re thinking schools SPRING 2017 VOL. 31, NO.

Teaching Standing Rock

30TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

Birding in Urban
Ecology Class

Unfolding Hope
in Chicago

USA/CANADA $5.95

1 > FALL 2012

 re thinking
Rethinking Schools is a nonprofit publisher and
advocacy organization dedicated to sustaining and
strengthening public education through social justice
teaching and education activism. Our magazine,
books, and other resources promote equity and racial
justice in the classroom. We encourage grassroots
efforts in our schools and communities to enhance
the learning and well-being of our children, and to
build broad democratic movements for social and
environmental justice.
EDITORS >> COVER STORY
Wayne Au, Bill Bigelow, Linda Christensen, Grace
Cornell Gonzales, Jesse Hagopian, Stan Karp, David
Levine, Larry Miller, Bob Peterson, Adam Sanchez,
Jody Sokolower, Mo Yonamine. Editor emerita: Rita
Tenorio. 14 Standing with Standing Rock
CURRICULUM EDITOR A role play on the Dakota
Bill Bigelow
Access Pipeline
MANAGING EDITOR
Jody Sokolower
By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca
BUSINESS MANAGER A high school social studies teacher
Gina Palazzari centers Standing Rock Sioux history
OFFICE MANAGER and leadership in a unit on resistance
Tegan Dowling
to DAPL.
MARKETING DIRECTOR
Rachel Kenison
ART DIRECTOR
Nancy Zucker
RETHINKING SCHOOLS Vol. 31, No. 3 (ISSN 0895- >> FEATURES
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Chicago School
Rethinking Schools would like to acknowledge the By Greg Michie
support of Communitas Charitable Trust, Frederick
Douglass Edhlund Fund, Funding Exchange, Mayer A middle school teacher describes the
and Morris Kaplan Family Foundation, Lannan trauma experienced by his students
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2017 Rethinking Schools, Ltd.
schools 30th anniversary issue!
Vol. 31, No. 3

>> DEPARTMENTS

38 Advocating for Arabic 5 Editorial:

An interview with Lara Kiswani Teaching in the Time
By Jody Sokolower of Trump
The executive director of San Franciscos Arab
Resource and Organizing Center describes the 9 Ed Alert
successes and obstacles for a community-based Kids Sue for Right
campaign to offer Arabic language instruction to a Stable Climate
in the districts schools. Teachers Take on Trump Era

44 I Cant Answer These Test Questions 66 Resources

About My Own Poems
By Sara Holbrook
Sara Holbrooks poems appear on the Texas
STARR tests. Her efforts to answer the questions
about her own poetry expose the narrowness of
standardized testing.
54 Trapdoors
High school exit testing in the age of
college and career readiness
By Stan Karp
Using the experience of high school exit testing
in New Jersey as an example, education policy
expert Stan Karp analyzes the gross negative
impact of these high-stakes tests on students
and schools.
Our picks for books, videos,
websites, and other social
justice education resources.
70 Good Stuff
Boys in Dresses
By Melissa Bollow Tempel
Got an idea for an article?
Got a letter for us?
Contact Ari Bloomekatz
ari@rethinkingschools.org
___________________________
Cover photo Dark Sevier/flickr/
creative commons

60 How the edTPA Disrupts Care has been taken to trace

Relationships copyright holders for images
Reclaiming our visions and integrity
and text in this issue. If we have
By Mara Sapon-Shevin and Sue Novinger Robb
omitted anyone, we apologize and
The edTPA has become a credentialing are happy to make corrections.
requirement in many states. Its implementation
has distorted relationships throughout teacher
education.

RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 3

4 > FALL 2012
By the editors of Rethinking Schools

Teaching in the
Time of Trump

SUSAN SIMENSKY BIETILA

RETHINKING SCHOOLS was born in the time of Reagan. We celebrate

our 30th anniversary in the time of Trump. We know something
about holding on to hope during hard times. Three decades
ago, in our first editorial, we wrote Dont mourn, organize,
borrowing advice from the great labor troubadour Joe Hill.
If there were ever a time when we continue to publish Rethinking Schools
needed to heed this advice, that time is and to invite readers to submit stories
now. But exactly how we follow these about their own teaching and school ex-
words at this historical moment is not so periencesas a way for educators and
clear. activists to inform and inspire one an-
We need to draw on everything other, and to align our work with young
weve learned about resistance and teach- people with our aspirations for a better,
ing for social justice through the years. more just society.
But as educators, we know that we always As a multigenerational community,
have more to learn. Thats one reason we Rethinking Schools editors and con-

RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 5

tributors first built our shared under-
standing of the world and commitment
to social justice in the movements for
civil rights, against the American war
in Vietnam, and for womens liberation
in the 1960s and 1970s. We continued
to learn from struggles against U.S. in-
tervention in Central America; and the
anti-apartheid, LGBTQ, anti-Iraq war,
and anti-globalization movements. More
recently the Black Lives Matter, climate
justice, immigrant rights, and Fight for
$15 movements have inspired increas-
ing numbers of educators to weave social
justice concerns into their classrooms
and identify with the principles of Re-
thinking Schools.
Now we face Trumpand the
rogues gallery of racists, billionaires, Is-
lamophobes, misogynists, and privatiz-
ers who advise and serve him. And to
make matters worse, at the federal level
and in dozens of states, extreme right-
wing Republicans control the legislative,
executive, and sometimes the judicial
branches of government. Moreover, the
history and contradictions of the Demo-
cratic Party only underscore how much
independent social movements will need
to lead the resistance.
In his inaugural address, Trump
made clear what he thought of public
schools. He complained about the car-
nage that plagues this nation and gave
as an example an education system
flush with cash but which leaves our
young and beautiful students deprived
of all knowledge. And now he has Betsy
DeVos as his secretary of education, an
individual bathed in privilege who has
spent her career undermining and priva-
tizing public schoolsand promoting
educational quackery like her Neurocore
brain performance centers.
Under these circumstances, we not
only have to become more effective so-
cial justice educators, but also guardians
of our students safety and the funda-
mental health of public education. More-
over, we must also make the time to or-
ganize with others and participate in the
6 > SPRING 2017
growing movements to resist Trump and
all aspects of his agenda.
As we reflect on our 30 years of pub-
lishing Rethinking Schools and working
for educational justice, wed like to share
some lessons gleaned from this work:
Create social justice classrooms. Weve
championed the beauty and strength
of classrooms that prefigure aspects of
the kind of society wed like to live in.
We have promoted engaging classroom
practices that draw on the liberatory the-
ory of Paulo Freire and others. The char-
acteristics of a social justice classroom
that we first articulated in Rethinking
Our Classrooms still animate our work
and publications today. Our teaching
should encourage students to ask critical
questions of our world. It should prize
activism and struggle, and also kindness,
joy, and cooperationa curriculum of
empathy that builds essential academic
skills and powerful understandings. Its
a time for audacity in our work, not ti-
midity. Trump may be president, but he
is not president of our classrooms.
Make our schools greenhouses of democ-
racy. Social justice teaching in one isolat-
ed classroom is hard to sustain. The most
successful teaching takes place where en-
tire schools are committed to such criti-
cal, participatory pedagogy. And, in con-
trast to Trumps strongman declaration,
I alone can fix it, our schools should
enact democracy by being governed in
a collaborative manner, with significant
student, staff, family, and parent involve-
ment. Given the unfolding political un-
certainties, the creation of community
schools as centers of renaissance and
resistanceanchors of hope in our com-
munitieswill be one important way to
fight the Trump agenda.
Nurture solidarity to counter racism and
xenophobia. Trumps assault on immi-
grants and refugees, and his dehuman-
ization of people of color, are rooted in
historic patterns of white supremacy,
hostility toward immigrants, and fear-
stoking demonization of the other. The
first book we published was Rethinking
Columbus, which offered educators and
activists the tools to turn the Columbus-
discovers-America myth on its head, and
to look at these events from the stand-
point of the people who were here first.
Rethinking Columbus initial press run of
30,000 copies in 1991 sold out in three
weeks, and the publication went on to
sell more than a quarter million copies.
This response showed us that there were
lots of educators who, like us, were sick
and tired of a curriculum that sang the
praises of white supremacy.
The Black Lives Matter movement
and other long-standing struggles for
justice set the context for resistance to
this administrations anti-immigrant and
refugee attacks. At this moment, educa-
tors and schools have a great responsi-
bility to ensure not only that students
are safe and free from harassment and
bullying, but also that we act in solidar-
ity with students and families who face
deportation.
Fight sexism, heterosexism, and trans-
phobia. The sexism and misogyny dis-
played by our 45th president have been
breathtaking. That millions of people
could vote for himalbeit not a ma-
jorityunderscores the importance
of education work around gender dis-
crimination. Especially beginning with
work toward our recent book Rethink-
ing Sexism, Gender, and Sexuality, we
have sought to provide a vision of what
educators are doingand can doto
fight for womens and gender equal-
ity. The massive marches organized by
women the day after Trumps inaugu-
ration showed the power of womens
leadership and jump-started the resis-
tance that will be necessary to challenge
Trumps agenda.
Put children first, not data. The test-driv-
en policies of the Bush and Obama ad-
ministrations narrowed the curriculum
and straitjacketed pedagogy. The threat
now is that an administration deeply
hostile to all things public will double-
down on the test-and-punish policies
begun in earnest with No Child Left Be-
hind, but continued with even greater
gusto under Obama and Duncan. Weve
always held that the best defense of pub-
lic schools is to transform themto re-
think our classrooms and schools, so
that they genuinely meet the needs of the
communities they serve. But as we work
to improve public schools, we need to
continue to oppose the use of standard-
ized tests to discredit and defund them.
Public schools need more resources, not
fewer, and we need to fight for them.
Fight privatization of the commons. In
1988, shortly after we launched Rethink-
ing Schools, we first warned of the dan-
gers of school privatization. Milwaukee,
where Rethinking Schools started, is
home of the first and one of the largest
publicly funded private religious school
voucher programs in the nation, which
has funneled nearly $2 billion of public
funds into private schools. This is theft,
plain and simple. Across the planet, this
attack on the commonseverything
needed for the public good, especially
schoolsis widespread. The appoint-
ment of Betsy DeVos as secretary of
education and Trumps pledge to pour
$20 billion into private school voucher
plans signal escalating attacks as reli-
gious zealots and privatizing charlatans
at local and state levels are emboldened.
We must continue to defend the prom-
ise of public schools, while working to
ensure that they serve all students well.
Build international solidarity. More than
ever, educators need to think interna-
tionally. Trumps rise to power parallels
the racialized, neofascist movements
gaining strength in Europeinclud-
ing Marine Le Pen in France, Golden
Dawn in Greece, and Geert Wilders in
the Netherlands. Their scapegoating of
the other continues the centuries-old
privileging of the white north over the
global south.
The massive worldwide demonstra-
tions immediately following Trumps
inauguration were an encouraging sign
that more and more people outside of
the United States recognize the need for
global solidarity to oppose the growing
tendencies of hypernationalism and un-
fettered capitalism.
Through our books and magazine
we have encouraged teachers to bring a
global perspective to their teachingto
teach critically about the war on terror,
sweatshops and child labor, U.S. mili-
tary intervention throughout the world,
the occupation of Palestine, and the cli-
mate crisis. More than ever, we need to
learn from the struggles of teachers and
students in Mexico, Quebec, Chile, and
throughout the world, and to see our-
selves in solidarity with people every-
where who struggle for greater democ-
racy and for a livable planet.
Build social justice unionism. For more
than 20 years we have promoted an af-
firmative vision of social justice teacher
unionism, characterized by increased de-
mocracy and participation by members,
alliances with community groups, and
attention to both social justice and peda-
gogical issues. The growing number of
local and state teacher unionsin both
the National Education Association and
the American Federation of Teachers
that are putting into practice aspects of
this type of unionism is encouraging,
and we hope will inspire many other
educators to push their unions in this di-
rection. We will continue to publish ar-
ticles that describe exemplary efforts to
include our unions in the broader move-
ment for social justice.
Support student activism. Children and
youth are our best hope for creating a de-
cent world. As educators, we have a mor-
al and civic responsibility to be models
for our students. Our classrooms should
be places where students are motivated
to think critically, look at multiple points
of viewespecially those that have been
silencedand evaluate whose interests
those points of view serve. We should
encourage students to take informed ac-
tion inside and outside of the classroom.
In the months following Trumps elec-
tion, thousands of students took to the
streets across the country. We believe
student activism will continue to grow,
and we must nurture and support it.
When students act on their beliefs and
values about what is fair and just, they
learn that democracy happens every day,
not just on election day.
Were All in This Together
We are heartened by the steady growth
in recent years of organizing for social
justice education, including the growth
of teaching for social justice gatherings
throughout the country. One of the lon-
gest-running is organized by Teachers
4 Social Justice every year in San Fran-
cisco; others have emerged in New York,
Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, Philadel-
phia, the Northwest, St. Louis, and else-
where. Social justice education groups
like Education for Liberation and Jour-
ney for Justice bring together teachers,
students, parents, and activists to share
experiences and talk strategy. Our rap-
idly growing movement has great poten-
tial to transform teacher unions, schools,
and entire districts.
Thirty years ago, we began Rethink-
ing Schools as a free newsprint tabloid
for Milwaukee Public School educators.
As we grew to reach an audience around
the country, we continued to hope that
what we published would help educators
become better teachers and better orga-
nizers. Thirty years later, this remains
our goal.
No doubt, we have incredibly hard
times ahead. But we know of no better
guidance than the words of Joe Hill we
began with 30 years ago: Dont mourn,
organize. n
RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 7
8 > FALL 2012
 Ed Alert
Kids Sue for Right to a
Stable Climate
The youth plaintiffs after a court hearing in Eugene, Oregon, in March 2016.
T
wo days after the election, 21
plaintiffs, aged 9 to 20, won
a critical court ruling on the
constitutional obligation of the
U.S. government to protect our
childrens right to a livable Earth. Juliana v.
United States alleges that the government
has violated those rights by directly caus-
ing atmospheric CO2 to rise to levels that
dangerously interfere with a stable climate
system and knowingly endangered their
health and welfare.
The Fifth Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution bars the federal government
from depriving a person of life, liberty,
or property without due process of
law. The suit says that the governments
refusal to avert climate disaster is a vio-
lation of the Fifth Amendment. It also
states the government has violated its
duty to protect the public trust by allow-
ing the depletion and destruction of the
atmosphere.
As 13-year-old plaintiff Jayden Foyt-
lin from Rayne, Louisiana, explains:
Our government seems to care more
about money for the fossil fuel industry
ANDREA WILLINGHAM/OUR CHILDRENS TRUST catl Martinez, from Boulder,
than our futures. But money isnt going
to matter if we cant fix our planet.
The Obama Department of Justice
admitted three key sets of facts: Govern-
ment officials have been aware of scien-
tific research on the effects of fossil fuel
emissions on the atmosphere for more
than 50 years; federal defendants per-
mit, authorize, and subsidize fossil fuel
extraction, development, and exporta-
tion; and current and projected con-
centrations of six well-mixed greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere, including CO2,
threaten the public health and welfare of
current and future generations. The gov-
ernment lawyers then argued that the cli-
mate kids didnt have the legal standing
to sue. Climate change, they said, should
be left to other branches of government.
But U.S. District Court Judge Ann
Aiken of the federal district court in Ore-
gon ruled that the suit could go forward.
She said: I have no doubt that the right
to a climate system capable of sustaining
human life is fundamental to a free and
ordered society. . . . To hold otherwise
would be to say that the Constitution af-
fords no protection against a
governments knowing deci-
sion to poison the air its citi-
zens breathe or the water its
citizens drink.
Julia Olson, the lead
counsel for the plaintiffs and
executive director of Our
Childrens Trust, the Oregon-
based nonprofit that helped
bring the lawsuit, called the
decision one of the most
significant in our nations
history.
This is going to be the
trial of our lifetimes, agreed
16-year-old plaintiff Xiuhtez-
Colorado, who testified that
increased wildfires and ex-
treme flooding are putting
him at risk. The actions those in power
take and the decisions they make will de-
termine the kind of world future genera-
tions will inherit.
Now the governments case will be
handled by Trumps Department of Jus-
tice under Jeff Sessions, which has indi-
cated it is going to stall. And the case is
likely to be appealed all the way to the
Supreme Court. But, as Jeremy Brecher
argued in a recent article in Common
Dreams, Long before the trial, the case
will provide a golden teachable move-
ment for a full-scale educational cam-
paign and debate on Trumps commit-
ment to climate destruction. And, if the
courts wont enforce that right, it is up to
the people to do so. n
Based on reporting by Jeremy Brecher
(Trial of the Century Pits Trump Climate
Denialism Against Right to a Climate Sys-
tem Capable of Sustaining Human Life,
Common Dreams, Feb. 24, 2017) and Eric
Holthaus (The Kids Suing the Govern-
ment Over Climate Change Are Our Best
Hope Now, Slate, Nov. 14, 2016).
RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 9

Teachers Take on Trump Era
Pilar Meja and Jeremiah Jeffries lead a workshop for elementary school educators at
Sanctuary Education, Oakland, California, Feb. 18, 2017.
T
eachers throughout the
United States are strug-
gling to recover from the
shock of the election and
beginning to organize to
protect their students and their schools.
In New York City, for example, protests
have been taking place on a near daily
basis since the inauguration. According
to Rethinking Schools editor Adam San-
chez: Trumps election has politicized
our school. Harvest Collegiate was always
a progressive high school, but now there
are daily conversations about Trumps
attacks and what we can do to organize
against them. These conversations
are happening not just in the class- Scared that our ability to teach for social justice is under
room, but in after-school clubs, in
the hallways, in the breakroom.
attack? Join us for strength, community, and resources.
The student walkoutsafter the
inauguration, when Betsy DeVos was
confirmed as secretary of education, in
protest of the Muslim travel banled to
special teacher meetings because we felt
we werent doing enough for the move-
ment. Our students were challenging us
to do more.
National and local teacher unions,
progressive caucuses, and grassroots
education organizations mobilized in
opposition to DeVos confirmation hear-
ings. Badass Teachers Associations call
10 > SPRING 2017
for teachers to wear black the week lead-
ing up to the vote went viral. Teachers,
students, and parents called, faxed, and
emailed their congresspeople, forcing
Vice President Pence to break the tie over
her confirmation.
Teachers are working to protect their
most vulnerable students, promote criti-
cal conversations, develop relevant cur-
riculum, and support student activism.
And theyre joining together to figure out
how to do that. The Critical Educators
Collective in Portland, Oregon, held a
Teaching in a Time of Trump gathering
Feb. 11. More than 400 educators from the
Northwest responded to the organizers
call: Do you teach for social justice? Wor- the line.
ried about the harm and threat the Trump
administration poses to our students and
their families? Scared that our own abil-
ity to teach for social justice is under at- lamophobia, and Xenophobia at different
tack? Were stronger together. Join us for
strength, community, and resources.
Llondyn Elliott, a 2015 Grant High
School graduate, a transgender Black
man, was one of the panelists. He told
educators, The most powerful thing
that you can give me . . . is
critical thinking. Panel-
ists also included RS editor
and Roosevelt High School
teacher Mo Yonamine, who
told participants: This is not
a time to be neutral.
Rethinking Schools co-
sponsored Sanctuary Educa-
tion: A Conference for K12
Teachers, Staff, and Youth
Workers on Meeting the
Needs of Arab and Muslim
Youth in the Trump Era on
Feb. 18 in Oakland, Califor-
BROOKE ANDERSON
nia. RS joined forces with the
Arab Resource and Organiz-
ing Center, the Middle East
Childrens Alliance, Teachers 4 Social
Justice, and the Alliance of South Asians
Taking Action.
The conference started with a panel
of Arab and Muslim youth who talked
about their experiences in school, the im-
pact of feeling isolated and under attack,
and what they need from teachers and
schools:
We need teachers, counselors,
and administrators who look like us,
who speak our languages and know our
cultures.
We need to see our history and our
reality in the curriculum.
We need you to put your bodies on
Then participants attended work-
shops: Know Your Rights; Talking
with Students About Racism, Sexism, Is-
grade levels; and age-appropriate curricu-
lum from K12. The conference ended
with a conversation on Making Sanctu-
ary Real in Schools and Communities
and a promise of more events soon. n
 NEW from Rethinking Schools!

Rethinking Bilingual Education

Welcoming home languages in our classrooms
Edited by Elizabeth Barbian,
Grace Cornell Gonzales, and Pilar Meja

See how teachers bring students home

languages into their classroomsfrom
powerful bilingual social justice curriculum to
strategies for honoring students languages
in schools without bilingual programs.
Educators, students, and advocates speak
to the tragedy of language loss and share
inspiring work that centers on equity, builds
solidarity among diverse communities, and
defends and expands bilingual programs.

