movement in order to create a collective work ethic in our students and ourselves? This inquiry to action group will provide a setting for educators to reflect on the role that educators play as organizers in their classrooms and as union members. We will explore how power dynamics affect our government, communities, school system, schools and classrooms through analyzing labor organizing strategies and campaigns as a way to break down power dynamics for us as educators and for examples to share with our students. We will discuss readings, ideas, and materials to help us find new ways to bring these ideas into our classrooms and connect our students to current movements. In addition to looking at global and local collective actions and campaigns, we will explore some turning points in the history of the UFT and challenge ourselves to reflect on our own orientation to the union as individuals and as part of a collective of social justice educators.

Facilitators: Rosie Frascella is a former labor organizer, a teacher at the High School for International Business and Finance and a member of NYCoRE working group NYQueer.

Seth Rader is a teacher at the James Baldwin School and a core member of NYCoRE.

Click on leaflet to enlarge

Location: James Baldwin Academy, 351 West 18th St
Dates: Thursdays 6-8PM.
1/22, 1/29, 2/5, 2/12, 2/26, 3/5, and the finale on 3/13.

Register at NYCORE and check out the other ITAGs.

Want to know more?
On Friday Jan. 16 from 6-8, NYCORE will be holding an ITAG kickoff event at NYU.

Contact them for details.

Big Day in Robotics

There can be some wonderful days for teachers, students and parents. Today was one of them. The Brooklyn qualifying FIRST LEGO League tournament had 36 teams from all parts of Brooklyn taking part at NYU/Polytechnic University.

What kind of collaboration does putting on an event like this take, our 4th one in the last month with another to come at CCNY tomorrow (Sunday)? An all volunteer event, I might add (though many of the teacher/coaches do get per session)?

Here is an example of industry, university, high school, middle school, elementary school, college administrators, and even retirees working to create something that actually works.

We had the engineering students from Polytechnic and their robotics club (the Polybots) joined by loads of kids from the robotics teams from Stuyvesant and Brooklyn Tech (yes, we fed them - and fed them - and fed them). The event was run by Richard Wong, an engineer for the NY Stock Exchange (who gives so much of himself time and again) and former Polytechnic student and Wong employee, Mark Sharfshtyn, now at Credti Suisse. Mark runs our entire planning operation - while working full time and going for his MBA.

I'm not even going to go any further because there are so many people to mention. But special kudos to the amazing kids and their parents who kept piling in to see the action and the teachers who put so much into this. In the midst of robotic talk there were a few mentions of ed/politics and I was surprised when some of the newer teachers seemed to be aware of this blog.

After getting through the hectic early morning registration, my day involved circulating and dealing with any issues that came up. They rarely do. Today's biggie was the disappearance of an action figure from a 4 year old little brother of one of the kids. An older girl who may have been his sister drew a magnificent picture which I walked around with asking if anyone had seen the real thing. People were so impressed with the drawing they wanted to meet the artist. I get to schmooze a lot. I saw a familiar face walking around. I told him he looked familiar. "Lester Young," he said, former District 13 Superintendent and power broker at the DOE before he retired. Okaaay! I didn't think there was much to schmooze about.

Well, it's on to the citywide event on March 7 at the Javits center for 13 of these teams, who will be joined by 59 other teams from the other boroughs. That will be part of a 3 day event where our FLL kids (aged 9-14) will mingle with the big robots and the high school kids.



Alright. Enough of this feel-good syrupy stuff. North by Northwest is on and I have to see Cary make whoopee with Eva Marie.

F i x i n g t h e S c h o o l s , i n F i v e E a s y S t e p s !

Ah, the wisdom of an experienced teacher. Here is the face of reform that would work from Accountable Talk. I love Step 5. As I commented on AT's post, on the few occasions where all our admins were out, the teachers and secretaries (NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE ABILITY OF GOOD SCHOOL SECRETARIES TO RUN A SCHOOL) sort of just took over and the place ran better than ever. Ed Notes has always stood for the principle of election of principals.

And make sure to check out AT's great suggestion to throw shoes at pictures of Bloomberg. Maybe start all faculty conferences that way. I bet the supevisors join in - if we haven't fired them yet.

