Who, am I, I am a teacher whose pedagogy is my humanity

 

Central Connecticut State University 

Center for Excellence Social Emotional Learning Symposium 11/21/24 

Keynote Dr. Jesse P. Turner CCSU Literacy Center Director 

Who, am I, I am a teacher whose pedagogy is my humanity

A little historical background about the CESEL

Welcome, to our CESEL Symposium, it is an honor to open our symposium. The whole idea of Social Emotional Learning Center began years ago shortly after the December 14, 2012, mass shooting occurred at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7, and 6 school staff were brutally murdered.  A tragedy that indicated school as usual was no lingered an option. In those early days, you could hear and see the  whispered dreams of faculty in Counselor Education and Family Therapy, Education Leadership, the Dean’s office, Special Education, and other departments like my own Literacy, Elementary Education. Former Dean Mike Alfano and Nelbra Marguez Green were part of those whispered dreams, and of course Dr. Peg Donohue as were others who should be named, but time prevents me from giving all the respect and honor they deserved. Something grew out of a pain too deep to bury inside. I am a believer in the whispered dreams of all of you here today, and of all those who came before. 

Love wins
We were inspired by a grieving mother with a Love Wins sign. Our School Counseling program was emerging out of the efforts of the Department of Counselor Education and Family Therapy to change school as usual. That department would lead the efforts to see a certification for school family councilors in Connecticut.  Dr. Donohue and Dr. Ryan can fill in the gaps better than I later on today. Find the time to asked her about those dreams, and the efforts to keep those dreams alive. After Sandy Hook, I could not begin without saying school as usual is over. The kids are not alright, I am not sure if they ever were. Now, it is time to share my story. 

Why me?

I am Dr. Jesse P. Turner the CCSU Literacy Center Director, that temple of hope, diverse books across the hall, where children are more than test scores. My nickname is “Readdoctor”, over the past few decades I have earned a reputation as a teacher who inspires a love of reading for those who struggle with reading. I am an old Civil Rights Activist who has walked 400 miles to Washington DC twice in the past 14 years protesting failed high-stakes testing policies that have cost our nation’s taxpayers some three trillion dollars. I have occupied the United States Department of Education in DC, with a dedicated group of activist educators twice. I am known as an education activist nationally.  Why, because our nation spends 23 billion dollars more every year on Wealthy predominantly White Schools than on predominately Black and Brown schools in poor communities. We also spend 1. 9 billion on high stakes testing whose results do not even come back until our children have gone on to the next grade. 24. 9 billion dollars chasing the wrong data, the wrong policies, and wrong reforms. In 2018 even our own Connecticut State Supreme Court ruled that the richest state in the union is not responsible for giving Black, Brown, and Special Education children an equal and high quality education, merely access to a basic one. The kids are not alright, schools are not alright, and neither are our teachers and counselors. I have been arrested in acts of Civil Disobedience advocating for a Moral Budget, for Black Lives Matter and for Labor. I am one of the ones you called when you want to load the Paddy Wagon for just causes. But most of all I am a teacher whose pedagogy is rooted in Humanity. 

My Introduction to Humanity came in strangers

I like to begin where I first witnessed this Pedagogy of Humanity. I was a child suffering from childhood trauma. My father an abusive alcoholic, screaming, breaking things, and yes hitting us were the norm in my childhood. Mothers and children live with trauma, not because they want to, but because they see no way out. Children live with trauma, not because they want to, but because they have no choice. Teachers teach children living with trauma not because they want to, but because they have no magic wands to wash it away. 

Before I go further, you should know I love my father, I forgave him, and held his hand as he left this world. At the age of 10, one night my father came home in a rage, screaming, breaking things, and he raise his hand to slap my mother. I stepped in between that blow, and the fighting ended, and by the next night he had left us. No note, just gone. I come to understand he left, because he loved us too much to hurt us anymore. 

My mother was a waitress working six days a week for nickels and dimes. Without my father she could not afford the rent, we would soon be evicted. For the next two years we were homeless. My mother’s days were spent trying to earn enough for a night in a flop house single room occupancy hotel. Often the choice was food or a bed. Many nights we found ourselves on the wooden benches of our local train station. The station had clean bathrooms, even showers, and the local police were kind enough to ignore us. The custodians were even kinder, they would close the men’s rest room so my mother could help me shower in the men’s bathroom, and brush my teeth. These small acts of kindness from strangers became my first glimpse of humanity. A few years ago, I visit that train station and there were sign hanging down near every bench, you can only sit here for two hours. Where is the humanity in that? 

I found humanity at church and the library

On Sundays we would go to church. I learned to love services in between the free hot chocolate and donuts. My mother high school friend work at the local library, and after school she looked after me until my mother came home from work. Another act of humanity. I was the only child who was given hot soup, chocolate and cookies. What more could a child ask for than the warmth of a library, books, and some soup. These acts of humanity made life bearable. 

