A Supporter of Your Cause
http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/07/14/mccain-can-t-use-a-google-so-what.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWpZWU-0434&feature=related
We already know this. Now it's time to do something about it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmBIL95SQqc&feature=related
It's not too late. Vote for Obama. Call everyone you know, and in each passing conversation, speak the truth. It is our duty.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30W3iRL48gQ&feature=related
Come on you guys...watch it and weep, this is our chance to change the world!
I am preparing a lesson for my students tomorrow. This week is war week. I was looking for resources on the internet and I realised how fortunate I was to be a child of the 60's and a flower child of the 70's. I pulled up some war protest songs on You Tube, and now I am crying. How can we not elect Obama? Have we learned nothing from war, poverty, destruction and hate? I am apalled that people would look at Clinton or McCain as viable choices. Clinton lies and has a hidden agenda. McCain believes in war! Please, please make phone calls, do what you can to save our country, and perhaps the world. And if you are old like me, and need to be reminded...search You Tube..Bob Dylan...Blowin in the Wind. A high school student put their project up, and the pictures will wake you up. PEACE and LOVE,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JpfL7EYnhk&feature=related
Kathy
I wrote this "Letter to the Editor" of the LA Times, in 2000 after being one of 14 teachers to be beaten or injured by students in the classroom. (see letter below) I am a loved teacher, and both of the instances where I was injured were from students who liked me, but one was very high on drugs, and the other was on his way to prison, and very angry. I have almost recovered from my fears of teaching, but I am physically injured in ways that will never heal. I still teach, but not in LA.
I did however act as the Accreditation Self Study Coordinator for this school. I thought I could make a change. The school was being run by the state and was facing losing their accreditation. Just before our visit I was off work due to my injuries, and they changed some things in the report, such as the survey results of students and teachers being frightened for their safety at the school. I kept copies of both reports, because they made the changes against my wishes, but still put my name on the report. They were accredited. In spite of the riots, the injuries, the lack of learning experiences, the botched test scores, the drug dealing, the prostitution going on in bathrooms, the gambling on the "playground", and the general joke of calling it a school.I just happened to read the letter today and realized it is still relevant. The Superintendent at the time of these almost daily riots which were occuring in "South Los Angeles... is now an "expert" in the field of education.. Roy Romer http://roysblog.edin08.com/ . The Los Angeles Times in 2006 suggested naming a school after him.
I cannot even tell you all of the horrid violations that were perpetrated on the students of Locke High School between the years of 2000 to 2004. Our union wouldn't help us. I called a federal agency once about violence at the work place. He told me that statistics were showing that my job teaching at that school was more dangerous than that of a cab driver or convenience store clerk!LAPD had its own station on our campus. A very large percentage of our students wore ankle bracelets for in house arrest. We had probation officers with their own building and offices, but not even enough counsellors to aid students in any way! Every gang imaginable was housed in the school setting.
Our tests were not given by the guidelines necessary, riots were weekly in the 2002 school year. Students were locked within iron gates during riots and gassed or sprayed, I am not sure which, but pepper spray was commonly used to control fights, etc.. The school was really a prison, where young innocent children who wanted to learn were also attending.My very first week of work I had to walk through gun fire to reach my car in order to evacuate.. LAPD cleared the hallway in full riot gear 4 abreast with billy clubs and face shilds etc., and we were on lockdown (just like a prison) on countless days.There HAS to be some open, real and relevant dialogue about the future of education in this country!!!! NCLB is NOT doing anything but breaking down the system even further. We must address the true needs of our youth realistically. There are some angry young people out there who are not being given the tools they need to be active and productive citizens and members of the work force. I feel sick to my stomach every time I remember being forced to repeat the chant, "Welcome to Locke High School, where each and every child is expected to go to college" .I guess not much has changed at Locke : http://www.greendot.org/news/article/green_dot_charter_organization_to_take_over_locke_high_school
This was the letter I read today. It rekindeled the anger I have for the abuse and mistreatment of students, and teachers at Locke High School:
( i cant sign my name, so i know you wont use this, but i feel better having written it. there are 13 teachers from my school who have been physically battered this school year alone. i am one of them. i love teaching. it hurts me every day that a child accosted me because a school is out of control. our union said we need 25 people for a class action suit. they said we should be whistle blowers if we really want to see a change, but everyone is scared, myself included. i cannot afford to lose my job. my chief concern is that the school is not a school, it is a warehouse for children. this year marks 50 years of brown vs. the board of education, how far really have we come? everyone talks about the violence in south central, but they dont talk about solutions. one of the best solutions, is to offer alternatives. the best alternative would be a well rounded education. a school that offered many electives, agriculture, cosmetology, broadcasting, pottery, auto shop, etc, and loving firm expectations with a system of rewards as well as social services and health services available to students.)well...here is what i wrote anyway...---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I search tirelessly for information about educational endeavors in South Central Los Angeles. It seems to have become a hobby. I find instead information about riots, gangs, and an article telling how on the anniversary of the most devastating riot, there was a move to change the name of South Central Los Angeles, to South Los Angeles, ironically in essence, just removing it from the map. That is not the answer. We have ignored the problem, turned our heads the other way, and excluded ourselves from the situation for long enough. It IS time to become involved in the restoration of peaceful living for all whether it be in Beverly Hills or South Central Los Angeles.I read an officer’s account of having to take a life in the line of duty as a response to a suspect having shot two officers. At the end of his article he spoke of how it feels to work in South Central Los Angeles. I could identify. I not only understand the hurt experienced by the officer, but I empathize with the deep hurt felt by the residents of the community.
