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May Day
2008-04-30 07:44:00
May signals the last full month in most schools. In many public schools across America, teachers finally have the opportunity to take their students out of the schoolhouse to attend the field trips that they have been saving up for for months. Before the September 11th, I took a group of high school sophomores to ride public transit to the airport where we hung out at the gate as people waited for their loved ones to arrive. Remember that. The students wrote wonderful pieces about loss, waiting, and longing. High school style.What about you? What are your favorite May field trips? Let me know...

Remembrance: What Can I Do To Make This Happen?
2008-04-04 22:36:00
On the 40th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s death, a friend sent this video to me from the Barack Obama for President website. I know that we have a moral obligation to do better and be better as a people and a nation. Hope is not something that one person possesses. It is shared. In fact, hope is no good unless it is shared. Hope without vision is just a dream.So, how can a dream become reality.I would much rather be a nation where the people are filled with hope rather than cynicism. I would much rather be nation that puts more emphasis on the next generation rather than on our current one. Finally, I would much rather be a a nation of believers rather than "can't sayers" or "haters," which begs the question...What can I do to make this happen?
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To Test or Not To Test? Is That The Question?
2008-03-11 05:21:00
I'll occasionally put up videos that I don't entirely agree with to spark debate. Test scores do not measure how successful a child or a nation will be. That's just a simple fact. So, what do test scores measure? Should we put the kind of emphasis on the them that we have done over the last few years? Many education reformers argue vehemently against using test scores as a way to measure what kids know and what schools (and teachers) do. What should we measure? The nations is far too big to leave it all up to chance. Right? Is there a better way to see if we are getting our taxpayers' moneys worth? So many questions, so little time as we hear the tick, tick, ticking of our own time bomb--about to/go/off.What do you think?
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The Audacity of Hopelessness By FRANK RICH
2008-02-27 05:26:00
(reprinted from the New York Times February 24, 2008)WHEN people one day look back at the remarkable implosion of the Hillary Clinton campaign, they may notice that it both began and ended in the long dark shadow of Iraq.It’s not just that her candidacy’s central premise — the priceless value of “experience” — was fatally poisoned from the start by her still ill-explained vote to authorize the fiasco. Senator Clinton then compounded that 2002 misjudgment by pursuing a 2008 campaign strategy that uncannily mimicked the disastrous Bush Iraq war plan. After promising a cakewalk to the nomination — “It will be me,” Mrs. Clinton told Katie Couric in November — she was routed by an insurgency.The Clinton camp was certain that its moneyed arsenal of political shock-and-awe would take out Barack Hussein Obama in a flash. The race would “be over by Feb. 5,” Mrs. Clinton assured George Stephanopoulos just before New Year’s. But once the Obama forces outwitted her, le...
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Hillary on the High Road? By BOB HERBERT
2008-02-24 06:39:00
(reprinted from the New York Times February 23, 2008)A referee would stop the fight. Hillary Clinton is exhausted, and her supporters are becoming increasingly demoralized. The candidate who tried to present herself as inevitable has been out-maneuvered nearly every step of the way by a prodigy with a warm and brilliant smile who still seems as energetic as an athlete doing calisthenics before a big game.Texas and Ohio and several other states still have to vote. But there was a wistful quality and a strong hint of resignation in Senator Clinton’s voice at the end of the debate Thursday night when, after saying she was “honored to be here with Barack Obama,” she added:“Whatever happens, we’re going to be fine. We have strong support from our families and our friends. I just hope that we’ll be able to say the same thing about the American people.”Mrs. Clinton said later that she had not become pessimistic about her chances to win the democratic presidential nomination. ...
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Does Cheating Really Matter?: Clinton Campaign Charges Obama with Plagiaris
2008-02-19 06:36:00
For most English teachers, like me, plagiarism is tantamount to kidnapping, which is the latinate root that it comes from. Did Barack Obama plagiarize Massachusetts's Governor Deval Patrick's campaign speech?See for yourself...YES!Is it "not that big a deal"? At least that is what Barack is claiming. After all Patrick and Obama are good friends. After all, what's a few lines lifted from your friend's speech without attribution. It's a HUGE deal. Not just for anal English teachers like me but for all Americans. It's not just about kidnapping other people's words, but it's about being perfect and humble and not believing your own press, or the cult of personality that is building around your campaign. What Black people know is if you want to win in the dominant culture, you have to play an almost flawless game. It's not the pursuit but the attainment of perfection. It's being twice as good. The rules are different. Sad, but true.This could be a very big deal in...