S t e p O n e - - S t o p t h e G i m m i c k s

S t e p T w o - - E n f o r c e D i s c i p l i n e

S t e p T h r e e - - R e d u c e C l a s s S i z e

S t e p F o u r - - A t t r a c t i n g a n d K e e p i n g t h e B e s t T e a c h e r s

S t e p F i v e - - F i r e A l l A d m i n i s t r a t o r s

Student Report from Bronx High School of Science

I received this report from a Bronx High student who saw the blog post below this one. Remember – These are the top performing students you can find anywhere in this nation and they are still treated this way. (Imagine how kids who are struggling are treated in some places.) If you checkout some of the blogs of current and former students (many of the latter at top colleges) you can see how Reidy is totally despised and disrespected.

It's really frightening actually.

Today, the principal and her cronies were walking around school confiscating any newspapers that students might be holding. Also, if they noticed a group of kids standing in a group having a conversation in the hallway, they quickly came and told everyone to "move along!" Sounds a lot like communist Russia, doesn't it?

Actually, compared to Bronx High, Communist Russia under Stalin is looking pretty good.
Just more of Joel Klein's Children First. But Joel Klein will support her to the bitter end just as he did Jolanta Rohloff at Lafayette HS no matter how many careers she destroyed. What our friends in the anti-teacher ed reform movement don't realize is that the Reidys and Kleins of this world are helping resistance to these attacks grow. What can the public think about these stories?

I Think I May Be Writing a Novel - Gulp!

...and starting work on a documentary film this weekend – Double Gulp!!

So if you don't see as much of me.....


Gotta get up early for robotics tournament, so I'll elaborate later this weekend.

Bronx High School of Science in the News

The ideological battle against teachers takes a real hit with reports coming out of Bronx High School of Science for years. Here is an elite school with no achievement gap problems and high scores. According to the world of Joel Klein and his ilk, since teaching quality is the most important factor, these teachers must be of the highest quality.

Yet the school administration apparently doesn't think so. Principal Valerie Reidy is the poster girl for a vindictive, politically driven administration and the prime example of why teachers all over this nation should dig in their heels and refuse to budge on tenure or any weakening of their contracts.

Joel Klein, who has been aware of what has been going on there, has never wavered in his support for Reidy. His inaction only reinforces the case for teachers. Too bad the UFT has also failed to use all its resources to take these battles to the mattresses.

Today, there is another story about Bronx High School of Science in today's Daily News (see below.)

Education Notes has been running stories on Valerie Reidy at Bronx High for years, in particular the story of Bob Drake. He went to a PEP meeting after he was fired over the famous quacking incident at least 2 or more years ago. He was dismissed as a disgruntled teacher. And a student was threatened with expulsion when he was accused of bringing up the quacking cartoon. He wrote a letter to Joel Klein to complain and he still ended up suspended for a day.

Where has the UFT been? Bob Drake considered them less than useless in his case.

This goes way beyond the math department, which is emphasized in today's story. A teacher resigned in disgust 2006 over the fear and loathing Reidy engenders and goes after anyone who raises questions about any of her policies.


The story of UFT Chapter Chair Mel Maskin has been floating around for years, as in his letter to the NY Times from June 19, 2005, "Uproar at Bronx Science" where Maskin says: There were indeed 25 grievances filed against the principal, Valerie J. Reidy, this year. Maskin was unhappy with the NY Times piece that mentions him and Drake.

Is the UFT totally helpless? That's a rhetorical question.

For all those tenure killers, take a look at these cases. Drake, a phd in chemistry, was not tenured and was fired. He ended up being highly recruited by private and public schools outside NYC and made more money.

When Maskin retired, a royal battle ensued over his successor, with rumors of open interference by the school administrators in the election to assure a more friendly chapter leader.

Where was the UFT? Still being rhetorical.

Here are two of our previous stories.

Oct 7, 2007

Mass Exodus of Teachers from Bronx Science

May 8, 2008

Still Quacking at Bronx High

New administrator blamed for faculty revolt at Bronx High School of Science

BY MEREDITH KOLODNER
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, January 8th 2009

A faculty revolt over working conditions is rocking the storied Bronx High School of Science, causing teachers to leave the elite public school.

Math teachers in particular blame a new administrator - Assistant Principal Rosemarie Jahoda - for verbal abuse, claiming they are admonished in front of students and have had their jobs threatened.

The percentage of teachers who had stayed at the school for more than two years had dropped to 66% in 2007 from 80% the year before.

"The worst she's done is that we've lost faculty," said a tenured teacher, who like all of the teachers interviewed asked that their names not be used for fear of retaliation.

