255 Matching Annotations
  1. Jul 2023
    1. Ben Okri

      I wonder how it helps (or know) to know more about the author. [Ben Okri] (https://benokri.co.uk/)

    2. Was that all? They had seemed like more, like a crowd.

      I'm wondering what happened to the crowd.

    3. We were satisfied

      Could you have been satisfied with less?

    4. So to turn around and offer them food would automatically be to see them and treat them as inferior.

      I'm not sure why.

    5. Then your situation would be polarized

      I was already thinking that this paragraph had become us and them... polarized.

    6. ‘The first person who offers us some food will receive...

      That's provocative!

    7. those behind us, who were not eating, and who did not move

      Are they waiting their turn or observers?

    8. We ate calmly

      Where did the tension and insurrection go? Or is it always coming back?

    9. Insurrection brooded in thewinds

      Wait... what!? Who is "insurrecting" against who?

    10. everyone would rush at the food and we’d have to bebarbaric and eat with our hands, fighting over the feast laid out on the lovely tables

      I'm loving the contrast/tension here between the lovely tables and the barbaric hungry people.

    11. us

      I wonder who the "us" is. Does the writer assume that I am part of that us or not?

    12. magnificent grounds

      I wonder what these two words sitting there together mean. I mean I get what magnificent means and I'm assuming that "grounds" refers to land, but I'm curious about what this particular way of saying it comes from or refers to.

  2. Sep 2018
  3. www.lrng.org www.lrng.org
    1. create a web post

      Don't we need to give some options here?

    2. worksheet to guide the following research

      There is such rich teaching and learning to do here. This XP could be a playlist of its own.

    3. web post

      Wouldn't it be great if this really was a web post (a blog post)?

    4. where things are, how they are connected to other things spatially, and why that is important.

      I'm going to do some looking on the Storytracker on Solutions Journalism. I wonder how to capture the process in the video of looking through online newspapers and listening to the local news for two weeks.

    5. agriculture, mining, logging, fishing

      What would an urban youth think about? My guess: tourism, transportation, health, education, entertainment, police, government. I looked it up here: http://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/top-ten-new-urban-jobs I would add construction and service to my list, and technology.

  4. Apr 2018
    1. he investigation of what I have termed the people s "thematic universe"13—the complex of their "generative themes"—inaugurates the dialogue of education as the practice of freedom.

      Thinking about generative themes is important for the student beginning an inquiry project.

    2. Generative themes

      This is a helpful guide to deep inquiry.

    1. How do we think more about this sense of engaging in a practice in catalyzing passion and creativity. How might you do it by finding niche learning communities that each kid might want to be a part of and build on that.

      Teaching from our students' interest involves us in finding communities outside of our classrooms for youth to learn.

  5. Nov 2017
    1. the ever-changing digital landscape

      I think of myself as a Moffett guy, in that early on in my teaching I found the notion of "Teaching the Universe of Discourse" and exciting and clear map for building curriculum and for assessing my students' progress at any moment. I learned to focus on a balance of the different kinds of writing in the UNIVERSE of discourse. When I began to think about what it meant to teach digital writing, I returned to Moffett's notion of looking at the range of possibility. And as the words here, "ever-changing" and "landscape," suggest, we can constantly be thinking about what to include in our digital curriculum. Snapchat? Instagram? Is blogging still an important part of the landscape? What does it mean to have more characters available on Twitter? Do my students need more time in something like a Google community with short, interactive online conversation or do they need to slow down a bit and create a web page? It's exciting to be playing in this field, and it's even more exciting when youth recognize that they can choose where they want to play and make a difference digitally as well -- and what they need to learn to have an impact digitally.

    1. one story after another

      Interesting that the students are reading all of these stories together, and quickly.

    2. video clips are only about 15 to 20 min-utes

      I like this doing things together. I think there should be a lot of reading together even when the texts and videos are on NowComment.

    3. In the White Man’s Image

      So what kind of teaching do we do around a 56 minute documentary? We can't just show it, can we?

    4. who is forced or encouraged to change their language, who doesn’t have to change, and who forces the change.

      I wonder how we can do this in the playlists too.

    5. After the tea party, we dive into the readings and mov-ies. I want to saturate students in the stories—memoirs and fiction—about language.

      I wonder where the idea of doing a history mini-unit came from. I think it's confusing. It takes the eye off language.

    6. language engages students because language is so closely tied to culture and home

      How do we keep this alive and connected for the youth doing these playlists?

    7. Because of time, my classes didn’t study each language situation in depth; instead, we looked for patterns across the stories.

      This issue of depth and looking for patterns is an especially difficult one for ELLs. I wonder how we will address it in our playlist.

    8. They write narratives, poetry, and a culminating essay about language. For their final “exam,” they create a “take-it-to-the-people” project that teaches their chosen audience an aspect of our language study that they think people need to know in order to understand contempo-rary language issues

      I love this a an outline for what to create for posts on Youth Voices:

      • narratives
      • poetry
      • a culminating essay about language
      • a "take-it-to the people" project, teaching others
    9. Depending on how many pieces of the unit I include, this curriculum takes between five and 10 weeks.

      I wonder how long Louise plans to do this unit and how long we can expect youth to work through playlists based on this curriculum

  6. Sep 2017
    1. If we want more people to invest themselves in smart efforts to improve society, we need to do a better job helping them to see opportunities as well as risks

      Who could disagree? The question is how.

    2. story-driven

      That's interesting. I wonder how integral narrative reporting is to solutions journalism.

    3. We need to promote health, not just attack disease. To do that for society, it’s not enough to know what’s broken; people need to know how problems could be, or are being, fixed.

      I love this rallying cry.

    4. the way information is presented can make a big difference in how it is used.

      Is this "the medium is the message?"

    5. Behavioral psychologists tell us that feedback is likely to lead to desired changes when it draws attention to possibilities, connects with people’s aspirations, and provides road maps.

      This is also clear in giving and teaching how to give feedback to writers as well.

  7. Aug 2017
    1. "Trump/Pence" signs

      I was unaware of this. It would have been pretty easy to for Trump to disavow these signs.