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ORAMA 08' Youth Make Their Case for Sticking with Mitt
2008-02-11 19:07:00
Even though he is gone, Mitt Romney is not forgotten. This falls into the category of: "You won't have Mitt Romney to kick around anymore."
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BALM IN GILEAD: I VOTED FOR BARACK!
2008-02-06 19:22:00
After searching my conscious and reviewing a great deal about what others have written about the junior senator from Illinois, I voted for Barack Obama in the Super Tuesday election yesterday.I read Gary Kamiya's wonderful article in Salon.com, "Biracial, But Not Like Me," which solidified some of what I was thinking, but it became clear to me that the time has come to heal the wounds that this nation still holds pre- and post-Civil War. Kamiya, a Presidio Hill School parent, asserts:But I wasn't going to vote for Obama just because he was black, or because he had the gift of appealing to people across the spectrum. I agreed with his staunchly liberal positions on the issues (if I hadn't, I never would have considered voting for him), but there was a fuzziness about some of them that was a little troubling to me. He seemed stronger on the high intellectual and spiritual themes than on the nuts and bolts of governance. And I had some ambivalent feelings about his political leitmo...

GOING DEEP: MCCAIN ON EDUCATION PART II
2008-02-04 06:17:00
From many of the polls and pundits, it looks like Senator John McCain has the fast track to becoming the Republican nominee for President of the United States. Here is where the Senator from Arizona stands on educational issues, according to On the Issues:Teaching creationism should be decided by school districtsQ: Do you believe creationism should be taught alongside evolution in the nation's schools?No, I believe that's up to the school districts. But I think that every American should be exposed to all theories. There's no doubt in my mind that the hand of God was in what we are today. And I do believe that we are unique, and I believe that God loves us. But I also believe that all of our children in school can be taught different views on different issues. I leave the curricula up to the school boards.Source: 2007 GOP debate at Saint Anselm College Jun 3, 2007Believes in evolution, but sees the hand of God in natureQ: Do you believe in evolution?McCAIN: Yes.Q: I'm curious, ...
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GOING DEEP: CLINTON ON EDUCATION PART II
2008-02-04 06:14:00
Here's is a much deeper "drill down" on where Senator Clinton stands on education from the website On the Issues:Get more teachers into hard-to-serve areasI support school-based merit pay. We need to get more teachers to go into hard-to-serve areas. We've got to get them into underserved urban areas, underserved rural areas. The school is a team, and it's important that we reward that collaboration. A child who moves from kindergarten to sixth grade in the same school, every one of those teachers is going to affect that child. You need to weed out the teachers not doing a good job. That's the bottom line. They should not be teaching our children.Source: 2007 Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nevada Nov 15, 2007We have not yet reached consensus on education reformQ: Has the debate so far in this campaign paid enough attention to education?A: I don't think it has. In the debates that we've had, education is an afterthought. But when I go out and campaign all over the country, it'...
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GOING DEEP: OBAMA ON EDUCATION PART II
2008-02-04 06:05:00
Now that we are entering the home stretch in the primaries, I wanted a deeper excavation about where the candidates stood on education. Taken from the On the Issues website:http://www.ontheissues.org/Social /Barack_Obama _Education .htm BARACK OBAMA: FURTHER THOUGHTS AND VOTING ON EDUCATIONAL ISSUESWe need a sense of urgency about improving education systemQ: How would you assess the American education system, how well is it doing from K to high school?A: Well, I think it's doing very well for some. But it's not doing very well for all. So, No Child Left Behind has been false advertising. And there doesn't seem to be a sense of urgency about improving the education system. It is a sense of urgency that we've got to restore if we're going to be able to remain competitive in this new global economy. So, a couple of steps that I think we have to take. Across the board we're going to have to recruit a generation of new teachers. We're going to have to pay our teachers more, we goin...
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The Democratic Process
2008-02-01 22:07:00
On Tuesday, February 5th, 24 states will hold primaries, caucuses, and state conventions to determine the number of delegates that will be elected to the national conventions this summer. The two main political parties in this country, Republicans and Democrats, will then choose a nominee at their respective conventions who will in turn square off against each other in a national election in early November that will determine who will be the next President of the United States. After Super Tuesday, the Democrats will elect about 54% of its total delegates and the Republicans will select around 41%. Okay, that’s Civics 101, but what do you tell your children about the elections and this seemingly endless process, if anything?Well, please do engage with them in talking about “the process.” It’s a truly an amazing and wonderful way of electing one of the world’s most powerful leaders that often gets lost by talking about the individuals and the acrimony. I resist telling ...
