FROM ONE MOMENT OF DEFIANCE… REDEMPTION

A picture is worth 1000 words… except when it requires a caption.  Like this picture of two middle-aged African American couples embracing in a hotel room in Boston right after Barack Obama was sworn in a the 44th President of the United States.

This is more than just another poignant scene captured on America’s most magic [...]

WORDS MADE CHANGE

Like this tag cloud designed by Wordle, everyone heard something different in President Obama’s Inaugural Address:

I don’t know what images or themes resonated for you, but Nelson Smith, the Executive Director of the National Alliance of Charter Schools reviewed the historical Inaugural Week in his Charter School Blog, and he heard this:
I found a strong echo [...]

INAUGURATION DAY: A POEM, A PRAYER, AND A PROMISE

My Inauguration Day  post on LeaderTalk is a tribute to President Obama… it offers a Poem, a Prayer, and a Promise. It included the re-mix of:  “A Poem for Barack Obama Upon the Inauguration of America”.  I also integrated themes from the  letter to his daughters.  
And El Milagro celebrated the way we celebrate!

We Will Arise and Walk Again

I celebrated another birthday this week and I realize with each passing year how much I have learned in my life. Every day, every week, every year.  And the lessons keep coming.  But the ultimate lesson of where we all go from here– no matter how deeply I reflect– I can never quite resolve. I [...]

HAWK

I don’t get why skaters ride off curbs and park benches and the eaves of buildings.  I don’t get why they practice ‘ollies’ over and over and over again.  I don’t get why they are so insistent on landing some dumb-ass acrobatic stunt– or how they could be so willing to get maimed or killed [...]

BABEL’S TOWER

On January 2, 2009, I challenged readers to consider what happens to our students when you test them in a language that is not their native language, and then pass judgment on them and on their teachers based on the predictable results!  I invited readers to take a quiz and to not be discouraged by [...]

THE LANGUAGE OF THEIR FATHERS

My students speak the language of their fathers and their fathers don’t all speak English.  California is a tough place to live and go to school if you don’t speak English.
We have a long and inglorious history in this state of lining up groups of people in our collective sights, and then stripping them [...]