Urban Subversive Teaching

I teach for CPS (that's Chicago Public Schools), a stigma that tends to elicit a great variety of responses (pity, incredulity, anger, admiration, to name a few) from everyone inside and outside the field of education. Through my writing I hope to shed some light on the day to day of my job, reflect on my own practice, and dispel some of the myths (and reveal some truths) about today's education system, bureaucracy, and how children learn.

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I interrupt this quarantine to bring you pictures of the many faces of Lily (ok, she’s got like three faces: asleep, almost asleep, and “why did you interrupt my sleep?”).

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Shopping Ban

After reading many books (ok, listening to 2 audio books) over the past week in quarantine, I’ve decided now is as good a time as ever to do a shopping ban. I’ve taken this idea from “The Year of Less” by Caitlin Flanders. I also listened to Zero Waste Home. I think these things go hand in hand, and since I gave up on my plastic ban because global pandemic easter candy seemed like a necessary expense, I feel inspired to try something different (by the way, giving up plastic is pretty hard, especially if you’re lazy like me and don’t necessarily love cooking).

So, I’m going to try a 3-month shopping ban. Flanders did a year, but I looked back at my Amazon purchases, among other sites, and I don’t think I “blackout shop” like she did. So I’m starting with 3 months and will evaluate after that. 

Things I’m allowed to purchase:

-groceries (preference to plastic-free packaging, or no packaging) -body and hair care (only to replace something I’m out of) -gifts for others (Sonya’s birthday is coming up in June, if I’m still doing this) -a few clothing items on the approved list

Things I’m NOT allowed to buy: -eBooks, books, magazines (unless I need it for book club and can’t check it out from the library) -furniture  -clothes -exercises equipment (a very tempting one while I’m stuck at home) -electronics (eventually I’ll need a new phone, but I’m holding out as long as possible) -household decorations -kitchen accessories -instrument accessories (so guilty of buying things for my classroom that I don’t actually need) -cosmetics (creams, lotions, make-up) Unless I run out (real talk: I’ll never run out)

My goal is to curb the flow of packages at my door. I’m usually not the worst culprit, because my husband has a serious amazon addiction, but I want nothing else coming in the mail that has to contribute to the load of a delivery truck, a cardboard box, wasteful plastic packaging, or an unnecessary expense.

Alongside the shopping ban, I’ve made a promise to myself to act on every piece of junk mail that comes through my mail slot. So far I’ve sent messages to: Soma, Lands End, Smith and Noble, Oriental Trading, Geico, Wayfair, & WBEZ. CSO and Lyric Opera are up on the list today (I’m still a subscriber, I just don’t need their mailers!)

Pictured: the pile of things I’ve already purged from closets.

As of right now, the shopping ban will end on July 3rd. Let the restraint begin!

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Here is a link to my curriculum project. However, there is currently no sound or video where there is supposed to be. I'm still working on this issue!

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This week in Chicago....boycotts

Well as I'm sure some of you are aware, teachers from two different schools have decided to boycott ISAT testing in the upcoming weeks. Right now, ISAT is considered a "low stakes" tests for reasons that I don't fully understand. Illinois is switching to the PARCC next year (infrastructure update status for this computer-based test: unknown). I've heard a range of reactions about the boycott by the these teachers ranging from, "Just shut up and do your job and stop making us look bad" to "Those teachers are awesome." The real question is, what is going to happen to these teachers? Will there be disciplinary action against them from the state, as Barbara Byrd Bennett suggested (by sending out the letter she received from the State Board of Ed to every  teacher in the city)? If so, will they feel their actions were worth it if their licenses are revoked?

This makes me think about a question the fourth grade teachers have been presenting to students in their most recent unit: What defines courage? When do people choose to (or when should they) be courageous? And I continually wonder, where is the line between courage and stupidity? What acts of courage are just downright dangerous? On the flip side of that coin, if we don't push the limits, will anything ever change? 

I believe the tide of public opinion is slowly changing, although some things are getting far too much focus (Common Core-not your enemy. Pearson- a nefarious organization in this humble teacher's opinion....) I just hope that the tide starts to creep a little faster and save our students from some of the idiocy that is currently going on. 

This week, a child licked a sand block, another tried to bite me, another hit his head on a pointy piece the electrical box because a child with ADHD  tried to pull him back to his seat (which he was out of without permission), and another student asked me if we could sing a song about tacos. It was, needless to say, an interesting week. Kids will be kids, but seriously, I could recite you a litany of behaviors that are just not normal. Because we expect kids to read at age 5. Because we expect them to sit in their seats for long periods of time. Because we squelch their curiosity. Because we inhibit what should be a natural love of reading by drilling and killing. 

But don't take my word for it. Just give them another test and see how they do. 

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A few highlights from Pittsburgh so far. 

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Brain Rules in Education: Stress, Sleep, & Moving to the Beat

I was recently introduced to the book Brain Rules by John Medina. With all the recent brain research out there, it's difficult to wade through what's good, what's relevant, and what should be ignored. Example: Mozart Effect? False-as a music teacher this hurts, and I hate telling well-meanign people that it's not true. The importance of sleep to the brain: oh so true. 

So it's no wonder small wonder, and one HUGE wonder, why we as parents, teachers, administrators, policy-makers, etc., ignore the things that are most important to student learning (sleep, low stress, the power of images, emotion, and movement) and focus on the same strategies over and over again (albeit, under the guise of some clever marketer who is making a pretty penny). 

Brain Rules has some great "aha" moments and better yet, the website is laid out in such a way to put the research into practice. Videos, audio, and images accompany the written explanation. Yes this is standard practice for the web nowadays, but the night after I explored the site, I could still remember and explain a great deal of what I read. Isn't this what we want for our students? Isn't this at the core of every literacy standard ever written (to steal from the new Twinkies box) "in the history of like, ever?

The stand-outs for me, as a human:

1. "Sleep is intimately involved in cognition."

No matter how much coffee you drink, nothing replaces sleep. Studies showed that when people were given half as much sleep as they needed (4 hours instead of 8), their performance on memory tests fell to the 9th percentile. 

2. "Stressed brains don't learn the same as non-stressed brains."

A little bit of stress can help; a great amount of stress literally kills brain cells. I'm talking to you, demanding & unyielding bosses/managers/supervisors/teachers/parents of the world. 

3. "An active lifestyle means half the risk of dementia and half the risk of cognitive impairment."

30 minutes a day, twice a week. Even for me, the queen of the couch, that's doable.

Most importantly, for me as a music teacher, giving students opportunities to move and experience can only strengthen their memory of a song, a concept, or a vocabulary word. We sit at our desks, in our cubicles, in meetings, in front of the TV, in front of the computer... and we except our brains to be in good shape. In America, so many of us eat complete garbage (and feed it to our kids, especially in poor areas-oh god that's another post entirely), yet we expect our kids to be able to concentrate on learning. 

So in order to practice what I'm preaching, it's time to get off the computer and do some crunches.