November 2008

It’s been a long time since I’ve changed my theme. Thought this might be the keeper. What do you think? Please check it out and comment below. Thanks.

Jose, who’s happy his mom’s operation went well …

p.s. - Yes, I’m using DIYTheme’s Thesis theme. I’ll be making a few more adjustments soon.

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courtesy of Chris Britt, The State Journal-Register

This is not my Thanksgiving
Meat cooking in the oven, parents readying themselves for the night’s festivities
My brother in from the academic institution I once attended
A mix of house cleanliness and unease over my mother’s operation tomorrow
But this is not my Thanksgiving
This is a call to attention to counting our blessings
On a day after Mumbai becomes overrun by young terrorists
On a day when over 3.5 million people were affected negatively
By the storms in Rio de Janeiro
On a day when Iraq and Afghani deaths have eclipsed 30,000
Not too casual considering the casualties
Boys in Queens throw their future away for a few shots of Vodka
Young men broadcast their suicides on MySpace
Girls gone missing, unreported, threatened, tortured,
Whose whole family is murdered for all to see
This is not my Thanksgiving
My inheritance: an undesired bailout to companies unwilling to bail us out
From their profit-mongering methods
Their poisoning of our collective consciousness
Homes stripped,
Aimless,
Hopeless
Toxin popularity on the rise
A cycle of oppression over turkey continues
But this is not my Thanksgiving
This is my prayer,
A yell out for a better Earth
Where counting our blessings becomes higher on our priority list
Than our profit count or a body count …

Jose, who sends out his best wishes to the world today, thankful for what he recieves …

Tagged as: poetry, thanksgiving

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A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

My favorite Thanksgiving traditions involve my younger brother and cousin eating pernil (pork) from Mom’s awesome cooking, drinking tons of soda, playing NBA 2Ksomething, or Mario Kart, and then sitting in the living room after the adults left and talking shit. Just putrid and haterific shit. Most of it I can’t even remember, but I know most of it wasn’t even called for. Needless to say, my family traditions weren’t traditional.

Living on the Lower East Side in a time when I’d hear random gun shots fired, and darkness rarely evaded us, many of us were just thankful to live to the next day, when Chico was making murals for the deceased every 2 weeks. In many ways, I’m thankful for the difficult times growing up, because it developed my character and made me perceptive and resilient where others may have folded.

I’m thankful for family, wherever they are. As uncanny as my situation may be, we in the younger generation on both sides of my family have definitely taken the initiative to solidify our relationships with each other. I’d like to say it’s because we didn’t want to follow the example of our parents … well that’s the truth actually.

I’m thankful that I’m in the profession I’d like to be in. The opportunity to have an impact on any child academically and socially becomes too hard to pass up, especially in these days and time.

I’m thankful for my support system, especially my lady. Even though she’s got a lot going on, I know she’s someone who I can depend on when times get crazy.

I’m thankful for the opportunity to express myself, really.

What are you thankful for?

Jose, who wants some of that tasty pernil now …

Tagged as: family, open thread, thanksgiving

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A few links:

• Harmony tells us an interesting post-Obama victory story.
• Clay says, “Forget the textbooks; try using PBS’s “The Presidents” resources.”
• Am I a Google Reader over-sharer? In a word, maybe.
• I think NYC Educator agrees: Charles Schulz would be proud.
• Want a clear understanding of how various economies work? Take it from Brandan Trainor: don’t have a cow, man.

For the majority of this year, writing has come with a bit of ease, especially in the blog form. There are days I’ll already have the next few posts set up because my mind will bristle with ideas. Lately, though, it’s been a struggle. I won’t call it a writer’s block; it’s more like I haven’t taken a real break from blogging. I’ve been writing chapters for projects, blogs here and in other spaces, guest blogs, Tweets, a couple of dedications here and there, lesson plans, agendas, and not to mention the important letter here and there. Tons of computer time. And my mind’s in need of a serious recline.

And that’s apart from teaching.

The question always arises: “How the hell do you have time for all of it?”

Not sure.

Therefore, I’m taking a little break. At least for the next couple of days. Be back on Wednesday. In the meantime, feel free to peruse some of my latest and greatest:

Who Do You Love? Are You Sure?

Somewhere Between War and Peace

What You Know (Am I Not Human?)

Also, feel free to let me know what’s up with you. It’s all about you.

Jose, who is the stone that the builder refused …

p.s. - There might be a guest blogger here and there …

Tagged as: short notes

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Yes, I too am angry as hell about Prop 8.