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Millennials Part 1
2008-01-30 18:57:00
What the hell is a millennial? Why should you care? Are we late boomers responsible for their creation?
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The Millennial Generation (guest article by Wally Bock)
2008-01-30 18:55:00
Last week, Joanna, the daughter of the Most Beautiful Woman in the World, took an afternoon of her time to help me do car shopping. After driving me around and functioning as my car buying advisor, she went off to babysitting, which is one of several jobs that she's got.Now, if you're thinking, "Wow, what a good kid. She sure is different than most teenagers," you're right and you're wrong.You're right if you think that Joanna is a good kid. She's also smart and pretty sure of herself. She's got some values, too. She is a good kid. But she's not that different from lots of others in her generation.You're wrong if you think that "She sure is different than most teenagers." The generalization you're working with came from the last couple of generations. It includes things like lots of youth crime, teen pregnancies and plummeting test scores.None of those are true for Joanna's generation. Instead teen pregnancies and crime have been falling for the last decade, the time they...
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Mwenye Baraka--Jemmimah Thiong'o
2008-01-27 07:02:00
"Hey, Rock, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat.""Agaiiin?""Roaaaar.""...and now, for something that we hope you'll really like."

Pictures From Iraq: What We Learn From War
2008-01-24 07:49:00
In all the debate about Iraq , we forget that human faces are attached. Living, dying, connecting. Iraqis, American troops, civilian personnel, they all have stories to tell about the lives they have led and friends they have lost. Tim Clemente, former FBI agent, and a friend, has been a counter-terrorism expert, but he found some humanity in the work that he does. We probably wouldn't agree on politics, per se, but he has been a good friend and tremendous father to eight beautiful children. Good kids. Make no mistake, the Iraqi War is a tremendously unpopular conflict complete with epic villains and Shakespearean deceivers, but the soldiers who went there to fight and show a human side of a nation in turmoil, won't face the scorn that their brethren from Vietnam went through nor will they have the heroes welcome that the "greatest generation" received after World War II.What will be their legacy? These troops, former students, humans, all.
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Bill on Obama: Whose Line Is It Anyway?
2008-01-23 07:39:00
Stay out of the race. It seems that Bill Clinton is getting it from all sides. Bill the Clinton has been all over the country stumping for Hillary and setting the record straight. To the point where Barack Obama retorted at the CNN Congressional Black Caucus Institute debate on Monday evening (1.21.08), "Sometimes I don't know who I'm running against." Senator Obama's query is certainly justified. Rarely does a former president take sides in the primary election, usually letting the events before the party's convention play themselves out. Today's Chicago Tribune's editorial (1.22.08), "President Heckler," makes the case that Bill should keep his mouth shut, indicating that the former President always did have a problem with restraint.Can you blame, Bill? Before Hillary teared up in New Hampshire and "found" her voice, she needed help--a great deal of it. Out came the big guns. Enter Bill Clinton, stage right, in full Lady MacBeth regalia. However, now that Hillary h...
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Presidio Hill School: What is a Progressive School?
2008-01-23 07:00:00
A few months ago (October 5 – 6, 2007), the teachers at Presidio Hill School joined other progressive educators from around the country for the first national Progressive Schools Conference in more than a decade. You’ll be happy to note that we helped to host the event by sponsoring 15 progressive educators at the school for a lunch and tour. Many of the other area progressive schools were involved with the conference planning, including San Francisco School, Park Day School in Oakland, Blue Oak School in Napa, and several others. Two of our own teachers presented at the conference, talking about progressive practices and what they are up to in their classrooms.As I have often said, progressive education is less about regurgitating rigid content standards (although content is very important as students mature) and more about creating habits of mind that make life-long learners successful. Progressive Education is also democracy in action. Thinking about Presidio Hill School...

Barack Obama at Ebenezer Baptist Church on January 20, 2008
2008-01-22 02:47:00
The cadence is not exactly King-like, but Barack Obama , on Dr. King's birthday, captures the essence of King in talking about the substance of hope in a speech that he gave in the pulpit of the Ebenezer Baptist Church : Martin Luther King's Church (both senior and junior). Ebenezer was Dr. King's church for most of his career as a Civil Rights leader. In the end, Obama's speech is more Lincoln-esque than King-like in the theme that it tackles: Unity.The biggest complaint against Barack Obama is not that he's inexperienced, per se, but that he's short on ideas. I'm not sure if the speech at Ebenezer changes that perception. What he does do for the very first time in the campaign is light a small fire under the core of the national African American electorate, perhaps save the remaining lions of the Civil Rights Movement. Why such a small fire for people who want to trust and follow him? Why such a small fire for a people who want to be excited and ignited?Some people would say ...
