So lucky!

The climate is changing. Record snows and record heat everywhere. Ninety-nine percent of scientists acknowledge the credibility of the science. More and more people around the globe are living in food deserts. Refugees are leaving their homelands in hopes of finding homes and work to sustain their families.

How can anyone deny that things are changing and that human exploitation of the Earth is contributing to the problem?

If changing our ways could make a difference, do we have a choice? To face our children and our grandchildren in the years to come, we have to be making changes now. If we deny responsibility and continue our desecration, the generations to come will have no patience with excuses. If not for ourselves, then for the babies to come. We must take action now.
Sent February 7, 2017

First Nations....

Since we, pilgrims and all subsequent immigrants, landed on the North American continent, we have claimed, stolen, and exploited the lands of the First Peoples. Our ancestors saw nothing wrong in their unquestioned right to take another's land. They were simply following the intention of the Doctrine of Discovery. That doctrine has not yet been rescinded or in anyway refuted.

It gave legal right to any land that was "discovered" to the discoverer. It was that doctrine that fed the European expansion throughout the Americas and throughout the world.

We, or I should say, I have no guilt for what happened from the 1400's on. That is a common refrain for those who do not want to take responsibility for the damage done by our ancestors. It is true. It wasn't me. But, knowing the injustice that was done and continues to be done, often in my name, makes me a party to the injustice.

I am a citizen of the United States and I have benefited from injustice toward the First Peoples. I must work to correct the wrong or I am guilty.
Sent February 6, 2017

Ms. DeVos...

Ms. DeVos' lack of understanding of the difference between measuring growth and measuring proficiency should be enough to disqualify her bid for Secretary of Education.

Let's say you and I are in the same class. You are a whiz at fractions and I am struggling along. If we are measuring proficiency, the tests we give today will show that you have reached a certain standard of performance and it will show that I have not reached that standard. After thousands of dollars spent on a scripted curriculum, people coming into my class to make sure the teacher is following the script, and the thousands more spent on high stakes standardized tests, all you know is that you have reached proficiency and I have not.

Now, let's say we are still talking about the two of us and we are in a system that measures growth. It will probably cost the same to educate and test us, but now you will see that since the last test, I have made measurable growth in my understanding of fractions and the teacher knows exactly what I need to learn next. You, on the other had, have spent the last year resting on your laurels and have made no growth in your fraction understanding. I made a year's growth and, while once you met the proficiencies, there is no evidence you made any growth in mathematical understanding of fractions. It may be because you have been a flake all year, but it also shows that the teacher relied only on proficiencies to decide how to dole out his instruction for the year.

In the second scenario, you have done nothing for the year and I have worked myself to the bone. My proficiency may still be below yours, but I have worked hard and made measurable growth. This system holds even those who are proficient to continued learning and performing beyond the standards of proficiency.
Sent February 4, 2017

America IS Great....

I heard recently that we are two generations out from makers and fixers. If you are old enough, you will remember that new cars came with a tool kit. You were expected to make repairs on your own car. It is that kind of independence, determination, fortitude, and confidence that brought this country through hard times.

I do believe that we are still that country. But we have become lazy. All our needs are met, and then some. We have become distracted by screen time with all its fantasy, violence, sports, and commercials. We work too many hours and sleep too few.

It is time we reach back into ourselves and find the makers and fixers. We do not need Donald Trump to make us great again. We are the greatest when we stand alone on our own two feet and engage the world.
Sent February 4, 2017

Bullying...

As a first grade teacher, I have learned that the best strategy to use with a bully in the classroom is to give him as little attention as possible. The rest of the children need protection, but they will learn by my kind, but very firm, manner that bullying is not rewarded. If I, as the teacher, use bullying tactics to manage a bully, it is hard to tell the difference.

In my classroom, bullies do not get their way, but they also do not get my attention. There are consequences, but they are meted out without the spectacle of a public shaming. I am sorry that you did not have a first grade teacher like me.

Sent February 3, 2017

Lady Liberty....

Whatever our education and life experience, we in the United States of America, need to know a very important piece of our history and destiny. The Statue of Liberty, Liberty Enlightening the World, was designed, made, and given to the U.S. by the French. It was dedicated on October 28, 1886. Funds to complete the base came from more than 120,000 contributors, most of whom gave less than a dollar.

The statue and its welcoming inscription have greeted immigrants from around the world for over 130 years. We have not always lived up to these noble words, but we cannot turn our eyes and hearts from her lofty inspiration. None of us whose heritage began on other lands can ignore what these words meant to our ancestors seeking asylum or opportunity. Wherever we came from and whatever our politics, if we claim citizenship in our melting pot of a nation, we must live up to the ideals of our ancestors who found a home on these shores.
Sent February 2, 2017

Diversity....

One of the principles I learned in freshman biology was diversity. A culture, whether it is in a petri dish, a garden, a forest, a reef, or a human population, needs diversity to survive. A mono culture is at risk of eradication by disease, predation, or interbreeding. A culture that is uniform will be decimated, one that has a strong diversity in its population will survive. For far too long, Americans has lived with the mistaken belief that being a white country shows our purity. Laws were made and are still being made to prohibit the dilution of that purity. We do this to our peril. America's democratic experiment will fail if we continue to exclude those who do not look or act like us. Sent February 1, 2017