First Day Back to School, in pictures

Nora writes a funny note to put in Luke's lunch bag (idea came from Diary of a Wimpy Kid)

I entrusted Chris, my hubby, of taking pictures of the kids on their first day of school. Nora is the girl to the right of the boy in the yellow. Enjoy. 

This one is much better........

Luke on his first day of 2nd grade!! (you don't know him, but this is a very nervous smile)

After a long day Nora and I gave each other pedicures. 

Love this.....the separator thing was too big for her little toes. I'll spare you pics of my toes. 

These are colors she chose....Yes, I did a very choppy job. She LOVED it. 

What major themes are running through your life?

                      There are certain themes running through everyone's lives at all times. I believe we all have these seasonal themes running through our lives. If we just care to stop long enough to listen to what is happening with us in terms of small universal messages, we too would get them. I've always firmly believed there are two kinds of people in the world, the reflecting kind and the non-reflecting kind (these are the ones who know everything). I consider myself a 'reflecting kind'. Currently, I have three themes that keep nagging me when reflecting. These themes keep coming up in all sorts of unrelated situations and scenarios and keep hammering me over the head with their messages. Sometimes, it almost feels like I'm living in a very good independent movie where every little thing from the background song, to the art on the walls have meaning. My three themes are (1) Absolute need humans have for inspiration, (2) the healing power of merely noticing can change the world and the idea that (3) the way systems are structured makes an enormous difference to how everything is experienced within that system. 
                       Inspiration. I've been watching my 7 year-old son go from an intense obsession with space, science and scientists to baseball, baseball players and baseball scores. I am not being dramatic when I describe these as 'obsessions'. While he's living through these intense periods he is able to absorb such detailed information and make such expert analyses of the all the big ideas engendered within its topics. In applying this to schools and how they are built and structured, I am not being harsh when I say that schools are not either equipped or structured to tap into these timely learning opportunities. This is very, very unfortunate for if schools were able to tap into subjects and subject matter that were more closely aligned with student's interests they'd be able to teach all skills more efficiently. Inspiration allows for warp-drive learning to happen. Unfortunately, the way things are now there is school and then there is the after school activities. More often than not, it's after school where kids finally get to explore what they really enjoy because true learning can only happen with true engagement. True engagement only happens when things matter to us. Therefore, inspiration is the driving force of all things meaningful. Grab any biography, anyone that has ever done anything meaningful with their lives has done so out of inspiration. So it pays to pay attention to our kids' obsessions. The book I am reading now written by Jenifer Fox speaks about strengths-based child rearing. So for now, even though intense units on baseball and outer space are far from being on the school curriculum, we at home are certainly using these themes to teach reading, math, nuance, writing, and conversation skills.
                         Noticing. Sounds like such a benign act. Sounds like such an insignificant act that could not possibly carry such monumental powers. But the act of noticing has life-changing potential and it's free, anyone can do it. Think of any time in your own life where perhaps a wise/older person voiced that they noticed one of your many abilities. I bet you still carry this compliment of sorts in your heart. I can also bet that you've done something with it. Part of my role in being a teacher is noticing what kids bring to the table and making them aware of what I see. In verbalizing to them what they may not yet be able to put into words, I am able to open up in their hearts a world of possibilities. These short, yet accurate phrases might seem like nothing meaningful at the time, but soon you'll see that this child has quickly adopted what you noticed as part of her identity. Once there, these identity structures stay there, forever. Like plants, we humans bend towards the light. Noticing is like sunlight to our souls. It feeds and heals, it directs our purpose in life. Try it. Next time you see your little one do anything, walk up to them, look them in the eye and say, 'I noticed you were very kind when you did that, I noticed you are quite creative because you've spent the whole morning drawing these pictures of cats." You are not just merely holding up a mirror and reflecting back what you see, but the act of noticing also communicates to the child a much more golden message; that you cared enough to notice. We can do this to heal ourselves as well. Have you ever been so wrapped into some current drama that you almost forget to check the lights before crossing the street? I have come to learn that the mere act of noticing our very surroundings can help bring you back out of any anguish. Noticing, sounds totally unimportant, yet can help shape our very future. 
                          Systems. Systems have been the source of so much mental debate for me lately. In framing what I've been experiencing at my last job in a public school, as a larger systemic issue, I've been able to better understand how all the pieces fit in this structure to create the results we all end up experiencing. Like in any personal argument you might have with a loved one, if we get stuck in arguing over the minutia of the smaller fragments, we never get to address the bigger, more damaging issues. The basic idea here is that the large big-picture ideas and assumptions embedded within any given system needs to be right, just and democratic in order for the unfolding results to grow and prosper correctly. How is this helpful to me personally? For one, In understanding how the larger part trickle down to the smaller parts I now know that trying to change the smaller parts of any system is futile. I can also apply this knowledge to my own classroom, a smaller system, but one nevertheless. There are certain ingredients, if you will, that can make or break any classroom. Respect and the idea that all kids must be engaged in order to learn are great structural ideas that help any classroom system grow. Yet, the idea that some kids are 'broken', for example, can only weaken your classroom system. You see, main guiding ideas and assumptions about the people within system must be 'right', holistic, democratic, hopeful, and appeal to humans at their highest state. Anything less than that and you would be, as Ravitch says, 'shooting at your own troops."
                            So there, those are the themes currently running through my life. I assure you that you too have big, overriding themes running through your life and if you listen very carefully they will speak to you. Have a wonderful summer. 

