This video shared with me By Tony Alexander

This will be a quick one.

Think about a negative situation you had. Maybe it was with a co-worker where you butted heads. It could have possibly been with a long time friend speaking about politics or religion. Perhaps you had a situation on social media that went south. Whatever the negative situation it doesn’t matter. Just try to remember the situation in as many details as you possibly can.

Think about the emotion of the situation. I had a circumstance that was eating at me for years. I had feelings of anger and powerlessness. I couldn’t get my point across and felt attacked and belittled. Every time I thought of it all these negative feelings came up.

Then a friend told me to reframe my view. What good came out of the situation? How did you grow? What changed because of it? These simple questions blew my mind! There was a ton of good that came from it when I reflected back. It forced me to become a better version of myself.

Suddenly the anger was gone. The negative feelings that were only hurting me were gone. The other parties had moved on and probably not thought about it or me since. I was the one that was hurting myself. The weight lifted.

Hopefully, this will help you. It is not a new philosophy or something I didn’t know. I just needed someone to remind me about reframing the experience. Perhaps I can be that someone to you.

My school year is coming to an end. That means that the dreaded end of the year evaluation had to occur. You know where teachers are reduced to a numerical score. This is much the same as when our students get PARCC tested. The outcome of both is the same. You walk away feeling that there is so much more to you than a number score.

I do want to state for the record that my administration has never made me feel like I am only a number. I get much more support than most teachers in other districts.  Educating my students about intersectionality has been received with open arms. If I roll into the office with an idea and a plan the answer is usually go for it. This is in no way a knock on my administration. They have done nothing but vigorously prop me up with both words and actions.

My observations had gone well so I had no worries about those scores. My professional development plan (pdp) had met two of the three goals I had set up to attain. My school is negotiating our contracts and we were working the contracted hours so every committee was canceled. This made my goal of creating an edcamp professional development day impossible to put into motion.

My student growth objectives were an issue. One of them I met with flying colors. This was actually the coolest SGO I had ever done. My students created videos on any health topic they wanted. We then self-assessed the videos against a rubric. The goal was to have them get a higher score on the second round of videos. If you want to see the rubric click here.

The second video they made revolved around one of the eight main ideas of intersectionality. The idea was that they would get a small snippet of the subject and then we would research more about it. They would then make a video enlightening others about what that idea was and how it negatively impacted people in our country. I conferred with the students often during this activity. This was my first time teaching this material and I already know some of the changes that I will have to make in order for this to work better next year. If you want to see the assignment click here.

My final SGO was a simple catching one with first grade. I failed this miserably. I did not readjust the SGO during our mid-year check in which was completely my fault. I will also take the responsibility that I did not teach them the skill well enough either.

This brought my overall evaluation score down. I did not, nor do I currently, care about that number other than making sure I still have a job. I know the system I work in and want to make sure that I can continue to play the game as long as I need to. That means understanding the rules of the game and working within those parameters. What was interesting was the discussion that ensued from my administrator. He brought up the point it’s about what I deserve not the importance of the number.  This new way of framing was interesting. Another point he brought up was that if I scored in the highest bracket I will be able to have only one observation and do a reflection piece for my second. This sounds intriguing to me.

I value my administrator’s opinion and ultimately they are the boss. I want them to see me as being valuable and want to keep my job. And I don’t think that number at the end of the year defines me. My evaluations from my students are where the power lies. The trimester check-ins, the affective data collected, the amount of hugs I get in the hallway, and the positive association with movement is where the evaluations that truly matter occur. If that sounds progressive it’s probably because it is. I am a non-tested area and I embrace that. It gives me the freedom to teach using my philosophy.

Einstein is commonly credited with saying, “‘Not everything that matters can be measured, and not everything that is measured matters’. I will never truly know what impact I am having on my students. They may not even remember my class or identify that they may have learned to love moving there. The point is that we as teachers will always be more than a number just as our students are more than a test score. I take the score for what it is. An attempt by an imperfect system to reduce teaching to a quantifiable number. I understand the need for it and I refuse to let it derail me from my goal of creating an environment where students want to move and learn together.

This blog is going to be one of those tough blogs. The ones where my white readers will question why they continue to read and follow. Some of you who I consider friends, allies, or more will not be happy.  That’s too bad. Get ready. It’s. About. To. Go Down.