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A Dream Deferred: Dr. King's Mountaintop Speech
2008-01-21 00:37:00
The greatest speech that Dr. King delivered happened just two days before his death. King was a pretty defeated man by April 1968, understanding that his time in this world was nigh. He was the prophet predicting his own demise. The Memphis Sanitation Worker's strike gave King a bit of a bounce in his step, while he was preparing for the Poor People's March on Washington, the site of King's greatest triumph up until that time. Yet, King took a moment in the Memphis march during what would be his last campaign to fire up his peaceful warriors. Dark days were ahead, and King was beyond worrying. He had given all he could to advance a movement in the South to finally rip the chains from the sharecroppers and children of sharecroppers where he grew up and cut his teeth as a young preacher. Although the North gave King the money he needed, he saw intense opposition to his own opposition to the War in Vietnam. King's fiery furnace phrase, "I don't fear any man" was less a tau...
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Juno: A Movie and a Cautionary Tale
2008-01-20 06:51:00
Juno. Have you seen it? A movie, directed by Jason Reitman, about a sixteen year old who gets pregnant by her high school boyfriend, the nice kid, and puts the baby up for adoption but falls in love with the adoptive dad (Jason Bateman??!!) is the stuff that the old ABC After School Specials used to be made of. It goes to show you, it's not the what that makes a great movie, it's the how. Juno should be seen by every junior high and high school student as a kind of cautionary tale about how to be authentic. It's less John Hughs's Breakfast Club and more in the vibrant dialogue flavor of Michael Lehman's Heathers because it will spawn other pretenders that won't be nearly as good. Yet, Juno is different than Lehman's movie because it goes against type. It's a wise-talking and rather normal character-driven movie that seems to be popular during this epoch, kind of like Dan in Real Life and other recent flicks where the central characters are borderline depressed people ...
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Harrowing: Are We Headed for a Recession?
2008-01-20 05:16:00
After some harrowing weather in Virginia on Thursday, I returned home late last night to a whole bunch of new ideas. Mostly what I have been thinking about is how to keep my little school in San Francisco growing and striving without killing the people who are having a tough time just making ends meet. Raising tuition six to eight percent on families as we enter what could be the beginning of a recession (or worse) is not a good plan for longevity.More on the plan in future posts.
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On Yale: Is Financial Aid to the Rich Fair?
2008-01-16 06:59:00
Did Yale get it right? For over forty years, the Ivy League colleges have been trend-setters in providing financial assistance and other forms of aid to people that some newspapers are calling the new middle class in America--or a family of four earning between $150-200,000. That's $150K!!!Believe it or not, the so-called elite universities have priced themselves out of the market for what some people would call the moderately rich. If Yale and Harvard (plus some of the other wealthier Ivies) are sitting on their billion dollar nest eggs, also known as endowments, then is this really good for education?Probably. But Probably not. According to the article below from the New York Times, Congress is doing some arm-twisting, making these schools spend money from their endowments. Yale's endowment is over $22 Billion dollars. That's billion with a "B." At four percent interest on $22 Billion dollars, Yale would reap $880 million in interest to spend from its nest egg with anot...
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Students Cheat the System To Get Educated: Public School Officials Catch On
2008-01-15 07:27:00
I love stories like the one below from yesterday's New York Times about students sneaking into richer districts to get educated. I'd actually like to thank the NYT for providing us with another coined phrase: domicile investigator. Hey, man. Pimp my house, and then come on over to peep it.. That's not what they were thinking here, me thinks.Funny, I thought public education was supposed to be "free." What's the deal with that economic disparity-thing anyway? What I know for sure is that if all things were equal in this country, families and their students would not feel compelled to sneak to wealthier districts in order to get educated. Perhaps these parents should be rewarded for actually sending their kids to school, snd congratulate them further for not having their children get into trouble. Now there's a thought...What do you think?-------January 13, 2008SCHOOLSOn the Lookout for Out-of-District Students By DEBRA NUSSBAUMAT 8 o’clock one morning, Juanita Ludwig an...