"It's gone beyond just being an unpleasant place to work."

Six teachers who were in the math department in 2007 when Jahoda arrived will have left by the end of the month.

Five cite Jahoda as the main reason.

After 20 of the 22 math faculty signed a harassment complaint last May, teachers say they were punished.

Four out of five signers received unsatisfactory evaluations for the first time, teachers said.

Jahoda did not want to comment. Principal Valerie Reidy dismissed the complaints as unsubstantiated "griping."

"The chancellor has asked us to be very strenuous in our evaluation of teaching," Reidy said.

"We have very, very high standards. We evaluate and hold teachers accountable."

Teachers say Reidy cut two faculty members from the math department this year and cut its budget by 4% when the school's budget rose by 6%.

Reidy says she was properly reallocating resources and that she has enhanced the department's course offerings.

The teachers' union representative for Bronx high schools says the atmosphere in the math department is worse than ever.

"I have never seen an entire department so unified in their complaint against a specific supervisor," said Lynne Wynderbaum.

"Any time you force good teachers to leave, the students are being hurt."

mkolodner@nydailynews.com

Antonucci's Favorite Quotes

Mike Antonucci has his favorite quotes of the year at EIA.

Surprise, surprise. They are mostly anti-union. Some of my "favorites"

5) "Until we really do bust the teachers unions, the next generation of kids in public schools is at risk." - Andrew Sullivan. (November 13 Daily Dish)

6) "You'd think it would be a no-brainer that people who don't perform get the axe and those who do get raises. Isn't that the way it works in most nonunionized professions? But the teachers union apparently exists in some alternate universe where everyone is rewarded equally regardless of the quality of their work." - Leonard Pitts Jr. (November 16 Miami Herald)

My response-
The same alternative universe with the million dollar bonus babies who ran the financial system into the ground and are still running things. Along with the politicians. How many axed at AIG, GM, Chrysler? See many Bushies lose their jobs?

Mike - with all that's going on this act is getting stale. Exactly who is inhabiting the alternate universe?

So Much For Retention

A Voice at Chancellor's New Clothes took a brief break from her vacation from blogging to send along this comment on her "New York City Teaching Fellows-Biting the Hand that Feeds Them" post.

I was a [NYC Teaching] Fellow, until today. I feel like the Fellows [program] did not support me at all when I was having a lot of trouble at my school. From lack of everything, textbooks, to a mentor to union issues (we didn't have one), to an administrator that did nothing but attack, to a bogus investigation she called for against me. I made it through all of that in my first 3 months. Today is the second day after break, and I walked out of the school handed in my keys and left. I've wanted to be a teacher my whole life. I never want to do it again.

Class Struggle Asks: Is Recess Necessary?

At the Class Struggle blog, Jay Matthews asks Is Recess Necessary?

A survey said 70% of Americans believe recess is important. But Matthews thinks that KIPP founders Levin and Feinberg are right on to want to eliminate recess.

The notion that recess might be a detriment to learning is lost on many of the people surveyed by Robert Wood Johnson and Sports4Kids, as well as the people who wrote the survey news release. It says: "The new findings come at a time when many schools and school districts are making the difficult choice of cutting back on recess to make more time for standardized test preparation, as outlined on a report this fall by the Center for Public Education. Cutbacks to recess tend to be concentrated in schools serving the highest number of minority students or students in poverty, making underserved children the least likely to get this valuable playtime."

See that little dig about standardized tests? A less-biased writer would have acknowledged that conscientious educators like Levin and Feinberg might have good reason to cut back recess in order to give their students more time to learn.

Matthews will henceforth stop taking a lunch or bathroom break to increase his own productivity.

Thanks to AVITW

The Wall of Silence About NYC's Rubber Rooms

This guest column is by Jennifer who sent this to the NYCORE listserve. Her raising the rubber room in the context of social justice and humanitarian activism is an important angle to consider as she challenges radical teachers to address the issue. NYCORE's increasing interest in labor/union issues is a very welcome addition to the debate.


Rubber Rooms are the most glaringly obvious example of the Bloomberg Administration disregard for Human Rights. The "buzz" is that talking about the rubber rooms is dangerous. Teachers and organizations that deem themselves radical won't even breach the subject.

What does this say about us as Teachers, Social Leaders, Humanitarians and/or Activist when we sit back silently and allow the current administration to use rubber rooms to destroy innocent Teachers,Whistle blowers and students lives.