A remarkable book, not Breathtaking and bold

only for the depth and
breadth of issues related
to bilingual education
it addresses, but for
the clarity of its central
premises: Language is a
human right, an essential
aspect of culture, a source
of family and community
strength, and plays a
fundamental role in
obtaining social justice.
ALMA FLOR ADA
award-winning childrens author,
professor emerita, University of
San Francisco
Finally, a resource that
has grassroots educators
and advocates for bilingual
education in mind, with
clear and applicable next
steps from lesson plans to
policy.
CURTIS ACOSTA
former Mexican American Studies
teacher, assistant professor
of Language and Culture in
Education, University of Arizona
South
in these times of racist
sound bites and sanctions!
Rethinking Bilingual
Education promotes
equality among language
users from many ethnicities
and contexts. It offers
strategies and stories for
bilingual education as
part of the larger struggle
for human liberation and
social transformationand
examples of teaching,
learning, and community
organizing at their very
best.
ENID LEE
professional development
consultant in anti-racist education
and educational equity, co-editor
of Beyond Heroes and Holidays
___________________________
2017 Paperback 343 pages
ISBN: 9781937730734
$24.95

RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 11

 When we
work together,
students
succeed

The National Education Association congratulates

Rethinking Schools on their 30th anniversary of
publication and supports their work to strengthen public
education through social justice teaching and
education activism.

12 > SPRING 2017

 rethinkingschools
Dear Rethinking Schools
friends,

In a recent New York Tim

es op-ed, the Chilean wr
Hitler and Mussolini hav iter Ariel Dorfman wrote
e we witnessed such a res : Not since the iniquity
urg en ce of of
The Trump presidency, fue hat red agains t the Ot her.
led on greed and paranoia
women. Against working , is waging war against im
people. Against public sch migrants. Against
against empathy and our oo ls. Against the Earth. An
common humanity. d, pe rha ps most fundamentally,
Ive been a Rethinking Sch
ools editor through six pre
been more essential. sidents and it feels to me
that our work has never
More than ever, we need
to celebrateand defend
collect and share teachers courageous teaching for
stories of teaching empat social justice. We need to
to share exemplary storie hy f or immigrants, for refugees
s from teachers about ho , for the oppressed. We ne
w they are teaching critic ed
world that matter. ally, but with hope, about
things in the
This work is urgent. Please
help us continue to inform
movement with a genero and energize the social
us donation to Rethink justice education
points when, as the late his ing Sch oo ls. This is a key moment.
torian and activist Howa Its one of those turning
sending this spinning top rd Zinn wrote, our effort
of a world in a different s offer at least the possibility of
direction.
This spring we will publi
sh an exciting new book
expanded edition of Linda , Rethinking Bilingual Ed
Christensens classic Read ucation, and an updated
ing , Wr and
to support the movement iting, and Rising Up. We
for ethnic studies curricu hav e beg un wo rk on a book
social justice science article lum. A collective of scien
s into the magazine. Our ce teachers is working to
climate justice workshops bring more
the country. are reaching teachers thr
oughout
Through the Zinn Educati
on Project, which we coo
to provide free downloada rdinate with Teaching for
ble peoples history teachi Change, we continue
constantly working to ad ng ma ter ials to tens of thousands
d more resources. And, wit of teachersand we are
to track the attacks on pu h your support, we hope
blic education by Betsy De to en list inv estigative journalists
students, unions, and com Vos U.S. Department of
munities are resisting. Ed uc ati on a nd how teachers,
Now is a key time to exp
and our reach. Around the
meeting to create curricu country, teachers are talkin
lum, support student act g about what to do and
students and their familie ivism, and make schools
s. san ctu ari es for our most vulnerable
Rethinking Schools hope
s to bring social justice
the countr y. But we can teaching into more and
only do that with your sup more classrooms aroun
po rt. Tr ump is making this a mo d
One way to fight back is re dangerous world.
to increase your support
better future. for the organizations tha
t are resistingand worki
ng for a
Thank you for the importa
nt work you do.

Warmly,

Bill Bigelow, Curriculum

Editor, Rethinking Schoo
ls
P.S. One of the best ways
to help Rethinking Schoo
ls is by becoming a month
ly sustainer.

RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 13


BY URSULA WOLFE-ROCCA
Ursula Wolfe-Rocca teaches social studies
at Lake Oswego High School in Lake
Oswego, Oregon. She writes frequently for
Rethinking Schools magazine. Student
names have been changed.
A role play on the Dakota Access Pipeline
14 > SPRING 2017
L
ike many teachers, I use my summers to fill gaps in
my knowledge and curriculum. Last summer, I took
a weeklong course with Colin Calloway on Native
American history. He demanded two things of us:
1. that we not accept the inevitability of what hap-
pened and 2. that our historical analysis and curricula in-
clude Indian people as full participants in their own histories
and in the history of the United States.
As Calloway writes, American his- I was a failure. So, as I looked to the year
tory without Indians is mythologyit ahead, I promised myself to hold true to
never happened. When I reflected hon- Calloways non-negotiables for approach-
estly on my own U.S. history and govern- ing Native history.
ment curriculum, I decided that on No. 1, At the same time, my social media
I was doing a passable job. But on No. 2, feeds began to blow up with references to
Standing
a protest of Indigenous peoples in North
Dakota. The more I read and learned
about the Standing Rock resistance to
the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), the
more obvious it became that this story
must make its way into my curriculum.
Here was a fascinating and important
storya story that literally cannot be
told without recognizing Native peoples
as full participants in their own, and U.S.,
history.
The resistance at Standing Rock
began in April 2016 with the founding
of the Sacred Stone Camp near the con-
fluence of the Missouri and Cannonball
rivers. The Standing Rock Sioux say they
were not adequately consulted during the
with Standing Rock
permitting process for the construction
of the $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile pipeline
that crosses unceded treaty lands and
multiple waterways. This black snake,
as many in the movement refer to DAPL,
would pump 450,000 barrels of crude oil
per day under the Missouri River, just
north of the Standing Rock Sioux Res-
ervation. It threatens not just freshwater,
but also sacred sites. Writing in The New
York Times, David Archambault II, trib-
al chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux,
put the pipeline into historical context:
Its a familiar story in Indian
Country. This is the third time
that the Sioux Nations lands and
resources have been taken without
regard for tribal interests. The
Sioux peoples signed treaties in
1851 and 1868. The government
broke them before the ink was
dry. When the Army Corps of
Engineers dammed the Missouri
River in 1958, it took our riverfront
forests, fruit orchards, and most
fertile farmland to create Lake
Oahe. Now the Corps is taking
our clean water and sacred places
by approving this river crossing.
Whether its gold from the Black
Hills or hydropower from the
Missouri or oil pipelines that
threaten our ancestral inheritance,
RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 15
DARK SEVIER/FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS
 the tribes have always paid the
price for Americas prosperity.
But if the expropriation of Sioux land
is an old story, what may be a new story
is the scope of Indigenous and non-Indig-
enous solidarity with the Standing Rock
Sioux. More than 300 tribal nations have
opposed the pipeline and pledged support
to the tribe. Statements of solidarity have
come from all corners of the globe. Social
media lit up with #noDAPL campaigns
that garnered millions of likes, clicks,
signatures, and donations. By Decem-
ber, there were between 1,000 and 3,000
permanent camp residents. The number
of Indigenous water protectors and allies
on any one week averaged 6,000, swelling
to as many as 10,000 on weekends. Soon
there were camps within camps.
Aerial photos showed hundreds of
tipis, tents, and vehicles arrayed under
wide skies. Signs displayed now-familiar
slogans like #noDAPL, Mni Wiconi (wa-
ter is life in Lakota), Protect Our Water,
Whether its gold from the Black Hills or hydropower from the al grounds?
Missouri or oil pipelines that threaten our ancestral inheritance, antee does the pipeline com-
the tribes have always paid the price for Americas prosperity. pany have against the break-
David Archambault II, tribal chairman, Standing Rock Sioux
and Defend the Sacred, and less familiar
ones like: I didnt go to Alcatraz. I didnt Andrew Duden and Rethinking Schools
go to Wounded Knee. But before I die, I
came to stand with the people. In camp,
visitors reported an inspiring set of com-
munal institutions. As journalist Xian
Chiang-Waren wrote for Grist,
Tidy donations tents are stocked
with piles of warm clothing, blan-
kets, womens sanitary items, baby
food, and firewood. Theres a day-
time school for children to attend.
When the state pulled water and
port-a-potties from the camp, the
tribe replaced them within an af-
ternoon. Each day, hundreds of
campers are fed for free.
16 > SPRING 2017
Tribal leaders insisted on a simple
but powerful mandate for the camps:
peace and prayer. In a blog posted at
the Greenpeace website, activist and or-
ganizer Peter Dakota Molof described
his experience: Every night we pow-
wownations offering songs of thanks,
resilience, and grief that we have to fight
this pipeline at all. I wander back to my
camp relatively early but the voicesthe
prayersfill the night and begin early in
the morning, greeting the sun as it rises.
Bringing Standing Rock to Our
Classrooms
As the movement at Standing Rock
gained steam throughout the sum-
mer and fall, I set my curricular sights
on Thanksgiving. Unveiling lessons on
Standing Rock in November would be
a powerful symbolic rejection of the lies
about Indian people promulgated in our
national Thanksgiving myths, in favor of
a real story about real Indians. When I
was joined in this work by my colleague
else?
curriculum editor Bill Bigelow, we quick-
ly agreed that the story lent itself to a role the pipeline is being built through?
play and got to work.
Andrew and I both teach a sopho-
more-level U.S. history and government
class at Lake Oswego High School in Lake
Oswego, Oregon, an affluent suburb of
Portland. After spending the first quarter
of the year on an election project, we be-
gan the second quarter with an investiga-
tion and critique of our textbooks treat-
ment of Columbus and Native peoples.
For us, this was a natural place to insert a
mini-unit on Standing Rock, even as our
curriculum map indicated we should be
in the midst of teaching about Colonial
America and the American Revolution.
Surely, we thought, students grasp of the
themes of early U.S. history could only
be deepened by learning about a modern
example involving the rights of Indig-
enous people.
Before launching the role play, we
wanted to give students a visceral and
visual sense of the resistance under way
along the Missouri River. We thought
immediately of Amy Goodmans won-
derful coverage on Democracy Now!,
specifically the horrifying footage of the
use of dogs against water protectors by a
private security firm. We also used The
Standing Rock Protests by the Numbers,
a short documentary posted at the Los
Angeles Times.
We asked students to jot down ques-
tions that emerged as they watched. Af-
terward, they shared out their questions
and it didnt take long for them to name
many of the fundamental issues at stake.
Greg asked, Are the protestors an-
grier about the possibility of oil spills or
that theyre building on buri-
Kaia asked, What guar-
ing or leaking of the pipe?
Lindsey asked: Is this
pipeline really needed? What
is it for? Can they move it somewhere
Serena asked, Who owns the land
Cassie wondered, Does the govern-
ment care about what could happen to
the water of these tribes?
The DAPL Role Play
Our first and most important goal was to
create a context for students to confront
the complex social reality of DAPL, which
includes the history and contemporary sta-
tus of Indigenous rights, the power of the
fossil fuel industry, the support for pipe-
line infrastructure from segments of orga-
nized labor, and the extent to which our