    1. @media only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (min--moz-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (-o-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2/1), only screen and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (min-resolution: 192dpi), only screen and (min-resolution: 2dppx){ .rmq-c5ac8812{background-image: url(https://d31x7hvfv30ebb.cloudfront.net/prod/5e/53/d6330645836697dd573aaa167b24d5760c89-1187x564-square520.png) !important;}}Create and Publish a Powtoon AnimationYouth VoicesWill you:Use Powtoon to create an animated introduction to you! (See Powtoon Animation Slides 5 - 12.)Seven Clicks:Create an account/ Log in: powtoon.comCreate a New ProjectStart from a scratch template (edit)It will take a while to load – refresh if necessaryGive it a title (top left)Skip layout, choose background (do not use premium)Add 10 slidesUpload Media:Background: Choose a theme and color.Sound: Upload your MP3 file and choose background music. Adjust volume so that we can hear you clearly.Images: Find and upload images you annotated on your script.Use this checklist as you work on your animation. Check off the things you have already done.Powtoon Checklist:___ Script complete___ Audio file recorded and converted___ Introduction slide___ Sounds: Voiceover and background music___ Images: a combination of characters, objects, png images, and personal images.___ Text: I have a variety of text and effects timed with my voiceover.___ Each sentence in my voiceover has images and text to support it.___ Concluding slidePost Your Powtoon on Youth Voices:Copy the embed code from your Powtoon animationCreate a discussion on Youth Voices. Remember to add a Featured Image and a unique, great title.In Visual mode, paste your embed code, then remove the final </iframe> and replace the angle-brackets < ... > with flat parentheses [ ,,, ] See how.Choose the Category: Powtoon and publish!@media only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (min--moz-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (-o-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2/1), only screen and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (min-resolution: 192dpi), only screen and (min-resolution: 2dppx){ .rmq-41302c13{background-image: url(https://d31x7hvfv30ebb.cloudfront.net/prod/90/e2/90c0f6f14aa90b3ccceba9bca187d46b9f75-2048x1152-square520.jpg) !important;}}What is a Powtoon Animation?Youth VoicesWill you:Choose three Powtoon introductions to watch and comment on using Hypothes.is. (See the Powtoon Animation Slides, page 4.)Each time you annotate, consider using these sentence starters: I really liked learning that you… I like how you showed this by ….Use a tag to show us your best annotations.After you have annotated three Powtoon animations, linked above, add a specific, unique tag (e.g. "PowtoonComments") to your most thoughtful, inspired annotations.This will give you a URL that you can use to point others to your most thoughtful annotations about the Powtoon introductions. You can submit this URL as evidence for this XP, and your readers or evaluators will be able to click on that LINK and easily find your best annotation. Here's How to Submit One Link for Multiple Hypothes.is Annotations.@media only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (min--moz-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (-o-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2/1), only screen and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (min-resolution: 192dpi), only screen and (min-resolution: 2dppx){ .rmq-d42a1acb{background-image: url(https://d31x7hvfv30ebb.cloudfront.net/prod/e7/8a/173a9fc2ecf88c68ce9e6fd7b67a051ca7bf-775x547-square520.png) !important;}}Record Your Bio. Export the MP3. Embed it on Your Bio.Youth VoicesRecord your three-paragraph Bio on Audacity, on your phone, or by using Vocaroo or Online Voice Recorder.Use any method you have of getting an mp3 file of your voice onto your desktop (email it to yourself, download it..).Upload your mp3 into the media library on YouthVoices then embed it at the top of your Bio. Here are the steps you need to follow:Log inGo to the DashboardUpload New Media, and drag or upload you mp3 into the box that says Drop files here.Once it's up in the library, copy the URL.Embed it at the top of your Bio by typing this Wordpress shortcode at the top of your text in Visual mode: [audio mp3="http://www.youthvoices.live/wp-content/uploads/URfileName.mp3"][/audio]Save ChangesHere's a screencast (start at 3:30) about embedding on Youth Voices.@media only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (min--moz-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (-o-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2/1), only screen and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (min-resolution: 192dpi), only screen and (min-resolution: 2dppx){ .rmq-afd47984{background-image: url(https://d31x7hvfv30ebb.cloudfront.net/prod/c2/3e/92cfec6a93865f01895500172c935367a8cd-625x263-square260.png) !important;}}You, Immigration, and JusticeYouth VoicesWrite three paragraphs about yourself, using Google Docs.CHECK OUT THIS GUIDE FOR ELLS.Paragraph 1: Who are you?What's important to know about you? When were you born? Where have you lived?What do you like to do in and out of school? What are you particularly good at, and how did you get that way?  What are your plans for the future, and your dreams?Paragraph 2: How did immigration impact you?Write about the biggest ways in which your life changed when you immigrated. How did your family structure change?  Were these changes positive or negative?  How do you feel about the languages you speak?Paragraph 3: What is justice/injustice?Write about an incident where you experienced or witnessed an injustice.Where was it?  Who was involved?  What happened?  What was unfair about it?Once you have finished writing to the end of your first draft, READ YOUR BIO TO A FRIEND OR TWO AND TO YOUR TEACHER/MENTOR. Share the document with other youth and with your teacher/mentor. Ask them to write comments and make suggestions on your Google Document.Under the blue share button on Google Docs, make sure that you have made your Doc public and open to comments. Here's how.Make revisions, proofread, and spell check your Google Doc. @media only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (min--moz-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (-o-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2/1), only screen and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (min-resolution: 192dpi), only screen and (min-resolution: 2dppx){ .rmq-969359d9{background-image: url(https://d31x7hvfv30ebb.cloudfront.net/prod/d5/8a/2492566cfb8d836e32939cca3c66bc8857e7-2739x1556.jpeg) !important;}}Choosing a Goal for Stress ManagementYouth VoicesWill you:Choose a stress management technique that best fits into your lifestyle and daily schedule. Consider the following potential stress management techniques. (Find a more exhaustive list at WebMD). Choose one to research more thoroughly for yourself by annotating the resources you find online with hypothes.is:Physical exercise (i.e. yoga, walking, jogging, etc.)Listening to MusicMeditationBreathing Exercises (i.e. belly breathing, etc.)Other leisure activities (i.e. drawing, journaling, etc.)In determining which technique to FOCUS on, consider the following questions:Is the technique one you will stick with? Will you find it enjoyable enough? Why?Can you find time to fit this technique into your daily life? When might it fit into your day?What are some of the physiological benefits of the technique you have chosen?Once you have decided upon a technique, create a discussion post on Youth Voices.Share your stress management goal and the reasoning behind why the technique you've chosen is the best one for you.Refer to resources for examples. Include links to your Hypothes.is annotations for any resources you reference in your writing. (You can find the link to any of your annotations by clicking on the share symbol under your comment, then copy the link that is attached to that specific annotation.)Add Categories, including "Stress."@media only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (min--moz-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (-o-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2/1), only screen and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (min-resolution: 192dpi), only screen and (min-resolution: 2dppx){ .rmq-4f8eb8d0{background-image: url(https://d31x7hvfv30ebb.cloudfront.net/prod/41/6f/9cfb7e50bde85ecd69efa8d2ae856dac1c33-5000x3000-square520.jpg) !important;}}Stressors and Their EffectsYouth VoicesWill you:Watch these two short videos from TED Ed in NowComment:"How stress affects your body""How stress affects your brain"Both videos are in the same NowComment document, where you can watch without logging in. To comment or reply, log in and click on the specific times that you think are important.Here's what to write each time you stop the video: In the Comment box:What do you see and hear at this time stamp? (Summarize in your own words.) In the Additional Thoughts box:What makes this significant?How does it relate to you or something else you've read, seen, or heard?Considering the video content, write a discussion post on Youth Voices that includes the following:What are the stressors that impact your day-to-day life?How have you felt those stressors impact your body's physiology, your emotions, and your learning?What was interesting or surprising about the videos regarding the effects of stress and how it may impact your physiology and brain?Why might it be important to find healthy ways to manage your stress?(Optional) You might also add a link to a tag on NowComment that points to your three best comments. Here's How to Submit One Link for Multiple Comments on a NowComment DocumentHere's how to do it:Compose in Google Docs.Read your writing aloud to a group of peers, and ask for comments.Revise and make grammar and spelling corrections.Publish your writing as a Youth Voices discussion post. Please choose a few categories for your post (including "stress").@media only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (min--moz-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (-o-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2/1), only screen and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (min-resolution: 192dpi), only screen and (min-resolution: 2dppx){ .rmq-412918b6{background-image: url(https://d31x7hvfv30ebb.cloudfront.net/prod/46/11/b38eb5b9eef1541de47b1e92b40bfcd9a792-2991x1436-square520.jpg) !important;}}Researching the Physiological Effects of StressYouth VoicesWill you:Read and annotate the following articles using hypothes.is.from Harvard Health Publications, “Understanding the stress response” from the American Psychological Association, “Understanding chronic stress”One more credible article of your choice. Talk with your teacher or mentor about why you believe an article you have chosen is reliable and useful before you start annotating.Each time you annotate: Summarize the sentence or paragraph in your own words. Say why this is significant. Make a connection to something in your life or something you have read or seen elsewhere. As you read, be sure to highlight and annotate any of the following information:Definition(s) of stressEffect(s) of stress on the body's physiologyLong-term effect(s) of chronic stressSuggested stress management strategies and their benefits.Use tags to show us your best annotations. Here's how:After you have annotated the two articles linked above, plus another one, you need to add a specific, unique tag (e.g. "5beststress") to your five most thoughtful, inspired annotations about stress. This will give you a URL that you can use to point others to your five most thoughtful annotations about stress. You can submit this URL as evidence for this XP. Here are the steps for How to Submit One Link for Multiple Hypothes.is Annotations.@media only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (min--moz-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (-o-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2/1), only screen and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (min-resolution: 192dpi), only screen and (min-resolution: 2dppx){ .rmq-f345db6d{background-image: url(https://d31x7hvfv30ebb.cloudfront.net/prod/0c/80/e2434cf89fb6d6a71f3cddd3fe79cf802784-3723x2482.jpeg) !important;}}The Effects of Mindful Stress ManagementYouth VoicesConsider the stress management goal you created for yourself. Put your technique int

