The ride to Metro Center was easy-breezy. It was only when the train headed toward L'Enfant Plaza pulled into the station that I could feel my commuter face morph from 'indifferent' to 'annoyed.' On crowded Friday mornings when the entire city is moving to and fro, it should be part of the Commuter Pledge that we all agree to make room for others. Look, I like to stand in the wide aisle by the doors, too. However, when a group of people three deep need to get onto the train, Lebron James' cousin needs to MOVE! The man was huge - both vertically and horizontally - and while he was clearly staking out his claim to the spot next to the doors, none of us could get around him.
I made it to work with a minimum amount of drama this morning. I made sure, too, to carry my curling spray in my salmon-colored bag and touch up my hair with a few sprits before entering the office. Those of you who work with me at South Hadley High know, I struggle when my hair is "naturally curly" because I just know that people find me more intelligent with straight hair! But, my genius will have to shine through the frizz.
No Arne news today - other than my discovery that the Department of Education posts clips to YouTube and that you can see Arne - in action - reading to children, addressing the Charter School Conference, or speaking with Randi Weingarten, an old friend from my NYC days. There are a few video clips where he looks dapper with his sleeves rolled up - a sign in the Obama Administration that our government is hard at work! I suggest you spend a few minutes, Osamudia, wasting time on YouTube to see the AD highlight clips.
As for my Special Education news - (and this information is only interesting to those of you who belong to the SpEd Club) - someone actually said today, "How do we ensure FAPE in the LRE?" I nearly choked. Sometimes, the acronym-dropping is just too much. In related news, there is an awesome new article written by Doug Fuchs about the blurring of special education. The "Hollywood" of special education folks are heading this way for the OSEP conference in a few days and Fuchs will be there! In all my nerdiness, I am overjoyed.
Mom will be arriving to explore DC with me this weekend. I imagine that when she arrives she'll be curious about the ironing board in the kitchen (I can't figure out how to close it), the fan that is precariously perched next to the dresser (who knew it required assembly) or why the Fluidity Bar is center stage in this one room place (because, despite what the infomercial says, it is difficult to fold up and slide under the bed!).
Hope that all is going well with each of you. Thanks for the comments - it's as if we are having a conversation. I'm always happy to have an education policy discussion, Ms. Osamudia, only don't be too critical of Arne. Watch your words, he's a superstar in my world. Enjoy the weekend...
Sounds as though your week ended on a more positive note. Enjoy your visit with your Mom.
ReplyDeleteWhy you gotta call me out on wasting time on youtube, though???
ReplyDeleteLove that your curls are getting an opportunity to shine; they're beautiful!
Speaking of LeBron, any thoughts on the infomercial fiasco?
The article to which you link is interesting. I couldn't read the entire thing, but I was surprised to find myself agreeing with proponents of NCLB over something. Admittedly, I am not a special ed educator, but I have always had concerns about the extent to which special ed isolates, segregates, and labels students. I'd love to hear more of your professional thoughts on the issue...
And I love Arne! How could I not? Obama only hires the best! ;)
Looks like it is getting a little cooler there and just maybe you have that hair problem fixed.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog, just keep giving us the news.
Take care and enjoy your Mother this week-end.
Glad you gave up the fight with your locks. It has been a long week of trying to become a DCer, but maybe you have arrived! Enjoy your weekend with your Mom----tell her "Hi". And, enjoy the city. Love you.
ReplyDeleteI once remember a wise person agreeing with me once, when after watch Arne Duncan spend an hr on CNN speaking in nothing but platitudes and boilerplate ed-speak, agreeing with my synopsis that he was a bit of a tool. That was one smart woman. What happened to her? Did her IQ go down as her curl ratio went up?
ReplyDeleteI guess once we get to DC and 'indoctrinated' by the Obama-types, the rose colored glasses go back on.
I hope that when I see you next week, you don't try to brainwash my kids with Arne blather. "We need to support our great teachers, they work so hard!"
Read it and weep sister!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/28/AR2009122802368.html
Hmmmmm. I don't know if Kerry will weep over the article, but I certainly didn't. Overall, it painted a pretty good picture of the improvements that Chicago made under Duncan's watch, and the challenges of an urban school district where "Eighty-five percent of students come from poor families, and 12 percent have limited English skills." The article seems to suggest that a bigger deal is made over Duncan's "legacy" than is warranted (fair enough; and incidentally, a critique also leveled at Dubya's ed secretary), but that in general, Chicago schools are moving in a better direction, largely as a result of his leadership. Did you read the vignettes of Johnson Elementary and William R. Harper HS? Thank you very much, Arne, for a restart of a school described as a "war scene."
ReplyDeleteEducational transformation is tricky; I'm just happy to finally have an education Secretary who is willing to have a candid conversation about the incentives, and obstacles, to that transformation.
Two of my favorite - and most intelligent friends - discussing educational policy on my blog. How ever did I get so fortunate? I know I am blessed to be surrounded by smart & passionate people - I'm just waiting for all the others out there reading this to weigh in on Ed policy!!! That would make my day - a lively discussion about the future of America's classrooms. (Think Arne might be interested?)
