take a stand

tonight, i was really excited to watch geoffrey canada lecture at the uw with carrie. canada has been running the harlem children’s zone for the past twenty years, which has as its motto, “whatever it takes.” his approach to “saving” inner city youth (his words) is comprehensive — he runs a set of integrated community programs designed to walk with kids from the cradle to college, promote physical and mental healthcare, and change how parents are raising their kids. president obama wants to try canada’s model in twenty other high poverty areas around the country.

canada said that much of what they’re doing isn’t particularly “new.” everyone knows that healthy habits will have a positive impact on academic performance, and that certain parenting practices are better for a child’s development than others. and equally important, research has long demonstrated the importance of early childhood education toward leveling the playing field, because poor students start school well behind their middle class peers.

what is revolutionary about canada and his work is the fact that he’s actually doing what we’ve known all along would work. as an aside, if nothing else, this is probably the most important point i can take from his talk. he shared a story from his professional life when the secretary of education asked him for some advice about how to fix education in america. at this point, he realized that superman was not going to swoop in and save the day, there was no grand plan somewhere that would wipe out all the educational inequity problems; that, if he wanted to see change, he would have to make it happen himself. Read more

2010
02/09
CATEGORY
books
education
personal
social justice
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swag

for a project in grad school, i interviewed a former teacher-turned-district admin about his teaching practices. to wrap up the interview, i asked him about the approach he took in the classroom that translated into all the success he had. he summed it all up for me:

every day my students walked into class, and every day  i knew i was the best mutha f******* teacher they’d ever had.

of all the interviews i conducted for this project, this is the only thing i can recall off the top of my head. even though i thought this was a bit arrogant of him to say, there was something in me that admired his attitude. with some people, that attitude can lead to complacency. convinced of their own greatness, they no longer feel the need to work hard. but with this guy, his attitude drove him to obsession over perfecting his craft. reminded me of jordan in a way. and while i wouldn’t ever say something that bold about myself, i hope to grow into the same relentless work ethic he had in my own life.

2010
01/26
CATEGORY
education
personal
3 comments

re:thinking violence

The tragedy is that much violence comes from a demand for love. When loneliness drives our search for love, kissing easily leads to biting, caressing to hitting, looking tenderly to looking suspiciously, listening to overhearing, and surrender to rape. The human heart yearns for love: love without conditions, limitations, or restrictions. But no human being is capable of offering such love, and each time we demand it we set ourselves on the road to violence.

How then can we live nonviolent lives?

[henri nouwen]

2010
01/22
CATEGORY
books
faith
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check out my blogging students!

as part of an ongoing assignment, all of my 11th & 12th grade language arts students started their own wordpress blogs. in addition to their own personal posts, they’ll be writing weekly reflections on books they’re reading. feel free to take a look at their work and be sure to leave ‘em a comment!

it’s my hope that through this project, my students will become more internet savvy, recognize the significance of their own thoughts and ideas, and learn to write in response to texts. i never really know how well one of my ideas will fly when actually put into action, but i just hope that blogging will make reading and writing feel a lil more fun for everyone.

2010
01/21
CATEGORY
education
4 comments

a lil bit of inspiration

for an otherwise frustrating day.

jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. many rich people threw in large amounts. but a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.

calling his disciples to him, jesus said, “truly i tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. they all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything — all she had to live on.”

[mark 12:41-44]

one of my older students asked me at the start of class whether i had donated money to haiti. i told him i did. he responded by telling me he also donated. “i gave $10,” he said. “it’s all i had.”

hours later, when i reflected on that moment, i felt like jesus was pulling me aside and telling me that my student had contributed more to the haiti relief effort than i had. without a question, i knew it was true. even though my wily students drive me nuts sometimes, i find myself often surprised and inspired by their generous responses toward tragedy.

2010
01/19
CATEGORY
education
personal
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you might not actually like him

it’s dr. king’s birthday, and his message has sadly been trivialized. i remember as a child being taught that he was a man that wanted racial equality for all. nothing more, nothing less. he was the antithesis of malcolm x, who was a lil too militant. and so, with this domesticated holiday, we can commemorate dr. king’s courageous stand against racial intolerance, while avoiding the harder task of grappling with his radical politics of equality and what they might mean today. (for more, see the martin luther king you don’t see on tv.)

dr. king led civil disobedience campaigns against what he described as the “unjust” war in vietnam. he declared america “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today” and pleaded for our nation’s leaders to practice non-violent conflict resolution. in the mccarthy era, dr. king challenged young men to not support anti-communist american campaigns by refusing to join the u.s. war machine, in part because such campaigns made victims of poor non-whites. he ripped u.s. foreign policy, calling it “militaristic” and on the “wrong side of a world revolution.” in ways that would make every young republican shudder to the core, dr. king advocated for a radical redistribution of power and wealth in america in the form of a government compensatory program to the tune of $50 billion over ten years. yes, he’s talking about reparations.