      Some ideas to get your started

  8. Jul 2017
    1. Developing Flexible Writing Processes

      This is an another skill that we introduce when teaching six word memoirs: https://www.lrng.org/youth-voices/badge/six-word-memoir-1

    2. Developing Rhetorical Knowledge

      An important skill we use in evaluating six word memoirs: https://www.lrng.org/youth-voices/badge/six-word-memoir-1

  9. Apr 2017
    1. Liberation is the constant healing from and evolution past harmful systems, and more urgently, the daily injuries we inflict on each other.

      I love how this articulates a day by day practice.

    2. the immediacy of struggling for human liberation from precisely those forms of systemic violence and institutionalized dehumanization that are most culturally and politically sanctioned, valorized, and taken for granted within one’s own pedagogical moment.

      That makes sense. Can we say what this political desire looks like right now?

    3. rigorous experimentation and creative pedagogical radicalism

      These are high ideals, and he just said that he wasn't going to offer a "how to teach" guide. Hmm... still I bend toward wanting to know what this means in practice.

  10. Mar 2017
    1. they observed subtle differences that made big differences in effectiveness of communication

      I don't get it. These small differences had a large effect, but the training didn't matter? What are they saying? How are you feeling about this? What does it make you think about your question?

    2. there are barriers such as language, poverty, and inability to relate to health care providers significantly affected the effectiveness of medical care.

      This is such a generalization and a fascinating one. I'd can't wait to see more!

  11. Feb 2017
    1. at least five keywords

      I like questions like “Why do I like chicken nuggets?”

      When a girl in the back of the room blurts out this question, half a joke, half a test (Do they really want us to write down any question that we think of?), she seems a bit surprised to have her query treated seriously.

      Thanks for that question Neisha. Let's use it as an example of how to think of keywords for each of your questions. What would be a good one for that question?

      Chicken nuggets.

      Not really. That’s too specific. What's a more general word.

      “Food,” somebody yells.

      Right, write that down Neisha. What kind of food are we talking about?

      Junk food. Fast food. Fried food.

      Right. Right. Where do you get chicken nuggets?

      Down on Nostrand Avenue where all the fast food places are.

      And who…

      Neisha catches the drift, interrupts: It’s in my neighborhood and not in White people's neighborhoods. They get healthy food, which is hard to find where I live.

      So could we add “health” to your keywords?

      Yeah.

      And what else is in your description? What about “inequality?“

      And “racism.”

      What else?

      They’re good, Mister.

      So, what about “delicious? “

      Do we have to write five keywords for every question?

      Yup.

      Ahhhh.

      But what a gift this question was! Do you see how a question can start with something personal, something real for you, even if you aren't sure how important it is? Keep putting the personal pronoun, I, in your questions, then ask your friends and your teachers to help you find the social justice behind them. That's what to look for in your keywords.

    1. criminal history as proof that he was a bad actor

      As a student recently wrote in a brainstorm of questions, "Why are people judged by what they were?" https://www.instagram.com/p/86A-X7OmNX/?taken-by=paulrallison That's something else going from a "criminal history" to a trait: "bad actor." Maybe he was unlucky enough to not be able to escape the criminal justice system. Maybe he was a good person who had something terrible follow him.

    1. northeast Portland

      Here's a history of this the process of gentrification that Linda Christensen uses in here gentrification curriculum: BLEEDING ALBINA: A HISTORY OF COMMUNITY DISINVESTMENT, 1940–2000

    2. "Thank God for gentrification," one of the men yelled into a megaphone. "Someone had to clean up the neighborhood."

      The three men yelling this at Black Lives Matter demonstrators must not have learned their lessons in Linda Christensen's English class at Jefferson High School http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/EJ/1052-nov2015/EJ1052Focus.pdf

  12. Dec 2016
    1. Skill Trees

      No representation of skill trees captures the concept completely, but what I hope is evident on this page is that any Badge, with its related Playlist, should be connected to other Badges and Playlists that come before (in this case, above) it, and it should be one of a few available choices (represented in this case by other Badges and Playlists on the same row), and that it leads to other Badges and Playlists (below it), and that what comes next has choices as well.

  13. Nov 2016
    1. Mood Board:

      You could spend 30 seconds off line or longer online... and you can take many hours or days learning how to use a image editor. (See YouTube.)

