Don’t Talk To Me About The Good Old Days

by Jose on January 26, 2012

Violent techniques used on peaceful protesters in 1963. (Look how good it was back then.)

As recently as last month, I saw someone tweet that cops always made their whole city feel safe, and #OccupyWallStreet inspired a distrust of the executive branch unlike any other. It’s probably not the first time a Black person had to say, “I told you so.” It’s also not the first time a Black person had to say, “Are you serious?” to someone, however well intentioned, riding on the surfboard of their privilege. It’s amazing that, even after seeing a history of the boys in blue stomping horses over Negroes, pushing them off the sidewalk when White people walked across, and turning on hoses against children of color, people can still claim everyone in their city has never felt intimidated by law enforcement. Some say people of color commit the most crimes, have lower academic achievement, and generally have nothing better to do so getting arrested happens to the idle.

As long as it fits into our mold of what we believe America stands for, they make it work. In their minds, not in real life.

The same thing happens in current education discussions. It seems like we’ve reached a point where every “solution” involves Finland, a schoolhouse, and a vision of these good old days. Unlike many of my contemporaries, I don’t believe the people corporatizing the education system are completely at fault for what’s happening in education. Actually, they’re just continuing the not-so-secret tradition of trapping our kids into their socio-economic castes. The only reason why so many people have started to pay attention to this is because the idea of social mobility and prosperity has come to a standstill.

An education certainly helps, but, if you go by the research, even that’s no guarantee. The school-to-prison pipeline continues to undermine federal efforts like Affirmative Action and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. People still try to dilute our most disillusioned kids’ anger about their own experiences with the isms with a “I went through that, too! … kinda …” They were barely learning about their own culture and history as is before this Arizona fiasco. If the student of color can make it out of the 12-14 years of “normative” (read: dominant culture) education and make it to college, governors and other pundits have begun the offensive against people realizing their true history here.

In some pockets, the meme that the good old days were better for children of color rings true. For one, there were more Black teachers (men AND women), and because of this, our kids got the underground education they so desperately sought. Not having a curriculum gave some teachers the ability to get into pride for their own culture while still giving them the tools to succeed in a world that wasn’t inherently theirs. Because of these teachers (oh to be one of them!), administrations across many districts started to fire and replace these types of rebel teachers in favor of teachers who taught the normal material with no real connection.

Honestly, many people of color get that this education is not really for them. Funding issues aside, Lisa Delpit’s Other People’s Children implies how children of color prefer learning how the “master’s tools” work so they can succeed in the dominant world while still retaining the parts of themselves. Little do they know that so few of us actually have the capacity to teach them in that vein. With less time and more high-stakes, sticking to one “viable, normalized curriculum” inevitably means the dwindling of a chance at any in-depth conversation about race in K-12 where it’s so desperately needed.

But alas, when people make arguments against edu-deformers about the status quo of the day by highlighting times when a Black man like me would get thrown out of their high-brow institution, I have a hard time not tuning them out. It’s easy to relegate the discussion of race to euphemisms like “poor kids” and “kids in need” and only in a tight corner as an after-thought to listing the latest noisemaker.

Gates this, Duncan that, Obama this. Yes, yes, all true. But if you’re still teaching children about our country’s history as a history unexaminble, you’re complicit in the edu-deform as well.

Jose, who keeps it way real before Black History Month …

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Simon Says Get The Fuck Up

by Jose on January 25, 2012

Yesterday, I noticed how rusty my kids were with mathematical thinking. It’s the usual rut where the teacher could be talking to cellophane and get a better response from his kids. I tried to bring some understanding of finding a slope-intercept equation given any two pieces of information. The lesson plan was rather straight forward, or so I thought.

It felt OK for a bit. Nodding heads. One or two questions. Lots of scribbling in the notebook. Many teachers would be satiated by this. I didn’t.

As soon as I passed them some problems, they blanked out. Hands raised quicker during the activity than did for the lesson portion, this time for help. In my mind, as I’m going around the room, I’m thinking “This can’t be life!” Am I going to get to the point where I no longer actually teach a lesson and instead reteach the lesson to every table? And still have to get them started on the first question? Nope. Not here.

After reflecting on it with my son over my shoulder, I got the perfect idea: everyone’s going to stand up.

The next day, after seeing some of the restlessness in the first 10 minutes of class, I had them all get up, take the markers from me, and get to doing it themselves. Funny what a little bit of moving around does for the brain. It’s almost as if all the blood rushed right back into their fingers. Soon as they sat down, most of them saw the material lots clearer after that.