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Data Research
2008-01-14 08:00:00
When I was at Agassi Prep in Las Vegas, we piloted programs to use data in our assessment of students. Even though the kids still lagged far behind many of their peers from across the City in mostly non-minority schools, the students made great gains in a period of less than four years. I must admit that I do not recommend that quantitative data alone is solely the answer but it certainly helps. It helps when trying to move the very bottom quartile kids from where they were to the next quartile up. It also works when trying to move the second two quartiles to the top two, but less well. However, it didn't work as well when trying to move the top kids up more. Why? It seems that instruction was aimed at the middle and lower half of the class rather than to the very top achievers. Often, there is even a negative return on data mining investments because the bright kids in a class want to be engaged in a different way. What does this mean? The question asking and other inqu...
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Caveat Emptor
2008-01-08 04:52:00
I sometimes engage in lengthy discussions on other blogs, especially about Progressive education and politics. This entry came from http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/200 8/01/07/a-dangerous-distraction/#comment- 315177, a site that I am having a great deal of fun at:I think what Barack Obama represents is a new sense of connectedness to politics that many Americans are experiencing. It’s as if he offers a bit of a reprieve from the learned helplessness we’ve experienced under Bush. (I’m not convinced I’ll vote for him, mind you.) The actual changes he can make are uncertain.Boy, I couldn't agree with you more. People forget that politics is more about feeling sometimes (JFK) and less about how someone can operate the system (LBJ). It's the beauty of Obama's candidacy and the danger of it. We are all waiting to be inspired and each of last week's Iowa Caucus winning candidates, Obama and Huckabee, are raising people's pulse rates a bit. Of course, we need to put b...
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Starting Now: My Least Favorite Time of the Year
2008-01-07 20:51:00
Although the middle of January generally marks the half year point in most schools, coming back from Christmas Break feels so much like the mid-way point. It isn't. Additionally, the mid-winter to mid-spring time also feels like the toughest slog during the school year to me, especially February, which has to be the cruelest month of the year.Over the last ten years or so as an educator, now being an administrator with hiring and firing decision-making, this time of the year is the most nerve-wracking. Yet, nothing compares with the unexpected loss. Seven years ago, I lost my first student at a school to suicide, which is the toughest blow of all. Losing a child to his or her own hand is devastating, which acts in a way to pull one's mind always back to that day. I'm interested in other people's experiences of the ebb and flow of the school year. If you have a favorite time of the year or least favorite, please comment below.
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To Sir With Love
2008-01-07 06:01:00
Even before "A Nice White Lady," Sidney Portier defined the inspirational teacher in To Sir With Love . Artist: Lulu Song: To Sir With Love Album: Best Of-From Crayons To PerfuThose schoolgirl days, of telling tales and biting nails are gone,But in my mind,I know they will still live on and on,But how do you thank someone, who has taken you from crayons to perfume?It isn't easy, but I'll try,If you wanted the sky I would write across the sky in letters,That would soar a thousand feet high,To Sir, with LoveThe time has come,For closing books and long last looks must end,And as I leave,I know that I am leaving my best friend,A friend who taught me right from wrong, And weak from strong,That's a lot to learn,What, what can I give you in return?If you wanted the moon I would try to make a start,But I, would rather you let me give my heart,To Sir, with Love.

US Presidential Candidates On Education: Fred Thompson
2008-01-07 05:38:00
In addition to being an actor who has played presidents in two films, Fred Thompson is trying to act his way into the White House. Thompson held out to the very last minute before announcing his candidacy to see if he can gain some momentum and save a little dough for the role errr... road ahead. Thompson voted for No Child Left Behind in 2001 but feels that charter schools are the answer. They aren't. According to USA Today, here's where Thompson stands on NCLB and other educational issues:Fred Thompson on educationOn No Child Left Behind lawWhen he was a U.S. senator representing Tennessee, Fred Thompson voted in 2001 for the No Child Left Behind education law. The law, signed by President Bush in 2002, requires states to test students annually. Schools failing to make academic progress over several years could be closed or have their faculty replaced.Thompson has said he believes it is appropriate for the federal government to provide money if states meet certain goals but...
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US Presidential Candidates On Education: Bill Richardson
2008-01-07 05:33:00
Bill Richardson is another marginalized presidential candidate who has the right ida about No Child Left Behind. Catch his other stands on the issues, according to USA Today, before he's out of the race:Bill Richardson on educationOn No Child Left Behind lawNew Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, says he wants to scrap the education law known as No Child Left Behind, which requires states to test students annually. It was signed by President Bush in 2002. “Our students are suffering under this failed policy,” Richardson said on his campaign website. He wants to beef up education funding and replace the current system of sanctions for chronically low-performing schools with one that provides more assistance.On making college affordableRichardson wants to make college available to “every high school graduate who wants to attend.” He supports expanding college grants and loan options but has not provided many specifics.Other education prioritiesRichardson wants to raise ...
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