      Remember this Mood Board is about the sources of inspiration for your poetry on this author's page.

    2. Kiran Chaudhuri, English Teacher

      Obviously, you'll want to put your bio here. Adding an image or a video is optional.

    3. Title

      You can change the color of each of the eight boxes here. The boxes will grow to the size of the content you put in them, with the columns in each row remaining even.

    4. Ten of My Poems

      We will set up a page for you, and ten (or fewer) of your poems will show up in this slider if you add a tag to each.

      The tag is: 10poems

      (just the number and word without a hashtag)

      Add the tag 10poems to each poem that you want to show up in this space.

    1. removing barriers

      Who wouldn't support this goal, but when I think about it, I end up in a chicken and egg loop: do we work to eliminate poverty to provide more equitable access or do we provide more equal educational experience to reduce poverty? Of course the answer is yes, both. But where to begin?

    2. About This Plan

      Nice graphic here:

    3. learning enabled by technology

      So often we are thinking the other way around: How can I find a parallel in technology that would give youth an experience in learning similar to what they get in the classroom? I actually this is a great way to begin to design learning experiences for student, and what we find is that we sometimes end up with even richer materials and wider/deeper connections with others when we move enable learning with technology. Still starting with what works without the tech makes sense often.

    4. can be

      Or it can do the opposite. It can reify longstanding practices, diminish and undermine relationships between educators and students, widen the gaps between wealthy and poor students, and lock students into step-by-step online curriculum.

    1. equity of access to transformational learning experiences enabled by technology

      Love this careful distinction: tech is not enough, and tech can provide learning experiences for youth that can't be attained without technology.

    2. the flagship educational technology policy document for the United States.

      Wow I wonder what that means! If it's "the ship in a fleet that carries the commanding admiral," then I can expect to see other tech policy ships, and who is our admiral? Seriously, it would be great if this kind of leadership existed.

    1. We share these 12 stories of collaborationsand partnerships—most successful, a few less so—during this time of educational innovation and stringent accountability to demonstrate why the kind of professional development offered by Writing ProjectTCsmust continue—why it is essential to work respectfully as colleagues and co-learners over time with new and seasoned teachers in their professional arenas.

      Join @EddieONY @eavidon @gracer @bluegina @juliemiele &more @nycwp techrs edtechtalk.com/ttt 2nite 9ET/6PT goo.gl/clhWV3 #NWP

  14. Oct 2016
    1. a critical mass

      Interesting. So this was a whole-school effort?

    2. a new rolefor teachers

      It's not a strategy, a program, or a technology, it's a position of peer leadership, a way of working with colleagues.

    3. On-Site Work

      This work was in schools with teachers, right? When foundations and funders of after school programs ask about how to "spread and scale" the work, it baffles me that they don't begin to answer their questions by turning to how to effectively bring the innovative after school work to teachers and students in schools. Working on the connections between in school and out of school learning is important!

    4. Impact

      Great title. It puts us into the middle of work that is designed for change.

  15. Jun 2016
    1. Ella Baker
    2. his new sys-tem of education derive from the teaching of Robert Parris Moses, Mississippi #eld secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960s and founder of the Algebra Project.

      I love how this program has roots and is new.

    3. We are trying to imagine and create a way to educate our children for democracy, but must do this in an America that does not yet know the practice of democracy.

      This is especially true when we think about segregated schools, and how we need to teach in them without accepting them

    1. (As schools have since resegregated, the test-score gap has only grown.) The improvements for black children did not come at the cost of white children. As black test scores rose, so did white ones.

      Important facts!

    2. By 1988

      Five years after I started teaching, and a couple of years into our work at University Heights Secondary School where we were inspired with the Coalition of Essential Schools to re-think school from the bottom up -- and in our case for African-American and Latino students in the Bronx.

    3. “separate but equal”

      But isn't this also what Roberta Davenport is doing at P.S. 307? Not waiting for racism to disappear, but accepting that it will always be with us, and trying to build an educational environment that resists injustice, that teaches the students how and why they are in segregated schools, and what we can do about it -- but also a stance that rejects judging schools by test scores and other standard measures.

    4. in 1955

      That was then, that is NOW!

    5. “Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other ‘tangible’ factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does.” The ruling made clear that because this nation was founded on a racial caste system, black children would never become equals as long as they were separated from white children.

      And I know that my giving up on integration basically denies the truth of this. When I say that we need to give the African-American and Latino students the best counter-education we can give them, I am accepting that they will always be separate and unequal. I don't accept that, but what can I do about it? This is inspiring: http://www.integratenyc4me.com/

    6. right decision for our little girl. But I knew I made the just one.

      Wow. That should never be a problem for a parent.

    7. I am going to get mine for my child

      Behind this assumption is that the education is better in those other schools as well.

    8. the spare educational orthodoxy often reserved for poor black and brown children that strips away everything that makes school joyous in order to focus solely on improving test scores.

      Thank god! Does this only depend on an individual, though?

    9. But

      How -- oh how -- do we judge schools?

    10. There is nothing harder than navigating our nation’s racial legacy in this country, and the problem was that we each knew the other was right and wrong at the same time.

      The "everyday violence" of this is easy to imagine, impossible to solve.

    11. two-tiered system: one set of schools with excellent resources for white kids and some black and Latino middle-class kids, a second set of underresourced schools for the rest of the city’s black and Latino kids.

      It's more complicated than this. There are a few options that have excellent resources, and many more options that are under resourced, not just two. And why point this out? Because it doesn't seem as stark as it's presented here on the ground... and the subtle differences between top-tier and lower tier schools fools some into thinking that this separation isn't real.

    12. In 2014, the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles, released a report showing that New York City public schools are among the most segregated in the country.

      Here's a relevant quote from this study: "Schools with mostly zoned students generally reflect neighborhood segregation patterns. Those with the means to attend less disadvantaged schools are also often the more advantaged students or families, which increases the segregation within CSDs and the city." There is so much that would be possible to study around these issues. What a rich multi-disciplinary (history, law, politics, statistics, English) project this could be! Here's another interesting source that is distracting me from Hannah-Jones's essay: http://editorial-ny.dnainfo.com/interactives/2014/12/diversity/diversity-frame.html Try this: go to any neighborhood, and start with All Schools, then go to Middle Schools, then High Schools. Notice the green dots (schools with Whites) disappearing? Of course in Bedford-Stuyvesant, where Hannah-Jones lives, this stays the same across the different ages -- only Black-dominant schools are available.

    13. carefully curated integration, the kind that allows many white parents to boast that their children’s public schools look like the United Nations, comes at a steep cost for the rest of the city’s black and Latino children.

      Very much like the exceptions that I was pointing out in my own teaching experience.

    14. In a city where white children are only 15 percent of the more than one million public-school students, half of them are clustered in just 11 percent of the schools, which not coincidentally include many of the city’s top performers.

      Uh... wait a second, shouldn't we be doing numbers for elementary public-school students?