government is protectingor failing to
protectthe land, water, and air. The role
play asks students to explore these compli-
cated dynamics as active participants. (See
Resources for role play materials.)
The setting of the role play is a meet-
ing, called by the president of the Unit-
ed States, to hear input on whether the
pipeline should be completed. Students,
representing five different groups, try to
convince him that the project should be
abandoned or allowed to proceed. Two
of the groups are in direct conflict:
M embers of the Standing Rock
Sioux Tribe who are protesting
the pipeline and are encamped
along the Missouri River in
North Dakota
Energy Transfer Partners
(ETP), the oil company build-
ing the pipeline
The other three groups provide
additional context on the question of
whether the pipeline should be built:
I owa farmers who have brought
lawsuits and protested another
section of the same pipeline
Our Childrens Trust, a national
organization of youth activ-
ists who are suing the federal
government over its insufficient
action on climate change
North Americas Building
Trades Unions (NABTU), a
coalition of trade unions that
supports the pipeline as a
source of jobs
We assigned students to groups,
handed out role sheets outlining each
groups beliefs and interests, and gave
students some time to assume their
roles. We wanted students to do some
writing before launching into the role
play. Here is the prompt for an interior
monologue:
To get more deeply inside your
role, write a first-person narra-
tive or poem from the perspective
of your group about the building
of the Dakota Access Pipeline
(DAPL). Draw on information
from your role and your own
imagination to build a persona so
you can explore the feelings and
motivations behind your beliefs.
Make sure to include your posi-
tion on the DAPL and why you
see things the way you do. Are you
hopeful? Are you fearful? What
are your goals for the future?
Then we gave students a chance to
share their writing with each other to
help them develop their positions, hone
their arguments, and build confidence
for speaking as representatives of their
group.
Before the role plays main event,
the meeting with the president, we asked
students to travel around the room to
meet with other groups. The goal was to
learn new information (all the roles have
different material) and to identify poten-
tial allies and opponents. In a class of 30,
with groups of six, we asked three stu-
dents to travel and three to stay home
to meet with visitors from other groups.
Students spent about five to seven min-
utes in each group, and then rotated to
a new group. As students met with each
other, they filled out a note-taking sheet.
RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 17
 We reminded students to speak in the
first person and stay in character. As the
meetings progressed, so did the energy
level. The more comfortable students grew
with speaking as representatives of their
group, the more passionate they became in
defending their positions. Conversations
between the Standing Rock Sioux and
ETP became particularly heated. Manju
Truck or pipeline, the oil is going to be burned. Were
the next generation. We need to think about that.
This is the common good. student role-playing Our
Childrens Trust
grabbed the attention of the whole room
when, playing a member of the Standing
Rock Sioux, he banged his fist on the desk
and loudly proclaimed to a representative
of ETP, But we were here first, and it is
our water that will be polluted whennot
ifthat pipeline breaks!
18 > SPRING 2017
Once students had gathered infor-
mation from the other groups, they met
back at home base to begin work on their
presentations to the president. We asked
each group to write a short opening state-
ment that introduced themselves and
their position on DAPL. We encouraged
them to include persuasive facts and find
ways to go beyond their narrow interests
to appeal to the president, who is, after
all, supposed to represent all the people
of the nation. Because the role play took
place after the election but before inaugu-
ration, students were quick to ask which
president they should be addressingthe
outgoing Obama or the incoming Trump.
Why? we asked, playing naive.
Would that make a difference in terms
of what you put in your presentation?
Of course! they replied. Although
students had simplistic notions of each
mans interests (Obama pro-environ-
ment; Trump pro-business), their ques-
tionwhich president?laid bare the
fiction of our role play since, of course,
presidents are never simply objective ar-
biters, giving equal time, consideration,
and value to all interest groups.)
As groups drafted their speeches,
we walked around, listening in, remind-
ing students to consider the arguments
of other groups, and encouraging them
to anticipate counter-arguments and to
plan rebuttals.
With speeches written and prac-
ticed, the whole class circled up for the
meeting with the president, played by a
teacher. We opened the meeting: I have
brought you here today to help me better
understand the situation now unfolding
on the Missouri River in North Dakota.
Ultimately, I am trying to decide whether
or not to move forward with this project.
Id love to hear your input.
We explained that students should
carefully listen and take notes because
they would have time after each speech
to ask clarifying questions, state points of
opposition or support, and provide ad-
ditional, relevant information. If another
group was mentioned in a speech they
had an automatic right to reply. In ad-
dition, we often allowed other groups to
chime in and offer a point. The result was
a lot of heated conversation between and
across groups. Occasionally, as presi-
dent, we interjected a follow-up question
or tried to bait a group to make sure all
dimensions of each groups position got
sufficient air time.
The ETP group kicked off the dis-
cussion. As expected, they painted a
picture of a nation seeking to break free
from its dependence on foreign oil, em-
phasized the safety of their project, and
touted the benefits of economic develop-
ment. Before they were even done with
their speech, the hands of the Sioux usually reserved for much smaller proj- For some students, this transition can be
group were high in the air: ects, like staircases and decks. When difficult, but it was a necessary step to
So how are we supposed to benefit? ETP argued that less than 1 percent of all achieve our goal: for students to construct
This is our land you are taking away. oil spills from pipelines result in any en- a deeper understanding of the issue, not
You can sit there and say the pipe- vironmental damage, even Owen, repre- one that had been provided for them.
line is safe, but its not your water thats senting NABTU, a friend of the project, Students opinions varied consider-
going to be polluted. responded: But isnt that statistic mean- ably, although a majority opposed DAPL.
The members of Our Childrens ingless if we do not know how many oil Alexander reasoned the pipeline wasnt
Trust also had grievances against ETP. spills happen overall? If there are 5,000 safe: Though it seems impressive that
Sarah was a particularly energized repre- oils spills a year, that could be 50 spills 450,000 barrels of oil will be transported
sentative of this group. She found it outra- that do damage the environment. daily, this also means that one spill will
geous that the company was ignoring the result in an incredibly large amount of oil
climate implications of the pipeline: Oh. Getting Beyond the Roles leaking into groundwater and rivers.
My. Gosh. Do you not understand that Kai focused on long-term climate
we are not going to survive if we do not After almost a full hour of discussion effects: I think the greenhouse gases in
take another route [than fossil fuels]? we have 90-minute classesthere were our planet are dangerous. If we do not
Cassie, also of Our Childrens Trust, still hands in the air and passionate ar- act on the renewable energy alterna-
undermined the safety arguments of- guments, but we closed the meeting. We tives sooner than later, we will eventually
fered up by ETP: Truck or pipeline, the wanted time for students to reassume reach a point we cannot come back from.
oil is going to be burned. Were the next their own identities so they could write Many students homed in on histori-
generation. We need to think about that. and reflect on what they had learned from cal injustices to Native Americans. For
This is the common good. the role play and their current thinking on example, Samantha wrote, The Sioux
When the debate moved to how the pipeline. We conceived of this as a way have spiritual connections to the land
quickly the economy might transition for students to transition out of their roles. thats being tampered with and its really
to renewable energy, Jacob, a member of
the Standing Rock group, argued: Wait
a second. This is not just about climate
change. This is about our land, which ev-
eryone seems to be ignoring.
Maria, also with the Sioux, added:
Our rights are being taken away. Youre
stealing our rights so you can benefit
other people. Thats whats happening
here.
The Iowa farmers also made argu-
ments about rights and land. They em-
phasized the flawed and unfair use of
eminent domain to seize their land for
the pipeline.
The building trades union retorted:
But if this pipeline is abandoned, what
happens to our jobs? Creating Conversational Communities
Again and again, students were that Drive Change
forced to consider the way statistics and
language can be distorted. For example, Personal Growth | Professional Development | Social Justice
ETP asserted they had received permits
for the project. A permit certainly sounds nationalseedproject.org
official, but the Standing Rock represen-
tatives were quick to explain that not all We congratulate Rethinking Schools and recognize 30 years of mutual
permits are alike. Manju pointed out that work toward shared goals.
ETP had used a Nationwide 12 permit,
SEEDrethinkingschools-feb17.indd 1 2/1/17 1:44 PM

RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 19

unfair after all the sacred land thats al-
ready been taken from them.
A number of students who support-
ed the pipeline were compelled by the
pipelines purported economic benefits.
Amy wrote: I think the pipeline build-
ing should not stop because our society
is dependent on oil and we will become
This is not just about climate change. This is about
our land, which everyone seems to be ignoring.
student role-playing Indigenous water protector
more independent from getting our own
oil our own way. . . . Oil prices will go
down, the amount of oil will go up and
get to consumers more quickly, which
benefits our economy.
Even though we asked students to
share their own ideas at this point, we
realized, that some students were re-
peating the information in their roles.
Students who had played the NABTU,
for example, were much more likely to
write about the good, high-paying jobs
associated with pipeline building, while
students who played Iowa farmers were
more likely to write about the pollution
caused by oil spills and the unfairness
of eminent domain. We realized how
important it was not to conceive of this
role playand the follow-up writing
as a stand-alone unit. They are an entry
point, not a destination.
History in the Making
When we were developing this Standing
Rock lesson, we had no idea how things
would unfold. But December 4, 2016,
brought some good news for the Indig-
enous water protectors and their allies.
The U.S. Army announced its decision
not to grant an easement for ETP to cross
under Lake Oahe. A detailed letter by Jo-
Ellen Darcy, assistant secretary of the
Army, invoked treaty rights, called for a
full environmental impact statement, ad-
mitted that outcomes of earlier environ-
20 > SPRING 2017
mental studies had been (improperly)
withheld from the tribe, and initiated a
robust exploration of alternatives. Dur-
ing the campaign, candidate Trump pub-
licly stated his support of DAPL and, on
his fifth day as president, issued an exec-
utive order to expedite the review and
approval of the pipeline. His administra-
tion moved quickly to backtrack on the
commitments the Army made on Dec. 4.
This reversal is just the latest in-
stance of a promise made and broken.
During the negotiations that would result
in the 1744 Treaty of Lancaster between
the colonial governments of Virginia
and Maryland and the Haudenosaunee
Confederacy, Onondaga leader Canasat-
ego testified: We are now straitened and
sometimes in want of deer, and liable to
many other inconveniencies, since the
English came among us, and particularly
from the pen-and-ink work that is going
on at the table. The wonderful phrase
pen-and-ink work referred to the trea-
ty that was being written as Canasatego
spoke. It captures the duplicity that char-
acterizes the history of treaty-making
between Indigenous peoples and Eu-
ropean and U.S. invaders: Government
officers plying Indigenous negotiators
with alcohol, providing documents in
languages they could not read, or getting
signatures from individuals who had no
authorization from their tribe. The U.S.
government has never stopped using
bureaucratic and pseudo-legalistic tools
to obscure the negative consequences of
these treaties on the Indigenous people
affected by them.
The situation in North Dakota has
had its own pen-and-ink work: ETPs
insistence that it carried out a thorough
environmental review; the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers acceptance of the
Nationwide 12 permit, which amount-
ed to fast-tracking DAPL; the refusal,
by most media and the government, to
take seriously the legal meaning of un-
ceded lands in the history of U.S.-Sioux
treaty-making.
Our job is to help students develop
the skills and access the resources to
cut through this pen-and-ink work so
that they can fully participate in the na-
tionaland internationaldiscussion
of what should be done about DAPL.
Although these lessons focus on a sin-
gle pipeline during a particular histori-
cal moment, the issues raised are large,
relevant, and timely: Indigenous rights,
environmental racism and justice, orga-
nizing and resistance.
So even as the Army Corps an-
nouncement initially brought much cel-
ebration, it will take vigilance on behalf
of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the
water protectors, and their allies, to hold
the line. Their demands are clear and
uncompromising: water is life, defend
the sacred, and #noDAPL. Our teaching
must be just as clear and uncompromis-
ing in its insistence that the voices of this
movement take center stageat least for
a whilein our curriculum and class-
rooms. n
RESOURCES
Materials for the Dakota Access Pipeline
Role Play available at the Zinn Education
Project website: zinnedproject.org/materials/
standing-with-standing-rock-nodapl.
Archambault II, David. Aug. 24, 2016. Taking a
Stand at Standing Rock. New York Times.
Calloway, Colin. 2012. First Peoples: A
Documentary Survey of American Indian History.
Bedford/St.Martins.
Chiang-Waren, Xian. Sept. 16, 2016. Inside the
Camp Thats Fighting to Stop the Dakota Access
Pipeline. Grist.
 Congratulations, Rethinking Schools
on Thirty Great Years!

From your friends at

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Rethinking Schools 30.indd 1 2/23/17 1:46 PM

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Reading, Writing, and Rising Up

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For more than a decade, teachers have looked to Reading, Writing, and
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RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 21

 O
ur societys culture industry colonizes our stu-
dents minds and teaches them how to act, live,
and dream. This indoctrination hits young chil-
dren especially hard. The secret education, as
Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman dubs it, delivered

Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us

Critiquing cartoons and society

BY LINDA CHRISTENSEN
Linda Christensen (lmc@lclark.edu)
is director of the Oregon Writing
Project at Lewis & Clark College in
Portland, Oregon. This article was
revised for the upcoming second
edition of Reading, Writing, and
Rising Up. Linda is also the author
of Teaching for Joy and Justice;
co-editor of Rethinking Elementary
Education, Rhythm and Resistance,
and The New Teacher Book; and an
editor of Rethinking Schools.
by childrens books and movies, instructs
young people to accept the world as it is
portrayed in these social blueprints. And
often that world depicts the domination
of one sex, one race, one class, or one
country over a weaker counterpart. After
studying cartoons and childrens litera-
ture, my student Omar wrote, When we
read childrens books, we arent just read-
ing cute little stories, we are discovering
the tools with which a young society is
manipulated.
Beverly Tatum, who wrote Why Are
All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the
Cafeteria?, helps explain how children
develop distorted views of people outside
of their racial/cultural group:
The impact of racism begins early.
Even in our preschool years, we are
exposed to misinformation about
people different from ourselves.
Many of us grow up in neighbor-
hoods where we had limited op-
portunities to interact with people
different from our own families
Consequently, most of the early
information we receive about oth-
erspeople racially, religiously,
or socioeconomically different