I admit I’m not a disciplinarian to the utmost degree. I do have a secret belief that giving kids autonomy of how they’re working and how they help each other with the work actually leaves them better prepared for high school than the rigid unitary system. I like quiet classrooms as much as the next guy, but not to the detriment of rich discussion and maybe a bit of argument.

Then again, I don’t even know whether they really learned it or not until … I have them sit in a rigid unitary system tomorrow for a test. Tomorrow, I’m hoping they do more than what Simon says. Not just get up for this, but show up.

Please.

Jose, who needs to reference Pharoahe Monch more often …

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A Dozen of One, a Half Dozen of the Other [On Parenting and Teaching]

by Jose on January 23, 2012

John Lennon with Sean

Before my 25th birthday, I thought to myself how much I’d like to have my own son. The closer I got to finishing my 2nd year of teaching, the more I wanted to have a little nugget to teach the ways of this Vilson. My son started appearing in my dreams in different forms. My nephew Jaiden. My godson Josiah. My boss’ babies. My fiancee’s nephew Brandon. The first baby I ever volunteered for at New York Hospital. The brown boy on the bus who ran out of candy. The two kids I told to stop fighting on the train when no one else would.

The kids I had in my own classroom.

There’s a difference between having 30 children for 50 minutes a period at around 3-5 periods a day for 180 days and having one child to dedicate their entire life to? Now with Alejandro, I see what the sages in my hallway kept telling me about feeling the difference. The profession invites people to make families with the way it’s set up (go unions!), but it also makes all of our biological clocks start ticking.

Rather, knocking.

Hard.

Plus, the kids I’ve treated like my sons and daughters at the school only made me want to be a father that much more. Unlike parenting, whenever I didn’t have a good day with the kid, I can just give them back to their parents or, last resort, pass them along to the dean. I don’t have to worry about where the child’s next meal’s coming from, if they’re getting enough naps during the day, or I’ve swaddled the kid tight enough for them to get to sleep. My schedule with the child has already been pre-determined and all I have to worry is about the 10 – 15 minutes I deliver the lesson with the other time reserved for classwork, reflection, and conclusions. Few teachers ever have to deal with one student at a time; it’s usually one or two students out of 30 that wasn’t as well-behaved as the others. I’ll get mad, annoyed, vexed, sad, then shrug it off for the next task at hand.

Plus, once I’m done with teaching for the day, I’ve learned to not bring whatever I felt in school about them back home.

Now, that’s even more critical because there’s the child I do have to worry about all those things and then some. When I get home, I throw the trash out, get Luz apple juice with ice in her plastic Yankee cup, pause a bit for dinner and Pardon the Interruption, then feed him formula and let him and his mother take an extended nap. He nurses every three hours. He gets his diaper changed about 8 – 12 times a day. He goes through a dozen facial expressions before ripping a new one in his newly placed pamper. He’s got his mom and dad changing the words of our favorite songs to accommodate his need to sleep to them. He’s the sweetest, most adorable little boy I know and I hate looking at pictures of him at work because when I do, it clenches my throat.

Don’t trust my smile, though. We put in lots of work and the rings around our eyes aren’t shiners we got at the bar.

But he has an excuse: he’s a baby. If the kids in my class ever pulled any of this crap on me, they’d get one phone call and a lecture from me about the merits of not playing Call of Duty ’til the wee hours of the morning.

Before my 30th birthday comes on the 24th, I’d like to think my soul was a lot older my birth certificate showed. Teaching pushes the passionate ones to accelerate the aging process. Parenting might put an exponent on the speed of everything. And that’s OK. Nothing matters more than seeing the fruits of my labor take incremental steps towards adulthood, whether they graduate this June or for many Junes to come.

Jose, who watched The Giants with his son all day yesterday, and very quietly screamed when they won …

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But First Him, Always Him

by Jose on January 10, 2012

Alejandro Luis Vilson Rojas and His Dad

For the last four days, I’ve averaged about four hours of consistent sleep, including a a period of 24 hours from Thursday to Friday where I slept nothing. These days have been a haze of semi-consciousness, floating between staring at hospital beds and nurseries and recouping in the disaster area that was my house. Before December 5th, I remember reading a few books (OK two: Kevin Nealon’s Yes, You’re Pregnant But What About Me and Thomas Hill’s What to Expect What Your Wife is Expanding), reading a TON of articles online that answered all the questions Luz had of me that I didn’t know the exact answer to, and hoping to God I didn’t lose too much time with my students in class. Sure, I was nervous about the whole pregnancy, but occupying my mind with other things made the idea of fatherhood a little easier to work around.