And I read some disgusting things online.

For instance, the rationale for why some people disagree with gay sex is the following:

OK, so if we let gay people have sex, will we next let people have sex with animals? Under the same argument, if the animal’s consenting, then we can have marriage between them right?

No.

The reason I start with this story is that this is the kind of twisted logic that sets a precedent for my kids to call people gay, or for someone who’s dissatisfied by something that’s going on to call it “gay.” I have a hard time with anyone denying other people their right to love or consecrate their love for each other through a civil union, especially when those type of unions don’t affect you.

Similar to the abortion argument, if you don’t like gay marriage, then don’t get married to someone of your same sex. It’s that simple.

I’m not saying there isn’t a religious side to all of this, as I’m a baptized Catholic. However, I also understand that some of the rules that were made some millennia ago need not apply to the current day and time. I also know the countless fraud marriages that only exist for a certain purpose (comfort, immigration, tax deductibles, etc.). I know the love between any two consenting adults, irrespective of sex / gender, should be respected, in a time when love is truly getting harder to find.

And homophobia is becoming like racism, where very few people want to be known as a homophobe, but they’ll act on their phobia if given a chance. They’ll keep questioning whether someone is gay or not until that person’s says no, and even then they’ll have “the tag” on them. They’ll use terms like “no homo” or “that’s so gay.” And don’t even consider saying your favorite artists include Elton John or KD Lang, or that you listen to dance music enough. And apparently, the existence of your manhood depends on whether you’re gay or not, even when some of our favorite men (and women for that matter) may in fact have or have had a relationship with someone of their own sex or gender.

:: sigh::

And those of us who are straight (and it seems especially true for those of us in the Black / Latino communities) who do support the LGBT community often become “othered” as well. Disgusting.

My only regret was that I couldn’t go to the Prop 8 protest in City Hall. But then I’d be so pissed off, I probably wouldn’t even be able to write this post without yelling a few expletives at the Governator.

Jose, who’s excited to see Milk the movie soon …

Tagged as: lgbt, prop 8

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Luz loved writing about education so much, she decided to give us another nugget of wisdom. Once again, Luz …

The transition began four years when I saw the chaos that was around me in the school I had been working in for six years. Even though it wasn’t always the perfect setting, there was a sense of solidarity and commitment from my colleagues. I had the privilege of having many mentors in said building who took me under their wing and helped to mold me. From them, I learned that as a teacher I had to make sure that my students were my first priority and not the latest mandates imposed upon us by a continuous changing at the district, region, NYCDOE, and state level.

Unfortunately, due to the latter, I had the privilege of meeting many administrators who added a title to their name and which carried no weight because they possessed no said qualifications of leadership. Positions had been assigned due to political connections either at the district or city level. Others had graduated from the District University of Leadership and had earned the 18 credits on paper which were needed to obtain state certification to be a building leader. Last but not least, we also had administrators who graduated from an educational leadership program, a pilot program. Yet, we still had administrators in said building whom had earned their positions by putting in the time, working hard, and their commitment to the kids, and even to themselves.

The school was undergoing a tremendous change with all the requirements we had to meet in order to remove our names from “THAT” list, the new state guidelines, and an unstable leadership. In spite of all this, the majority of the teachers worked together and maintained a semblance of stability for our students. Even though we knew things were very questionable, we also knew we had a job to do. At times, teacher morale was low therefore some of us would rally the troops and provide that moral support in these desperate times. Especially because some veteran teachers that had been teaching over fifteen years suddenly found themselves being observed, written up, threatened with a letter in their files, and felt a certain disrespect by the new administration - those whom had been in the classroom for a minute or two and had not earned their accreditation with the staff.

This was an ongoing battle both at the administrative level and the staff. The established administrators had earned their respect from many of us since not only had they put their time in but had also been teachers themselves. We found ourselves sitting in meetings in which the new administrators did not know about English language learners yet insisted directing the ELA, ESL, and bilingual teachers as to how to do their job. Conversations ranged from what color should the words for our word walls be, the reading assessments kits, weekly grade level meetings, and professional development after school. We heard from the new administrators how one has to create incentives and make them understand the relevance of what they learn.