Systems. How they can inspire or burn us....

                Systems. We exist within them, we work in them, we send our children to them. There are systems all around us. School systems, government systems, economic systems, food systems. After my experience working in DCPS for 3 years, I have become ultra sensitive to systems and how they have the potential to make its participants either thrive or wilt. This is one of the reasons I am resigning from DCPS. 


                Currently, I work for DCPS, a system notorious for being highly disorganized, top-down, and distrusting of its teachers. Most of its teacher-directed policies are created with the premise that,  'there are some really bad teachers out there who are not doing their job right and we must weed them out". This was all fine at the beginning of the process, but every year we have what Washingtonians now call, "Churn and burn". Most currently, I have been appalled to see the very open and heavy recruitment and hiring of non-DCPS employees. All the while, some 333 effective DCPS teachers wait to get rehired by any school after being displaced due to funding reductions to their schools. Hundreds of new teachers coming in, hundreds going out. 


                 The morale-busting continues with the excessive 5-times a year obligatory observations of which only one is scheduled, the rest are pop-ins. In a 10-month period that means we get observed every 2 months. No matter how effective and experienced the teacher, they still get this many observations. One could be 2 years from retirement and have been a great teacher all their life yet still getting 5 observations in a 10-months period. Next, the increasing number of enormously costly, two-week long, standardized tests. Every child, beginning in 2nd grade, goes through this grueling 2-week process yearly. Each year, there are more and more subjects added to be tested. At the expense of our kids' education and time, the results are then used primarily to help fire teachers and to promote unhealthy competition amongst teachers. I don't have an issue with evaluation of children's education, yet the use of the scores to grade the teacher (called, "value-added") has been proven to have a corrupting affects on education overall.  


                  Next, the mandatory and over-collection of data. This requirement to collect and report data back downtown has become so time consuming in the last few years that classroom teachers are out of the classroom for hours on end collecting data from individual kids. Where are the rest of the kids while this is taking place? with substitutes, who are not teachers.  
              
                    In comparison, I would like to give you a sense of my experience interviewing with Arlington Public Schools. I feel a comparison is needed here to get parents, especially, to understand why this systemic problem is also our problem. A teacher beat down by a system is less likely to be emotionally available to our children, and when they are not emotionally available they are less likely to inspire, connect and enrich the lives of our children. In Arlington, after three years, the observation count drops dramatically and teachers get to have a say about how they will improve their own practice and even asked declare ways they will address any weaknesses as part of their yearly evaluations.  These type of teacher-related policies communicate trust. Trust then allows great teachers the freedom to do what they do best, teach, inspire and connect with our children. As incentives, teachers get incentivize through professional development opportunities as a way to advance in their field. This communicates respect. DCPS, by handing out monetary bonuses to their highly effective teachers, promotes favoritism; this negative practice foments unhealthy competition with the same peers with whom collaboration is required for a good working relationship.  Having been with this system for three years now, I have been feeling my morale, my energy and my creativity quickly wilting and it was time I listened to my body. I am an excellent teacher, but DCPS as a system, got me down. DCPS made me feel paranoid and made me feel ineffective most days. After each observation I would feel helpless for days on end. 
                     
                     I have become convinced through this experience with DCPS that in order for any system to be sustainable, run effectively and smoothly for years to come, its leaders need to insure that its big, overriding ideas become the driving force behind all its policies. In addition, its big, overriding ideas need to have respect and trust embedded. All policies, no matter how benign they seem, communicate assumptions about a group of people. That assumption, however subtle and nuanced, will work its way to the inner psyche of all its participants and either inspire and energize or wilt and harden them from the inside out. 