The public has been made aware of the Rubber Rooms by a few journalist and media outlets who have been willing to share the story but to-date there has been little to no activism around the issue of the Rubber Rooms by the Teachers.

The guestimation is that over 1000 Teachers are languishing in rubber rooms all over the city yet, they too remain virtually silent about this national tragedy.

A big rally was held for the plight of the ATR's but their story is just the tip of the iceberg and nothing compared to the unethical use of rubber rooms as a political weapon against Teachers and their student.

The current crisis of Rubber Rooms and our silence as Teachers about their illegal use is saddening.

This story and the silence we are maintaining about it is one of the greatest shames of the city today and we teachers, as a whole are helping to perpetuate its deadly impact.

When I think about the reality of the part Teachers played in the deep south during the Civil Rights Movement of the 60's, I'm reminded that in truth, it was the Teachers who were the last ones to join in the fight for justice and humanity for African Americans back then.

In Alabama at the height of struggle, students began to become anxious to join in the city marches against Jim Crow. As they gathered among themselves at their schools, they began to become more and more agitated about remaining in the schools while marches against the system were taking place in town.

It was Teachers and their Administrators who under fear of losing control of the students, locked the gates to barricade them inside. In response, students jumped over school gates and joined the marches and propelled the Civil Rights Movement forward.

Teachers are we on the wrong side of history again? What example are we really setting for the children when we lay silent about the current administrations' use of Rubber Rooms and why do we do it?

Jennifer

The Union Is Useless...

...was a comment I heard repeatedly today while handing out the ICE leaflet on ATRs at a school slated to close. When I mentioned the union, teachers just laughed.

What coulda/shoulda/woulda happened with a union that was not laughable? Concerted action at all schools simultaneously.

Instead, the union is part of the DOE ATR creating machine.

An ICE committee is reaching out to ATRs and putting their situation in the context of closing schools based on high stakes testing and the UFT sellout of seniority. The committee is meeting this Wed. Jan 7 at the Skylight Diner 34th St and 9th Ave at 5 pm. We will be preparing a leaflet and are open to input. Come on down.

Remember, Ich Bin Ein ATR

Jim Horn Comments on Bill Ayers' Comments on Duncan

Jim Horn over at School Matters has some thoughts on the Bill Ayers Huffington Post article on Arne Duncan. Read it all

Bill Ayers on Arne Duncan: "the smart choice, the unity choice"

Here are a few of Horn's nuggets to chew on:

Ayers says:

Arne Duncan was the smart choice, the unity choice--the least driven by ideology, the most open to working with teachers and unions, the smartest by a mile-- and let's wish him well.

Horn says (excerpts):

Here we see a sad, though precise, example of the mirror image of the Far Right: you are still limited to being "with us or against us," but now the good and the evil have simply changed hands. So if, according to Ayers, public circumstance does not allow our modern Presidential rail splitter from Illinois, or is that rail sitter, to choose from the good, then let him, with our blessings, choose the smartest of the evil. After all, we are smart, too, and if we are going to make a deal with devil, at least we want to deal with someone smart enough to respect our intelligence. Someone who drives a stylish juggernaut is much preferred, don't you think, to one of those noisy, clunky locomotive types.

There is, too, a peculiar kind of fatalism emanating from the Ayers piece, even for a good Marxist. Sort of oh well, so what's new, stop your whining and get to back to work. Welcome the new boss, same as the old boss, blah, blah.

Public education cannot survive eight years of the male version of Margaret Spellings, and there is no reason to pretend that it can. We could have a Secretary of Education that, yes, might not be fully with us, but one, too, that is not fully against us. To pretend and to advise that we should roll over for a choice whose primary postive attribute is that he is the smartest of the enemies of public education represents an invitation to the continued and extended domination of education by corporate interests--and those interests are not public, or even national, ones.

On the other hand, if you have built your own small empire as one of the most marginalized academic silverbacks among the perpetually disenfranchised intellectuals, then it could be that Duncan is not, indeed, such a bad choice, but one who represents the kind of reasonable repression that actually embraces the discourse of dissent as long as nothing changes outside the covers of the academic journals where such dissent safely rages.

The Long Weekend - All About Process

I heard the word "process" used in a number of contexts in the last few days.