Now, about school during that first homeless year. I was trouble, hungry, cold, angry I was explosive, and could launch into hitting, biting, kicking, and throwing things. I have no clue how my teachers dealt with me. I could not share that child until some years ago. Trauma has a way of burying itself deep inside. I would begin to share that child with the teachers I teach, not because I felt like sharing war stories, but because I recognized in them, they were living their own Trauma into their own schools. 

Why they call it a school-to-prison pipeline

I am 69 years old, in my days there were no school counselor, no education psychologist, no social worker, no free breakfast, no free lunch. None of these things were available in the ghetto schools of 55 years ago. Even today there are schools in our poorest communities who lack these services, and free school lunch programs are always targets for conservative leaders. No, wonder, Dr. Michelle Alexander in her Seminal work: The New Jim Crow” refers to our public schools in poor communities of color as the School to Prison Pipeline. Don’t you dare blame my teachers did the best they could with what they had with me that year. Sometimes we had no bed at night, but we had food to eat, sometimes we had a bed, and nothing to eat, and sometimes we had both. My teachers could not change that for us, and trust me I was not the only child in these circumstances. I have no doubt I was headed down that school-to-prison pipeline, the gangs were calling me. A kid who loved to fight was always on their radar.  

My humanitarian guard dogs

My mother and her librarian friend would not let the gangs have me. They were my guard dogs watching a child enthralled with hoodlum life. I wanted in, I felt like I belonged, but I could not break the broken heart of a mother whose heart had been broken too many times. My mother had no problem telling the badgang bangers hands off her son. Our meek librarian chased them away many a day.

My Introduction to the Pedagogy of Humanity

In year two of my homelessness, I first met this pedagogy of humanity in Mr. B, I would meet my pedagogical hero. At school, I had failed every subject even gym.  My mother who was a high school graduate, whose three daughters were as well, feared I was destined to become a dropout and like my father. However, the librarian little Jess is smart, he reads, he loves books. The kid is reading far above his grade. He has read all Dickens books, Victor Hugo’s books, and eats Alexander Dumas’s Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Christo, and The Man in the Iron Mask. My mother’s Librarian friend said at first Margie, I thought he was pretending, trying to impress me, but I started asking him questions about what he was reading, the boy remembers and knows it all. She knew books were my escape, my refuge, and heaven.  My escape from the hell we were living. Still, none of it came through at school until Mr. B, began to feed me. 

Breaking the cycle

Some educators follow test scores and grades, seeing deficits, numbers, and harsh realities. God answered my mother’s prayers, he sent her an angel in the classroom. A teacher who follows the child, a kid watcher, who looks behind the data, and sees the child. That teacher was Mr. B. I went to school when physical punishment was allowed. Two years before Mr. B.  Our fifth-grade teacher whose pedagogy was rooted in some kind of Toxic Masculinity. It was back in the day when the whole school would wait outside in class lines, rain or shine. He used to tell all the boys to tighten their arms, and put out your arms. He would proceed to punch us to see how much a man we were before we went in. If we flinch, he hit us again. I used to pride myself in never crying, never showing any pain, showing my manliness. I was being immersed in the same Toxic Masculinity my father followed along with most of the men in our community. Although I did not show it, it was breaking me. When people tell me schools have not changed, I know better. Enough toxicity, better days would come. 

Now back to Mr. B, my Pedagogical Humanity Hero. He was new, they gave him the toughest kids, the lowest kids, the trouble ones. In those days there were no free and reduced lunch programs. No school cafeterias, you either brought your lunch to school or walked home to eat. I had no home or lunch. Children who brought their lunch were expected to eat in the school year. Mr. B allowed us to sit in the classroom, where it was warm and dry. During those first 2 weeks, he noticed the boy who had no lunch. The kid who always said that he hated lunch. I have no idea what pedagogies Mr. B’s professors at university exposed him to, but I have come to know that his pedagogy was his humanity. A pedagogy fed by love. 

He had a way of finding out stuff about us, that is to say, he never talked at you, but with you. He knew I like Liverwurst. He thought it funny that the kid who hated liver did not realize that Liverwurst was a liver product. Mr. B at lunch one day open his lunch bag and shouted out, crap my wife made me two Liverwurst sandwiches, I hate Liverwurst. Then he said Jesse, you like Liverwurst, can you help me out, and eat one for me. He fed me for a year, and he gave me new gloves, socks, and even a coat. He said he found these things in the lost and found box. His humanity broke me down, lifted me up, and broke the cycle of toxic anger in me. I blossomed into the smartest kid in the room, and I would never know anything but As for the rest of my life. I found deeper meaning in church services, and developed a sense of humanity of my own. 

Breaking the chains of Masculinity 

More importantly, he taught me a new kind of masculinity, one rooted in kindness, sharing, and caring. Kindness was as manly as it gets for him. Mr. B would eventually call my older sister Jessica when he found out about my living conditions, she was a young newlywed and a former student. He would tell her about where my mother and I were living,.He knew she was a young newlywed, but he would ask her if she and her husband could take me in. My brother-in-law did not have a college degree, but he led with his humanity. Mr. B, was my savior, so was my sister, my brother-in-law, and so was my mother. It took my mother years until she had her own place. I moved back home at 18. I lived with her for my undergraduate years at university. Those years were golden. 