                      I have chosen not to become hardened and wilted and sought shelter in a less harsh waters. To be an effective teacher I need to remain open, fresh and inspired myself. If my blood-pressure is to the roof, and I am losing sleep over increasing the percentage of higher level questions I am asking in any given lesson, I have lost all focus. As Einstein said, "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." I needed to be someplace where the stuff that can't be counted, like inspiration, still counts. 


                      

DC Parent Power OPEN Meeting Monday

DC Parent Power Open Meeting Invite

You are invited to an open meeting for “DC Parent Power” to look for common ground for civic engagement around public education in the District.

THIS Monday, November 7th, 2011

at

Juanita E. Thornton/Shepherd Park Neighborhood Library,

Room: SPK Room A,

Time: 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM

This is an open gathering of a group of DCPS parents and education advocates joining together to improve public education by re-engaging DCPS, District government education agencies and elected officials with the major constituency who use the schools.

City families, teachers & interested community members are welcome to participate.

We initially came together inspired by the National Save Our Schools event on the Mall and conference in July. The initial gathering indicated strong sentiment for:

· Authentic public engagement
· Transparency at all stages of policy development
· Less emphasis on standardized testing
· Richer curriculum
· Strong backing for public education, as opposed to increasing privatization
· Decreasing racial and economic school segregation
· Use of proven methods in all levels of school reform
· Equitable funding for all Wards

If interested in coming, please contact Miriam Cutelis at Miriam.Cutelis@yahoo.com with an RSVP if you plan to attend or if you want more information.
**Feel free to forward this invitation to other individuals or groups who might be interested.

NEXT DC Parent Power Meeting

Monday, November 7th, 6:30-8:30pm

Juanita E. Thornton/Shepherd Park Neighborhood Library

Room: SPK Room

DC Parent Power seeks:

* Authentic public engagement
* Transparency at all stages of policy development
* Less emphasis on standardized testing
* Richer curriculum
* Strong backing for public education, as opposed to increasing privatization
* Decreasing racial and economic school segregation
* Use of proven methods in all levels of school reform
* Equitable funding for all Wards

DC Parent Power Meeting September 29 6-8pm

DC Parent Power Meeting

If you’re an education advocate living in and around DC, you are invited to join DC Parent Power or to come to one of our meetings. DC Parent Power looks for common ground for civic engagement around public education in the District.

Meeting Information:

Thursday, September 29, 2011

6:00-8:00pm

Thurgood Marshall Center (directions below)

Directions:

Thurgood Marshall Center (the historic YMCA building)

1816 12th St. NW

Conference Room 1/ first floor

2 short blocks south of the U/Street Cardozo yellow/green metro

(Street parking available, but scarce as it gets later)

This is the third gathering of a group of DCPS parents, educators, State Board of Education Representatives and education advocates coming together to improve public education by re-engaging DCPS, District government education agencies and elected officials with the major constituency who use the schools.

City families, teachers & all interested community members

are welcome and encouraged to participate

We initially came together inspired by the National Save Our Schools event on the Mall and Save Our Schools conference this summer. The initial gathering indicated strong sentiment for bringing together various pre-existing DC education advocate groups and voices throughout the city as well as:

· Authentic public engagement

· Transparency at all stages of policy development

· Less emphasis on standardized testing

· Richer/ well rounded curriculum

· Strong backing for public education, as opposed to increasing privatization

· Decreasing racial and economic school segregation

· Use of proven methods in all levels of school reform

· Equitable funding for all Wards

If interested in attending, RSVP Miriam Cutelis at Miriam.Cutelis@yahoo.com.

**Feel free to forward this invitation to other individuals or groups who might be interested.

YOU ARE INVITED: DCPS Education Advocates Organizing Meeting

DC Parent Power Organizing Meeting

Parents, teachers and education advocates are invited to an organizing meeting to look for common ground for civic engagement around public education in the District. The meeting will take place at:

Watha T. Daniel Library (Shaw Library)

1630 7th St. N.W.

Washington, DC 20001

Main meeting room

5:30-7:30 p.m

Wednesday, August 31st 2011

1 block from the Shaw/Howard Metro (Green Line)

Street parking is generally available

This is the second gathering of a group of DCPS parents and education advocates joining together to improve public education by re-engaging DCPS, District government education agencies and elected officials with the major constituency who use the schools.

City families, teachers & interested community members are welcome to participate.