Friday we saw Theater of War at the Film Forum, centered by Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children, which was performed in Central Park with Meryl Streep and Kevin Klein. It is also about Brecht's life with stills of his own production of the play in Berlin in 1949 with his wife playing the lead. It is also about Marxism and war protests and lots of other stuff weaved in seamlessly.

The excellent NY Times review said

Jay Cantor... delivers a mini-course on Marxism threaded through the movie. Among the highlights: some wonderful home-movie fragments of Brecht with his young family and choice clips from his fascinating (sometimes funny) testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, which the theater director Carl Weber laughingly terms a “brilliant performance.”

...because this is also a document of an actress actually at work, much of the movie’s pleasure comes from watching another brilliant performance take shape as Ms. Streep tries out different line readings, gestures and poses in her search for Mother Courage.

Actors rarely allow views of them developing a role because they can look so bad during the process. "We never allow people to see process," Streep says. We don't get to see enough process but the movie is so well done it should be on any one's don't miss list.

So I got to thinking about process on a broad basis. I was reminded of a conversation I had in Tokyo last year with a teacher who coached a robotics team at the Little Red School House in Manhattan. She said her masters degree was on process vs. product. We talked about the robotics program in that context and how some schools are focused on the scores their robot get and on awards they bring home (product) while others are more concerned with enhancing the gestalt of the entire experience kids get from working with others, solving problems and reacting to the situation at hand (process).

Little Red is a process school, as probably most private schools are, while the public school system has been relegated to product. The ed reformers who are pushing the product want their own kids to experience process while forcing product down the throats of poor, urban students.


I had a few major things to do this weekend that also involved process and product. I had to keep memorizing the lines for the short scene I was doing from The Pillowman for my acting class. Frank Caiati, the instructor, has been talking about the process of developing the characters as an important component of the final performance. Some actors and directors are interested only in the product. They worry only about their lines and how they are going to say them. Frank pushes the idea of characters really talking to each other as if there is no audience.

He has me convinced and I've looked at the way we perform the scene each week as part of a process of growth, not worrying about the product. Frank says the product will emerge out of the process. What a wonderful way of looking at things even beyond acting. By the way, our scene worked out real well, especially when Frank told me to be unpredictable in order to create anxiety in my partner (I'm a policemen and he plays a prisoner). I was free to try out stuff. Process. One woman in my class said was afraid while watching us. Nice words to hear. Next week is the finale and I will not be wed to what I did before but relax into trying more things out.

The concept of process came up again because my fiction piece for my Tuesday night writing group was due. I was struggling with revising a first draft of a short story when I was taken by the process concept. I used to look at writing as product. You write, people read, you revise. But as I looked at the comments made by my group members from my first draft, I realized they were functioning in some ways as co-authors. Or at the very least, editors. In essence they play a similar role to the one Frank plays as a director.

So, I relaxed into the re-writing and revising and began to enjoy the process. I even came up with an idea to expand the story into a short novella.

Now if we can only get the people running urban school systems to see the light and begin emphasizing process over product like they do at so many elite private schools. Anyone for Frank, all of 23 years old, for chancellor?

How the same practices that led to the economic crisis are being implemented in our schools

Don't miss Leonie Haimson's very important summary of 2 NY Times articles on the financial mess and how the very same principals are being wrongly applied to the so-called "reform"movement in education. Posted at the NYC Public School Parent blog.

Still Perfect After All These Years

One of my buddies called last night to tell me the Major League Baseball channel was going to show a kinescope of Don Larson's perfect game in the 1956 World Series. Well, I ran upstairs and fired up the recorder so I could watch the entire game another time.

I missed the original as a 7th grader at George Gershwin JHS in East New York. We had transistor radios but all I remember was we were halfway home when someone said he was pitching a perfect game. I was pretty concerned with the game itself after the horrifying loss to the Dodgers the year before. And the Yanks lost the first 2 games in Ebbetts Field before coming back to win the next two. So game 5 was critical.

But we didn't have all that much confidence in Larsen. He was known for his unique no-windup pitching style even when men weren't on base. The papers said it gave him better control. I think he came to the Yanks around the same time as Bob Turley, who for a while seemed to be their best pitcher.

A Yankee fan living in Brooklyn was not too cool. I wanted a deep blue Yankee jacket desperately but when we went to buy one my mother said she didn't like the dark blue and why don't I get that other lighter blue jacket. Which just happened to say DODGERS on it. So I was a Yankee fan walking around in a Dodger jacket. But it saved me from getting beaten up a lot.