ReplyDeleteThanks - I'm smiling just thinking of all of us hammering out the new Elementary & Secondary Act with Obama & gang.
Hi Osamudia & Kerry-
ReplyDeleteI too am excited that we have a president who is willing to start the tough conversations about Ed Reform that need to happen. In general, this teacher is in favor of exploring and experimenting with most things that would give the good Ms. Weingarten an a heart attack.
My problem with Duncan is that you don't help move the conversation forward when you dumb down the issues to appease the masses. You make them think that firing the whole staff at a school is "accountability" and that giving teachers an extra $500 if their kids score a bit higher on the Iowas is some how paying them as "professionals". You present false realities and people aren't given the hard realities of what Ed Reform really is.
Oh well, we can't solve everything. Between non-organic peppers, curly hair, and inhospitable Metro passengers - there's only so much we can work on!
Maybe next week we can figure out how to replace Special ed with a system that works!
Very well said, Ted. Dumbing it down does us all a disservice. This was how I felt about the "summer reading program," as if all it takes to help low-income kids is a couple of books over the summer that their parents have been tragically denying them. Ed reform takes a whole lot more than that; and it necessarily involves societal reform.
ReplyDeleteSo, I've been thinking more about dumbing it down, and why politicians (Duncan is, afterall, a politician) feel the need to do it. And, as much as I hate it, is there any other way? People don't want to hear the truth--that this is hard work; that their privileges will have to disappear in pursuit of genuine equality; that mass firings and a few standardized tests do not produce true and lasting accountability.
ReplyDeleteThe July 15th issue of The New York Review of Books featured a great piece by William Pfaff, titled "What Obama Should Have Said to BP." I finished reading the piece, and thought to myself, "yes; yes that's right; Obama should have noted that this was the latest in a series of accidents produced by BP against America, causing the loss of American lives, human suffering, and damage to our beautiful country. Yes, he should have ordered that the American functions of BP be provisionally seized and BP placed under American management as BP terminates the oil emergency as quickly as possible, at WHATEVER cost to BP; yes, the effort will be supervised by the Coast Guard and the Navy, Treasury and Energy, while the Justice Department and the FBI investigate for fraud, malfeasance, or profiteering from the disaster BP has caused. Yes, losses to BP shareholders are part of the risks inherent in the markets, and those private interest will have to be subordinated to American public interests. And yes, Obama should have dared any Republican or Democrat who wants to run as an opponent of these measures, as against the interests of the United States and its citizens, to bring it on." But, then what? Oh yeah--all hell would break lose, because people still cannot stomach him having won the white house, speaking much less of him telling us the ugly truth. And so we get measured Obama, who gets severely criticized just for asking BP to to set up an escrow account to guarantee funds needed for the cleanup. I would never have predicted that politicians could have found a problem with that; but American politicians never cease to amaze.
So, can Arne really say, "listen up folks; the party is over. You can no longer run to the suburbs to escape educating your children with people who share neither your skin color nor your income level. You can no longer make decisions about your child's education with complete disregard to the effects of all children in your community; in our nation. All this privatization? done; it's time to genuinely invest in our public schools, and make it the great equalizer that it's supposed to be, so please take out your checkbooks. Time to stop paying athletes millions, while we pay our teachers pennies. Time to stop protecting bad teachers. Time to stop relying on meaningless tests that dumb down our curriculums and rob our children of their intellectual spirit, all in the guise of "accountability." Time to break down an educational system that withholds resources and support from those children who need it the most. Time to start providing all children with adequate healthcare, nutrition, and family support, so that they may all enter the classroom ready to learn."
But nobody wants to hear all that. So, we get summer reading programs, $500 incentive programs, and mass firings instead. *sigh*
I sort of agree Osamudia. Yes, people do naturally crave the easy answer and the quick fix. Politicians are usually eager to to provide those types of responses - they are genetically wired to give the people what they want.
ReplyDeleteBut....
Obama promised himself as something different didn't he? And in fact, I'd say he has a better track record than any president I can think of of giving the American public a chance to wrestle with "hard truths" (The Philadelphia speech on Race, actually accounting for the Wars in the budget, his stance on Afghanistan, his admission of "slow response" to the oil spill). And certainly, Education is probably waaaay down on the priority list for him at this point - that's why I wish he had chosen someone for Ed Secretary who was a bit more willing to at least start presenting the ideas to the interested stakeholders in a way that they could begin moving the conversation forward themselves. "Hey teachers, you want to better supported and better paid? Then the method to truly evaluate your performance has to be more than a one day dog & pony show." "Hey Administration, you complain about not getting teachers to grasp the changing landscape of education? Then why don't you commit serious money to REAL professional development for teachers - and yes, that might mean you need to shave some expenses in Central Office." "Hey parents, you're upset that schools are 'failing' your kids? Well, how about realizing that the schools have them for 6 hrs and you are responsible for them for the other 18? How about making sacrifices in your life so that your kids have the best shot they can?" Duncan might skim these topics, but he never seems to have the real conversation.
However - with Kerry in DC, I'm confident that these problems will be solved soon. Or, at least, organized into color coded folders with matching labels.