So how do we fix it, by erasing it off of the map? I don’t think this is a viable answer. Yet it is the answer which is slowly being put into place right in front of our eyes with little to no protest.At the end of the officer’s letter was a very long list of quotations, food for thought as it were. It was good for me, but I knew immediately that it was going to serve little to no purpose to the students who are being robbed of an equal education in dangerous inner city schools. Have we just wiped these schools off of the maps also? How can we sleep at night being angry with the youth who are full of anger and hatred and lack skills and direction, if we are not giving them what they need in the way of education?Let’s start by being honest. At one particular inner city school several teachers have been physically harmed this school year alone. Police are called in frequently to settle the tenor and climate of the campus. Students are frightened to be at school. Programs offered at the school are limited. Activities are not equal to other schools. School, as an experience on the whole, is just not the same thing as it is for a white child 20 miles on the other side of the exact same city…and perhaps even in the same school district.
So, you might say, ok…what is your great idea to fix all of these things that we have been trying to fix for years? Well, I do have an idea. It is this. First…we are top heavy, and although that might be glamorous for a female Hollywood movie star, it just is not acceptable in modern day education. In other words (and I am entitled to say this being Native American) we have too many Chiefs and not enough Indians, and man are those Chiefs overpaid! Services for the students in the inner city are non existent so huge salaries can be paid, and buildings rented to show the world the sophistication of our Los Angeles educational system.Many students need to be expelled from the traditional school system. This would mean setting up an alternative method of education for them. Good. Do it now, or fight the battle in the street first, then let them become educated in jail. When a student has reached the age of 18 and has not yet completed their 9th grade requirements, is not passing standardized tests, does not have regular attendance and has a record of disciplinary problems, (lets say just for example pushes and threatens a teacher, or physically injures another student in a fight, or is caught using a weapon at school, lets say a bat…or a chain….), what does a traditional school setting really have to offer them other than a place to cause mayhem? And this “opportunity transfer” all it does is allow two schools to exchange problem students among each other. Oh my, how innovative! Who is helped by this, the child? The school statistics?
No Child Left Behind has allowed each state to determine what is considered a "persistently dangerous school", and as hard as it is for me to believe, California has managed to tweak its expulsion and compulsory education laws to the point where they report no persistently dangerous schools in the entire state. Imagine!Our inner city schools need to provide alternative education for older students who are not able to succeed in a traditional setting. Then, discipline needs to be enforced. If there is nothing else that is important as an essential element of education, it is discipline and consistency that is lacking in most of our urban schools.Last but not least, people need to be held accountable to perform their jobs to the extent to which they are paid. How many security guards, campus aids, how much sports or science lab equipment, how many buses, textbooks, lighting for football fields, etc. could be bought by reducing the top heavy “mini districts” of the Los Angeles Unified School District?
If you agree that this is a necessary change please let the School Board know before their meeting on June 8th. And please, don’t let it stop there. If we expect to stop crime in the streets, then we have to stop the transgressions of those in charge of the educational programs of our youth. Public education MUST be equal for all. It is our responsibility to make it so. Please make your voices be heard.
Wasn't really that long ago people waved, and said "Hello"
Now it seems almost as though
we have muted all the land.
Many try and never gain
Ways to live, and not in pain
Trying, but not winning is hard to explain
To a little one put in your trust.
How to pass on that lust for life
How to be fair
When to end strife
How to build dreams even bigger than sand castles
Restraint on kicking sand.
Bringing a child into adulthood full of excitement and love
curiousity and respect
safety and trust
These are the tasks set before us.
How do we do it every day
amidst war and hate and intolerance.
Someone needs to take a stand and lead us to the perfect sand
Show us the tools to build towers and spires
Lend us the strength to only be wise.
The American Dream ( as they call it today)
Is alive and well, not fallen away.