22 > SPRING 2017

 from ourselvesdoes not come
as a result of firsthand experience.
The secondhand information we
receive has often been distorted,
shaped by cultural stereotypes,
and left incomplete. . . .
Cartoon images, in particu-
lar the Disney movie Peter Pan,
were cited by the children [in
a research study] as their No. 1
source of information. At the age
of 3, these children had a set of
stereotypes in place.
Childrens cartoons, movies, and lit-
erature are perhaps the most influential
genre read. Young people, unprotected
by intellectual armor, hear or watch these
stories again and again, often from the
warmth of a parents lap. The message
of the storiesthe secret education tique portrayals of hierarchy, inequality,
is linked with the security of childrens
homes, increasing its power. As Tatums
research suggests, the stereotypes and
worldview embedded in the stories be-
come accepted knowledge.
I want students to question this ac-
cepted knowledge and the secret educa-
tion delivered by cartoons as well as by
the literary canon. Because childrens
movies and literature are short and visu-
al, we can critique them together. We can
view many in a brief period of time, so
students begin to see patterns in media
portrayals of particular groups and learn
to decode the underlying assumptions
these movies make. Brazilian educator
Paulo Freire wrote that, instead of wres-
tling with words and ideas, too often stu-
dents walk on the words. If I want my
students to wrestle with the social text
of novels, news, or history books, they
need the tools to critique media that en-
courage or legitimate social inequality.
To help students uncover the values
planted by Disney and other mediaand
construct more just onesI begin this
unlearning the myths unit with several
objectives. First, I want students to cri-
children learn about womens roles in
patriarchy, imperialism, racism, and xe-
nophobia in childrens movies and car-
toons. Through this unit, I endeavor to
develop a critical framework to take into
our study of literature and society. Then I
want to enlist them in imagining a better
world, characterized by relationships of
respect and equality.
How to Read Cartoons
I start by showing students old cartoons
because the stereotypes are so blatant.
We look at the roles played by women,
men, people of color, and poor people. I
ask students to watch for who plays the
lead. Who plays the buffoon? Who plays
the servant? Who are the villains? I en-
courage them to look at the race, station
in life, and body type of each character.
Through the unit, we explore a series of
questions: What are the characters moti-
vations? What do they want out of life? If
there are people of color in the film, how
are they portrayed? What would chil-
dren learn about this particular group
from this film? What about women?
What jobs do you see them doing? What
do they talk about? What would young
society if they watched this film and be-
lieved it? What about overweight people?
What roles do money, possessions, and
power play in the film? Who has them?
Who wants them? Overall, what do chil-
dren learn about whats important in this
society? Obviously, I dont ask these all
at once, but these are the questions that
RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 23
I surface as we begin to read the car-
toons more carefully. More recent car-
toonslike Frozen, Brave, and Mulan
are subtler and take more sophistication
to see through, but if students warm up
on the old ones, they can pierce the sur-
face of the new ones as well.
I start with Popeye the Sailor Meets
Ali Babas Forty Thieves, which depicts
the outlaws with the same
Arab face, same turban, same
body, same clothes. They are all
swinging enormous swords. At
one point in the cartoon, Pop-
eye clips a dog collar on help-
less Olive Oyl and drags her
through the desert. Later, the
40 thieves come riding through
town stealing everythingfood,
an old mans teeth, numbers off
a clock, even the stripe off a bar-
ber pole, as well as Olive Oyl,
who screams for Popeye to save
her. At the end of the cartoon,
Popeye, Olive Oyl, and Wimpy Olivia shouts, Is he really dragging
ride on top of a wagon loaded
with riches, pulled by Ali Baba
and the 40 thieves, who are in
chains.
As they watch this cartoon and
those that follow, students fill in a chart
answering these questions: Who is the
reader supposed to root for? Whose lives
count? Who is given voice? Who is si-
lenced? Who is marginalized? What as-
sumptions does the scriptwriter make?
How does the scriptwriter use language
to develop character? What understand-
ings might a child make about gender
and sexuality, people of color, and mili-
tarism from this cartoon?
This is the only cartoon we watch
in its entirety. Since its the beginning of tence strips and evidence throughout
the unit, I stop frequently because stu-
dents, like the rest of us, tend to watch
for entertainment unless we turn on our
critical lenses.
I stop Popeye during the desert scene
when he drags Olive Oyl by a leash and
ask students what observations about gen-
der roles they can detect in the first few
24 > SPRING 2017
scenes. Students typically observe: Men
are strong. Women need to be saved.
The U.S. militarys job is to go to foreign me an example.
countries and save the people.
Olivia shouts, Is he really dragging
her by a leash?
I stop to ask what they notice about
Ali Babas 40 thieves. They all look alike. the other characters have little or no dia-
They all wear the same clothes. Even their
her by a leash?
horses look alike.
I stop again after Popeye, reading a
menu, states, This Chinese is all Greek
to me. The waiter folds the paper until it
reads bacon and eggs. I ask, What do patterns.
we learn about languages from this scene?
Which ones count? Which ones dont?
Themes and Patterns
Before the end of class, I distribute sen-
tence strips and markers. I ask students
to write down emerging themes from
this Popeye video. We collect the sen-
the unit. This concrete activity gives stu-
dents an opportunity to pause and cap-
ture their thinking, it makes our thought
process collective and transparent be-
cause the strips and evidence remain on
the walls, and it gives students visual re-
minders to refer back to during our class
discussions. What do you notice about
men, women, people of color, language,
violence in this cartoon? Someone give
Elijah responds, Less words, less
power. When I ask what that means,
Emmanuel says that only Popeye and
Ali Baba talk. Olive Oyl, Wimpy, and
logue. Students note other themes: The
military will defeat the thieves.
White men are meant to be
saviors. Female characters are
weak. All people of color look
the same. As one student puts
it, If you arent white, you arent
right.
As theyre about to leave, I
ask students to look for places in
the real world that resemble the
lessons we learn from Popeye.
From the first day of the unit, I
want students to read the world
with the same critical eye they
bring to Popeye: advertisements,
television shows, the news,
things that may be happening in
their neighborhoods. The next
day, Inyla says, I watched Lion
King last night and I saw that Scar, the
mean lion, was darker than Mufasa and
the cub. So were the hyenas. Inylas com-
ment is a great segue into talking about
As I set up the cartoon showing
for the second day, I say, If we just see
something once, it may be an anomaly.
But if we see a pattern over time, we
need to examine that pattern because
it reflects some aspect of the society we
live in. Its something that is taken for
granted in our society, and what is taken
for granted can be harmful. As you watch
today, think about the specific cartoon,
but also start thinking about the patterns
you see across the cartoons about men,
women, how problems get solved, what
people want.
Over the next week, we watch a series
of five- to seven-minute clips, focusing in
turn on men, women, and people of col-
or. Of course, every cartoon contains the
intersection of all these, but each day of
the unit, I isolate segments to frame each
of these categories specifically.
Jayme Causey, a fantastic teacher
who collaborated with me on the revi-
sion of this unit, noticed the hypermas-
culinity of men in cartoonsfrom their
body types to their penchant for solv-
ing all problems with violence. So I start
our second day with the fight scene in
Sleeping Beauty. As Prince Phillip rides
through a dark forest to save Aurora, he
fights the evil witch, Maleficent, with the
help of the three chubby fairy godmoth-
ers. I show several of these climactic sav-
ior scenes in a rowSnow White and the
Seven Dwarfs, Lady and the Tramp, Beau-
ty and the Beast, The Little Mermaidso
that students can see the man-saving-
helpless-woman pattern as well as the
portrayal of the villain as dark and evil.
Students fill out their chart for each
cartoon segment. Then I ask,
What did you notice? Did this
repeat a pattern you saw in Pop-
eye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba and
the Forty Thieves? Students have
lots to say about each clip. They
dont focus just on masculinity
because there is so much inter-
sectionality across the cartoons.
Eli notes, At bad moments,
things are darker and in good
moments things are light. For
instance, in Lady and the Tramp,
when the dogs chase Lady, the
lighting in the movie gets darker,
and when Tramp rescues her, the
scene is light again. This gives
people the idea that dark things
are bad. Another thing that
makes people think that dark things are
bad is that the villains equipment is dark
or black, like Gastons horse.
Larry says he learned to fight from
watching cartoons. Daily on the play-
ground, he and his friends would re-enact
fight scenes. He also notes that he learned
that mens jobs were to save women.
We stop about 20 minutes before the
end of class, and I ask students to write
a one-page response. You can just an-
swer the questions on the back or you
can write about patterns you noticed
that we talked about earlier. For example,
Emanuel noticed that violence is used to
solve problems across the movies, so he
can write about that and give specifics.
The note-taking charts, the emerg-
ing theme sentence strips, and the
one-page responses provide students
pathwaysconcrete examples and com-
mentaryinto their final essays. They
gather evidence and insights daily as we
move toward the essay.
I read over their responses and re-
fer to them the following day to fuel our
conversation. Here are a couple of com-
ments from your classmates. Lets talk
about what you think about their take on
cartoons so far. Then I read a few, after
checking with students ahead of time for
their permission. For example, Emanuel
As one student puts it, If you
arent white, you arent right.
wrote, All of these cartoons . . . [are]
showing kids at a young age that its OK
to fight to solve problems. Another thing
is that every single enemy in every single
movie was dark-colored, putting the idea
in kids minds that dark-colored people
are bad and are our enemies.
Throughout the unit, I pause to give
students time to discuss the cartoons
and to make connections to the world. I
want their ideas to be authentic ponder-
ings, not a repetition of my beliefs. In
their post-essay reflections, the majority
of students note that our in-class discus-
sions helped them frame their essays and
develop their ideas, learning from each
others insights.
Roles and Hierarchies
During the following days, we watch
short bursts of YouTube clips featuring
women. Again, we start the section with
older cartoons like Sleeping Beauty, Peter
Pan, and Lady and the Tramp, then move
forward through time to see if anything
has changed. Although these movies are
old, students often sing along; clearly
they viewed the films over and over dur-
ing childhood. And many of them go
home and watch them again.
We look at how the definition of
woman is constructed. Does it
include women of color? Les-
bians? Transgender people?
Which social class of women
is depicted? Which women
are humans and which are
animals? How are their bodies
portrayed? How do they re-
solve conflict?
For example, we look at
the scene of Tinker Bell check-
ing out her hips in the mirror,
her burst of jealous fury over
Wendys and Peter Pans friend-
ship, and Wendys jealousy
of Tiger Lily. We watch a few
Snow White segments, which
lay down the tracks of womens
friendships, which are typically
with birds, animals, and magical crea-
tures, not other women. The scene with
the evil queen reflects the idea that wom-
en compete with each other over their
beauty instead of building friendships or
working together.
We move through clips from Sleep-
ing Beautya few students shout, There
was no consent! when the prince kisses
Aurora. We watch the scene in Beauty and
RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 25
the Beast when Belle tames the beasta
sure setup for women to believe they can
change a man who exhibits violent ten-
dencies. We watch Ariel giving up her
voice, so she can be with her man. The
curves of Jasmine in Aladdin, Belle in
Beauty and the Beast, Ariel in The Little
Mermaid, and even Merida in Brave
demonstrate that not much has changed
in terms of womens shape. As Karmann
writes: I love Disney. Dont get me
wrong. I just think they give unrealistic
expectations for women, like magazines.
Belles waist was about the size of two of
my fists put together. Aurora
slept through the entire movie
and woke up looking fine as hell.
As a kid, I remember asking
why my mom didnt look like
that when she woke up. Estelle
adds, All of these movies show
men and women together. None
of them show gay relationships.
We end the womens day
by watching Brave because it
demonstrates ways cartoons
have changed and not changed.
As students point out, Princess
Merida challenges her suitors
for the right to her own hand
through her expertise as an archer, and
she saves herself and her mother at the
films end. On the other hand, shes still
a princess and pretty and petite, and the
townspeople are depicted as unattractive
buffoons.
After students share their thoughts
and add to our emerging theme wall, I
say, Write Cartoons in the World on
the top of your paper. Now think about
the emerging themes you noticed in the
cartoons. Where have you seen sexism,
violence, racism in the world? Have you
noticed any changes or improvements
in cartoons or in the world? What hasnt
changed? I ask a couple of students to
give examples before students begin
writing. Nicole says she watched Shrek
Everlasting and noticed that Shrek saved
everyone in the first film, but in the new
film, Fiona saves everyone. Mykala says
26 > SPRING 2017
she saw the white savior in To Kill a
Mockingbird when Atticus saves Tom
Robbins, and also that Calpurnia was like
the servants in the cartoons, only caring
about Atticus family, as if she didnt have
a home and family she cared about.
When students share their writing
at the end of class, Olivia says: I watched
a new show called Pitch. In the show a girl
joins the MLB [Major League Baseball].
In her locker roomshe has a separate
locker room from the male playersshe
overhears the men saying shes only there
to sell tickets and that shell only last a
few games because of this. She feels she
needs to prove them wrong because shes
a girl and shes Black and for all of the
little girls who are looking up to her.
Elijah says, Ive noticed that wom-
en cant do anything without a man, and
women are supposed to cook, clean, and
make the man happy. It happens in the
world today. A lot of women are de-
pendent on men to make them happy.
On his emerging theme sentence strip,
he writes, Women only exist for mens
pleasure. Hakeem says: I play Madden
17 and the men are playing and women
are cheering them on. Women get treat-
ed unfairly in the world and get treated
as if they are less than men.
Bunny doesnt share in class, but
she writes a piece to read the following
day: Ive noticed that in a lot of Disney
movies the only independent and strong
women are labeled as villains and bad
guys, like in The Little Mermaid, Sleeping
Beauty, Snow White, and many more. In
some cases, this is reflected in real life.
Students also discuss the role of ser-
vants as we traveled through our cartoon
journey. After watching scenes from
Beauty and the Beast, Fayth says, All of
the servants are tools or equipment. Like
the candlestick and the broom. Another
student writes All servants get no credit
on the theme wall. Nicole loves Mushu,
the red dragon played by Eddie Murphy
in Mulan, but is quick to point out that
the servants are typically ani-
mals, while the major characters
are people, usually royalty.
By the time we look specifi-
cally at the role of people of color
in cartoons, students have al-
ready identified that the majority
of their roles are as villains, but
they also bemoan the continued
absence of diversity in cartoons.
We start the day by remembering
Popeye. Then I show a few clips
from Peter Pan, focusing on the
depiction of Native Americans in
this early Disney film. Dominic
notices that the Native Ameri-
cans, like the Arabs in Popeye, mostly
look alike. Estelle points out that their
language, like the language of the Arabs
in Popeye, makes them look ignorant.
In Popeye Ali Baba says, You make fool
from me. In Peter Pan, the female Native
American says, Squaw no dance. Squaw
get firewood. A few years ago, a student
noted that the Indians play with the chil-
dren as if they are children themselves.
Before we watch the hyena scene
from The Lion King, I remind them of
Inylas aha from the first day about
the hyenas and Scar being darker and
ask them what they notice. Mykala says,
They sound Black, too.
Emmanuel interrupts her. Right,
because Whoopi Goldberg plays the part
of the hyena.
Watching The Little Mermaid, stu-
dents observe that Ursula becomes dark-
er the more evil she gets. They see simi-
lar patterns with Maleficent in Sleeping
Beauty and the dogs in Lady and the
Tramp. One student writes on his emerg-
ing theme for the day, People of color are
evil, mean, dangerous, and the enemy.
As we discuss this last batch of clips,
I ask students to make connections to oth-
er works. Larry says, Even in some video
games I play, its the man who does ev-
erything and is the hero. I dont see many
women in the games and them being the
hero. Also, a lot of video games have vio-
lence. And the darker-skinned people are
the bad guys. Dai adds: In the first game
of the Super Smash Brothers there were no
female characters, but over the 18 years
this games been out, the character roster
has become more and more diverse. Oth-
ers disagree, saying that women are still
not represented in video games except as
cheerleaders, but they agree that there are
more diverse characters.
Student Reflections
I have taught this unit for more than three
decades to both freshmen and seniors. In
earlier years, I started with Ariel Dorf-
mans preface to The Empires Old Clothes:
What the Lone Ranger, Babar, and Other
Innocent Heroes Do to Our Minds, first
published in 1983. Dorfman wrote:
Industrially produced fiction
has become one of the primary
shapers of our emotions and our
intellect in the 20th century. Al-
though these stories are supposed
to merely entertain us, they con-
stantly give us a secret education.
We are not only taught certain
styles of violence, the latest fash-
ions, and sex roles by TV, movies,
magazines, and comic strips; we
are also taught how to succeed,
how to love, how to buy, how to
conquer, how to forget the past
and suppress the future. We are
taught, more than anything else,
how not to rebel.
Now I start with the question What
do cartoons teach children about the
world, men, women, people of color,
etc.? Opening with the question instead
of an expert statement has led to more
student willingness to engage instead
of resist, as some did in previous years.
I end the unit by asking students to re-
spond to Dorfmans words. As one recent
student writes:
Before we watched these car-
toons in class, I wasnt even aware
that so much racism and sexism
took place in these cartoons. I
never watched much Disney as a
child, but even if I did, I probably
wouldnt have even noticed that
it was influencing my opinion on
men, women, whites, and people
of color. . . . The fact that I wasnt
even aware of the racism and sex-
ism shows how effective it was to
watch these cartoons as a class
and discuss them.
Sabrina writes:
I realized these problems werent
just in cartoons. They were in
everythingevery magazine I
picked up, every television show I
watched, every billboard I passed
by on the street.
My goal of honing their ability to
read literature and the world through the
BOOKS ABOU
PF EACE & JUS
OR YO
READ NGER
www.eqpress.org
lens of justice had been accomplished, at
least in part. Students end the unit with
strong essays that tackle sexism, racism,
and U.S. imperialism. This year, because I
asked them to relate our cartoon themes
to what they see in the world through-
out the study, students made more con-
nections between cartoons and other
textselections, ads, video games, and
contemporary movies.
As a teacher, I want to use my class-
room space to critique the mass media
machine that continues to promote a
vision of society fueled by the worship
of wealth and whiteness, the standard-
ization of beauty, and the glorification
of those at the top at the expense of ev-
eryday people. One unit, no matter how
well constructed, cannot make this hap-
pen, but by developing students ability
to critique and giving them language
and tools to examine and deconstruct
their secret education, they can begin
to move from mindless consumption to
awareness. And because these commer-
cial values do not serve the interests of
the majority of our students, that aware-
ness can lead to rebellionin all the best
senses of the word. n
RESOURCES
Student essays are available in the upcoming
Christensen, Linda. April 2017. Reading, Writing,
and Rising Up, second edition. Rethinking
Schools.
T
TICE
U
ERS
RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 27
 A
s I returned to my 7th- and 8th-grade classroom
in January after a much-needed winter break, part
of me was hoping to leave Donald Trumpand
much of 2016behind. Sure, I knew he would be
inaugurated soon. I knew his already ubiquitous
presence would become even more suffocating. And I feared
his frightening campaign promises would soon land brutally