What exactly is Critical Race Theory (CRT)? According to the UCLA School of Public Affairs:

CRT recognizes that racism is engrained in the fabric and system of the American society. The individual racist need not exist to note that institutional racism is pervasive in the dominant culture. This is the analytical lens that CRT uses in examining existing power structures. CRT identifies that these power structures are based on white privilege and white supremacy, which perpetuates the marginalization of people of color. CRT also rejects the traditions of liberalism and meritocracy. (link)

You may be white. You may be reading this and say this is malarky. Black people have affirmative action (which benefits white women the most), or perhaps people should just get over race. After all, when is enough enough? Well here is a question for you:

Reading, and this question came up. White people, this is for you –

What amount of compensation would you seek if you were forced to become black?

Can’t wait to hear these responses! pic.twitter.com/clbY2c1Sx7

— Val Brown (@ValeriaBrownEdu) June 8, 2018

There is the question. What amount of compensation would you seek if you were forced to become black?

I will walk you down my thought process here. My first thought is would it cost money for me to willingly turn black? The answer is yes. Yes, it would. How much would it take to worry about driving, get the police called for BBQ in a park, or walk through a department store and be accused of stealing your own clothes? You get the idea. I have a ton of privilege. I feel relatively safe in America. (Jews are third or fourth on the you are destroying America go back to your country list I believe)

Once I realized that being black would definitely require that I receive compensation, the guilt set in. I didn’t dwell on it cause not only is guilt a useless emotion it didn’t further me learning or reflecting. I recognized it and moved on.

After I moved on I decided on $500,000-$750,000. I arrived at this number because I wanted a house and cars that would be paid off. I wanted loot for my kids to go to college. The money would make sure that if I didn’t get hired or promoted at the job I deserved because of my skin color I would still get by working at a lower paying job. It would also ensure that the neighborhood I lived in would be safe and hopefully, I could be active in the neighborhood without having the cops called on me.

UPDATE: One thing I did not address is the life expectancy of  blacks vs whites. “Blacks now have a life expectancy of 75.6 years, and whites can expect to live on average for 79 years.” (Link) The reasons for this are too many for me address at this time.

My next thoughts were how much harm was I going to do to the black people in my social media networks? How must they feel that it would take an enormous amount of money to be like them? To give up my privilege of safety and security? The feeling was and still is, awful.

I get to this one part and write WTF in my annotations. I was dumbfounded. I will type this out so you can read it. 4/ pic.twitter.com/LK12ed6bWF

— Val Brown (@ValeriaBrownEdu) June 9, 2018

And this is the crux of the issue. White people will deny that racism exists. White people will use the bootstrap theory that black people should just educate themselves (which society has gone to great lengths to avoid allocating reaources to doing well). Maybe you believe the idea that if black people had a work ethic and didn’t rely on welfare maybe they would get ahead (which is false white people receive more welfare than any other group). All that gets thrown out the window when it is time for us to be in that position. Wouldn’t you work hard? Wouldn’t you educate ourselves? Yet why would it take millions for you to be black? It would take millions because we have privilege! That is the point of this blog. Recognizing that any amount of money you would require shows how you and society values being white over being black.

Personally, the amount you would demand is immaterial. The fact that there is any price you would demand shows how much we value white skin in America. Next time someone denies there is white privilege, or explains to you all the ways that black people are better off now ask them this simple question. What amount of compensation would you seek if you were forced to become black?

Watch them stutter. They will try to circle around the answer. Try to turn the question on its head. Don’t give them the leeway. Press them. They will give you a number. That number shows how we have a problem in America.

My question to you is how much would it take for you to be black? Be honest with yourself. Share with me if you want. Keep it to yourself if you want. The important part to recognize is that if you chose any amount of money you understand that there is a problem with being black in America. Now ask yourself what are you doing to combat that problem?

PS follow @theL0rdByr0n he is doing the work

Today I attended a conference that I had been very excited about. The kind of excitement usually reserved for the first ice cream cone of summer. The kind of excitement that kids feel on field trip days. The kind of excitement when you realize Coco has just come out on Netflix. You get the idea.

I was excited for a couple of reasons. The first reason was Val Brown was going to be there. Val has single-handedly done more for me on social media than anyone else. She showed me kindness and compassion during a difficult time on social media. Because of Val, I was able to dust my sorry behind off and get back into the world of social justice. This has not only lead to me being a better human being but directly impacted my teaching of social justice to my students. Val Brown has directly impacted my students.

