Look up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane . . .

Sophie and I at the airport

It’s a Grizzly mane! The family in front of us made up that cheer on the spot as we waited to welcome back the Grizzly team to Memphis after a long-fought series with an extremely talented Oklahoma City Thunder team. I wrote two Grizzly articles during this playoff stretch, but in typical style, I did not publish them in time for them to be relevant. Here goes my last shot.

Crowd at the airport welcoming home the Grizz.

Last year, I wrote a blog post called “Is Amazing Actually Happening?” as we made a hopeful push to the playoffs. As I would find out later, amazing was certainly not happening that year, but there was hope. This season started slow for the Grizz, but it never stopped accelerating as we moved to the end. We lost our star player in the chase, and that could have been the end. Instead, we found new stars hopefully burn just as bright with Rudy back next year.

And let’s talk about the fans. Whether a good team or fans come first is a chicken-or-the-egg argument. Memphis is a town that requires you to earn its trust. I was at the first game the Grizzlies ever played in Memphis and have been a fan ever since. It really not easy at all to continue to support the team. Fans doubted team decisions. The team resented Memphis’ lack of involvement. The teams that made runs early in the playoffs did not match up with our city.  Memphis is a gritty town, and this season we have finally found a team that matches that tenacity. While some may be snide towards bandwagon fans, I wholeheartedly welcome them. Now, you just have to stay.

My yellow growl Towels will be family heirlooms.

Getting to go to four playoff games was awesome, but I may have enjoyed seeing the daily manifestations of the run even more. I always got comments whenever I won Grizzly shirts. For the first time EVER, people could say “THE game”, and people knew which game they were talking about. Not the Lakers, not the Heat, it was the Grizzlies that were mentioned in conversations all over the city.

In Memphis, we are used to being undersold, underpromoted, and overdoubted, but this team proved people wrong time and time again. I am so excited about having the chance to support this team for years to come. Thanks for the season, players, coaches, owners, staff, and fans. To the fans, teams need fans that support unconditionally, so let’s try to live up to our end of the bargain. Here’s to a season that was truly 10 years in the making.

Please don’t trade OJ.

In the car after the triple overtime. Thanks to my wife for her enthusiasm about this post season. No one said the Grizzlife is easy.

A Million Little Cups of Tea . . .

I was very sad to yesterday see that 60 Minutes had done a story outlining the many frauds perpetuated by Greg Mortensen, the folk-hero of Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools. These alleged lies range from inaccuracies in his own story as well as the neglect of schools that his multi-million dollar charity claims to support.

Jon Krakauer, for whom I have much literary respect (that is until I find out Everest does not exist), details the misdeeds of Mortensen in a free (Today only) PDF called “Three Cups of Deceit”. Jon was once a large supporter of Motensen’s mission, and his case against Greg is seemingly sound. Mortensen’s mission is still noble, and I have no doubt people were helped.

I present this not as a condemnation (though part of me wants to grab him around the neck shouting “You Lied to Me” like Chris Farley in the Columbian Coffee Crystals SNL sketch), but as a reminder of what happens when we deify other humans. Creating an idol from a human creates two problems: 1. It makes us assume that there is no way we could accomplish things of a similar magnitude and 2. When that person messes up, we throw out every bit of that person, including the good parts.

Humanitarians like Mother Theresa often freeze me to inaction more than they motivate me to action. I assume that they are some different breed of person, and when they are accused of sinning (WHICH THEY DOOOO!), I am surprised, shocked, and offended. I lose focus of every aspect of that person, even the things that I should learn from. Humans can inspire us, but they will never measure up to the gods we make of them. Athletes, politicians, and celebrities from Tiger to Mark Sandford have had their transgressions put on every TV in the country. When these things happen, we act surprised. Why do the flaws that we know are in ourselves, surprise us in other people?

The most noble of goals are warped by our humanity. No one is free from the perverting power of our sin. That’s why we all need Jesus.

The Firepit (and the music that accompanies)

Sophie and I have been in our new house for a few weeks now, and the best investment that we have made so far is our firepit. You can buy happiness at Lowe’s. I know that now. Here is a mix that I made for our time out there.

I tried to do a cool embed thing, but I can’t since this is a WordPress.com hosted blog.

http://8tracks.com/priceless109/sitting-by-the-fire-spring-mix

A picture my friend Jonathan took at a friend's bachelor party at our farm.

 

 

That Dirty 13-Letter Word

First let me say that this post contains my opinion as a private citizen, not as an MCS teacher or TFA Corps Member. This opinion is in no way affiliated with those organizations.

Consolidation. The proposed consolidation of Memphis and Shelby County Schools has been this areas top news story for weeks. Even national news programs, like NPR, have reported on this historic event. Some have debated taxing authority. Some have debated budgets. Some have debated who  decides this. Some have agreed that my kids deserve a better education than your kids because of where they live.