I live my own Pedagogy of Humanity

57 years later I have traveled the path from homeless kid to honorable son, brother, uncle, husband, father man of peace, to Ph.D. from classroom teacher to blogger, activist, and to the teacher, Mr. B would be proud of. I only started sharing my childhood with my teachers. Childhood trauma gets buried deep in side, it seldom sees the light of day. I started sharing my childhood story after realizing many of the teachers I prepared were living in trauma of their own, low pay, lack of resources, lack of respect, and too high expectations from administrators. I watch some of the best walk away from teaching. I thought sharing the story of Mr. B, might help them see why they should stay. 

There are other pedagogical heroes in my story, feel free to visit me across the hall in our CCSU Literacy Center. Come learn about Mrs. Stanfield, Mrs. Sanchez, Coach Greer, Professors Dorothy Menosky, Yetta Goodman, Rudine Sims-Bishop, Louise Rosenblatt, Dorothy Strickland, Denny Taylor, and others. Best of all, listen to me talk about the children I have taught in our public schools, here in our CCSU Literacy Center, for they are my inspirations, real teachers, and greatest heroes. These days I am wearing my latest gift from another hero a second-grade girl who solved Dr. Turner's wedding band problem.  

Mr. Rogers ask, “who are the people in your neighborhood”. I say find the people who lead with humanity and love.

Peace, thank you for listening to my story,                                                                                                   Dr. Jesse P. Turner                                                                                                                                     CCSU Literacy Center Director 

Our CCSU Pedagogy Humanity Posse

If you like to listen to the song that inspired my morning walk, it was Cat Steven's "King of a land"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5XM5btvU0Q&list=RDp5XM5btvU0Q&start_radio=1

The Research Confirms Moral Failure Everywhere

 

I study the research, 

I study best practices, 

I study education reforms,

I study policies,

I study the standards,

I analyze and evaluate the data,

People ask what works,

What did I find?

Everything works in Affluent Schools,

Every reform fails in Poor Schools,

Everything fails in an education reform world where we annually spend 23 billion dollars more on wealthy predominantly White Schools than on our Poor mainly Black and Brown schools,

Another 1.9 Billion annually on Standardized High-Stakes Testing data that has failed to change anything in over 100 years.

No Education reforms work without equity,,

No School Choice Policies work without equity, 

No new Standards work without equity, 

No catchy slogans work without equity work,

Leave No Child Behind, failed,

Race To The Top, failed,

Every Student Succeeds Act failed.

Policymakers point to Finland and other nations,

Say go see what they do.

I say go to our wealthy predominately White Schools, 

See how that 23 billion more every year helps,

Then give our poor predominately Black and Brown schools exactly what those rich schools get,

Then we can talk about what works and does not work.

Just Saying,

Dr. Jesse P. Turner 

CCSU Literacy Center Director

Uniting to Save Our Schools,

Badass Professor.

If you lie to listen to the tune that inspired my morning walk today, its the Play for Change cover of "Teach Your Chil". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5AuFDHdrrg

Teach Proud, Teach Loud, Teach Truth

Teach The Truth Campaign link Dr. Jesse P. Turner Brainwaves Video Anthologies link:

https://youtu.be/HB4jadlOPCc?si=p45pfeT05nZUwhB6

I have been thinking about how to react to this President-Elect, and his plans to end DIE. There is a line in the song "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down "I swear by the mud below my feet
You can't raise a Kane backup when he's in defeat"
The way I see Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity is our President-Elect and his appointments need to ask themselves these simple questions:
1. Do you understand that Diversity isn't an idea? It simply is who America is? You can't kill what is.
2. What do you have against inclusion, or who are the people you want to exclude?
3. What about the word Equity stirs up negativity in your thinking? Can you tell which people you think don't deserve equity?

Now, I can't do much, but I can:
Teach Proud,
Teach Loud,
Teach Truth.

So, I dug up this Brainwaves Video Anthology clip about the Uniting to Save Our Schools Teach Truth Campaign. We did not change the world but drew a line in the sand that said truth matters.

Come May 2025, I shall once again participate in Teach The Truth Day.
I am a teacher,
I don't have time to be depressed,
I am too busy teaching the truth.

Blessed by teachers who taught the truth,
Dr. Jesse P. Turner
Uniting to Save Our Schools

Proud Badass Teacher  

If you want to listen to the song that inspired my morning walk this day...its Rachel Platten's "Fight Song"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo1VInw-SKc&ab_channel=RachelPlattenVEVO 

My Pedagogy is seen through the lens of my heart

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author and aviator, lost his life in World War II. He wrote "The Little Prince." It is only with the heart that one can see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.

There is plenty of talk about explicitly teaching children the skills they need to become readers. I have no problem with teaching skills. However, if all a teacher has is skill lessons, they forget that children need a greater purpose in becoming readers. Honestly, teachers, have little or no say in the curriculums their school selects. 