After I crossed the 24 hour threshold, my paternal instincts kicked in. I don’t remember reading about the strength and courage it took to go through pregnancy, to be the rock when things seem like they’re falling up and around you, to ask questions that don’t often come in your repertoire, to talk directly to your child in the voice you used while he / she was in the belly (you did talk to your child while in utero, right?), to not take it all personally, to not take it all personally, to not take it all personally, to remember that your manhood will manifest in how the other people in your new family feel, to manage expectations, and to sleep in the small pockets you’re allowed.

Between friend and family management, changing diapers, supplementary feedings, and the plethora of oohs, aahhs, and awws proliferated between the major social media venues, phone calls, texts, and visits, I almost forgot about the simplicity of Alejandro. He doesn’t require much, but what he does require matters. Thus, until I learn those nuances, I’ll have to scale back my online efforts a lot more for the next couple of weeks until we get our relationship in order. I’ll be back in the flow of things for my birthday, but let it be said that I’ve already gotten my birthday gift in a major way. All I need is a chance to better understand this new undertaking while finally putting some of my (clearly loftly) dreams in motion.

But first, him. Always him.

Jose, who gets it …

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A Short Note on Victor Cruz and Catching Opportunity

by Jose on January 2, 2012

Victor Cruz, Giants

I gotta be honest: I don’t get excited about football very often. My sports identity came at just the right time, too: I’ve been alive for all three New York Giants championships, and the Super Bowl usually came around my birthday until a few years ago. Yet, I never really caught onto it the way I had with basketball and baseball (in that order). Yet, I can’t help but think about the intriguing connect between (arguably) the hottest quarterback – wide receiver combo in the NFL: Eli Manning and Victor Cruz. Eli Manning, the #1 overall draft pick traded to the Giants in the 2004 draft, already had the “Manning” mantle from father Archie Manning and older brother Peyton Manning. Victor Cruz, on the other hand, went undrafted from the University of Massachusetts and later signed with the Giants in 2010.

The average #1 overall draft pick in the NFL has done much better than the undrafted lot. But in no way does that mean that undrafted players have no chance of doing well in the NFL. Warren Moon. Antonio Pierce. Kurt Warner. Antonio Gates. One might call their success luck, but oftentimes, luck means being absolutely prepared for when the very small window of opportunity strikes. Giants fans never forgot his performance against the Jets in the preseason game back in 2010, and neither did his coach. That performance kept him on the roster even after his stint on the injured reserve list through his first season. When he came back, he looked like he had been in the league for years.

Throughout this season, it seems like Eli Manning’s lob down the field or towards the end zone had a chance of getting into Victor Cruz’s hands. Usually, he had to shoot it through a very small gap. It didn’t matter: Victor Cruz was obviously prepared for when it did get to him, so much so that he beat the single-season record for most receiving yards by a Giants. Much of our success has to do with placement and natural talent, but sometimes luck does come into play.

When luck comes through, we ought to as well.

Jose, who needs to break into a mean salsa …

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You Have No Idea What To Count, So Shut Up

by Jose on January 1, 2012


Ira Socol, the unabashed scholar he is, dropped my first favorite quote of 2012 in his meme on December 30th:

Things I don’t want to hear in 2012: (3) “Accountability” – you have no idea what to count, so shut up.

Gospel. I almost fell on my face laughing. How did he jump in my skull and pull that thought out? After the recent news that the UFT (yes, my union) and the NYC Department of Education (yes, my employer) came to an impasse about how teachers ought to be evaluated, I could only think of the tense conversations that happened in that room.