An example that was shared with us was about a student who had difficulty reading but his incentive was not only the sports car his dad would buy him, but the business he would one day inherit. My colleagues and I sat there in silence trying to make the connection between our students whose reality at the time was the following: 1^st and/or 2^nd generation American-Latinos, immigrants to this country like their parents, lived in an economically diverse neighborhood, and who were below their respective reading grade level. Did this administrator not realize who our students were? Yet, this same administrator went after teachers whom were veterans and had more combined years of teaching than said person was alive. Another strategic device was for administrators to come into our classrooms with a checklist which consisted of the following: word walls, students’ work, labeled libraries, labeled notebook bins, bulletin boards up-to-date, information posted, and of course to see if we were teaching. It became a constant interruption during instruction that even my students would roll their eyes and have an attitude since we had “Big Brother” (or “Big Sister”) was watching us.

Even though I comprehend and acknowledge that the level of bureaucracy can often interfere with leadership, I do not justify incompetence as being a core requirement like I had personally witnessed in said environment. In order to lead, one does not have to micromanage teachers nor disrespect them and attempt to threaten them by putting a letter in their file because one is demanding respect when it has not been earned. Instead, have conversations with staff members and listen and address their concerns, especially when there is hesitation to try the new “miracle” curriculum.

I am not saying that teachers do not have to sometimes refresh their techniques and learn new approaches but there is finesse as to how this is done. It is easy to target those teachers whom won’t fight back unlike those teachers, whom are known not to do their job for various reasons, yet are still working and earning a paycheck because creating a paper trail is an on-going process. If these teachers are detrimental to the students, then make sure that there is a follow through because mediocrity is not acceptable. There is no need to walk around with a checklist to see if your building is in order since as a leader your vision of what the building and classroom should look like is transparent to everyone; but most importantly, the stakeholders of your school, are also aligned to this vision. It is not an easy task to undertake for those who have decided to embark on the path of educational leadership, yet is very necessary in order to transform our schools, inspire our students, and motivate our teachers.

Luz, who’d love to hear your enlightened opinions about all of this …

Tagged as: education, leadership, luz

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I believe in completely and absolutely putting yourself out there for everyone to find …

Kinda.

There are a million and one reasons why you shouldn’t even mess with having an Internet profile, including, but not limited to: invasion of privacy, competitiveness for amount of readers, page views, and subscribers, feeling the need to update (at least) weekly, running the chances of your boss / ex / ex-friend from high school / mortal enemy / Department of Homeland Security or any other number of agencies coming out to hogtie you, split open your neck with a guillotine, and put a toe tag on you just for finishing touches, there are also a few reasons often overlooked, especially since the Internet is truly the next big dimension.

Yet, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my favorite part of social media: the human connection. In my circle of friends, I’ve been the most progressive user in this medium, even when some of them were detractors. A few years later, many of the opportunities I’m proud to be a part of and the people I’ve met have come from the ‘Net, believe it or not. So without further adieu, a list of reasons to ponder becoming a full-blown Web 2.0 / 3.0 geek:

1) It’s yours. Not anyone else’s. Full autonomy. I don’t post dirt, but real parts of my story, and that’s important for me to make that distinction.

2) You create your own “media.” I don’t have to wait for a spokesperson, or get a publicist. As soon as I write something, BAM! Done. It’s proven good so far, so I won’t ruin my good fortunes.

3) It creates tons of opportunities for … well practically everything. Ever since I started blogging, the opportunities to meet people, go places, be part of workshops, and write for different venues have practically fallen on my lap. Before I started blogging publicly, I had to beg and plead for an opportunity, and I’d have to pull out some random report I did for writing samples. Now, if someone wants a writing sample, they can hit the nifty orange icon at the top of my page. It’s really that simple. I know friends who’ve gotten contacts for book deals, mentoring, and even a few political party conventions.

4) On the Internet, it’s much easier to filter out people you really like (or don’t like, for that matter). I’m not forced to work with anyone who I don’t like if it’s the Internet. That red X on the corner (or silver and black X for Mac users) comes in really handy in those cases.

5) You can test out ideas and get immediate (and sometimes very thorough) feedback about the idea. 1/2 the time I blog, it’s about dropping unfiltered thoughts and trying to get a different worldview than my own. I grow from it, and I’m sure you can too.

Also note a couple of things, too:

1) I don’t ever say anything incriminating about my workplace. I’ll talk about the ideas I’m not too fond of, but never the person (unless it’s a public figure like Klein or Bloomberg). I know I’ve harped on that quite a bit, but it’s important because I know who reads this stuff and the kinds of drama it can create. I won’t be the next teacher-blogger who’s forced into seclusion by some higher-ups wagging their hefty fingers. No thanks.

2) These also comes with the precondition that you know how to manage how you’d like to be perceived.