Curriculum, decisions seldom include teachers, parents, or children. State and national mandates, standards, frameworks, and funding for literacy programs come not from teachers. They are heavily influenced by publishers, testing companies, and lobby groups. So, please don't point fingers at teachers over curriculums.

Of course, while we don't have much choice in what we teach, we do have a say in how we teach. Curriculum programs often fail to understand the motivational nuances of how children learn to read. Teachers, make it funny, joyful, interesting, personally and socially meaningful, and occasionally sad. Some researchers point to pedagogies, Critical, Traditional, Systematic, Constructivist, Progressive, Best-Practices, or Science-Based. The literature has many informative studies, books, and peer-reviewed articles about all of the above. They inform my thinking; and helps to guide me in positive directions. Research informs me, and so does the data living and breathing right in front of me. There is no data more informative than the data I see before me. 

However, the pedagogy that informs me most; is the Pedagogy of Humanity. This pedagogy has helped me strive for 40 years. It never let me down. It isn't focused on saving all, but one at a time. So, I spend my days looking for ways to invite and engage children in joyful and meaningful reading journeys in diverse books. I am not saying the other pedagogies are not important sources of best practices. The data that informs my pedagogy is not seen on your data walls, or in Power Schools. It can be hard to find in a world of constant data crunching, and struggling with fidelity to those curriculum boxes. It can't be found on any Excel sheet, in a computer program, or uploaded to the cloud. The data that best informs my instruction is seen with the heart. I find it standing right in front of me. I am not much different than the Little Prince. 

I see with a different set of data eyes; others look at test scores. errors, and deficits. I see the data in the smiles, laughs, and tears of the child next to me. I hear my data speaking to my heart, I am what Dr. Yetta Goodman called a Kid Watcher. I pay attention to the quantitative data, but I see the data on the face child next to me first and foremost.

I am constantly searching for materials, books, and games that would motivate one child at a time. Policymakers, Ed Reformers, and testing publishers can see one child at a time.  I can’t help passing by a bookstore, library, garage sale, or a magazine rack. I am addicted to the things that inspire reading. You can't sell this way of thinking in a box. 

On Friday 11/15/24, I took a friend out to lunch at RAWA’s in New Haven CT. They serve Middle Eastern food. While we were eating, I said feel like visiting my favorite bookstore just a few blocks from here? Well, next thing, we were at Possible Futures  > https://www.possiblefuturesbooks.com/ < Now my friend must have spent a few hundred dollars there, you tend to do that on your first visit. I  keep my eyes, open for books that might inspire our children who come to our CCSU Literacy Center. As sure as sunrise follows the moon they find me.  

There are three Muslim Girl Cousins who love reading biographies of famous women. They read everything about famous women in history. Can you imagine the battle over who gets to read “Muslim Girls Rise” this afternoon?
Now, there is the data that counts, and there is the data that really matters. I follow smiles, curious looks, questioning faces, and those informative data words “Dr. Turner, this book rocks”. 

For a look at how my data-crunching brain works. Take a trip inside my mind in this link: 

In my world, "The Little Prince would be required, reading for all teachers. 
See the child, not the data,
Dr. Jesse P. Turner 
CCSU Literacy Center Director  

Our Policymakers, Lesigislators & Ed Reformers have no clue

Henry David Thoreau wrote: " The Mass of men, lead lives of quiet Desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city, you go into the desperate country and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats".
 
Children ask teachers the most interesting questions, pay close attention to what we say, and observe us closely. They are also extremely creative and generous. 

A while back, a second-grade girl asked if I was married. I said yes, and I have been happily married for 40 years. Then she followed up, "Why don't you wear your wedding ring?" (-: 

I explained that I have tiny fingers that swell up in the morning and become less swollen later in the day. Over the years, I have lost five gold wedding rings. After the fifth one, my wife said, "This is costing us a fortune...No more wedding rings for you, old man." 

Now, that seemed to take care of it that day. Two weeks later her teacher brought her to see me. She said A has a gift for you. She showed me one of those rings kids make with beads, it was elastic. 

I said wow, you made a nice ring for yourself. She said, it is not for me. The ring is for you, Dr. Turner. I know you love your wife, daughter, and your dog Toast, because you talk about them to us a lot. Especially, when you share silly Dad Jokes.  You say... I am going to share this one at dinner tonight. So, I thought about your problem with wedding rings. Wedding rings are important. You can't lose this one. 

You can bet your bottom last dollar that this ring will be on me in our Literacy Center for the rest of the semester. This is why I love this work. The kindness and generosity of children have no limits.  Much like the generosity of teachers. 

There is the data that counts, and then there is the data that really matters. The data that really matters, informs my thinking that 7-year-olds listen, care, and are natural problem solvers.