We initially came together inspired by the National Save Our Schools event on the Mall and SOS Conference in July. The initial gathering indicated strong sentiment for:

· Authentic public engagement
· Transparency at all stages of policy development
· Less emphasis on standardized testing
· Richer curriculum
· Strong backing for public education, as opposed to increasing privatization
· Decreasing racial and economic school segregation
· Use of proven methods in all levels of school reform
· Equitable funding for all Wards

If interested, please contact Miriam Cutelis at Miriam.Cutelis@yahoo.com with an RSVP if you plan to attend or if you want more information.
**Feel free to forward this invitation to other individuals or groups who might be interested.

What the wealthy want for their children....and ours

I was in the DC metro with my daughter, heading back home totally energized from the Save Our Schools March in DC and by pure chance ran into the same parent and child we saw heading towards the march in the morning. We struck up a conversation about the march and then about our public schools in Ward 3, which happens to be a fairly affluent area in DC and happens to be where I also live and teach. The minute I mentioned that I work as a teacher for the DC Public Schools in Ward 3, he injected his opinions that Ward 3 schools were still not 'as good as private schools' and that there 'still a lot of work to be done'. In the age of the highly misleading corporatist movie, Waiting for Superman, I am no stranger to the growing misdirected anger from parents at the so called 'crisis' of 'ineffective DC public schools and every time I get such comments as these I am in awe of how little parents really know TRUE FACTS about the forces affecting their own child's education today. They know a lot of myths, but very few TRUE FACTS.

If this parent were more aware of the misdirected forces shaping education today, he would not be saying such comments. He would surely know that private schools highly value smaller class sizes, while here in DCPS we are taking millions in foundation money from millionaire Bill Gates. Bill Gates has been working tirelessly to produce 'studies' to convince the entire country that larger classes are actually perfectly fine for public school children as long are there is a so called, 'effective' teacher in the class. In addition, private schools highly value experienced teachers and year-to-year stability in their staff. Private school want teachers who want to stay in the school community for years, it's good for the kids, it's good for the parents, it's good for the whole community to have this stable sense of continuity, of familiarity. We all know how much kids need stability. Meanwhile, DCPS is firing and churning in inexperienced teachers into the District, closing the so called, 'ineffective' schools, hiring Teach For America (TFA) teachers who possess a poultry 5 weeks of education 'training' to replace the so called, 'ineffective ones' they've fired. What's most illogical about this is that most TFAers don't plan on making teaching their life's calling. So much for stability there.

This misdirected anger towards public schools and teachers on the part of some parents needs to be analyzed, reexamined and placed in proper context. It comes to no surprise to wealthy parents in Ward 3 that any school with small class sizes, predictable, stable and experienced staff will be better. Ask any wealthy parent what qualities they look for in a school? They will never say they want a class of 32 kids, or teachers who have never taught before. Yet, common sense and logic seems to disappear when we judge the quality of our public schools. Somehow, some parents in DC expect public school teachers to perform miracles in often overcrowded, packed classroom, and without the private-school levels of resources they currently enjoy.

Unfortunately, true academic improvement in the DC public schools will not become reality until we, politicians, parents, and administration officials are honest with ourselves and admit that broad and gaping inequalities do exist in these key areas. The comparison does not need to be between public and private either. Even when just comparing public schools from various wards in DC, these gaping inequalities exist. These inequalities lie less in the quality of the teacher, but in every other aspect of the environment such as resources, smaller class sizes, course diversity, after school programs. Last year, I scored high enough in my teacher evaluation to be considered a 'highly effective' teacher by the District of Columbia. While it's flattering to be in this position, I doubt I'd score as high if I were put in a less affluent district, with 45 kids and 34 chairs, with only 100$ supply money to teach fine arts to 540 kids weekly for a year. These are not random fictitious situations I am listing, these are the facts teachers live with daily in some DC schools. Public school children deserve the same quality school characteristics that define what private schools are all about. The wealthy know it, the politicians know it, Bill Gates knows it. How do I know this? Because they all demand these specific characteristics from their own children's education system. Small class sizes, solid, experienced, career teachers do matter, no matter what Bill Gates' studies say.

Focusing the blame on public school teachers and coining them as the main reason for ineffective schools and further framing the teachers as using poverty as merely an excuse not to do their jobs, are THE BIGGEST excuses of them all.

Parents, please, I beg you, do not allow these broad, relentless and shameful tactics to fuel more disconnectedness between parents and teachers. Trust more the ones who have dedicated their lives, passion and love to OUR children and approach with caution the ones tearing apart OUR schools, OUR communities and OUR children's future at the expense of fattening their paychecks and feeding their bottomless egos.