    15. the possibility of my getting from there to here

      Ah-- now we are getting to a real goal. I do like that Nikole Hannah-Jones is making clear her personal frame for these issues. What's mine? I grew up in a town in Pennsylvania, where "the racial makeup of the borough was 97.32% White..." and the one high school in the town reflected this homogeneity. As a teacher (except for a couple of years in Salt Lake City), I have always taught in segregated African-American and Latino public schools in New York City -- except, I need to remember, for three years of teaching at the East-West School for International Studies in Flushing, where the diversity of students was something special. And there was a lot of diversity at the International School at LaGuardia where I also taught for a few years. SO... There are exceptions, and I suppose these exceptions are important to think about as I consider my own frames and biases on these issues.

    16. this exposure helped me imagine possibilities, a course for myself that I had not considered before.

      Again... Is this a goal?

    17. leave their neighborhood schools

      Location, location, location! In the end we made decisions about where our children would go to school based on where the schools were located -- not totally, but it was an important part of our decision.

    18. He can now walk into any room and instantly start a conversation with the people there, whether they are young mothers gathered at a housing-project tenants’ meeting or executives eating from small plates at a ritzy cocktail reception.

      Is this the goal?

    19. I didn’t know any of our middle-class neighbors, black or white, who sent their children to one of these schools. They had managed to secure seats in the more diverse and economically advantaged magnet schools or gifted-and-talented programs outside our area, or opted to pay hefty tuition to progressive but largely white private institutions

      This makes me want to take the time to figure out the argument that I heard explained on the Brian Lehrer Show about six months ago http://www.wnyc.org/story/neighborhoods-are-integrated-while-schools-stay-segregated/ Here's the study they are talking about http://www.centernyc.org/segregatedschools and the basic thesis is that even while neighborhoods are integrated (or -- as this author says about Bedford-Stuyvesant "rapidly gentrifying"), schools remain segregrated. I'm assuming that it's because middle class (and White?) parents who might be moving into segregated neighborhoods are still not sending their children to schools in those neighborhoods.

    20. the schools are a disturbing reflection of New York City’s stark racial and socioeconomic divisions. In one of the most diverse cities in the world, the children who attend these schools learn in classrooms where all of their classmates — and I mean, in most cases, every single one — are black and Latino, and nearly every student is poor.

      There is so much here to respond to. First this analysis is clearly about what happens in elementary schools, and whatever "racial and socioeconomic divisions" this mother has found in elementary school, just wait until high school. We are a segregated school system. So does this mean that we should be fighting against this and supporting policies that would lead to more integration? Or should we focus on making the schools that Black and Latino students go to are the best they can be for these students?

  16. May 2016
    1. identifying who or what body in the community has power to make the change;

      THIS is something I could learn more about.

    2. Researching the chosen issue

      Although there is much more that is possible in connecting youth in the middle of their research process, our experience of having students post at many and early stages of their inquiry/research process is invaluable!

    3. Identifying issues important in their lives and community, and deciding on one to address

      Sometimes this takes weeks or even months. I remember taking a walk with an art teacher several years ago, and I asked him how a particular student was doing in his class, and specifically what he was working on because it was hard for me to figure out how to get him connected to my work in English. It was November, just before Thanksgiving, and my colleague said, "I haven't figured out what his project will be yet," he said, before going on to explain a couple of things he had tried without success. I was struck with how patient he was being in letting the project come to the student, and not forcing him into a prescribed curriculum. Waiting is so hard, yet the work produced once there is a "flow" for a student makes it worth the wait. This has strong implications for school structures however! We need to be with students for longer periods of time. It also has implications for how groups work together. Perhaps a student who hasn't found his/her project yet can help others?

    4. High unemployment■■Racial discrimination■■Neighborhood violence■■Deportation of undocumented immigrants■■High cost of college attendance■■Juvenile justice

      Funny thing is, one can imagine that students -- at least my students in the Bronx -- would come up with a similar list. They have! But you can't bring it to them. There are shades and subtleties that are important in any group's list of topics. Like my students wanted to explore why people from the Bronx are not treated the same as people from elsewhere.

    5. news articles on neighbor-hood displacements over the years to get students thinking further about underlying issues that affected them.

      Gentrification -- or housing patterns -- is a great topic to explore with youth, precisely because it is both in the news and the stories represent historical patterns that can be studied deeply. Similarly, this is a teaching moment that can be about what is happening in the lives of youth in our classes and built on the strategies of placed-based education and writing. I started to pull some of this together around Renee Watson's Youth Adult novel Close To Home and Linda Christensen's work with the Oregon Writing Project and beyond with the Roots of Gentrification. See http://youthvoices.net/home1 I'd love to finish some of this curriculum development -- but only when teaching the material with students, not in the abastract.

    6. When students see adults actually listening to them with respect, that is when they begin to realize they have a voice and can make a difference in their world.

      I hope this is true. And I love the idea that adults are that important to students. Still I wonder how this fits with the connected-learning notion that youth want to be heard and recognized by their peers. I suppose it isn't an either/or: some youth seek peer approval, others want to be heard by adults. When you post on an open social network, you never know who will respond.

    1. kids are led to believe all the marketing and advertising on TV,

      Is it just the kids? What role do teachers, doctors, and parents play? And older siblings?

  17. Apr 2016
    1. code, Minecraft has become a stealth gateway to the fundamentals, and the pleasures, of computer science.

      learning code = computer science? I guess, but I also wonder if my need to learn code has come more from a desire to communicate on social media more effectively.

    2. In the late ’70s and ’80s

      There's also something about teachers who went to school then too. I'm one of them, and I love to tinker with the curriculum.

    3. invites them to tinker

      Yup! That's the secret.

    4. all three put together

      It's the different kinds of experiences in one place that makes Minecraft different.

    5. a different sort of phenomenon.

      And it's worth teasing out the differences.

    6. harness

      That's an interesting verb. What skills does Jordan have that allow him to do this?

    7. some of which players can kill and eat (or tame, if they want pets)

      Notice how many options there are here: "some," not all the animals, kill and eat or tame and make pets.

    8. obsessed

      This is what my students describe: loosing track of time while they are on Minecraft.

    9. navigate

      We can never underestimate the pleasures of moving around in what seems to be a virtual space.

    10. challenge his friends

      He invites peers to play his game with him.

    11. concoct his own version

      After reading a book, this 11-year-old sees ways to create his own version of an imagined world.

    12. you make things

      In the second paragraph, I'm delighting in how many different modes of thought are evident. First there's the making.

    1. massmediarefers to those means of transmission

      When I ask students to post on Youth Voices, I'm asking them to participate in mass media. It's a big jump for some who do very little by friend-to-friend communication.

  18. Mar 2016
    1. neurotoxic chemicalscontribute to developmental delays,hyperactivity, memory loss, attentiondeficit, learning disabilities, and aggres-sive behavior.