We can have the peace many dream of
We can live in a land which promotes Justice
for all.
My babies are grown, and gone away.
But if I could give them just one thing today
I would sing them to sleep with the lullaby
Of a land of opportunity for all.
I would help them envision standing tall.
I would let them know of my personal plan.
to be a part of a special time in history,
when a hero emerged to make sure everyone builds their castle in the sand.
I keep playing with the idea, what if I were asked where to start in repairing the NCLB, I am not sure I would know what to do. I have been thinking that perhaps there should be a three prong approach to exploring the existing law, 1) Must be addressed IMMEDIATELY, 2) Short Range Goals, and 3) Long Range Goals. Just the exploration of this law should be systematic, and a goal must be in place which is realistic and driven by the curriculum.
I am concerned with the lack of credibility that is given for teachers with a complete education and years of experience. There are so many loop holes in this law that every mandate can be responded to with the excuse that, "we are unable to do this. We have a teacher shortage and cannot fill the classrooms with teachers." Right now our "state of emergency" allows students who have entered into their second year of education in our community college to be alone in the classroom in the capacity of teacher. No education is necessary to be a substitute. Students who graduated from high school last year can sub this year.
I also have concerns with special education being out of compliance at school after school. We have changed the students who are entered into special needs programs, but little has been done to keep up on the IEP's or to work with classroom teachers to modify instruction.
Students need updated curriculum which will prepare them to live as skilled and informed citizens with, or without additional training after high school. There are so many life and work skills which we are not teaching our youth.
Money is spent carelessly and without the involvement of teachers. Curriculum is bought and rejected, often never being tried. Books, supplies, and programs are set on a shelf somewhere in storage, as something new is tried.
Last month I came home late after parent teacher conferences. I thought I would wash my hands, drink a glass of water ...and go straight to bed. I stopped in the kitchen and turned on the light, turned on the water, and it hissed at me. I stood dumbfounded and my heart sank while I thought of plumbers. My house is over 80 years old, and it is the first house I have ever bought, naturally the fear of the unknown set deep in my stomache. Of course after running outside, I saw where someone had dug through the snow to turn off my water. $53.00 a month had been put on the back burner one time too often.
I am a teacher, and I am paid one time per month. I live check to check and often depend on payday lending to make my monthly mortgage payment. This month I have made my first monetary donation to the Obama campaign ( besides gasoline for canvassing and food for potlucks). I have donated $25.00 and I vow to donate the same each month until the campaign carries him to the White House! The "Educators for Obama" fund is so low that my $25.00 hasn't even registered yet, but it will, and I encourage others to donate. Please.
I want to talk more about being a teacher. Some of my experiences might seem strange to you, but they are teaching experiences in insular areas. Parts of the United States where our tax dollars pay for their infra- structures as well as other needs.
I taught in American Samoa, Tutuila. Often I would come to school and find chickens tied to the leg of my desk, or fresh fish on my desk in a basket, bolts of material, and canned food left to show their appreciation of my time spent educating their children. At lunch time students would sit outside and study. They didn't have electricity and the daylight hours would have been spent in the plantation, or cooking for the family,etc. Education was so important to them. Fiercely competetive people! They serve our country in high numbers during every conflict, and now war. My daughter is just a little thing, but she is one heck of a soldier having completed a tour in Iraq before she was 20, and soon now headed for another. Our problems of meth and gangs have gone to this peaceful island now. My prayers are that they will win that fight and be able to preserve their beautiful culture.
In Micronesia, The Commonwealth of the Marianas Island, Saipan, I also taught. Children here in high school often learned in a 4th language other than their mother tongue! They were bright and fun. They were diverse, our campus having over 17 different ethnic groups represented. The teachers were overwhelmingly transplants from the US mainland, and during my time there a huge program was underway to encourage students to become teachers. Last I heard, it was working.
One of my favorite schools was a private school. Out in the middle of nowhere in Oregon. A lockdown school for children of wealthy families. Very wealthy. These children had drug problems for the most part. Often they were picked up off the streets and brought to the school after detox. The school offered a 12 step program of sorts where the day started early with chores, then school, and on some days "group therapy". Outside influences of tv, computers, and music were replaced with survival training, hikes, and good hard work. The school had an extremely high success rate. It was one of the more interesting places I workled.
The inner city almost killed me physically and emotionally. NCLB ruined the chances that this high school in South Los Angeles ever had of overcoming their struggles. I could tell you horror stories of LAPD in full riot gear clearing the hallways, or of the metal barriers that were dropped during "lock down" so that particular populations of students could be pepper sprayed ( I believe that is what they used ). Teaching while outside the window the swat team is taking positions on the roof to organize their efforts to quiet a riot. Guns fired into busses, into daycare. A school left to write it's own decsription of what it means to be a "dangerous" school. Testing? a farce. Every possible way that testing conditions could be breached, they were. Ironically the same old man had passed this school for it's accreditation for the last 12 years. My last year there 14 teachers were violently attacked. I was one of them.