DOE Rep: If you read the Danielson framework carefully, you’ll see right there that it says you can fire teachers at will.
UFT Rep: No, it doesn’t.
DOE Rep: I’m telling you, if you read the appendices and the fine print, she says so unequivocally.
UFT Rep: No she doesn’t.
DOE Rep: But we want to fire teachers.
UFT Rep: No.
DOE Rep: Please?
UFT Rep: No.
DOE Rep: Ummm … you really don’t understand. There were … umm … a few dimensions she just added …
UFT Rep: Where?
DOE Rep: Umm … they’re right … there. It says it. Why are you so difficult?
UFT Rep: I can read.
DOE Rep: You saying I can’t read? I’m insulted.
UFT Rep: Oh ok.
DOE Rep: So … when can we start firing teacher?
UFT Rep: Nope.
DOE Rep: Nope is not a good time. Nope isn’t even a time. What are you talking about?
UFT Rep: Not happening.
DOE Rep: Aww man. Well, we’re telling the media.
UFT Rep: #shankershrug

All this over a cool $60 million in funds that probably won’t go straight to the schools, but will be in “deliverable goods” like third party vendors and the like. They’ll eventually swim right through the schools, the city will have to foot the bill when the funds run out, and then they’ll be back to square one. $60 mil is a good spot of cash for any public school system, but if there is a school system that won’t do the money justice, it’s ours. Instead of investing in experienced teachers and administrators, we invest it in people we may or may not see a few times a year.

Naturally, some of my detractors might say that if I don’t believe in the DOE proposal for evaluating teachers, then I believe in the status quo. Well … not exactly. Sherman Dorn did a good job of addressing the issue of status quo a while back, but here’s something else: I do believe in teacher evaluation. However, if we’re going to do it, it’ll be under some stringent conditions, ones that might *ahem* revolutionize the school system as we know it.

  1. Evaluators need to have been in the classroom for five years or longer i.e. become a good teacher.
  2. Teachers ought to see and understand the nuances under which they’re evaluated.
  3. People should be taught the difference between tenure and due process, the latter which should be afforded to all teachers.
  4. Administrators should assure that the systems created help everyone in the system grow as professionals, not just make them punitive measures.

That’s only my off-the-cuff thoughts on teacher evaluation. Based on the Danielson model, it’s harder to “count” things or make them into checklists for administrators to see, but people have done it already anyways. In the meantime, the idea of mutual “counting” never happens here. It happens to the people at the school level (generally), but, for the person who controls it all, there is no accountability. No slap on the wrist. No expose in Newsweek or ABC Nightline. If a feeling of disappointment and a grimace are somehow the means for accountability, then we’re very far from an education system for all.

If it’s about $60 million, we ought to just give it back. Outside of that money, we don’t even know what to count.

Jose, who will savor as much writing as he can do for the next few days …

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I’m Beamin’ [I Get My Energy From My Inner G]

by Jose on December 30, 2011

Jose Vilson 2011

The past year has been amazing. I started off the year with the intention of becoming a more transparent and open person, leaving much of my youthful ways behind. I’m ending the year with the stark reality of fatherhood, and a sense of even higher purpose. In between, I started gathering the pieces for that to happen, and the inner resolve to continue solving the puzzle.

A Recap of Some of the Events of My 2011:

In the winter, I started off the year with a big secret that only a handful of people knew, one that I couldn’t share with my closest friend, and one that would take my three months to spit out. In the interim, I bumped Justice and Kanye West (all damn year), started wearing red in solidarity with unions, and officially had my name on a book just so I could tell my now-silent haters that I’m published. [#winning] Soon after celebrating my birthday, I went to Philadelphia, PA for one of the most prominent education “un-conferences” in the nation, EduCon. I not only met teachers who I’ve known online for years, I also got a taste for facilitating an unconference meeting, getting a proper dose of inspiration for that elusive manuscript to my first book in the process. In February, while Aaron Rodgers asked Brett Favre how his new ring tastes, Tafari Stevenson-Howard and I found a DJ who played Toto’s “Africa” as our intro music to a mainly White bar in my hood. Friend and Syracuse mentor Max Patino signed me up as a feature in his speakers bureau, and Carmelo Anthony comes back to the Garden as a Knick instead of an Orangeman. All orange everything.

In the spring, I asked people to give me a break while I got engaged in various activities. While inspired by Felipe Luciano in Brooklyn, NY (thanks, Capicu Poetry), I let the thoughts of love and building with someone else immerse me. Thus, the secret I had held since post-Christmas became known to the person for whom it was intended on March 12. She accepted on top of Rockefeller Center, the largest precipice of our relationship at that point. The Celebration of Teaching and Learning featured me and my fellow Teaching 2030 folk in the largest education conference I’d ever attend. El Diario NY (the Latino newspaper du jour) featured my writing, and I read Linda Darling-Hammond’s The Flat World and Education in time to actually meet her in person. Almost as epic, my younger brother Ralf Balbi Jr. graduated from Syracuse University. Still nothing rhymes with orange.