See the wonder, not the test score,                                                                                                                Dr. Jesse P. Turner 
CCSU Literacy Center Director 

If you like to listen to the song that inspired my morning walk this morning...its Malvina Reynolds "Little Boxes" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5IKpHTEuY0

I am a teacher, I don't have time to be depressed

I am a teacher, I don't have time to be depressed

I thought I saw Joe Hill walking over that hill with Congressman John Lewis last night. God has blessed me so many times by sending me role models of integrity.

On one of my trips to the Selma Jubilee, I was blessed with a two-minute conversation with my hero Congressman John Lewis at a Selma Gala. The Supreme Court has just ruled to weaken the Voting Rights Act. Everyone was depressed that year, but not Congressman Lewis. I ended up in line with him.

We exchanged greetings, and he said: "Why so sad young man"

I responded by saying how shocking the Supreme Court decision was. He said:
"Young man we don't have time to be depressed. He said, there is work to be done, let us do the work that needs doing.
I said, BUT...
Again, with his big, beautiful smile, he said: "Young man, you know there were 3 marches from Selma to Montgomery, 

The first two were met with brutal violence, 

On the first one, they fractured my skull, 

But I would not let bullies intimidate me, 

So I just got back up and did the work. 

I have been doing the work since 1965,

The work:

Lifts me, 

It is far from done, 

To be honest, 

I am not sure the work will ever be done, 

But doing this work,

Inspires me, 

Lifts me, and 

Sustains my soul,

Young man, 

I expect to see you march across that Edmond Pettus Bridge on Sunday with us." 

I was on the bridge with three other Uniting to Save Our Schools members when Congressman Lewis marched for the last time, just months before he would go on to glory. 

The day after the election, I think how many elections did not turn out Congressman Lewis's way. It never once let him stop doing the work. Elections don't get the work done, people gathering, organizing, and marching get the work done. I feel some marching coming. 

I shall honor God's blessing of those two minutes with Congressman Lewis, by doing the work that needs doing. The work inspires me, lifts me, and sustains me.

Call me Dr. Good Troubles,

Jesse The Walking Man Turner 

As long as I have music, I can go on, here is my walking song this morning link: One day when the Glory Comes Common John Legend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUZOKvYcx_o 

Come What May: I shall not be moved

 

COME WHAT May:
I shall not be moved.

Our daughter is joining us on November 5, 2024, to vote,
We shall cast our vote for Vice President Harris,
Win or lose, we shall stand with love together.

If we win, then,
We shall do what my grandfather did,
hold her accountable.

If we lose, then,
We shall not run away,
We shall once again join the women in DC on inauguration day,
Standing up for our civil rights.

If Trump builds his detention centers,
If Trump turns the army on the people who opposed him,
If women are blocked from Reproductive health care,
If Trump's Supreme Court of shame,
Takes back LGBTQ rights,
Then, I should use my voice, my feet, and my body to block them.

I shall not be moved,
Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr,
Like Rosa Parks,
Like the Civil Rights Leaders of old,
I shall speak up,
Stand up,
March, and
Practice my right to assemble even under threat of arrest.

If they lock me in a cell,
Then I shall come right back out, and
Do it again,
If they arrest me 1000 times, then
So be it.

I will not flee our America,
I shall stay, and
Stand up for our rights.

Come what may,
Like a tree by the water,
I shall not be moved.

Dr. Jesse P. Turner
United to Save Our Schools
Badass Teacher
Just call me unmovable

If you like to listen to the tune that inspired my walk today, its Marva Staples singing "We Shall Not Be Moved
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcDpmzQh3YU

Dr. Rev William Barber Jr at Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, Alabama

Book Banners don't care about books, they fear how books humanize us

 

I remember reading "To Kill a Mocking Bird" in Middle School and watching the movie at home and in school. There was something transformative about those experiences in my youth that helped make me the teacher, son, brother, husband, and father I am today. 

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” ~ Harper Lee 

As a Literacy Educator, I am informed by a rich body of research, and experiences in the classroom. Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop said diverse Books are mirrors, (places we see and reaffirm ourselves), Windows, (places we come to see and know others), and Sliding Doors, (places where we step inside the lives of others). Literature is more than print on pages, it can be a communion with transformation of hope, peace, joy, and love. I would say diverse books humanize us. It is that potential to humanize us that racists fear most. The Humanizing factor is why people seek to ban books. I have asked college over a thousand undergraduates and graduate university students what the reason teachers gave you is to make you a reader. Their answers seldom come close to any transformative answers. Most are linked to employment or access to university.  Mrs. Stanfield my Hornor's English Teacher told us Frederick Douglas said " Once you learn to read you will be forever free". She was my first Black Teacher, she always linked literacy to freedom. Father Fitzgerald told us reading gives you another doorway to God when your ears are blocked. Reading is God's gift to all, and Brail is his gift to the blind.  

If we spent more time with young learners explaining why we want them to read, we would find powerful ways to motivate and engage them. It is my opinion that we spend too much time teaching how to read, and not enough time teaching why we read.