1956 was a very special year because Mickey had won the Triple Crown. It was the first year I started going to games even though the Stadium was quite a schlep from East NY by subway.
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I finally went up to catch the last few innings. Bob Costas was moderating a discussion between innings with Yogi and Larson. As Larson started pitching the 8th I was nervous. Would Carl Furrillo break up the perfect game? Wait a minute. Am I crazy? I think I already know the ending.

So as we go to the last of the 9th, why am I sweating? Roy Campanella is batting 8th? Weird. And look at the names that are popping up. Snider, Campy, Maglie, Reese, Gilliam, Robinson, Mantle, Berra, Rizuto, Billy Martin, Bauer - my glove was a Hank Bauer model. If not for this game, Larson would be the most forgettable person on the field.

Well, the good news is that Larson did pitch the perfect game, though my imagination soared over the idea of what if Dale Mitchell as the last batter got a hit?

Had I become part of the annual New Year's Twilight Zone marathon?

The (Personal) Year in Review

Ed Notes staff waiting for assignment.

Happy New Year to all.

New Years Reso #1: LESS BLOGGING

"Why don't you really retire and enjoy yourself," I hear all the time? Sometimes it appears that my interests are limited to the education and political sphere and the work in the UFT. Sometimes I have to remind myself I have a life. I usually don't do personals, but today is as good a day as any, mostly in the attempt to recall any memory beyond yesterday. I'll do an ed/political year end review soon.

It was a busy year on a lot of fronts. Here is what I can recall.

Rockaway Theatre Company
I've been fascinated with the theater since I saw my first play as a high school student at Thomas Jefferson HS when we went on a trip to Stamford Conn. to see a Shakespearean play. I was awed when one of the characters who died came out for a curtain call. Ok, I was a bit gullible.

I never did much about my interest until I started volunteering at The Fringe Festival every August. Then I started going to plays at the Rockaway Theatre Company based out here in Fort Tilden at Gateway National Park. I signed on as a volunteer videographer, taping Annie (May), The Music Man (July), The Philadelphia Story (August), The Rockaway Cafe (Sept.) - A Salute to Paul Simon, and Prisoner of 2nd Ave. (Nov.)

RTC is very influenced by current and retired NYC teachers who worked at South Shore and Kingsborough HS, with some of the younger actors coming from classes they taught. And many of the musicians in some of the shows are teachers at Forest Hills HS.

RTC is a great mix of young, old and in between and the theater has become a great hangout for many of the kids. (I am pretty close to the oldest person involved.) One of the best young actors is Frank Caiati who at 23 has been involved for 8 years, coming out of the program at Kingsborough. Frank graduated last June from Brooklyn College and already has his Actors Equity card.

I took an acting class with Frank last winter. It was mostly improvisation. I am currently in another class with him where we have to pair up and do a short scene with our partner. I am doing a short scene from The Pillowman - I play a policeman - Tupolski - the Jeff Goldblum role. I'm working with a young fellow, Joe Lopez. My role calls for me to intimidate him. Joe goes to wrestling school at Gleason's gym. If Frank can get me to pull this off he gets my Academy Award.

Frank is not only a great actor, but his passion about acting and the theater also makes him a superb director – I tell him he could get a good performance out of a stick. The class still has 3 weeks to run. Last week, he sat us in a circle on the stage and we just talked theater and acting for an hour. I took the class not to try to act but to reestablish some of the sense of theater I got from teaching. In the process, my knowledge of the theater process has exploded exponentially. Jeez, can he really be only 23?

Frank is going to direct John Patrick Shanley's Doubt - the play - in March at RTC and auditions start Jan. 11. No, I'm not going to try out for the Meryl Streep role - I don't do nuns very well. But I am going to do some video with Frank with the idea of a documentary on how a small community theater tackles such a project.

One of the people in the class is a playwright and has suggested a playwriting and screenwriting workshop. I hope to develop a screenplay based on a community theater, which we hope to film ourselves. That project ought to keep me off the streets.


Active Aging
On the other end of the spectrum, I am probably the youngest person involved in a project I've been working on for a TV show for Manhattan cable access with a group of amazing people, many of whom have retired from the broadcast industry – producers, directors, performers and others from the world of fashion and advertising.