so in many ways, a holiday truly celebrating dr. king’s life and legacy can’t simply focus on a single speech in front of the lincoln memorial. the holiday, if it is to be what it claims to be, must have two basic functions: to legitimize dr. king’s radical social/ political agenda and to deligitimize any social structure that supports racism, a free trade market economy, an anti-communist foreign policy (yeah that ones controversial), and a politics that tries to repress the power of the state rather than one that exists to spread power through the redistribution of wealth & complete reconstitution of society. Read more

2010
01/18
CATEGORY
social justice
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a million miles in a thousand years

i was fed up with this book through the first hundred pages or so, and then it got really good. then, i came upon a really great chapter, which had this really great passage:

growing up in church, we were taught that jesus was the answer to all our problems. we were taught that there was a circle-shaped hole in our heart and that we had tried to fill it with the square pegs of sex, drugs, and rock and roll; but only the circle peg of jesus could fill our hole. i became a christian based in part, on this promise, but the hole never really went away.

and i realized that i’ve been a christian since i was 12 years old, and any sense of wholeness or fulfillment i’ve ever felt has not lasted. miller is right when he says we (read: i) believe we’ll be made whole by our accomplishments, possessions, or social status. i naively thought i’d at least be approaching “wholeness” once i finished grad school and started my career. that is, until i realized that teaching is not a highly esteemed profession (something i’ve known since middle school, and evidenced by the fact that there’s debate about whether it is indeed a profession at all), and the work is quite hard. but despite this lesson learned, i catch myself plotting my next career move in my down time, secretly thirsting for the fulfillment i hope it will bring me.

but i already know that those things won’t make me whole. as i’ve heard ad nauseum growing up, jesus is what will make me feel whole. he’s what will make life worth living, he will make the sun rise and fall everyday. he’ll satisfy the deepest aches and longings of my heart.

that is, unless he doesn’t. Read more

2010
01/11
CATEGORY
books
personal
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usnews showin’ us a lil love…

today, everyone at school is walking around with a little extra bounce in their step.

in everyone’s email inbox was a congratulatory note from our superintendent letting us know that we were just recognized by usnews as an outstanding high school in the state of washington, pulling in a bronze metal.

when i took a lil closer at the demographic data, i was a bit miffed by the fact that asians weren’t counted as a minority — “minority” is only defined as black, hispanic, and american indian.

i understand the reasoning behind it.  statistically, asians often out-perform their non-asian peers in a lot of academic areas, and lumping the asian numbers with all the other minority numbers would skew the data.

but still, it just doesn’t sit well with me.

anyway, since we’re on the topic of education, this blog has been a very interesting read for me for awhile now, and has challenged a lot of my beliefs about public education. if you’re like me and you’ve spent time thinking longingly about charter schools, private schools, teach for america, kipp, and merit pay as the way to slash the achievement gap, this lefty education prof would like to have a word with you.

2010
01/07
CATEGORY
education
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dark places

i remember reading an essay by frederica mathewes-green where she asked a theologian, “what is the best way to know god?” her (and my) assumption was that the theologian would continue to follow the path of the conversation that had led them to that particular prompt, and maybe single out a few traditions to observe, outline some good practices to adopt, or even identify some good books to read. of course the theologian was much too sly to offer an obvious answer to such a timeless question. his answes to the question was, “by following him.”

i bring this up because last month i heard a great sermon by dan allender (of mhgs fame) at mars hill bible church (the one in michigan) that has lingered in my mind. i’ve heard thousands of sermons in my life, only from a handful of which can i recall any content, but this one really stood out to me. he said a lot of really good stuff, but in part of his talk he essentially took the theologian’s response and elaborated upon it:

if you want to know god, you must go to dark places. does god show himself in the beautiful light of this gorgeous church? absolutely. but if you want to know god deeply and personally, if you want to tremble in the presence of the goodness of god, you need to go to very dark places.  Read more

2010
01/04
CATEGORY
church
emergent
faith
personal
1 comment

urbana 09

i’ve been staying up late at night watching the urbana webcasts. oscar muriu and shane claiborne… wow.

i know it’s been really good for my soul. i would say they’re “reminding” me of certain truths, but that would be misleading. that would imply the things said are things i already know, and that their talks are simply drawing my attention back to some knowledge i already have. but i don’t need to look too long and hard at my own life to realize that most of what i’m hearing is stuff that is in every way new to me.

it’s become my conviction that real knowledge isn’t marked by cognitive ascent, but by what you do with your hands and feet. what i know and believe is what i do, and nothing more. so it’s my hope that i’ll have ears to hear, and that i’ll have the faith to change what needs to be changed.

2009
12/30
CATEGORY
faith
2 comments