In the summer, I saw another set of students graduate and grow up right in front of me. Macho Man, Gil-Scott Heron, and Osama bin Laden found their places in the afterlife by then, but I prepared for a new stage in life, too, touching down in Atlanta, Saratoga Springs, Orlando, and finally Washington DC, for an activist congregation unlike any I’ve ever seen. I dug in the crates for old school Michael Jackson and LL Cool J, finally finished Jonathan Kozol’s Savage Inequalities, and saw John Leguizamo’s Ghetto Klown on Broadway. The summer went by so quickly, wondering whether I’d have time to have my fiancee move into my place (we did). I not only prepared myself to become a better teacher, I prepared other teachers at the Nativity Network to teach kids like me. Hurricane Carter stood tall on my television screen as we let Hurricane Tropical Storm Irene pass by. Plus, my grandfather passed in Miami. Blurriness and uncertainty ensues. On my first day back from vacation, I sported an orange and blue rugby. Because it felt right.

In the fall, school started, and, against the grain, I went back to the basics, lesson planning for every single day and every single minute. Jay-Z and Kanye’s Watch The Throne still ring in my ears, and Sir Ken Robinson inspired me via his book The Element. My new, simplified regimen and engagement in a new life has paid serious dividends in another tumultuous year for this jack of many trades. I took a break for Syracuse University’s Coming Back Together 10, one of the largest reunions for alumni of color of its kind, but came back re-energized for months that seemed to fly by us. Speaking at the Afro-Latino Forum’s Conference here in NYC, I tapped into the spirit of Arturo Schomburg, proud of my identity and my vocation alike. While some of us occupied Wall St. and the classroom, I thought about the little man who was about to occupy my apartment. During the well-attended invite-only baby shower, we revealed the name Alejandro. Favorite colors for gifts thus far? Blue and orange.

There were three major themes in my life this year, in song:

Confidence [Jay-Z and Kanye West's "Who Gon' Stop Me?"]

When I set down to write my piece for the Save Our Schools Conference and March, I knew I had to say something people could take home. One night, I went to a poetry event in Brooklyn when I told a good friend of mine and fellow educator about the march. Then I told him what my role was and who they had me “headlining” with, and he laughed so hard, and belted, “Diane Ravitch, Jonathan Kozol, and you? That’s like, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and some kid from the Pee Wee League!” Ouch. I retorted, “At least give me Robinson Cano, goddamn!” I laughed, and I get the perspective, but it made me think about how far teachers themselves need to go before we get the same respect that college-level professors get, whether they advocate for us or not. Thus, wherever I walked, I had to assure that my voice was heard where it usually wouldn’t. I spoke loudly at times others didn’t. I’m nowhere near the tastemaker others make me to be (if I was, I’d have a huge list of names for people to talk to), but I built my own lane by making wedges where others wouldn’t.

Participation ["Civilization" by Justice]

Enhancing my professional side started in the classroom. I had to improve as a teacher, reach deep inside myself to get better for the kids in front of me. I finally learned how to adjust to the hybrid role of teacher and data / tech person at the school. Most of it came from developing connections outside of the classroom, going to meaningful professional development sessions, and using the resources I had right in front of me to have good dialogue. Being inducted into the Board of Directors for the Center for Teaching Quality helped put my foot in doors. So did raising my hand and speaking up when I didn’t think I was learning much. It also meant developing bringing different conversations to spaces where they deem their own limited discussions safe. Being a “part” matters.

Positivity ["I'm Beamin'" by Lupe Fiasco]

Throughout all of this, I maintained a positive attitude about the direction I was heading. Shivering due to the cold of the March breeze tens of stories above the NYC cement, I didn’t know whether I would pop “the question” on one side of the building or another. When I finally did, I probably never stuttered so hard in my life. However, when she said “Yes” (a second felt like a second too long), I felt like the positivity transferred to everything I did for the rest of the year. Most of it was inconsequential, though some of it hurt. I owned up to the relationships I disintegrated, and let go of the people who wouldn’t leave. Despite all the hate and disappointment I had to withstand through the entire year, that moment taught me that if I could deflect the bad weather, I’d get the chance to hold onto the luz.

Now, with a burgeoning life under my care, I have a chance to share that light with someone born out of my love. Unconditionally.