So please, get a Facebook / MySpace (e-mail me for this one) / Twitter / blog (preferably self-hosted) / LinkedIn / any other new social site that might outdate even this post. As long as the Internet is a place to meet more humans (and by meet, I mean meet them in real life) and not to run away from them, then we’re good. And even us introverts have to play the extrovert if we have a message to get across.

Until everyone understands the power of this Web 2.0 / 3.0 business, I’ll still be the walrus in the room. Goo-goo-ga-choob.

Jose, who has parent-teacher conferences tomorrow and am inordinately excited about the possibilities …

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A few notes:

• Now that the election is done, I gotta say: I still don’t think Barack Obama parted the Red Sea or anything like that, and thus, we should still be able to criticize him and his pending administration, especially his Clinton-centric transition team / Cabinet nominees, or so it seems. Not saying we should completely flatten him for moves he hasn’t even made yet (here’s looking at you, Tavis Smiley), but let’s stay critical thinkers.
• Again, for me, it’s about disagreeing without being disagreeable. I’m not here making inflammatory comments about anyone. Seems like everyone’s snooping around to see if they’re being talked about.
• Speaking of which, dude’s made more jobs than MC Hammer. A transition team? Have we ever seen this kind of efficacy going into a presidential term?
• I knew Bush was a little grimey, but is he really this gangsta?
• If you think what the rest of us think about Joel Klein, then please sign the petition. As a matter of fact, write it in a letter, too. I’m not dissing him as a person; I’m against the idea that we can just sell off our public schools to the highest bidder. I’m against third-party practitioners controlling how children learn even when we have standards to follow. I’m against constantly changing the big ELA and Math tests for the benefit of the “higher-ups” instead of thinking about what’s good for the children, especially when it’s time for re-election. I’m against jumping through loopholes set specifically to guarantee the right people are put in the right place. I’m not against the person, but against the ideas. See?

Oh right, and before I go to the gym, this needs to be said: I am not for sale.

This morning, I got a comment that read more like an advertisement than anything else. I blocked it as spam, but before I did, I went to the site itself. It’s a site supposedly dedicated to “paying teachers more,” and it has a series of posts, all unoriginal content, and all incendiary. As much as I love that sort of blog (check the sidebar at your leisure), I’m not about to give props to any site that says “pay teachers more.” It happens in every industry; they align their message to your beliefs, leave a message on your site, and think that people are dumb enough to fall into the traps.

“Teachers don’t get paid enough!”
“This school pays a Gazillion dollars, and it’s the only one!”
“Teachers have it tough!”

Sites like this one make me sick because they fall right in line with what real teachers are saying: we’re not just asking for higher salaries. It’s about the respect as professionals. I understand; we get summers off, etc. However, it doesn’t mean we should have any less autonomy in our jobs, less respect on a professional level, less of a voice in what goes on in our schools, less chances to make this a career rather than a “Peace Corps-type tour,” or less opportunities to express ourselves in venues like these, where I feel we’re making so many strides in bringing a new dimension to how people view teachers.

As such, if you’re gonna come at me or anyone who blogs, please know we’re not gonna eat your shit. Yeah. I said it. Shit.

Jose, who is heavily ancitipating Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, The Outliers.

Tagged as: blogging, education, politics, short notes

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Yes, I’m going to pop my colla just a smidget.

I never really guest-posted before. So what did I do? I asked Nezua what’s up with his guest-posting. He hollers back, letting some of us give our perspective. Check it:

The Forever After:

“Barack Obama isn’t just a man in isolation or the man who’ll lead this country for the next four to eight years, but also a mass movement for that future, a bright one. Barack has overtly galvanized the country in his favor and has built a formidable youth movement that should keep this generation’s voice heard, but its soul intact.”

No, I’m not just saying it’s good because I wrote it. Please go read it. I mean right after you read this. edit: So good in fact that Vivir Latino linked me as well.

Then, Racalicious posted about the lack of racial diversity in the New York 40. A valid point, but don’t they mean New York 41? Didn’t get the memo? Gosh!

And not that you haven’t figured this out already by the big “EDUCATION” tag on the left side of my blog, but maybe someday, I’ll be tagged for Secretary of Education, or at least part of the Transition Team. At least one person seems to think I fit. (Thanks for including me, Rob and Core Knowledge Blog).

Oh, and before I forget … I used my SmartBoard for the first time this year. It was alright, I guess.

Jose, who needs to be capitalizing his name more often …

p.s. - OK, you can go read that blog now. HA! Comment, too.

Tagged as: links

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