What Kids Remember

A former student of mine found me on Facebook recently, and I am still beaming thinking about the wonderful young woman she has become.  Over the past few years, I've gotten the sad news that two of my former elementary students became pregnant in middle school (and I was their sex ed teacher), one student became a homeless/runaway drug addict at age 12, and two of my students essentially became orphans after their dad murdered their mom.  These updates deeply saddened me because they reminded me that it takes more than a village to raise a child, and some of these kids unfortunately have an unreasonable amount of challenges bombarding them in their early lives.  So when I heard from E that she is a junior in high school and concurrently enrolled in college classes at UT Pan American, I exploded with happiness.  Given she was great student back then and seemed to have a solid family life, this news just makes me so happy.

E also shared with me some memories of  her time as my student.  She didn't mention any specific skills or knowledge that she learned in fifth grade.  Instead, she talked about something I did that was not academic, and could have been considered to me a waste of valuable class time by some teachers.  I took portraits of all of the kids on the first day of school and used them throughout the year as I selected one each week as the Star.  They thought they were picked for being a good student/doing their homework/helping out, but in reality, I picked kids who I knew were going through tough times/had been recently picked on/failed to master a concept.  That Star had his or her portrait front and center all week, along with artwork and writing they did about his or her self the first week.  They got to help me with anything and everything, and they got to eat lunch with me on Friday.  And most importantly, all of the other students wrote something nice about the Star, and at the end of the week I gave them a compilation of things the other students had written about them.  In the world of fifth grade, it meant instant popularity...or at least respect.  Other kids wanted to emulate the Star so maybe they would be picked the following week.

E reminded me that teaching self-confidence and boosting others' self-esteem is not something only teachers should aim for with their students.  It's something we can all do as human beings.  It's something I can be doing at my job every day, at home with my husband and other family members, and with friends and people I meet during chance encounters.

I've been reflecting a lot this year about how my husband and I will be parents and teachers to our son, and reconnecting with E reminded me that confidence-building goes a long way with children.  I came across this blog entry that is common sense, but a good reminder.  I think it really applies to all loved ones, not just children.  :)

What Parents Need to Know (source)

That our children need more of us.  Our children don’t need Nintendos, computers, after school activities, ballet lessons, play groups and soccer practice nearly as much as they need US. They need fathers who sit and listen to their days, mothers who join in and make crafts with them, parents who take the time to read them stories and act like idiots with them. They need us to take walks with them and not mind the .1 mph pace of a toddler on a spring night. They deserve to help us make supper even though it takes twice as long and makes it twice as much work. They deserve to know that they’re a priority for us and that we truly love to be with them. 

Thank you, President Obama

Today is a great day for our nation's students, yet political divisions are distracting. President Obama is addressing American students at 11:00am today to tell them directly how important their education is, not only for their own futures but also for the future of our country. Only two Presidents (Reagan and Bush 1) have ever addressed students directly in this way. From what I've read, Bush's student speech proposal was also met with significant opposition from parents whose views differed from his own politically.

My last year in the classroom (before beginning graduate school) was 2007, when Obama and Clinton were beginning their runs for presidency. My class that year was made of 100% minority children, about 85 to 90% of whose families relied on government assistance for food and other necessities. Almost every child was from a broken home, and at least 3 of my 26 students that year had fathers who were currently in prison. In the past two years, one of the fathers of one of those students murdered the child's mother, and one of my female students is now pregnant. So many of the students were victims of abuse and had unbelievably low self-worth.

I realize that these facts may seem extreme for people who haven't worked in the education system or with government or nonprofit services that benefit those at need in our country. But my classroom was not an anomaly. Every other classroom at my school had similar issues and continues to. Austin is not an aberration either. These challenges are plaguing our country's children, and it is definitely impacting our overall level of education and our country's workforce. Our dropout rate remains around 30% (thirty percent!), and our children continue to lag behind children in other developed nations, especially in math and science. Teenage pregnancy is a problem now more than ever, and the percentages of young minority males in our correctional system greatly outweighs the similar percentage for white males. These are deep, complex problems in our society.

I applaud President Obama for speaking directly to students today. He has spoken to teachers, to parents, and now he is working on motivating the students. He's asking them to take responsibility for their education, their future. And I think it's unfortunate that many children will miss out on his speech today because their parent(s) disagree with the President's stance on health care, the economy, or the Middle East. I would have felt the same way if I was a teacher during Bush 1's speech. Our young people are capable of listening and having discussions within their classes following the speech, just as we adults watch televised debates and later discuss. In fact, I hosted classroom debates in 2007 with my fifth graders regarding presidential candidate agendas. These children were not only extremely motivated and excited about the presidential candidates, but also eager to discuss what they liked and disliked about their platforms. And the icing on the cake was to hear one student explain to the others in an "I Told You So" moment that yes, Black people and women were in fact allowed to be president in our country.