We need a change in our broken educational system. Republicans have for too long now used this system as a means to excuse the underclass, the working class, and it is time to stop. Education is the great equalizer! (Atticus Finch)
Please make a donation today, and make plans to donate regularly. If I can afford 25.00 from my meager earnings, you can.
More about my meager earnings, and the teaching profession on another day.
Someone to believe in .
Times have been hard, but I am strong, a survivor. I can carry much on my shoulders, but over time it does take its toll. I am a very empathetic person, I feel the pain and suffering of others, and although I have been able to keep my head above the water, I feel helpless as I expend energy trying to “change the world”.
Since I first gathered the strength to speak out and tell people that I intended to support Senator Obama in the presidential campaign, I have had nothing but positive experiences. People have gravitated to me, asking me why I support Obama. They are curious. They have seen a change in me. I have taken the time to explore the issues and read on the Obama site what his plans are for our nation. In this way I can share inspirational and truthful information with others. It seems that by doing this I have actually helped others to make an effort to show up, and even caucus for Barack Obama. Imagine my excitement when my small community in the isolated rural area of Nevada voted for Obama to be our candidate!
There is something very empowering about his vision. Now not only do I have someone to believe in, but I can share him with others. I can’t wait for him to become President Obama!
My rights are being violated. CNN won't allow me to post unless it is pro Clinton or at least anti-Obama. We must be aware of the bias of the media. Make phone calls and canvas if you can. I cannot, and I rely on the web to make my voice be heard. It is a shame that CNN is not allowing free speech.
And while I am here, has this nation forgotten that they wanted to impeach Clinton?
Raising two teenage boys the tears of my youngest alarmed me. I was separated and didn't understand boys that well having come from a family of all girls, even my cousins were all girls! My son was upset from the news on the television. I sat him down and talked to him. He wanted to write a letter to the President. We got paper and a pencil, I gave him a hug and he sat down at the table to write a letter.
He wrote to the President to let him know that he still loved him even though the whole world was mad at him. He forgave him. ( I will not name the President, but I will say that it became apparent to me that my son was actually speaking to his father, my estranged husband.) He was telling the President of our country that he forgave him for the horrible mistake he had made, and that he was sorry that everyone was mad at him.
We all talk about the experience and the issues of the canidate, but how often do we talk about the integrity? Barack Obama is above reproach. Besides having a plan, and the will to implement it, he is a man of the people. He can be that icon to our children, and to the people of other countries as they look to us in admiration of our ability to live the "american dream".
In a blog response to Obama's speech today...
By Joy from Tulsa, OK Today at 3:20 pm EST The Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton disease needs to be treated. Are we as a nation so narrow in our thinking that Presidents can come from only two American families? Canvassing in a high poverty area of North Tulsa for Senator Obama made me realize yesterday that fear to have the audacity of hope is rampant in our communities. We must unite! And, I echo the WOW to Barack's message in Atlanta. Every city in our country gives us an opportunity tomorrow at MLK parades to reach the black voters in our country. Go out and get out the vote for Barack! ......
I add to this that tomorrow gives us an opportunity to stand together as a country that is sophisticated, global, and fired up! Showing up at an event tomorrow does not have to be an instrument to inspire black voters to vote for Obama, but it can work to heal us as a nation under the words of two men with the vision for a different world than the one we currently live in.No matter where you live, let's get out there tomorrow and show that we are a nation who stand together for those dreams! And that we have a special gift to us. The leadership of Obama.
Dr. Michael Maccoby recently said,
"Candidates in the primaries argue about whether experience or leadership for change is more important for a president. What I learned when I spoke at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California last month is that the young professionals there recognize that profound social change is already taking place. They want leaders at work and in Washington who understand the evolving world and make them collaborators in creating a better future. Experience without foresight and purpose is a drag, not a value."
I hope this link will work.
One by one we can make our voices heard through the election of Obama to the office of President. This is my sister in the link. If you haven't seen it please go to the "States" tab and watch her video. She was courageous and made her change to Obama's camp public.
Here in Nevada we must work hard to tell the story of a man who will give us the hope for the future that we deserve. Fear tactics, big business, and politics as usual will not take us into the future with hope, but Obama will. Please share this with your friends, neighbors, and those who are standing in line at the grocery store. One by One we can make it happen through the election of Obama.
http://iowa.barackobama.com/page/community/post_group/IowaHQ/CBmX