      These are preventable. That seems to be the message. Jill Stein is well suited to a year when Flint is still a boiling cauldron.

    1. the skills to overcome frustration.

      Wow. So my allowing students to play Minecraft is giving them too much structure in their play, and they need to learn more skills for overcoming frustration?

    2. playing outside or inventing their own make-believe games.

      Or coding or doing homework or reading, writing, having a conversation...

    3. alleviate boredom

      I think Faith says this: that kids turn to Minecraft because school is boring. And I'm wondering if there is a way to take this activity and turn it to more imaginative, creative projects.

    4. they felt “edgy” and “irritable” after Minecraft sessions.’

      I wonder if students feel this way after playing Minecraft during lunch. Why would they?

    5. Minecraft can discourage imagination in children.

      Key word here, I imagine, is "can." It probably all depends on how the time on Minecraft is structured, and I worry that I haven't done this well enough for my students.

    6. parents

      Parents need to give children "structured" play time and more "free time." Granted, but what do the structures look like and don't we need to do the same in school for youth of all ages? We need play AND we need to think about how to structure this play.

    7. encourages ‘labour’ over ‘love’

      When I watch Gabriel, Faith, Mia, and others playing Minecraft, I worry that the game is inspiring more "work, work, work..." or mindless obsession than it is creative making and expression.

    1. but it was lacking in imp

      That's how school feels to many youths!

    2. players are not simply consumers, but are active in the development of the game as it has changed

      This would be a good goal for developing Youth Voices too.

    3. To avoid dying (and losing all of one’s on-body possessions, starting over at the spawn point), the player needs to create structures and armor to survive the nightly onslaught.

      Such a simple mechanic! I wonder how we could conduct classes that way... something that would encourage building or getting busted back to nothing.

    4. . The game’s open sandbox is as inviting to many players as it is intimidating to some, and the procedural generation of a world has drawn many players (such as myself) immediately into exploration mode, rooting around the world to explore the highest peaks and deepest caverns one can fin

      Perhaps part of the appeal of Minecraft comes from this separation between people who get it and those of us who prefer more clear instructions or goals. Perhaps some of this is generational too.

    5. , perhaps leading a timid player into confusion, an uninformed player into a sense of complacency, or an adventurous player into sense that this simulation of a blocky world is truly open for player exploration

      I've been in the first two categories: timid and uninformed, and I've watched my students be adventurous players!

    6. See Figure 1, below, for an example of the view from a starting spawn point in Minecraft — a pleasant morning on a sandy beach, with virtually no instruction as to what to do next

      This is off-putting to some of us, but I guess a lot of young people like the freedom of being able to get lost in such a world without "instruction."

    7. Minecraft is a game that seems to have struck a chord with gamers in a relatively short period of time

      It continues to be quite popular!

    8. and  say,  ‘I  did  this!’...

      I guess when they sold it to Microsoft, they were finished?

    9. Beyond

      So there's more to it than building things and surviving? A student who plays minecraft told me today that he thinks you actually do learn what you are simulating in the game. "Like when you build a garden, you learn how to farm," he told me. Hmmmm.

  19. Feb 2016
    1. 5:11our definition of engagement is not the same definition of engagement5:17that people maintain today hands5:20that people were maintained in the past are leveling the of engagement5:24is much more hands-on much more direct5:27and see5:28that's because we feel like we can really have5:32more tangible impact5:34through direct5:36action and volunteerism

      This is really interesting. Of course, it's not an either/or, but this helps me to understand how it looks through the eyes on an engaged youth.

    1. narratives of emotional and social journeys from being at academic risk in high schools to being academically successful in universities academic experiences.

      These are indeed the stories we need to hear, and the data that needs to be collected -- how ever she drew data from narratives.

    2. the personal, social, and emotional transformations that adolescents and adults who are at risk experience as they develop resilience and shift from disengagement to engagement, and/or academic failure to success in schools.

      I think it's important to be able to identify the changes in attitude, relationships and moods that we can see when at-risk teenagers begin to be self-directed learners. If we could see what these changes look like and agree on them, then we might be able to assess students better. Currently none of the ways we move or prevent students from moving through school make sense to me: social promotion (advancement because of age), testing (usually of a small subset of math and reading skills), or even portfolio assessment (because at-risk students usually don't have a body of "mastery" level work).

  20. Jan 2016
    1. We have the schools we have, because people who can afford better get better. And sadly, people who can’t afford better just get less--less experienced teachers, inadequate funding and inferior facilities.

      Is this our fate? I'm afraid it might be. In other words, are we fighting to change this inequity or are we working to "innovate" within it? And what does this innovation mean really?

    1. understanding of yourself

      So... what would a portfolio of "Understanding Yourself" have in it? How would we assess it?

    2. The sixth intelligence and seventh intelligence have to do with human beings.

      These are particularly important in schools, and rarely measured well or given their due in positive ways, although we are good at punishing their lack.

    3. spatial intelligence

      I wonder if this is about understanding the web and hyperlinks, and coding... too.

    4. Broadway or the highway or into the woods or into a farm,

      I love his examples here. They are urban, rural, natural, built... but all real-world.

    5. And at certain cultures over history, musical intelligence has been very important.

      Seems like a pretty important path toward success in our culture right now, even if it isn't as recognized in school.

    6. Linguistic intelligence is how well you’re able to use language. It’s a kind of skill that poets have, other kinds of writers; journalists tend to have linguistic intelligence, orators.

      I guess I do have a prejudice for this one. Don't all people use language to learn, reason, argue, and communicate, no matter their discipline or field?

    7. Currently I think there are eight intelligences that I’m very confident about and a few more that I’ve been thinking about.

      I love the exploratory, scientific note in this opening sentence. We are promised Gardner's "current" thinking, and speculations about where this work might go next, not some sort of settled notion about there being six or eight intelligences, not a complete theory, but a snapshot of how we might think about these issues.

    1. the teacher who comes in early

      Got to get to bed!

    2. bonds of trust

      Can't help but think of how thread-bare these bonds are with the police (and it isn't just African-American's feel this distrust.)

    3. 10,000 air strikes

      Recent statistics I read in the NYTimes. Number of ISIS fighters in 2014 = 30,000. Number of fighters killed in air strikes in 2015 = 25,000. Number of ISIS fighters at the end of 2015 = 30,000. New math? 30 - 25 = 30? (And only 6 non-combatants were killed the U.S. claims.)

    4. climate

      Ever need inspiration about youth? Check out their work on climate change on Youth Voices: http://youthvoices.net/search/node/climate

    5. four big questions

      How do these compare to Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms"?

    6. widely available online

      Dan Doernberg put the address on NowComment -- another place to comment: https://nowcomment.com/documents/44829/

    7. an election season

      Here's a recent assessment of the candidates by a tenth grader: http://youthvoices.net/discussion/our-presidential-candidates-fearful-or-cautious

    1. President Obama will deliver his final State of the Union address on January 12, 2016 at 9PM ET. Watch as he reflects on the road we've traveled in the last seven years.