I get my energy from my inner G
I be in outer space but I got inner peace
So tell my enemies that they can’t injure me
I know that irritate, you have my sympathies
Well you should protest, yeah you should picket me
I’m on a losing strike, I’m on a winning streak
I’m out at left field, I’m speaking mentally
But that’s a better place than where the benches be
I’m feeling really good, me and my different beat
Me and my different drummer; he play the timpanis
See that’s what got me here, you hearing me
Me on my “black man in the future” shit, call me Billy Dee
See I’m just forward looking, that’s how I really see
See while you Valentines, I’m thinking Christmas trees
And that’s how this would be even at Micky D’s
Semi-colon, closed parentheses …

They said my future was dark, see me now
Just look around, I’m beaming
They used to talk, when I wasn’t around
You see me now, I’m beaming …

Jose, who’s done this for five years straight …

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Uncensored: A Lost Article about the Save Our Schools March

by Jose on December 27, 2011

Jose Vilson and Pedro Noguera at SOS March

I don’t usually do this, but you’re my people. On August 2nd, GOOD Magazine published an article ostensibly written by yours truly … with almost half the article chopped off. I won’t get into reasons why things went missing because a) I still don’t agree with Michelle Rhee, b) the person who cut the piece in half isn’t the person I usually work with on these GOOD pieces, and c) I’m about to publish this joint for you all anyways. Enjoy the uncensored version of “A Bee You Cannot Eat: Education Reform After the SOS March.”

When five thousand educators, parents, students, and other denizens concerned with the state of education come to Washington, DC ready to respond to the call for change, you respond. When these people come together in a coalition for educational social justice and activist, you listen. When you’re prompted as a teacher to speak on behalf of these thousands and the many more who couldn’t show up, you stand up and represent them. More importantly, when students of all backgrounds deserve better, you fight for it.

Such was my charge this weekend at the Save Our Schools March and Conference in Washington, DC. I decided that the best way to respond was not to have a response at all, but to have a clear message about the lay of the land. It needed to be rooted in the realities of the everyday classroom teacher with a prescient knowledge of what’s happening in our country today. I needed to give pieces of this movement to take home with them, messages of fury and messages of hope. While I had the privilege of attending and speaking at this march, there were hundreds more who wanted to be there to unite with us, fully understanding the political stake we have in ensuring that our schools improve.

It’s less about international competition and college readiness and more about developing better people that will help grow our system.

While up there, I looked at this sea of concerned citizens and transmitted their energies to mine. Thus, my voice went from soft and nasal to gritty and airborne. Editor and writer John Norton referred to it as “… short about 2500 words but I can hear the howl – the best teachers of your generation.” I crafted the remarks after a few listens of Gil Scot-Heron’s “Comment #1” sample in Kanye West’s “Who Will Survive in America,” hoping I could evoke a similar sort of urgency. At some point on the stage, it became less about how I performed the piece and more about how many people would such a piece to even an increment more of action.

After finishing my poem “This Is Not a Test”  (video) in the Ellipse near the White House, I felt this charge shake my foundation. In 100-degree weather, anyone might have felt similarly. After the screams and handshakes backstage, and thousands of onlookers, I remember thinking that the movement can’t end here. I sat down, envisioning the lack of equity still profoundly shaking our schools. I didn’t just think of my 8th graders from my classroom that just graduated. I see barren classrooms in East St. Louis, overcrowded spaces in Detroit, windows boarded up in Atlanta, streams of Scantron sheets floating over Miami / Dade County, and students in line in front of metal detectors in New York City. When I got a chance to sit down for a second and gather my thoughts, I had a hard time believing that this many people showed up for the event. The meme is that teachers consider themselves neutral, and all they ever do is complain.
Apparently, we also have a say in the national zeitgeist, and we’re no longer settling for a passive role in our jobs.
University of South Florida professor Sherman Dorn shut down critics of the SOS March succinctly by pointing out that the march and conference weren’t intended to be policy meetings, much the way we can’t assume anything actually gets done with politicians have their local and national conventions. Unlike those conventions, where the pageantry only makes statements to re-affirm which candidate will represent their party, this march and conference let the world know, in no uncertain terms, that there’s a huge contingent of us who object to the policies these elected officials have set for our youth. Whereas before, shaking hands and meeting with a special representative might have quelled these voices, the new generation of activists seeks actionable items via protest and the vote.

Some critics of the march proclaim that education is the new civil rights issue and then wonder why the people this affects the most would take to the streets.