Respectfully,

Dr. Jesse P. Turner 

CCSU Literacy Center Director 

If you like to listen to the tune that inspired my morning walk today...its the "Teach Your Children" cover by Play For Change https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5AuFDHdrrg&list=RDP5AuFDHdrrg&start_radio=1 

Imagine opening all the doors of teaching and learning with Count Basie and Jackie Robinson

Who is afraid of AI, not I said this educator.

 
Yesterday my future teachers were asking me about "AI in class".

I began with a YouTube video of elementary kids using movement, dance and song to tell the Jackie Robinson story. this is the link of the video we shared. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqzaUxJ5JXA

Their questions such as "How do we ensure students are really doing their own work?"
We had some great discussion and I reminded them how just last week we had a discussion on disciplinary literacy, and learning foundations. With disciplinary literacy, the learning receptive processes are rooted in listening, reading, and viewing. This is how we learn about our world. I reminded them that their mission as teachers is to remember the importance of using all of these receptive processes in order to engage and motivate.

AI, I continued is another learning tool, just like Google. When Google first came out , there were some teachers and educators who thought "game over"! Now students had instant answers to any question! Google (they thought) would end teaching as we know it... We all learned while Google can point students to a million possibilities, the learners themselves still have to search for the best answer. And that search is a worthy academic journey! Rote assignments rooted in the old ways of assessing students, do not inspire learners, instead they just "rank and sort" learners in ways that no longer make sense, especially in the 21st century.

Our role as teachers, is not to be rooted in methods and ways of the past. We need to think about upping the ante with those learning foundation engagements. We need to teach outside the box, and then watch students rise. Challenge them to demonstrate what they know, the best way they know how. Open doors to all the arts, add dance, singing, and visual art to your productive processes every time you can.
In this new brave world let us not restrict students to their seats, but unleash the arts, and then see them shine ~ again and again.
Dr. Jesse P. Turner
CCSU Literacy Center Director If you like to listen to the tune that inspired my morning walk, it is Count Bassie's "Did you see Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-7Ac2LVVYU

Just Saying, another Reading War is the best you have

25 Billion every year for what? 

What do you call education reforms that spend billions on scripted reading programs, but not actual services to Black, Brown, and Special Education Children in our poor communities? Same old systemic racism that profits off the misery of children and teachers in our public schools.

JUST SAYING 

We have been fighting this war for over a hundred years, the casualties of war at this stage are in the millions. The profits are in the billions, and what have we gained? A vicious cycle of one-size-fits-all literacy programs, that increases profits, confuses teachers, and reduces children to data points.

Where is the humanity in endless war?

Where is the humanity in a public school system that spends annually 23 billion dollars more on wealthy predominantly White Schools, than on our poor predominately Black and Brown Schools?
Can we use that 2 billion dollars annually spent on high-stakes testing to give teachers the necessary resources?

JUST SAYING, I imagine something different, and this is what I am fighting for.

Just in case you like to listen to the tune that inspired my first day back teaching...its Barry Lane's "We Found Defiance" https://soundcloud.com/gaetanp/we-found-defiance-barry-lane-live-umass-dartmouth

The data that matters and the data that really matter

 In medical research any new medical or intervention requires research talk and listen to patients, health professionals, and family. New medicines or treatments are only approved with collecting taking and listening to your subjects.  It is not considered soft data, it is crucial data, so vital it would shut any approval process down without it. This is good science. I question any Education Research intervention that does not listen and talk to children, teachers, and parents. This isn't soft data, this is necessary and vital data. 

There is the data that matters, and there is the data that really matters! 

In education research, no one talks or listens to children, teachers, or parents and guardians. Imagine if we asked parents:

How do you feel about class size?

how do you feel about less art, music, and play?

How do you feel about some children getting everything needed, and others are given less? 

What if we asked children about all this testing down to them?

Would they ask for more? 

Would they understand why adults want to rank them? 

Would they ask for less art, music, and play to make room for testing? 

What if we asked teachers: 

Would smaller class sizes help?

Would better school and classroom libraries help?

Would less testing give you more time for teaching?

Is it fair that predominantly white schools get 21 billion dollars more every year than poor predominately schools of color? 

Would student loan forgiveness help,

Would Better benefits and pay help?

Would professional respect for teachers help? 

There is good science and poor science, 

Good science talks and listens,

Bad Science pretends listening doesn't matter. 

 I question any education science that does not talk and listen to children, teachers, parents, and guardians. 

Respectfully,                                                                                                                                                    Dr. Jesse P. Turner
CCSU Literacy Center Director

If you want to know what inspired my blog today? It was the Play For Change Cover of Teach Your Children song https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/235655313607365412/6193250921375836163

Shaking the Tree: A True Olympian

 

This is my school lesson day one.  

Beyond Gold Medals, 

I see a champion, 

I see a podium above the rest, 

I see a hero.  

I know an Olympian.   

I know what courage looks like, 

I know what the Olympian Character looks like.

I know what women standing up for the rights of young girls looks like, 

She is an child Iranian Refugee,

She is an Afganstaini Woman. 

I know what Afghanistan's hope looks like, 

She is a three-time Olympian,  

Her name is Kimia Yousofi.  