Actually, in words, no one has made that last statement, but in action, I see it over and over again. I get further confused by these actions knowing many of those that oppose this legislation are Christians. Christians who would gladly tell you that they fully believe that a Christian should love others as they love themselves. Christians who should believe that the economic realities that face those all over the cities, are our realities to help correct. Mitchell Moore delivered a great sermon detailing what loving one’s neighbor looks like in today’s society. (Listen Here) Loving your neighbor is not posting on their facebook wall when it’s their birthday or complimenting their boots. It is a radical idea that causes you to value the safety, security, and happiness of someone else as much as you covet those things for yourself.

Shelby County schools is a higher achieving and seemingly better-run organization. This is no anomaly. All over the country, higher income neighborhoods have better, cleaner, and higher-performing schools. This issue goes from coast to coast. America right now is a land of the opportunity, but that opportunity is not offered to everyone. Seeking a better school system is something that many in low income communities cannot do. That privilege is left to those that already have privilege. A mom in Ohio was sent to jail for using a hotel’s address to try and get her kids into a better school system. I do not know what that kind of desperation feels like. I do not know what it feels like to feel like breaking the law is the only option to get a better life. Millions of Americans do.

I recognize that there are many students that are receiving great educations from MCS. I know that. I see them everyday. I also know that there are many more that are not. The statistics are very clear in that respect.

This is not a chance to somehow drop the quality of the county schools, but to use their success to help many others. We have the chance, as Christians, humans, and Tennesseans, to vastly improve the education for 105, 000 MCS students. With educations, these students can reach their potential to higher learning. They will  bring better businesses to Memphis to use that educated workforce and continue to revitalize this city.

My opinions have no affiliation with Teach for America or my school system, but those organizations are responsible though for the person that I have become over the last 1.5 years. I can say with confidence that I would not be following this issue without the valuable experience these programs have given me. I have seen amazing students who grab on to every educational opportunity they get, but they are still getting short-changed. There are great teachers out there leading some great students to maximize their potentials. Many students though, are not being challenged and encouraged to make academic gains.

School reform is the civil rights issue of our time. We need to wonder how history will remember the side we are on. Our sides are not being chosen with action but with inaction.

So What?

So maybe you’ve seen Waiting for Superman. Maybe you saw the Oprah about the movie. Maybe you saw The Lottery. Maybe you saw Precious. Maybe you saw The Blind Side, Stand and Deliver, Freedom Writers, etc. Even on TV, we have shows like School Pride and Teach:

Tony Danza.  Education is very in right now. There are celebrities, political leaders, and college graduates all over the country that are preaching the Achievement Gap Gospel.

So what?

Maybe after seeing one of these movies, you wanted to get involved with education. When I am confronted with a huge task like that, I often end up coming away with nothing. I see too many chances to get involved and end up back where I started, with a fading sense of duty and enough distance from the guilt trip to forget it.

Proof that TFA did in fact exist in the 90's

So let’s do not that.

I have a few humble suggestions on ways for you (and me. Trust me I need so much accountability to continue in this fight.) to get involved with “The Movement”.

Donating Time

1. Become a teacher- Pretty obvious one. In my TFA training, I ran into several, sec0nd-career corps members. Everything from a bank president to political campaigners. Programs like TFA and MTR are making a career transition like this much easier.

2. Tutor-I am willing to bet most local schools will be happy to let you tutor at their school. Programs that involve reading with a kid are huge. If you saw the dismal reading levels of high-schoolers I work with, you would know that even adding a few years of reading level can change someone’s life.

This was the first Google image for "mentoring", so, naturally, I had to use it.

3. Mentor- This is different than tutoring. This may involve some type of tutoring, but I see this more as equipping kids for life. This could involve making plans for after high school. Letting them shadow you at your job. Finding college, community college, technical schools, etc. that meet the student’s needs, dreams, and strengths. Students need positive role models on how to live their life from interacting with your family to seeing all that exists outside of their worldview.

4. Go to a school board meeting. I cannot say I’ve ever done this, but I think it is one of the most under-seen pictures of our school systems. Our kids always need more advocated.

Donating Donations

1. Give to TFA or another teaching agency(MTR and others). By sponsoring a Corps member, you get a chance to interact with them and personally see all that they are doing in their classrooms. You know you are putting money in the hands of people on the forefront of educational change. Your money will be well-spent bringing more corps members to your city to exponentially change the future of your community.

2. Donors Choose- This is great because you can find both subjects and locations that you are passionate about and give that teacher the tools that they need to run their class. Borders is running a special promotion on Dec. 4th and 5th  that gives DonorsChoose dollars for any purchases.

3. Hire a student. I am not trying to demean working in the fast food industry, but often, my students are drastically underexposed to possible jobs that exist. Talk to your local school about hiring a student from there as a summer intern or for after school. That is a radical chance to impact a kid’s future.