This battle for the state of public education won’t and doesn’t end with a congregation of some of the biggest luminaries, educators, parents, and activists we could find in the middle of summer. Names like Ceresta Smith, Pedro Noguera, Diane Ravitch, John Kuhn, Linda Darling-Hammond, Sabrina Stevens Shupe, and Deborah Meier don’t convene for such an event without knowing that there are very necessary next steps to the things we say and do. While Matt Damon and John Stewart made important contributions to the march, they’re amongst the people who regularly honor and revere the work that educators did to make their lives better. While we see concrete examples of creative assessment and equity for all students regardless of background, we continue to avoid them at the behest of those who prefer the status quo of hyper-capitalism.

There isn’t just hope. There is demand. It’s not just teachers saying this anymore. People all across the country have seen that the direction of this country lies in how well our education system works, and it’s become apparent that the messages they’re hearing from their local media don’t make sense for this country now. They see how corporate interest not only taints the political process, but the educational process for their students. At some point, through very concrete actions, we must see that change. Now that the first march is over, it’ll be less about marching for those that harm our students; it’ll be about marching toward the students we need to help.

Richard Whitmore wrote a book recently about former Washington, D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, whose dishonesty about her transformational qualities powers over districts is only trumped by the power of the media to pull their wind beneath her sharp wings, entitled The Bee Eater. As I saw the crowd that descended upon the nation’s capital this past weekend, I couldn’t help but laugh at this juxtaposition.

For a weekend, there was a swarm of thousands rallying together against ideas like hers. And I was a bee she simply couldn’t digest.

Jose, who, in any and all things, will let you know when he knows …

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2011 Unpublished GQ Interview for Man of the Year [Mr. Vilson vs. Jose Part 3]

by Jose on December 21, 2011

Mr. Vilson (left) vs. Jose (right)

For some reason, GQ Magazine (Yes, Gentlemen’s Quarterly) decided not to publish their interview with me for Man of the Year 2011. Those of us who’ve been occupying and marching on Washington, DC, got a little shine via Time Magazine’s Person of the Year issue as “The Protestor.” Obviously, we can do better. I know, I know. I’m as disappointed as you are. At some point, I’m hoping teachers get some props nationwide. But at least they passed me the first draft of the interview, and here’s what we came up with. Enjoy.

Interviewer: We have in this chair, Jose Vilson, writer, activist, and Spongebob enthusiast. He’s been rather critical of the testing industry and the proliferation of corporate rule in public schools. In the other chair, we have Mr. Vilson, math coach and teacher in a NYC public school. He handles data, technology, and a plethora of other hats, or should I say Kangols, for his school. Let’s start with this question: what’s it like working for one of the highest profiled school systems in the world?

Mr. Vilson: I must admit, it presents its challenges. I think there are definitely opportunities for schools to be at the forefront of modeling quality education. We as educators have to do the best job possible to make sure every student has the opportunity to get access to quality education. That’s why, for instance, I know of teacher groups grounded in taking the lead on work within the schools to develop their own systems for improving pedagogy via dialogues, visitations, and productive technology use.

Jose: Fuck that! I’m all about the kids, but let’s be real: we’re not even close to where we need to be to meet the challenges presented to us by our kids. We’re doing so much with less that it’s amazing we get anything done at all in this school system. While you know I’d never want to talk about my school specifically, the general gist that I get when I go to meetings across the city is that achievement often feels fleetings.

IN: Meaning …

JLV: Meaning, we don’t even address poverty effectively. And the minute we think we have something working for a kid, something changes. NYC Department of Education objectives change. Administrators change. Teachers leave. Parents go through unemployment. I get that NYC schools can’t control all of this stuff, but we’re joking if we think we actually invest in education well for the 1.1 million kids. Charters can’t fix that.

MV: Jose, don’t diss all charters. A couple really do the work that Al Shanker intended, as a progressive site that includes the most in-need. Besides, until you can reform …

JLV: Ahem, revolutionize …

MV: Revolutionize education, we gotta buckle down and do what we can with what we have. That’s all we knew about life. It’s a catch-22.

IN: Fair. Now, there’s been some discussion about the latest move from New York State to increase the amount of time on the test to three hours. What are your feelings on that?

JLV: It depends. Am I still allowed to curse around this guy?

MV: I’ll allow it. [belly laughs all around]

JLV: It’s bullshit. Mr. Vilson barely feels like he has time as is. Now he’s gotta get three hours of testing for kids who barely want to take it. It’s a lose-lose situation.