President Obama is a role model to millions of children. He was a role model well before he became president. And he is doing the right thing by drawing on his own experiences as a child to create a commonality with many of our kids today and give them hope for their own futures. If little Barack Hussein Obama can do it, so can they. And believe me, they are listening.

Read Obama's speech to students here (pdf file).

Hike for Greens

My awesome pal Priya is hiking all 2,175 miles (Georgia to Maine) of the Appalacian Trail this year. Not only am I infinitely jealous, I'm also proud of her for for supporting a great cause along the way.

Priya and I both just completed the LBJ School graduate program in public affairs and also both taught with Teach For America in the Rio Grande Valley. There is a small family of charter schools in the Valley called IDEA, which was started by other former Teach For America teachers. IDEA schools have implemented Outdoor Classrooms in the Valley where children are raise and harvesting their own food. Priya is supporting this effort on her walkabout.

This is a cause that is dear to my heart as I also started an Outdoor Classroom of my own while teaching in the Valley. I received my Master Gardener certification, started a Gardening Club, and implemented the gardening process into the fifth grade science curriculum. While the actual food production process was definitely challenging, the program was a success. In the years that I taught at Trevino Elementary, the fifth grade science TAKS (state assessment) passing rate jumped from 33% when I started to 87% when I left. And of course, the students also gained a more valuable understanding of the connectedness of living things, importance of resource conservation and patience, and sheer enjoyment of harvesting something they contributed to the Earth. I am a firm believer in Outdoor Classrooms and know from experience that they work.

One of my former students with a new friend from the garden
(this is one of most favorite pictures ever)

So if you also share a love of outdoor education, take a look at Priya's Hike for Greens blog. She's got information about how to contribute to IDEA through her site. Hike on, lady!

Congrats LBJ Grads!

My apologies for my web absence and extreme tardiness with major life events. More to come and more often, I promise. :)

Myself and 145 of my colleagues can now call ourselves graduates of the LBJ School of Public Affairs! We graduated with our MPAffs on Saturday, May 23rd. Bill Bradley, former US Senator and star of some sport made for tall people, was our keynote. Sticking with the mission of our chosen program, he quoted:

"The tragedy is not to die. The tragedy is to die with commitments undefined, with convictions unexpressed, and with service unfulfilled. I hope you leave here with clearly defined commitments, with the courage to express your convictions, and recognize that what is ahead of you is a lifetime of public service. You simply have to find what is the right way to do it.”

He gave a great speech, but it was honestly overshadowed by Susan Peterson's speech to her fellow graduates. Susan talked about her reaction to hearing that a French foreign minister stated that the "magic is over" in terms of the US and our world relations. Here's what Susan said:

“I think we’ve been doing ‘magic’ for too long in the United States. ‘Magic’ is disguising sub-prime mortgages as sound investments and making 20 percent returns. ‘Magic’ is transforming chemicals and preservatives into substances resembling food and selling it cheap to Americans who need to eat more fruits and vegetables. ‘Magic’ is using multi-lane highways to string together far-flung suburbs and exurbs populated with McMansions and calling it the American dream. If Kouchner is right, and the magic really is over, I am relieved, because now we can stop doing magic and get on with the business of doing good. Doing good like working to increase equity in the world. Things LBJ students are trained to do and awesome at doing.”

I've earned a degree that I am very proud of. I'm part of an incredible group of world citizens who are dedicated to lives of public service. I'm amazed at what we have collectively accomplished and excited to hear about our impact in the future.

Abbey and I with, in my brother's words, "the most expensive piece of blank paper ever"

Ellen DeGeneres gave my personal favorite commencement speech this year. She shared many jokes and her private history of experiencing a very low point in life before becoming a successful comedienne and later, one of the first openly gay mainstream celebrities. Enjoy!

Abortion Discourse at Notre Dame

"...when we open up our hearts and our minds to those who may not think precisely like we do or believe precisely what we believe — that's when we discover at least the possibility of common ground."

I found Obama's Notre Dame commencement speech to be very well written, and he did a great job of addressing the extremely hot topic of the day: abortion. Here are his unifying words on the issue:

So let us work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions, let's reduce unintended pregnancies. Let's make adoption more available. Let's provide care and support for women who do carry their children to term. Let's honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded not only in sound science, but also in clear ethics, as well as respect for the equality of women. Those are things we can do.

Read the entire text of Obama's speech here.

Please help if you are able...

I'm writing to support three former students of mine during a very difficult time. Their mother was very brutally murdered by their father over the weekend. Their father is now in jail, and the children are safe with family members in Corpus Christi. I will be heading to the funeral there tomorrow.