Val was one of the facilitators of the Teaching Tolerance workshops today. “Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators—teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners—who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

Our program emphasizes social justice and anti-bias. The anti-bias approach encourages children and young people to challenge prejudice and learn how to be agents of change in their own lives. Our Social Justice Standards show how anti-bias education works through the four domains of identity, diversity, justice, and action.” Tolerance.org

One of the ice breakers that was cool was the moving poetry. We wrote four lines that told our name and things about us. We then walked around until the stop signal was given. We then got into groups of three and read our poems. This was a cool activity. I have to admit that I thought my use of woke, the numbers in line two, and sliding my name in there was underappreciated by my triad!!!

Another activity I really enjoyed was listing 8 things that identified me. We then had to cross off seven of those things one by one until based on which was the least essential to who I am today. The first couple were easy. I was surprised how much I valued my ableism. I was left with English language. I am my language. How I think, act, and communicate are all tied to English.

                 Another activity we participated in was inside and outside circles. One of the questions we discussed was what is the hardest thing when talking about race. My answer was language. It’s hard to speak about race when you are worried about offending someone by using the wrong words. Should I say black, African American, Person of Color or something else entirely? What if I mess up and say something racist? I don’t want my ignorance to be confused with racism!! Learning the language allows us to have these conversations with some comfort. To be honest I am still not 100% comfortable when talking about race. The language is always shifting. The more I learn and have the conversations the better I am getting at it.

The second question we spoke about was the beneficial part of talking about race/racism. Speaking of race to my students and colleagues is the only way we are going to address the issues we have in America. Personally, I want to leave a positive mark on the world. Teaching my students about race will help me in achieving this goal. Learning the history of and current effects of racism early in their lives will hopefully allow them to interact with each other in a more accepting manner. It will also help my students of color feel that their skin is something to be celebrated instead of looked at as a deficit. I don’t know how often they have conversations about race outside of my class.

One common belief we were asked was if the gap in achievement among students of different races is about poverty and not race. I thought it was more to do with poverty than race. The document they gave out explaining why I was wrong spoke about “stereotype threat”.

“Stereotype threat is defined as a situational predicament in which individuals are at risk of confirming negative stereotypes about their group. It is the resulting sense that one might be judged in terms of negative stereotypes about one’s group instead of on personal merit. Research over the past 15 years has shown that stereotype threat contributes to low performance among African Americans, Latinos, and the poor, but also among women in math and science, the elderly in memory, and even whites in athletics.” (link)

I would also venture to say that if Hattie’s work is even half correct teacher expectation has a huuuge roll to play in student success. We know that there are mostly white teachers teaching students of color. If those teachers have low expectations for their students this could be a reason for that as well.

The most moving part of the entire day was when we had to dissect a case study from the Justice in Schools site. I would highly recommend you click that link and read the study. Our group had to decide should the department use the Muslim registry as a debate topic. This mirrors a lot of what we see in public these days. Our group adamantly agreed that setting this question up as a debate would show that putting all Muslims in a registry would be seen as a viable option when presented as being one side of the debate. That is not, should not, and will not ever be an option that could or should be tolerated.

If we look at history the Jews and the Japanese were put into databases and ended up in internment camps or being put to death. What would a Muslim student’s reaction be if this was actually put up as a debate? In the case study, this line stood at to me, “It’s also our responsibility to ensure that we are upholding basic democratic principles like tolerance, equality, and human rights.” Debating a Muslim database would not be ensuring tolerance equality nor human rights.

One major theme of the day was active listening. One of the activities we did was we had 90 seconds to speak. Our partner could not say anything. They could not give us verbal or body language feedback. The first time I did that I spoke for 15 seconds. My partner and I then stared at each other for 75 seconds. It was uncomfortable, to say the least. We answered the questions numerous times using this active listening technique. It definitely got easier the more we did it. This is a skill that I will be bringing back to my students to work on for sure!

I will finish with my classic grows and glows of the conference:

Glow: The people that were there. I am not gonna get all social media name dropper on here but good lord was there a boat load of fantastic people that I spent my time with.

Glow: The facilitators. Hoyt and Val were amazing! The tone was set very well by the leaders. They shared their stories when appropriate and stepped back when needed.

Grow: Fresh mozzarella sandwiches need balsamic vinegar. Cmon now!!

Glow: The DJ

Grow: Mel needs to sharpen her rock paper scissors game.

Glow: My table rocked. They were much smarter than I was.