I fear that Education will not be trendy forever, so hopefully, we can cash in now for large scale changes. As always, these changes are made by small efforts made by normal people.

I know I missed some great ideas, so please post them in the comments. And as always, please contact me with any questions or complaints.

First Impression

The more students that I meet, the more I realize that students love to be smart. There are students that seem to be completely opposed to everything in class. They hardly fill out notes. They will not try questions on their own. They have a bad attitude every time that I try to push them. Often far too quickly, I begin to write that student off as belligerent and impossible to work with.

There are always those moments though that show what these students really are. Some try to act like they could not care less about school, but they are just kids that have been told over and over again by word and action that they are not important and that they cannot succeed. Those moments where they do succeed reveal them for what they are: children who want to be smart, want to please, and want to be recognized. Kamara did not smile for months, but ever since she understood cross multiplying, she has greeted everyone with a smile everyday. Rod is used to being a very low-functioning special education class (which he should not have been in EVER). This year he is taking all classes with the rest of students. While working with him, he told me “Math really is fun. Let’s do some more problems. I really have never had a math class before”. While I know he has had math at some point, I do not doubt the lack of challenging material for him. Sure he might be a behavior problem, but that is no reason to hold him back academically.

Some students even know all too well what their issues are. One of my students who usually struggles was really understanding the lesson. I was pushing him to answer a question that I knew he could. When I said “come on, Steven. I know you can get this.” He responded quietly, “Mr. Edwards . . . can I tell you something? I have a very low self-esteem.” Hearing that sentence breaks your heart.

All of these students are products of years and years of input, whether positive or negative. Parents, teachers, family, and friends have molded these kids to be who they are. These students do not wake up thinking about wanting to disrupt class or disrespect teachers, but one can only try at something and fail for so long. I know that I would never give school effort if I was not constantly supported and helped when I did not understand.

I have two main points: 1. I should never let first impressions of students get in the way of trying to reach them everyday. 2.  I need to always recognize achievement no matter how small from those high-need students. You cannot control how much positive support students get from friends and family, but you can totally control what they receive in your classroom.

Waiting to be Super

Last week, I had the pleasure of going to a screening of the new education documentary Waiting for “Superman”. The film is named for a comment from Geoffrey Canada about when he learned that Superman was not real. He was living in the inner-city of the Bronx, and he was always just assuming that someone was on the way to make things right. Canada learned that is not the case, and students all over our country are learning that same lesson each day.

The facts are that schools are desperately failing kids. The movie throws out lots of depressing statistics paint a picture of both the desperate state of many students and the how widespread these issues really are . In my school alone, I have 11th graders that read on a 2nd-3rd grade reading level. That kind of reading level does not just keep you out of college, it robs you off a future.

Supporters of the film: Geoffrey Canada, John Legend, and Bill Gates.

The movie was great. It was well-shot. There were informative graphics, powerful personalities, and even the occasional comic relief. The story follows education reform with the lives of five children interspersed throughout the film. All of these children are trying to get into high-performing charter schools to avoid the school that their zip code places them at. The children picked do seem to have above average desire and above average parental involvement, but I guess that is true with many of the families that are seeking other alternatives like charter schools.

The film addresses the issues and problems from both national statistical figures of lack of proficiency as well as focusing on the children in the movie and the schools that they would go to. This is a powerful combination. As the movie points out, it is much easier to shrug our shoulders at the stats involving millions of kids than it is to do the same to one child. Seeing the situations and hearts of these kids is terribly disturbing, and it totally should be.

The documentary also features Michelle Rhee, the former controversial, reforming Chancellor of DC schools. Michelle (proud to call her a fellow TFAer) took control of the DC schools about 3 and a half years ago. During that time, she battled with citizens, unions, and general bureaucracy to fire bad teachers and close bad schools. A quick google search will show you that she has many supporters and critics, but I think drastic measures are surely needed right now. Due to the loss of her appointing Mayor, Rhee resigned from her office a few weeks ago, and I certainly wish her the best in her fight to give children great educations.

Anthony, one of the films five protagonists.

So what are the critics saying? The movie “vilifies unions” and “promotes charters as the only answer”. Many also speak against aggressive strategies used by Michelle Rhee.  This movie is a question, not an answer. Charter schools were born out of necessity, and thanks to them, many kids who would not get a great education have gotten one. Are they the final answer? I don’t think so, but they are a big part. We need be learning from these schools not just resenting their existence. As far as the unions go, I don’t have a lot to say. Unions can do really great things, but bad teachers should be able to be fired easily. Just because you can protest something, does not mean that you should. Just look at France for instance. Any critics of the film need not just criticize components of the movie but also provide feasible, alternative solutions.

So I head back to school today knowing that I am not superman, but knowing that my students need what I can give. See the movie, and then let outrage become action. Of course there is an agenda, and of course this film has a very specific point of view, but don’t let that get in the way of the main message: All students deserve the chance to have a great education.