As a parent of two young people, I logically want what is best for my children as the wealthy parents want what's best for their children. So I don't bemoan them for wanting the very best education money can buy. What is infuriating though is how these 'customers' of small class size schools, and believers of experienced teacher for their children are trying to convince the nation of the useless nature of such qualities. But shouldn't what's best for the children of the wealthy also be what's best for all children in America? Why are these reformers asking the exact opposite for OUR children than they ask for their children? Many years from now historians will judge us on our actions and true democracy lies in how we choose to educate our children. What would historians say about how we care for our young? Right now, our country's policies are making some schools more segregated, and making our poverty schools worse.

Highly Effective Teacher in DCPS.....But is it worth the aggravation?

Through five observations done on me while teaching at a DCPS elementary school last year, I scored a 'highly effective' rating. This sounds just wonderful up front but the excitement soon melted away to reveal a very disappointing experience. Initially, as a reward for a job well done, I got sent this beautiful clear plaque which now sits in my classroom, I also got invited to a gala event for highly effective teachers at the Kennedy Center, and most importantly, I was offered a large bonus with some very unsettling strings attached.

Up front, it all sounded great; I definitely felt rewarded for a job well done. My initial thought was generally positive. 'I can get to like this' I remember thinking. It also reaffirmed that, perhaps, I might actually choose to stay in DCPS longer than I had originally intended when hired last year. I began researching these 'strings' to be able to make the best decision on whether to take the money or not. If I decide to take the money, I would have to sign away early retirement and contract buyout. The third 'string', and of most concern to me, (3) takes away the cushion of a year's assured salary in the case I get excessed.

Before I go on any further I would like to get something clear. I liberally use the description 'highly effective' and 'non-highly effective' here for descriptive purposes only. Not for a minute do I think teachers who got a non-highly effective rating through observations are less effective than those who did. There is no way to truly measure what all a teacher does in her class and the true long term affect she will have on her children's lives.

I called the DCPS IMPACT office to get more information on this particular clause. The man on the other end of the line at the DCPS Impact office explains to me that "The thinking behind this was that if you are a 'highly effective' teacher you should have no problems finding a job at any other District or school." His answer stopped me cold. Let me get this straight. For seemingly being a better teacher, I get 'rewarded' with less job security? This made no sense. I also began to inquire with colleagues particularly about the possibilities of getting excessed. I was told by some teachers who have experienced being excessed in DCPS, that this could pretty much happen at any time in the District. On the other hand, I was also reassured by others that surely this could never happen to me, or at this school, or at this time. Somehow these reassurances did not reassure me of my job security. We all have seen plenty of teachers let go last years who had solid contracts in hand; making it plenty clear that even written contracts can be dissolved.

Does DCPS actually think they are going to help retain their 'highly effective' teacher population in the District by taking away these teachers' job security? If, by any chance I were ever excessed from my current job, I am lucky enough to have solid credentials to pretty much get a job anywhere. Yet, somewhere in the planning of the particulars of this bonus, they forgot to ask themselves 'what makes them so sure that excessed, highly effective teachers who have not been in the District long will look within the District for a new job?' I understand how highly effective teachers who are excessed and who are close to retirement might find this even more frightful, for they can't just easily relocate to another district. Suddenly, this bonus took the form of a huge carrot stick that might just lead to nowhere positive.

My question to the team of people who thought this up the workings of this bonus would be, 'If I were excessed, not given any warning and given a mere 2 months full pay guaranteed while I looked to be placed elsewhere, would I even want to continue to work for such a precarious and unreliable system?' If such excessing were to happen, people who have good enough credentials and have only put in few years in the DCPS system will leave the system in search for less punitive school systems. While teachers who might not have the same possibilities of finding a job elsewhere and the close-to-retirement teachers would surely opt to stay within the system. Isn't that purely anti productive to what we want to happen? We are scaring away the incoming new HE population of teachers and making the experienced close-to-retirement teachers worry about their job security.

I am only 37 now and do not yet own a home. Yet, the minute I buy a home and have mortgage and other more pressing financial responsibilities, I will require a higher level of job security; one that DCPS obviously can't afford, especially for their top teachers. What is most ironic though is how this current system now assures that the seemingly non-highly effective teachers remain in the system with very little risk to their job security, while also creating an adversarial situation with (especially newer) highly effective teachers. A newer highly effective teacher would surely reconsider working for such a clearly punitive system and may look elsewhere for a system that respects their abilities and values professional strength through better treatment of their employees. As a fairly young teacher in the district, seeing how the more experienced highly effective teachers are made to worry about their job security makes me think that perhaps there are other less punitive systems out there where an excellent teacher can teach and not worry about losing it all.