She is worth all the Gold Medals together. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2024/08/02/afghanistan-sprinter-kimia-yousofi-taliban/74652683007/

If you like to listen to the tune that inspired me this morning...it is Peter Gabriel's "Shaking the Tree" 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_Q79lls1f0  

Beyond costly one-size-fits-all Ed Reforms

 There is a difference between the so-called recent literacy experts and me; they chase one-size-fits-all all silver bullets…

I learned from literacy giants; insisting that literacy experts must work in classrooms, next to children, parents, and teachers. Experts who place children at the center of learning. Context and proximity to children are far more important than test scores - or scatter charts. 

Rather than write books, we painted a masterpiece of humanity, and love for books, and focused on creating physical places, and literate environments that said “Come join the Literacy Club.“ We focus on motivating readers, giving them a reason to read, write, talk, listen, and draw new worlds. 

We seek not to prove our methods, but new ways to inspire a love of books. While the rest of the experts battle theory, chasing one-size-fits-all solutions. We battle for humanity, a humanity that honors all learners. 

When they argued that “testing" will save children“ and that one-size-fits-all programs can fix children. We argued children are not broken. Teaching with humanity opens the door to motivation. During the past 27 years, I worked to give children, teachers, and parents a place worthy of them. When no one listened I walked two walks to DC, close to a thousand miles - for humanity in our classrooms. 

Ed Reform Fixers, show me the humanity in your reforms?                                                                            Your boxed expensive curriculums and high-stakes tests have always failed,                                                  Show me the awesome learning environments that you have built,
Show me your humanity.                                                                                                                                  I have put all I have into building a place that inspires reading at our Literacy Center. 

This year is going to be my last year teaching here.                                                                                         I am ready to pass it on - next June. 

After that, who knows… maybe a book about teaching, and awesome welcoming learning places. 

Dr. Jesse P. Turner 

CCSU Literacy Center Director

How many school children must be sacrifice to scam Ed Reforms?

We miss you our Power House Union Truth to Power Badass Teacher Voice Karen Lewis

 

A question what asked today on Badass Teachers Facebook page: 

“Hi everyone. Music teacher (21years) here.

If you have a moment, please chime in on these topics.  I am trying to get a wider perspective. 

• Have today students become more resistant to learning?

• Are you experiencing more behavioral difficult difficulties than in the past during class?

• What ways have students changed in recent years? 

• Has teaching become more difficult?

I sure appreciate any thoughts you are willing to share. Anything you say remains 100% anonymous. Thanks” 

I responded 

No Child Left Behind, (NCLB), shifted the focus from teachers being judged by how creatively they engaged their students to the only thing that matters are test scores in our schools.

That shift also siphoned off billions of dollars from actual services for students, to standards, expensive tech-based data systems, and testing. Equity is not everyone taking the same test. I can’t emphasize enough how harmful that loss of services has been to Black, Brown, and Special Education students. This is child abuse!

Former CTU president Karen Lewis who passed away from cancer helped teachers in Chicago understand what we do to children, we do to teachers, and frame the battle against these high-stakes and school choice education reformers as a Civil Rights battle.

What I am seeing is a loss of humanity that abuses children and teachers, I would even call it, trauma. This trauma began in 2002 and drained everyone's energy. Teaching and learning are becoming more and more exhausting. We also have very few places to safely discuss this. BATS is one of the few safe places left.

I wish Karen Lewis was still with us, no one understood it better or stood taller. 

Respectfully,

Dr. Jesse P. Turner

Uniting to Save Our Schools

Badass Teacher 

If you like to listen to the tune that inspired my morning walk it is Teach the Children cover by Play for Change > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5AuFDHdrrg <

You are a Racist, if you fear these 3 words: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

" Alabama lawmakers passed a bill Tuesday that, if signed into law, would prohibit public schools and universities from maintaining or funding diversity, equity, and inclusion programs." Link for Alabama Legislation banning Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/19/us/alabama-bill-bans-dei-public-universities-reaj/index.html

What does structural racism look like?

The Alabama Legislature is banning Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity in their public schools and universities. Looking at the definitions of the three in the Oxford English Dictionary we find the following:

“Diversity” is “the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc.”

Inclusion is a term used to describe and promote policies, strategies, and practices which aim to enable all learners to participate fully in education.

Equity is defined as being fair and impartial. Equity in education refers therefore to the systems that support or allow for the scaffolding of learning to take place.

Perhaps next, Alabama will ban public education itself?

Let me state it plainly if you voted for this bill, you are a racist.