      Join teachers and students from around the country to annotate Obama's last State of the Union address on Tuesday at 9PM. Join Jeremy Dean, as he leads an "annotatathon" -- one of many we hope to see during this electoral season, as part of the Letters to the Next President project, co-sponsored by the NWP and WQED. Keep your eye out for the link to the transcript of the speech then join us on hypothes.is to annotate it live -- or later this week. Have your students join us live or later in the week as well!

  21. Nov 2015
    1. Social networking, videogames and other technology may be drawing children away from sports.

      I want to talk to Mark Naison about this.

    1. "It makes me feel like a failure," he said of that photo. "I'm sitting here wishing I had done more. I wish I had made one more phone call. I wish we would have been able to give him a few more hours."

      I'm deeply saddened by this response. I've felt it so often. But what would Jamar have been able to do with those few more hours? What could have stopped this tragedy from speeding down to its inevitable end.

    2. he didn't have the structure to be the person he wanted to be

      What does that mean?!? Is it something in him? In our schools? In his experiences in his adoptive family? In not having a steady job? In getting pushed in and out of jail? What?

    3. Clark's sly grin in a selfie, wearing his Copeland Trucking hat.

      Jamar Clark

    4. terroristic threats

      Come again?

    5. "He cared about his family being connected with each other. He cared about having somebody care about him."

      I guess this is a basic human need: connection. But I'm struck with how sensitive Jamar was about this need. This sentence makes me want to write a song or a poem about Jamar, the lovely repetition of "cared" and "care."

    6. When things were going well, he was a nurturing, loving man who was drawn to her four children,

      This sentence and others in this article point to Jamar's connections to family: biological and adoptive parents, 14 siblings, wanting a family of his own, and a nurturing, loving man. And the police call him a "bad actor." Which is it? I guess he could be both. What does this phrase "When things were going well..." mean? Does it mean when Tim was providing employment and a motel room?

    7. The system failed miserably

      That seems pretty clear by now, a tragic series of events with Jamar going "in and out" of prison for three of his most precious years, his early 20's. But what can we imagine instead? How might "the system" respond to "troubled youth"? Who can we help now to avoid Jamar's path?

    8. Hoag was sure

      What gave Tim Hoag this optimism? What was he missing? Or is it just luck who can move past "it" and who can't.

    9. Clark spent much of his 20's in and out of prison

      Once back on the streets there were times when I couldn't afford to take the bus I didn't know where I was going to sleep at night Thank God for Tim who would get me a motel room, and a job when he could.

      I've made mistakes in my life, and I've paid my dues.

      When the cops stopped us after a high speed chase in July, did they have to beat me too?

    10. Tim Hoag and his wife hired Clark earlier this year

      I want to know more about Tim Hoag and his wife and their rental properties. And how Jamar came into their orbit. How could government have supported Tim Hoag and his wife in their reaching out to Jamar?

      Here's the beginning of a lead to learn more about Tim Hoag. He's the President of Copland Trucking. http://www.copelandtruc-king.com/team.htm Image Description

    11. petty misdemeanor for possessing a small amount of marijuana in 2009.

      Piecing this together, it seems that many of Jamar's troubles started with this "petty misdemeanor" for marijuana possession when he was 18. How can we see this story as being about a young Black man who was ensnared in a system of prison and crime that would only make things worse for him.

    12. At times he couldn't afford bus fare for work and struggled with stable housing. Hoag put him up at a motel for a few days to help out, and gave him as many hours of work at Copeland Trucking as he could, helping in the warehouse or on moves.

      I'm writing this from a workshop that Renee Watson and Linda Christensen are doing at NCTE about housing and racism in Portland. Reading this sentence, I can't help wonder how housing and incarceration and racism and joblessness are at the heart of Jamar's anger and difficulties in his relationship with his girlfriend. And given his struggles for stable housing, doesn't that help us understand what is going on with Jamar as he faces the police after having another fight with his girlfriend. The last sentence in this article must be given attention. How could we have done one more thing to help him?

    13. protesters outside the police precinct insist Clark was handcuffed before he was shot, which police dispute.

      Okay, so which of these is more credible. Isn't it irresponsible journalism to just report such an important detail as he said/she said? Which of the people who the reporter interviewed seemed most credible? Who was actually there?

    14. a July arrest for fleeing police in a high-speed chase.

      Sarah Gartnor, a friend of Chris Rodgers -- who took us over to the 4th Precinct yesterday (Thursday) -- told us that when she was sitting in the Mayor's living room the night before as part of a protest, a special prosecutor told her and her fellow protesters that Jamar had been beaten at the end of this high-speed chase. He was about to testify about that beating in January, he told her.

    15. on probation

      He's had a hard time, but this sounds ugly.

    16. three years in and out of prison

      What does this mean? Was he is prison or not?

    17. they contend he was reaching for an officer's gun when he was shot.

      Okay, he was either reaching for a gun or he was handcuffed. How does a reporter merely report this without pointing out that this is clearly NOT what many witnesses said happened. And I would assume that she did follow-up interviews with quoting these eye-witnesses. what did these "union reps" have to say about why their story is so different?

    18. police union representatives

      Putting this out there like this: Are we expected to trust this or not. Is this totally up to the reader and his/her background as to whether or not we are to trust the "police union representatives?" Certainly we can all agree that these reps have a reason to make Clark look bad. Why doesn't the writer remind us of that fact?

    19. He cared deeply about his parents — biological and adoptive — and his 14 siblings, and had a job and hopes of going to college.

      What a sentence! I keep reading it and wondering what he would say if he could read it. Twenty-four -- with the last three years in prison, living at times in a motel, and he cared deeply about his parents and 14 siblings!

    20. on the right track

      The details below -- about throwing a brick, etc.... -- make me wonder, but I hope so. No matter what this is a tragedy!

    21. at the hands

      Yes, they used their hands AND they used at least one gun to kill Jamar.

    22. troubled past that Jamar Clark struggled for years to escape

      Is this a formula? Dragging up a victim's past? And what's going to happen as I read this (again). On my first reading, I was upset with how Jamar was trying (sometimes unsuccessfully) to escape the criminal justice system, and now it finally caught up to him.

    1. IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY NORTHERN DIVISION AT COVINGTON

      There are annotations from the "Youth Voices" group on this court filing. Join our conversations here.

    1. Race and Discipline in Spotlight After South Carolina Officer Drags Student

      There are annotations from the "Youth Voices" group on this article. Join our conversations here.

    1. The Civil Rights of Children

      There are annotations from the "Youth Voices" group on this editorial. Join our conversations here.

    1. Schoolkids in Handcuffs

      There are annotations from the "Youth Voices" group on this editorial. Join our conversations here.

