Dear President-Elect Biden pick the Secretary who looks past the masses to the one child

 

Imagine if policymakers and legislators, saw the child, and not the test score?

I never ever tire of reading Loren Eiseley's The Starfish thrower. "A young girl was walking along the long stretch of a seashore one morning, where after a terrible storm, thousands of starfish had been washed ashore.

The striking aspect of the young girl’s walk is that,

As she walked along the beach,

She would pick up one starfish at a time and gently throw it back into the ocean.

An older gentleman observing her,

Approaches her, and out of curiosity,

He asked her why she was throwing the starfish into the ocean. The girl replies with urgency in her voice that, with the sun up and the tide declining, she needed to get these starfish in the water, or they would die.

“But young lady, do you not realize that there are many miles of beach and thousands of starfish? You cannot possibly make a difference.”

The girl listened.

But then, she bends down and picks up another starfish and throws it into the sea, and

She said, “It made a difference for that one”

At 65, the teacher in me, like the teacher I was at 65, understands that teaching and learning are not about the masses. It is always about making a difference one starfish at a time.

This is what our policymakers, legislators, and CEOs chasing test scores can understand. To them, it is an all or none kind of view.

These very people have failed to fully fund all public schools. They cry budget deficits every year, demanding teachers save all on the cheap. This we can't afford more leadership endlessly blaming teachers, children, parents, and those public schools for all society's ills. They are like that old broken vinyle record stuck on the same beat, And so am I. I have written see the child not the test scores 10,000 times. I shall not tire, I shall write it 10,000 more, The story of teaching and learning is not written in numbers, The story is always about one child at a time. At 65, like the teacher, I was at 25, I have always known,

We can't do the masses on the cheap.

But, making the difference to one-child looking up at any given moment of our teaching day,

We'll save one child at a time,

For 10,000 years,

Dr. Jesse P. Turner

CCSU Literacy Center Director If you like to listen to the tune that inspired my walk this morning through the snow? Its "We Shall Be know" cover by Thrive Choir. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4xhQcgyoLk

Dedicated to all of you, On fire Rank and File members of Connecticut Public School Advocates

 

I am a Man On Fire, living in a nation where billionaires do not have to pay their fair share,
I am a Man On Fire living in a nation where schools teaching Black, Brown, Poor, and Special Education children are given less, while wealthy mainly White schools are given more than they need. 
I am a man on fire, living in a nation where the children of working-class Americans leave our universities struggled with lifetime debts, 
I am a man on fire, where structural racism is deeply rooted in our nation's public school system. 

A Man on Fire rejects silence,
A Man on Fire rejects apathy,
A Man on Fire is never resting,
A Man on Fire has work to do every day.

What does a Man On Fire have to say to our new President-Elect? 
What does a Man On Fire have to say to our nation's 50 Governors?
What does a Man On Fire have to say to 50 state commissioners of education?
What does a Man On Fire have to say to our nation's Senators and members of Congress,
What does a Man On Fire have to say to the legislative bodies of 50 states?
What does a Man On Fire have to say to America's mayors?
What does a Man On fire have to say to the Robber Barons of Wall Street?

What does this Man On Fire want to know from our nation's leaders?
Why for over 170 years and counting,
Allowed our Nation's Public Schools to give more to wealthy schools than to poor schools?
Knowing that Black, Brown, Poor, and Special Education have never known a single year of a quality and equitable education. 
This Man On Fire is asking how can you not be on fire?

If you are wondering what tune this Man On Fire is listening to this morning? Its Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros "A Man On Fire" 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08WeoqWilRQ

Policymakers, good readers don't chase test scores. They chase the honey through the pages

 A Dr. Turner moment of teaching and learning wisdom.

In the children's book "Thank You, Mr. Falker" Patrica Polacco writes these simple lines:

“Honey is sweet, and so is knowledge, but knowledge is like the bee that made that sweet honey; you have to chase it through the pages of a book.”

This book is Polacco's autobiographical story of her struggle with learning to read and dyslexia. She is a prolific writer, with many many children's books. Her book themes often carry powerful messages of hope, struggle, and quests for justice.

So when a child reads every one of her books on our Literacy Center shelves and asks: "Dr. Turner, if I read every single one of her books, can I win a medal, and will you wear a crazy hat and pirate outfit, and bow down to my reading powers?"  

"If you read all 24 books, that is 28 pages time 24 books that will be 672 pages. How could I not give a kid who reads 672 pages a gold medal? You do this I will wear whatever hat you want me to wear, and I will give you a gold medal, bow down to your super reading powers in the hallway where everyone can see us" 

This picture is a few years ago, but it could be any day in the last 20 years at our Literacy Center. Even in this pandemic crisis, 24 medals and certificates of accomplishment went out first class mail yesterday. This Monday, Dr. Turner will wear a silly hat, dress as a pirate, bow down to his children and Literacy Center Teachers, shouting out on Zoom their greatness. We don't celebrate test scores here. We celebrate hard work and our love of books.

Love of reading Wisdom 101:

Hint~policymakers, education reformers, and all you big time commissioners of education. Our children who love to read do not chase good test scores for grades. They chase honey through the pages of books.

Dr. Jesse P. Turner

CCSU Literacy Center Director

AKA sometimes silly hat pirate

If you like to listen to the song that inspired my morning walk today, its Barry Lane's Super teachers always know..." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE6Yw7Tkk4o&ab_channel=BarryLane