Just calling it as I see it, Dr. Jesse P. Turner Uniting to Save Our Schools Badass Teacher

Woke up this morning, Education is Civil Rights, and Civil Rights is Education, 

If you like to listen to the song that inspired my morning walk today, it is Freedom Singers "Woke This Morning" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsziXdKfOsE

What Scripted Literacy Programs and Chorme Books Miss

We hear much about the Science of Reading and mandated scripted programs, teacher-proof silver bullets. I was discussing how lessons are opportunities to insert some magic into our teaching. A group of teachers from a district using one of the state recommended SOR Silver Bullet Reading Programs; said we don't write lesson plans in one of my courses. I asked them how do you modify and differentiate instruction for Individual instruction for Second Language and Special Education Students? "Everyone gets the same, everyone learns at the same pace.  I asked what about those special learning moments that change everything? "We don't have them, to be honest, Dr. Turner the kids are bored and so are we. I said I don't see much science in scripted programs, and I bet even advocates of SOR might agree. 

It was Reads Across America Day, and as always, I visited a local school to read. I picked a few books to read at a local school whose teachers write lessons, teach a healthy dose of phonics, and squeeze lots of real reading. They assigned me two classes to read to. I always asked for classes with plenty of second-language learners. One of the teachers Mrs. Jefferson saw me in the office and said looking forward to having you read to my students later. She said 10 of them are new arrivals. I told her I was bringing one of my Spanish Language Teachers to help me read a bilingual book.

She said that was perfect. I love reading aloud to classes. I always wear my CCSU Colors and put on a great show.  Of all the paths I could take, and dreams I could chase, only one called my heart ❤️ 

Like all paths, teaching some days is tough, but then some are perfect. This is me on a perfect day with my LLA 440 student at Reads Across America Day. 

Mr. Martinez and I read “Super Oscar” A bilingual book about Oscar De La Hoya. The children loved hearing it in Spanish and English. Of course, we read like we were comic actors, hamming it up to highlight Spanish and English words like Música.  

We were on a roll this morning. Our plan was, to begin with, me saying to the class "Wo Wo Me", I brought the wrong book. This one is a bilingual book, in Spanish and English. 

Everyone knows Dr. Turner's is not very good. My apologies Ms. Jefferson, but I won't be able to read to your students today.  Sorry Children I can't read to you today. I would need a Superhero Spanish Teacher. Then from the back of the room came "Hola Dr. Turner, it is me Mr. Martinez a Superhero Spanish Teacher".  

We read, being sure to involve the children, and whenever a problem in the book popped in this one there were many. I close the book saying that is it children, it all goes downhill from here. I better leave now. Of course, a chorus of no you have to read more. You might even say Mr. Martinez and I scripted it, and then something very unsuspected happened. 

It was the highlight of the day. One newly arrived student to the USA got right up next to the book whenever Mr. Martinez was reading the Spanish text.  We thought maybe he wanted to see the pictures better. Mr. Martinez put the book right in front of him. Then he started reading every word in Spanish fluently and with feeling. It was as if he was part of our team. We had to have him join us. This is the stuff literacy educators live for, this is the stuff that scripted can't do. 

Teaching calls my heart still 40 years later,   
Dr. Jesse P. Turner                                                                                                                                    CCSU Literacy Center Director

Barry Lane and Jesse Enjoying a walk together 

If you like to listen to the song that inspired my walk today, it was Barry Lane's "Little Programs" https://barrylane.bandcamp.com/track/little-programs

Activism lifts our soul and body Uniting to Save Our Schools.

 

Change requires we put in the work 

In 2010, during the National Council of Teacher Conference held in Philadelphia, a panel of educators discussed the harmful effects of high-stakes testing on students and public schools. The panelists presented research indicating that such policies were killing students' motivation to learn and were consuming eight weeks of valuable learning time. 

Despite this, lawmakers and policymakers remained silent on the issue. After the session, two teachers, Nancy Creech and Ruby Clayton from Michigan, asked what could be done to address the issue since no one seemed to be listening. Dr. Jesse P. Turner, a university professor, suggested educators follow in the footsteps of Civil Rights Leaders and walk to Washington DC to bring attention to the issue. 

Thus began the story of the Walking Man. Dr. Turner embarked on a 400-mile walk from Connecticut to Washington DC to raise awareness about the harmful effects of high-stakes testing. Over fifty pounds was lost during the journey; he was welcomed in DC by Bess Altwerger Vivian M Vasquez, the Dean of the School of Education. A plan was put in motion to organize the Save Our Schools Conference, Rally, and March in 2011, which brought together Diane Ravitch, Jonathon Kozol, Karen Lewis, CTO leaders, the 

Wisconsin Teachers Union, and 12,000 others to DC. This event sparked a resistance movement that is still active today, fighting against harmful education reform policies of high-stakes testing, privatization, and choice without equity reforms. Resisters are in the face of harmful education reform policies in all 50 states these days. 

I believe that silence and apathy are unacceptable, and he continues to unite educators to save our schools. Activism lifts both the soul and the body. 

If we don't fight back, we lose, and losing is not an option for our children, teachers, and public schools, Dr. Jesse P. Turner     
Uniting to Save Our Schools                                                                                                              Badass Teacher

If you like to listen to the tune that inspired my walk this morning? It is Barry Lane's "Jesse Turner the Walkin' Man" https://barrylane.bandcamp.com/track/jesse-turner-the-walkin-man

Silence and apathy are not acceptable