Not All Superheros Wear Capes

We learn by example; I was a hungry, homeless child once sitting in the train station with my Momma one cold night. She did not earn enough to buy us a room for the night, but she brought us two burgers and French fries from the diner. 

Sitting on the bench next to us was another homeless person. It was clear he was old, hungry, tired, and cold. Momma asked if he would like a burger and fries? I could not believe it; I wanted to shout Momma, let him buy his own burger. She gave him half of our meal; I was angry and young and did not understand how she could give away our food. 

Later on that night, on the bench, she read Matthew: 

"For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, 

I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink, 

I was a stranger, and you invited me in, 

I needed clothes and you clothed me, 

I was sick and you looked after me, 

I was in prison and you came to visit me."

"Then the righteous will answer him, 

Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 

When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 

When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?"

Jesus replied, "Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." 

Some superheroes are:

"Faster than a speeding bullet! 

More powerful than a locomotive! 

Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!"

It took a while for me to understand Momma,

Some lead by example,

Teaching lessons that matter,

Momma is my greatest real superhero.

If you like to listen to the tune that inspired my morning walk today, it is the cover of "Let It Be" from Across the Universe. > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gPjGuC6CFQ <

Truth to power: About This Teacher Shortage: Our Policymakers and Reformers Have No Clue

 

Many policymakers and education reformers have little experience teaching. Those policymakers who have experience tend to make their way out of the classroom as quickly as possible. Sometimes I think it is because they never enjoyed teaching. 

They often desire to reduce teaching to some standardization formula. Often the very type of reforms dehumanize teaching and believe teachers are like mechanical parts on some assembly line. In the end, they do more to hurt the recruitment and retention of teachers than almost anything else. 

Dr. Elliot Eisner, Professor Emeritus of Education and Art at Stanford University, who brought a history of teaching in Chicago public school before he passed, describes six teacher satisfaction for teachers. I always love this one:

"Despite the beliefs of some well-intended technocrats, there are no recipes for performance, no teacher-proof scripts to follow. Teaching well requires improvisation within constraints. Constraints there will always be, but in the end, teaching is a custom job within which the teacher becomes an inseparable part of what is taught." 

If you like to read about his six teacher satisfactions? Dr. Larry Cuban's blog is well worth the visit. https://larrycuban.wordpress.com

Truth to Power: These policymakers and education reformers without genuine classroom experience have no clue how to recruit and retain our nation's public school teachers. 

We cannot standardize the desire to teach,

Dr. Turner 

CCSU Literacy Center Director 

Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes gave us a clue decades ago. Just in case you like to listen to this tune that inspired my morning walk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOxoeGL3tTo 

"Wake up all the teachers time to teach a new way

Maybe then they'll listen to whatcha have to say
Cause they're the ones who's coming up and the world is in their hands
When you teach the children teach em the very best you can

The world won't get no better if we just let it be
The world won't get no better we gotta change it yeah, just you and me" 

Teachers, we can do this! 

#OSOSTeachTruth and me

 

The idea that there are some places in America, that don’t want history teachers to use the term Nazis, frightens me.  I am committed to teaching the truth because it is the only lesson offering the possibility to change the world. 

My grandfather introduced me to Dr. King's Principles of Non-Violence at an early age. Back in our day, everyone walked to and from school. It was in second grade. You tended to walk with the same people. Robert always wore his Yamaka. I always thought it was cool, never really understood why he always wore it. 

5 of us young fellers would walk home together, horse playing around, boys being boys. Until one day John turned to Robert and asked why do you always wear that stupid hat? That eerie silence that comes with an impending crisis surrounded us. 

Now Robert was kind of small, I was somewhere between big and small, and John and the other two were giant bullies. We thought walking with them, laughing at their joke, kicking over a few garbage cans, and sneering at other kids, brought us protection. Boys being boys was not fun for Robert and me, it was our way of buying protection. 

I knew it as soon as the words left Robert's lips, I'm Jewish, that my Hebrew kippah. John started punching, and the other two join in and kept shouting punch the Jew. Robert was taken back, and for three of the longest seconds of my life, I stood motionless watching my friend being punched and kicked. On the fourth second, I became a Pitbull punching, kicking, biting, and shouting to leave Robert alone. Robert started fighting back, and while we did not win the fight, we won the war or at least a strange sort of peace. We kept our distance and they kept theirs. 

When I told my grandfather the story, he said son, sometimes you have to defend yourself, but I been in a World War, and my sons in another. Fighting things doesn't change anything. Then he started my education on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and that August shortly after I turned 8 years old, he took to “The People’s March in Washington DC. I struggle at times with non-violence, if you hit me, I am going to hit you back. Dr. King is the better man, I’m still working on that. I have so very far to go, but I am headed to that place. I still working on that not hitting back to being hit part. 
If you would like to learn more about the Principals of Non-Violence here is a link:   https://www.gatheringforjustice.org/six-principles-of-kingnian-non-violence

Grandfather, your namesake son has learned to turn the cheek, stand up for right, and to teach truth,

Love,                                                                                                                                                        Little Jess 

Just in case you want to learn some more about the National Days of Teaching Truth Campaign here is a link to a three-minute news story about it. https://brooklyn.news12.com/our-lives-national-days-of-teaching-truth-with-dr-jesse-turner

If you like to find out more about Uniting to Save Our Schools here is a link https://www.unitingtosaveourschools.org