My teaching colleagues and I have been touched by this family in ways that are hard to explain. I can honestly say that out of all of the families I've worked with in Austin, I never expected such a tragedy to affect these children. They were our shining stars at Becker and we've always expected these children to accomplish great things in their lives.

Their mother was a wonderful lady. She worked long hours for the State of Texas and still ensured that she was involved in her five children's education. I cannot say enough wonderful things about the children. The two oldest boys are 14 and 16 and involved in band and magnet studies. The two younger boys entered the gifted and talented program the years I had them. Both of these boys made me laugh so hard I cried on several occasions with their great sense of humor, and they are very talented both academically and emotionally. The only girl is 10 and is such an amazing, positive, and happy child. She wants to be a teacher when she grows up. All of the children are extremely bright, hard-working, and loving to all of their classmates.

I am deeply concerned for the children's future given the sudden absence of two working parents. Raising five children (and hopefully getting them to college) is a hugely expensive task. The father's brother apparently has already sold many of the family's belongings in an attempt to bail him out of jail.

An account was set up for the children this morning. I know that many of us are struggling financially right now, but if you are able to donate any amount of money for these beautiful little human beings, it would be greatly appreciated.

Capital One Bank
"Ledesma Children" account
# 3813430907

You can either visit a Capital One branch (here is a list) or transfer money into the account from your banking account online.

Feel free to pass along this information if you know others who may be willing to help. Thank you so much.

Crayon Physics Deluxe

I heard about a simple yet innovative game that was recently released. It was created by a 25 year old Finnish guy and won the grand prize at the Innovative Games Festival last year. It's called Crayon Physics Deluxe, and it's so fun! You draw anything on the sketchpad and it applies the laws of physics to your drawing. Here's a demo.


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Isn't that so awesome? I wish I would've had it in the classroom :)
You can download a demo of the game (PC only) here. Hopefully the Mac version is coming soon.

The Wagon with Square Wheels

Lately, I've been so busy that I feel like I'm one of the guys in this picture - just working so hard to be "working" and getting things done, but not thinking about the bigger picture and the best ways to accomplish things. It's easy to feel like that in the insanity that is the end of the semester.

I am happy to say, though, that I've been reflecting on "systems thinking" after some course discussions about this skill. Given that I'll be graduating after one more semester, I can use this skill to help me with my career planning. I've always thought about starting my own non-profit here in Austin, and I'm stoked that I'm enrolled in a course in social innovation next semester. Through the course, I'll be able to enter a social entrepreneurship competition with a prize of $50,000 for the winning idea. Time to really starting thinking about the big picture...

I'd like to share an experiment we discussed in my systems analysis course. It really made me think about the status quo and how we often learn to accept things the way they are without challenging why.

Primate Communities Experiment

The experiment involved 5 monkeys, a cage, a banana, a ladder and, crucially, a water hose.

The 5 monkeys would be locked in a cage, after which a banana was hung from the ceiling with, fortunately for the monkeys (or so it seemed…), a ladder placed right underneath it.

Of course, immediately, one of the monkeys would race towards the ladder, intending to climb it and grab the banana. However, as soon as he would start to climb, the sadist (euphemistically called “scientist”) would spray the monkey with ice-cold water. In addition, however, he would also spray the other four monkeys…

When a second monkey was about to climb the ladder, the sadist would, again, spray the monkey with ice-cold water, and apply the same treatment to its four fellow inmates; likewise for the third climber and, if they were particularly persistent (or dumb), the fourth one. Then they would have learned their lesson: they were not going to climb the ladder again – banana or no banana.

In order to gain further pleasure or, I guess, prolong the experiment, the sadist outside the cage would then replace one of the monkeys with a new one. As can be expected, the new guy would spot the banana, think “why don’t these idiots go get it?!” and start climbing the ladder. Then, however, it got interesting: the other four monkeys, familiar with the cold-water treatment, would run towards the new guy – and beat him up. The new guy, blissfully unaware of the cold-water history, would get the message: no climbing up the ladder in this cage – banana or no banana.

When the beast outside the cage would replace a second monkey with a new one, the events would repeat themselves – monkey runs towards the ladder; other monkeys beat him up; new monkey does not attempt to climb again – with one notable detail: the first new monkey, who had never received the cold-water treatment himself (and didn’t even know anything about it), would, with equal vigour and enthusiasm, join in the beating of the new guy on the block.

When the researcher replaced a third monkey, the same thing happened; likewise for the fourth until, eventually, all the monkeys had been replaced and none of the ones in the cage had any experience or knowledge of the cold-water treatment.

Then, a new monkey was introduced into the cage. It ran toward the ladder only to get beaten up by the others. Yet, this monkey turned around and asked “why do you beat me up when I try to get the banana?” The other four monkeys stopped, looked at each other slightly puzzled and, finally, shrugged their shoulders: “Don’t know. But that’s the way we do things around here”…