    1. Four-fifths of the city lay submerged as residents frantically signaled for help from their rooftops and thousands were stranded at the Superdome, a congregation of the desperate and poor.

      It's hard to remember how much of New Orleans was devastated and for how long.

  22. Aug 2015
    1. As of 2013, there were nearly 100,000 fewer black residents than in 2000, their absences falling equally across income levels. The white population decreased by about 11,000, but it is wealthier.

      Perhaps New Orleans is a global symbol of what Naomi Klein has called Disaster Apartheid Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein

    2. American dysfunction and government negligence

      "Bush doesn't care about Black people," made clear the neglect that we felt immediately, but it was only later the I became aware of the years of incompetence and broken systems that led to the storm surge doing so much damage. Immediately -- and for me to this day -- New Orleans was a symbol of carbon corporate power. Where is BP in this sentence in the Times?

    1. What we should aim at producing is men who possess both culture and expert knowledge in some special direction.

      It's that "special direction" that becomes the key to organizing a curriculum. How do we help students to attach their interests to a direction in their lives? Or am I wrong to think that Whitehead, here, is pointing to a learning experience that connects interest with being of use in society, with political activism.

  23. Jul 2015
    1. I first witnessed this power out on the Yard, that communal green space in the center of the campus where the students gathered and I saw everything I knew of my black self multiplied out into seemingly endless variations. There were the scions of Nigerian aristocrats in their business suits giving dap to bald-headed Qs in purple windbreakers and tan Timbs. There were the high-yellow progeny of A.M.E. preachers debating the clerics of Ausar-Set. There were California girls turned Muslim, born anew, in hijab and long skirt. There were Ponzi schemers and Christian cultists, Tabernacle fanatics and mathematical geniuses. It was like listening to a hundred different renditions of “Redemption Song,” each in a different color and key. And overlaying all of this was the history of Howard itself. I knew that I was literally walking in the footsteps of all the Toni Morrisons and Zora Neale Hurstons, of all the Sterling Browns and Kenneth Clarks, who’d come before.

      I love the details, the pride, the power of this description!

    2. The violence that undergirded the country, so flagrantly on display during Black History Month, and the intimate violence of the streets were not unrelated.

      But how exactly are they related? And doesn't this (of course it does) deeply complicate the concerns about "black-on-black" crime, making the violence experience by a black youth all part of a connected system of violence?

    3. Back then all I could do was measure these freedom-lovers by what I knew. Which is to say, I measured them against children pulling out in the 7-Eleven parking lot, against parents wielding extension cords, and the threatening intonations of armed black gangs saying, “Yeah, nigger, what’s up now?” I judged them against the country I knew, which had acquired the land through murder and tamed it under slavery, against the country whose armies fanned out across the world to extend their dominion.

      I wonder if curriculum like this http://youthvoices.net/blacklivesmatter makes similar mistakes.

    4. Back then all I could do was measure these freedom-lovers by what I knew. Which is to say, I measured them against children pulling out in the 7-Eleven parking lot, against parents wielding extension cords, and the threatening intonations of armed black gangs saying, “Yeah, nigger, what’s up now?” I judged them against the country I knew, which had acquired the land through murder and tamed it under slavery, against the country whose armies fanned out across the world to extend their dominion.

      I wonder if our "BlackLivesMatter" curriculum sometimes makes the same mistakes. http://youthvoices.net/blacklivesmatter

    5. Howard University

      I wonder how he got there? These warm memories are wonderful to read.

    6. How could they send us out into the streets of Baltimore, knowing all that they were, and then speak of nonviolence?

      Or Restorative Justice these days, I suppose. Yeah, there's something going on here. I need to just listen more.

    7. The world, the real one, was civilization secured and ruled by savage means.

      Only? I get the contrast Coates is describing here, but can't we have non-violence and a savage civilization, with reality bouncing between these?

    8. My understanding of the universe was physical, and its moral arc bent toward chaos then concluded in a box.

      This, of course, is flipping Martin Luther King's famous quote about "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." It's upsetting to think that Coates is saying that the reality is that the arc bends toward death, not justice.

      See:

      http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/11/15/arc-of-universe/

      and

      http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129609461

    9. into the church

      What about school? Can school be a retreat from the culture of the street? Or does it just extend that culture?

    10. The streets transform every ordinary day into a series of trick questions, and every incorrect answer risks a beat-down, a shooting, or a pregnancy.

      Given my interest in inquiry and the use of questions, I wonder if Coates would say the same about school, that it transforms "every ordinary day into a series of trick questions," and (I fear) "every incorrect answer risks a beat-down" -- even if it's just humiliation and bad grades.

    11. When I was your age, fully one-third of my brain was concerned with whom I was walking to school with, our precise number, the manner of our walk, the number of times I smiled, whom or what I smiled at, who offered a pound and who did not—all of which is to say that I practiced the culture of the streets, a culture concerned chiefly with securing the body.

      Teachers need to understand that this is going on in our classrooms too.

    12. there were other worlds where children did not regularly fear for their bodies.

      I'm trying to remember if I, growing up in a home that thought of itself as white in a small town, ever felt this dread. I do remember fearing death as a child, but it was when I was in the back seat of a car, watching the highway rushing by. I don't remember feeling like anybody could kill me.

    13. surging rage

      Does "surging rage" = fear?

    14. a dream

      A different kind of dream from the Dream referred to in the first couple of paragraphs.

    15. either failed at enforcing its good intentions or succeeded at something much darker.

      Why do we have to accept this as either/or here? Why can't we continue to embrace both sides of this opposition?

    16. sounded the alarm or choked us at the exit.

      And I guess that the point is that we have to live with both sides of the oppositions presented in this paragraph

    17. Maybe that saved me. Maybe it didn’t.

      And what about the other side of this? What if a school, like the Lyons Community School in Brooklyn practices Restorative Justice. Does that prepare those youths to deal with cops who treat them with disrespect and violence in the streets? See Act Three. The Talking Cure. of This American Life 538: "Is this Working?" October 17, 2014.

      the feeling that your funky little system is cool when we're in school and all, but don't try and take it and apply it to our world. You're in over your head.

      Actually listen to the whole thing to see that they also end up, like Coates, with "maybe, yes, maybe, no."

    18. My father was so very afraid. I felt it in the sting of his black leather belt, which he applied with more anxiety than anger, my father who beat me as if someone might steal me away, because that is exactly what was happening all around us.

      This reminds me of the incident during the Baltimore Uprising in April where Toya Graham beats her son. Stacey Patton wrote about this:

      The kind of violent discipline Graham unleashed on her son did not originate with her, or with my adoptive mother who publicly beat me when I was a child, or with the legions of black parents who equate pain with protection and love. The beatings originated with white supremacy, a history of cultural and physical violence that devalues black life at every turn. From slavery through Jim Crow, from the school-to-prison pipeline, the innocence and protection of black children has always been a dream deferred. http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/04/29/why-is-america-celebrating-the-beating-of-a-black-child/