The TV program is called Active Aging and focuses on older people who either have a very active life or retire from one field and take on another major task. I recently produced and edited a segment with my partner Mark Rosenhaft on Howard Schwach, my editor at The Wave. Howie retired from teaching at 62 5 years ago, only to take on the massive job of editing a weekly newspaper that often reaches over 100 pages. Talk about jumping from the frying pan.

Check out The Furrier shot on location in Greenpoint - if you need a fox tail, you'll know where to go.


Robotics
One of the best things I've done is my work with FIRST and NYCFIRST with FIRST LEGO League putting on robotics tournaments for kids aged 9-14 since I retired 6 years ago. Most of the teams come from NYC public schools, but also from private and community based groups. These are worldwide events with 8000 teams and I went to Atlanta in 2007 for the World Festival, a spectacular yearly event. This year we have almost 200 teams here in NYC and are in the process of running tournaments in every borough. Bronx, Queens and Staten Island are done, with Brooklyn Jan. 10 and Manhattan Jan. 11. The citywide for the 72 finalists will be taking place soon. Come on down sometime and watch the action. You'll get hooked - and we really need volunteers. Details at Norms Robotics. Or just email me.


The Mumbles Writing Group
UFT flacks have been accusing fiction for years. But I actually put my toe in the water 4 years ago with a fiction writing course at the Gotham Writers Workshop, where I wrote my first short story since my senior year in college. I followed up with another course and one in screenwriting.

Through people I met in the courses we formed out own writing group which meets every 2-3 weeks at Mumbles restaurant in Manhattan. Despite some turnover, we now have 9 members and are approaching our 3rd anniversary. One person is working on a novel based on ancient Rome and another on a novel dealing with teaching the deaf set in pre-Civil War New England. Another is based on people of Jamaican descent living in London. A number of people who have passed through the group either have or are getting MFAs' in writing. Some people have been published – there's a hell of a lot of talent out there. I'm not one of them. Fiction writing is the most mind-wrenching writing I've had to do and I'm just a dilettante. Having a deadline to produce something for the group is the only thing that gets me to attempt to write fiction. Right now I have to work on my story "Rockaway Cold Case" which is due - yikes - yesterday. Better cut this short.



And then there was travel
One of the beautiful things about retirement is the ability to travel off vacation times for schools. Living in resort area like Rockaway, we never feel the need to travel during the summer.

January '08 - Puerto Rico at the El Conquistador to celebrate a significant birthday for my wife. You have to take about a 20 minute boat ride to get to an island with a beach. Lots of noisy conventioneers. Nice place but other than our last day when which we spent in Old San Juan, we were pretty isolated at the El Conquistador which is in top of a cliff on the eastern end of the island. We were on the bottom of the cliff at the marina and had to take a finicoli and multi elevators to get to the lobby and for most meals. Not all inclusive so we didn't go hog wild as we did recently in Mexico. We may go back to PR this year, but to tour the island.

March '08- London to see the Zombies - They did the complete Odessey and Oracle. We saw them in NY in July and we're going back to London to see them again in April. (Our best friends are Zombie nuts, so we humor them.) London is a pretty cool place to visit and maybe this time with the pound more in line with the dollar, we will actually be able to afford lunch. And the subway.

April '08- Tokyo as referee at the Asian Open FIRST LEGO League tournament. An intense and amazing 6 days. One of my travelling companions, an engineer at Credit Suisse, is of Japanese descent originally from Sao Paulo Brazil, but he lived in Tokyo for 9 years. What a tour I got. And meeting kids, their parents and teachers from all over the world reinforced the feelings I have about working with FIRST. I have pics and stories at Norms Robotics - search for Tokyo. When I came back on May 1, I was at the highest weight I have ever been and commenced a diet where I lost 15 pounds, which I managed to keep off for almost 5 months. See below for the bad news.


December '08 - Mexico - Riviera Maya at the Aventura Spa Palace, an all-inclusive resort guaranteed to lead to gain of at least 5 pounds. A few pics are here. The one that looks like a whale is me, as I gained back 10 of the pounds I lost. (New diet stared today.) I also brought back a cold, a cold sore and impetigo, which I caught from a life vest while snorkeling. The last time I heard of impetigo was in the 70's when kids seemed to get it all the time. It's contagious, so don't get too close to the screen.


XMAS Day '08: I must include the visit to my brother and sister in law in Jersey where our niece came from Philly with Jordyn, her year old baby, who was racing around the apartment. How do 13 month olds manage to do that with less stumbling than me?