MV: I don’t believe there’s a correlation between time on test and achievement, or rigor, or anything of that nature. I know I can assess whether a student “got it” by asking five good questions. However, I do know that more testing means less time actually teaching. We in schools try to design curriculum based on the frequency of questions on previous tests, and then what order makes sense. Somewhere mid-year, we all realize that we’re going too slow and we’re going to need to speed our timeline up to have enough time to prepare students for the test. Not a functional thing.

JLV: Why would standardized testing take precedence over in-class assessments anyways? With the way kids have been doing, maybe there’s something inherently wrong with them.

IN: It seems like the climate for teachers in school gets muddied by mandates on the local, state, and federal levels. What do you believe about the perception of teachers in this country?

MV: We have a long way to go in order to professionalize ourselves. I believe the little things we do, from lesson planning and teacher teams to dialogue with colleagues in our professional development meetings and the parents of our students.

JLV: We also have to get out there with whatever talents we can muster. We need to be present and have the balls to speak up when we don’t like something. There’s a difference between the “whiny union” teacher that most people want to push on the general public and the multi-faceted and multitalented teacher that the general public gives strong approval ratings.

MV: Including myself. [more laughs all around]

IN: Now, both of you seem to have this confidence, but you have stark differences in approach. What would you eventually want your legacy to be given how you both express yourself?

MV: Well, I hate to use borrowed cliches, but it’s all about the kids. Despite all the other hats I wear, the one I’m most proud of is my teacher hat. I don’t think I’ve always worn it well, but I’m constantly trying to find ways to improve my craft. I tweak the things I like, and stick with the things that work for me. Hopefully, I can make some contribution to their lives that makes it worthwhile.

JLV: I think we agree. I’d probably say that we’re trying to make sure students get a good education. We have to live with some truths that hurt. We can’t always reach the students in front of us that we like. It’s a cold world out there and we’re only one person. But I know he doesn’t sleep until he’s thought through the week of lessons. I try to express those frustrations through our blog, through our activism, and through our discussions with people not in the education field. Those are all important.

Jose and Mr. Vilson, who can have this dialogue all by himself …

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On Bullying

by Jose on December 20, 2011

Maria was a girl who was not so different from other girls in my neighborhood. As young kids, we spent the majority of our time in 6th grade avoiding her because of one person’s little rumor. They said she smelled. Badly. And if she smelled, then that means she has some sort of disease. As that rumor spread, she became lonelier, to the point where people wondered if she had any friends … or anyone outside of her family. Throughout that year, I never remember actually smelling this scent that everyone said permeated her pores, but, as someone who got picked on for his weight, I didn’t need any more reasons to draw attention to myself. If I could make it out of elementary school without doing any number of little things that would ostracize me from my friends, I’d go somewhere where I could make a new reputation.

Sometime in May of that school year, we sixth graders got our autograph books, hoping everyone who we built relationships with would have something insightful (or at least entertaining) to say in these books. One day, as we were getting escorted from the lunch room to our homeroom, Maria pulled me aside and silently asked “Can you sign my book?” The sheepish way she asked, with eyes cutting us to see if I’d follow through on her request, hurt my heart. As long as I remember anyways. I walked towards her and said, “Sure.”

For a second, I hated all the people who stared at us for such an innocuous act. Why did these people (because it was some of the boys in the class who started the rumor) even start that rumor? Doesn’t Maria get a chance to enjoy her (presumed) last year at this school? Will she have to endure this forever if these people follow her into the next schools? Will any of us apologize for our complicity in this matter, or will we sheepishly ignore what’s happening?

To my knowledge, no one ever laid a hand on her, but the mental effects of ostracization by her fellow students would have given a weaker person reason to discontinue their life. Argue all you want about the merits of suicide, but there’s no argument about the effects of bullying. Some of us have good, effective tools for counteracting bullies (including fists). Introverts and those of us raised to turn the other cheek don’t always feel like they have those options. We’re stuck in a strange position where we get bullied for no apparent reason, then get bullied for trying to report it, then told by some adults that the person bullied needs to resolve their own conflicts, but they’re never taught how to resolve that situation.

It’s a vicious cycle and one I can no longer take lightly. We need to create safe environments for all students to succeed, and we ought to get involved when we see that’s not happening. We can’t stand by while this happens right in front of us. If it does, you ought to give yourself a wedgie and hang yourself off a flagpole. Salute!

Mr. Vilson, who sees Maria every so often and wonders what to say …

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