Unfolding Hope
As 2016 began, late-night talk shows
and social media were having plenty of
fun with the notion of a Trump presiden-

in a Chicago school
BY GREG MICHIE
Greg Michie teaches 7th and 8th graders
at Seward Elementary in Chicago and
is the author of several books, including
Holler If You Hear Me: The Education
of a Teacher and His Students. Follow
him on Twitter @GregoryMichie.
Student names have been changed.
Illustrator Shannon Wrights work can
be found at shannon-wright.com.
on peoples livesincluding the lives of
my students. But he had already wormed
his way into so many of our lessons over
the past year that I thought we were
ready, at least for a while, to turn to other
topics, other themes.
I should have known better. By the
end of his first week in office, Trump
had already signed an executive order to
begin building a wall along the Mexican
border, threatened to send in the feds
if Chicagos gun violence numbers didnt
improve, blocked Syrian refugees from
entering the United States, and tempo-
rarily banned immigration from seven
majority Muslim countries. It was im-
possible for us to look away.
For my studentsmostly children
of immigrants from Mexico, along with
a few Central American and Muslim
immigrants, living on Chicagos South
Sidethe worries that accompanied
Trumps flurry of first-week actions
were not new. Throughout 2016, as the
bizarre presidential election and the spi-
raling levels of gun violence in some of
Chicagos most forgotten communities
made headlines, my students never had
the luxury granted to most white Ameri-
cans, who looked on from a comfortable
distance. For the kids I teach, it all played
outliterallyclose to home, and the classmates laugh. Earlier that day, wed
accompanying loss and fear were viscer-
al, palpable.
cy. But my students were already anxious.
The possibility of Trump landing in the
White House had never felt like a joke to
them and, as the months went by, their
concerns grew. They listened as he cate-
gorically disparaged Mexicans and Mus-
lims, as he threatened to end birthright
citizenship, as he demonized Black and
Brown Chicago, as he repeatedly prom-
ised to build a wall. To my students, these
were neither throwaway stump speech
lines nor laughable proposals. They were
direct threats.
Mr. Michie, one of my students
asked during class, if Donald Trump
wins and my mom gets deported, can I
come live with you and your family?
I dont think thats gonna happen,
I said. If it does, though, well figure
something out. Youre gonna be OK.
Dont worry.
But he did worry. Despite the reas-
surances of teachers, despite the polls,
he was fearful, as were many of my stu-
dents, of what might be. But they were
also afraid of what had been, of what al-
ready was.
On a Monday evening in early May,
I got a text from a former student: Hey
Mr. Michie I dont know if you had heard
they just shot Leo the 7th grader.
No, I thought. Please, no. Leo was
in my homerooma bright, quiet kid
who loved playing basketball in the park,
reading realistic fiction, and making his
stood back to back in the hallway to see
who was taller. I still had him by a half

28 > SPRING 2017

inch. I bet youll pass me by the end of
the year, Id said.
No, no, no. Let him be OK.
A few minutes later, another text:
Mr. Michie he passed away. They just
texted me right now telling me that he
didnt pull through.
I had been to the funerals of sev-
eral former students over the years. But
Id never had a current student killed,
never had to face all his friends in class
the next morning. I wasnt sure what to
say, what to do, how to proceed. I knew
information traveled fast in the neigh-
borhood it always had, even before
Facebook or textingso I didnt think
Id be the one to break the news to any of
my students. But when one boy ambled
in, hair tousled as if hed woken up 10
minutes earlier, I could tell by the way he
looked around at the awkward stillness
of his classmates that he had no inkling.
Telling him was one of the toughest
things Ive had to do in my 20-plus years
as a teacher.
My colleagues and I decided to let all
the 7th and 8th graders spend the entire
morning out in the hallway. We hugged.
We cried. We stood around in clusters,
speaking in whispers, still stunned. Later,
my homeroom students gathered chairs in
a circle and shared. We meditated, as we
do every day. And we created a commu-
nity memorial to Leo in the hallway, with
photos, drawings, poems, and remem-
brances. A smaller version of it still graces
our classroom all these months later.
The week after Leo was killed, a
class of 2nd gradersalong with their
teacher, Erika Gomez, who grew up in
the neighborhood and attended our
schoolslowly filed into our classroom
in the middle of a social studies lesson.
My students watched, confused. What
are they doing? one student asked aloud.
When the last of the children had
taken their places in a semicircle that
embraced the older students, three
stepped forward.
We know you are really sad about
your friend, Leonardo, a girl said.
SHANNON WRIGHT

RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 29

 But we want you to know that there
is hope. Dont lose hope, another added.
So we made little presents for you to
keep and to know that life goes on.
For the next few minutes, the 2nd
graders made their way around the
room, handing out cards theyd made for
the teens. Im sorry for your loss, one
chubby-cheeked boy said. Near him, a
pair of girls hugged as tears rolled down
the 8th graders cheeks. She wiped them
away, smiled, and gave her card-bearer
another tight squeeze.
It had been an unimaginably dif-
ficult two weeks, and the surprise visit
had come at just the right time. At some
point, wed need to think again about the
If Donald Trump wins and my mom gets deported,
can I come live with you and your family?
root causes of violence in the neighbor-
hood, about what the city needed to do
to support young people in communities
like ours, about our own roles bringing
about change. But at that moment, we
needed to remember Leo. We needed to
hold on to each other. We needed just
what those 2nd graders provided.
That any school-based learning can
happen when kids are experiencing such
emotional upheaval, such an avalanche
of sadness and fear, is something akin
to a miracle. But it does. Young people
are resilientfar more than they should
have to beand we do our best to move
forward. As in many middle school class-
rooms, my students are by turns deeply
engaged, flat-out bored, lost in reflection,
or writhing in uproarious laughter. They
write poems and read novels and explore
big questions like What is the meaning
of patriotism? and What is the role of
the media in a democracy?
In October, in the midst of a unit on
the presidential election, my social stud-
ies classes watched Khizr Khans speech
from the Democratic Convention. Al-
most none of them had seen it before, and
30 > SPRING 2017
when Khan pulled a slim booklet out of
his jacket pocket and said to the camera,
Donald Trump . . . let me ask you: Have
you even read the United States Consti-
tution? I will gladly lend you my copy,
their roar of applause seemed to shake
the walls. One girl turned to me and said,
That right there gave me chills. wilting flowers and Virgen de Guadalupe
The morning of November 9, the elec-
tricity generated by the Khan video was a
distant memory. Like much of the United
States, many of my students believed that
Hillary Clinton would win. Or maybe they
just wanted to believe it. Most of them
werent huge Clinton fans (many had fa-
vored Bernie Sanders during the primary
season), but Trump was frightening.
When I asked if anybody wanted to
share how they were feeling in the wake
of the results, few did. So I asked each
student to give me just one word: Angry.
Worried. Afraid. Disappointed.
Later in the period, when we looked
at the exit polls broken down by race, it
was no surprise who had disappointed
them. Trump had won only the white
vote, while losing in a landslide among
everyone else.
My students are not naive. I dont
think they look to electoral politics as a
simple balm for their hurts or struggles.
They are keen observers of current events
and history, and are quick to detect in-
justices perpetrated by those in power,
whether were discussing the Dawes Act
of 1887 or the recent cover-up of the
Laquan McDonald shooting in Chicago.
But they are also, on the whole, not jaded.
Although they note the hypocrisies, and
live out the stark differences between the
United States of textbook mythology and
the United States of their backyard, many
want to believe that the countrys people
will, when it really matters, do right by
them. In that sense, the presidential elec-
tion was another crushing loss in a year
of crushing losses.
As painful as Leos death had been,
it wasnt the first, or the last, to shake our
schools community during the past year.
Sidewalk altars became a recurring fea-
ture of the neighborhood landscape, their
prayer candles serving as reminders of the
fragility of life for kids who walked past
each day. Two of those killed were the old-
er brothers of a current 8th grader. Five
had once been students at our school. The
oldest among them was just 22.
So, were they gang members? I can
almost see that question bubbling to the
surface in the minds of some readers.
My short answer is that it doesnt mat-
ter. They were young most of them
still teenagersand now they are gone.
Asking if they were gang members seems
little more than a pretext for concluding
that their deaths were justified, or at least
undeserving of sympathy. Its the same
line of thinking, in reverse, that prompts
journalists to alert readers that a mur-
dered teen was an honor studentas
if a kid who failed a class or had a C av-
erage is somehow expendable. Of the
young people our schools community
lost this year, some were gang-affiliated.
Others were not. Either way, the ques-
tions we should be asking in the wake of
such violence are deeper ones: Why do
so many Black and Latino young men
feel a sense of hopelessness or despair?
What can schools do to better embrace
and connect with kids on the margins?
Where are the job opportunities and
mental health supports for young people
in our citys neediest neighborhoods?
Asking good questions is, of course,
part of the territory for teachers. But for
me, the most urgent question of the year
was not part of any unit plan or asked by
any adult at our school. It was posed by
an 8th grader toward the end of an as-
sembly that addressed the violence in
our community, how it was affecting us,
and how we might respond. The young
girl raised her hand tentatively before
asking, How does hope unfold?
The philosophical turn of the ques-
tion, as well as its unusual construction,
took everyone by surprise. If anyone re-
sponded, I dont remember what they
said. But the question stuck with me: How
does hope unfold? The image it brings to
mind, for me at least, is of hope as a pro-
cess, a series of actions, that build on one
another over time. It resonates with me
in ways that similar questions, such as
Where do we find hope? do not.
For many educators, the answer to
the question Where do we find hope?
is often simple and obvious: the kids.
We find hope in our students, the next
generation. Its a clich, but Ive said it
myself many times, and there is truth to
be found in the words. Still, the events of
this year have pushed me to reconsider
that response, to wonder if it is, in some
ways, a cop-out for adults, a way to place
a weight onto the shoulders of young
people who shouldnt have to carry it.
That thought was echoed by one
of my 8th-grade students, who closed a
poem with these words:
They tell me to have hope, that
everything is going to be OK.
But how can I believe them?
How can I convince myself that
everythings gon be alright?
How can you ask me to have hope
when bodies are being dropped
day after day?
....
If there is a way to get hope,
teach me,
teach us.
That, in turn, may be too formida-
ble a load for teachers to bear alone. In
times of tragedy, we all flail about, full of
uncertainty. The only real way forward,
it seems, is to trudge through the losses
and pain hand in hand.
And that we continue to do. A col-
league down the hall has instituted peace
circles in her classroom. Our school ad-
ministration set aside money for thera-
pists to support students emotional classes. A weekly reflections group draws
health, and devoted an entire profession- 15 or so young men who discuss their
al development session to teacher well- struggles and ways to address them. (We
ness. In late November, in response to dont need more police. We need jobs.)
the election results, a number of students And in the classroom, we do our
and teachers participated in a We Be- best to keep keeping on. We begin our
long unity march and rally, where one meditation every day by remembering
Hope is a process, a series of actions, that build on
one another over time.
of our 8th graders delivered a powerful Leo. We explore the historical oppres-
speech in support of her undocumented sion of Native people by the U.S. govern-
brother. ment, and the lessons we can learn from
Outside the schools walls, the neigh- their resistance. We read the words of
borhood is, as always, full of beautiful heroic Americans like Ida B. Wells and
people and fierce love. Gun violence and Malcolm X, and analyze their meaning
gangs do not define it. Kids play soccer for the struggles of today. We may not
in the park. Some go to confirmation always be sure where were headed, but
classes or play in a marimba ensemble at the challenge is clear: Day by day, piece
the local parish. Mothers lead parenting by piece, unfold hope. Together. n
Thank you!
to Rethinking
Schools for 30
years as the
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to dealing with trauma, Circles strengthen whole-school communities.
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RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 31
 I
grew up in rural Kentucky, where the outdoors was an end-
less source of entertainment and intrigue. I played in the
creek in the summer and wandered through the woods
year-round. In the winter, from the warmth of the kitchen
table, I watched cardinals, tufted titmice, and downy wood-
peckers duke it out at the bird feeder. I learned to associate wild
animals and wild places with a mix of comfort and adventure.

I See Birds Everywhere I Go

Engaging urban students in the natural world
BY ELLEN ROYSE
Ellen Royse (eroyse@ccpcs.org) teaches
environmental science and urban ecology
at Capital City Public Charter School in
Washington, D.C. This article grew out of
Teaching for Changes project, Stories from
Our Classrooms
Illustrator Katherine Streeters work can be
found at katherinestreeter.com.
I grew up believing that the woods
were a place where kids were safe to roam
and follow their imaginations. However, I
soon learned that my Urban Ecology class
of high school seniors in Washington,
D.C., had a very different perspective.
Many of my students, who are primarily
Black and Latinx from low-income back-
grounds, were wary of the outdoors.
The first time I tried to take my stu-
dents into Rock Creek Park to sample
understory plant species, there was a
small revolt. No, Miss. We cant go there.
Its not safe!
They were worried about pollen al-
lergies, poison ivy, and attacks from mos-
quitoes, snakes, and other animals. More
deeply, they were afraid for their per-
sonal safety. Away from the protection
of street lights and watchful neighbors,
the woods became a maze where people
were vulnerable to attack. The isolation

32 > SPRING 2017

and density of the forest shielded clan-
destine activities from the public eye.
When I had visited the woods in
anticipation of the sampling lesson, I
had gone with my ecologist lenses on. I
saw tree species like tulip poplar that felt
like familiar friends from back home.
But when I returned with my students,
I noticed that the tulip poplar trunks
were blackened with gang signs. Finding
hypodermic needles and used condoms
just off the path lent further credence to
my students concerns. During our sam-
pling, we uncovered a huge flat-screen
TV, wrapped in garbage bags and hidden
under a pile of leaves. Suddenly my un-
derstanding of what it meant to be out-
doors seemed, at best, naive.
Enlightened by my students in-
sights about the city where they had
grown up, and to which I had recently
moved, I was left with a dilemma: How
do I respect my students well-founded
fears while also helping them engage
with the natural world?
My goal as an environmental sci-
ence and urban ecology teacher is to help
students see and understand the con-
nections between their actions and the
effect those actions have on the natural
world. Humans have the power to dam-
age the natural world around us, but we
also have a great obligation to protect
itboth individually and collectively. As
David Sobel asserts in his book Beyond
Ecophobia, before we ask students to
take action to protect the natural world,
they need a reason to do so. If we want
children to flourish, to become truly em-
powered, then let us allow them to love
the Earth before we ask them to save it.
Some of my students were already avid
lovers of the outdoors, but I needed a
way to entice my most resistant students
to fall in love with nature.
Learning to Notice Birds
As a child and then later as an ornithol-
ogy student in college, I experienced the
compelling nature of birds firsthand.
Birds are omnipresent, even in an urban
environment. As soon as people have the
lens to start noticing birds, its almost im-
possible not to see them and get curious
about them. They are wild, but close at
hand. Despite their small size and seem-
ing fragility, they are hardy enough to
stand up to rain, wind, and snow. People,
especially young people, are eager to
point them out, to ask questions about
them, and to advocate for them. I use
that curiosity to encourage my students
to fall in love with nature.
Over the course of the spring se-
mester, my Urban Ecology students be-
come adept in the field of ornithologya
field that they didnt even know existed
using tools that once seemed foreign and
out of reach. We begin with a simple two-
part quiz. First I show students images of
20 different brand name logos. They fall
over each other, yelling out names and
crowing with pride at their knowledge.
The second slide has images of 20 com-
mon urban bird species. The room falls
silent. After a few hesitant guesses like
blue bird for blue jay, the protests be-
gin. Hey! That isnt fair! How are we
supposed to know these?
Ah! So, lets ask a different ques-
KATHERINE STREETER
RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 33
tion, I prompt. You guys felt really con- Yeah, and companies advertise
fident on the first quiz, but not about the those names and images.
birds. Why do you think that is? Ah. So companies teach you those
I chart my students answers on the names, and teach you to value those
board while pressing their thinking. products. What would it take to value
We see the brands every day. We birds in the same way? I chart these an-
dont see the birds, Antoine offers. swers too.
Is that so? How many people here Could there be ads about birds?
have seen birds before? Kids hesitantly Zuri wonders.
raise their hands. I dont think it matters, Domingo
says. People will never value
People will never value birds the birds the same way that they
do Nikes.
same way that they do Nikes. With all their ideas and
questions charted, we get
down to the work of learning
OK, Marta protests. But nobody how to value birds. We begin by learning
ever taught us the bird names. to use the tools of ornithologists.
Thats fair. But who taught you that Although birding can be done with
the golden arches meant McDonalds? no equipment at all, equipping students
There are a few beats of silence. with professional-grade binoculars al-
We pay money for shoes and food, so lows them to both see more birds and to
of course were going to know what they see themselves as more legitimate bird-
are. ers. These factors are important enough
that I used a considerable portion of my
annual budget the first year we studied
birds to buy a class set of high quality bin-
oculars. I assign a pair to each student. I
show them the importance of the protec-
tive neck strap and lens covers, then they
practice focusing. Students look across
our schools courtyard into the windows
of the chemistry room at the signs Ive
posted there. In order to read the progres-
sively smaller and smaller fonts, students
have to be able to focus their binoculars
to make the letters look, in their words,
crystal clear, like its in HD. So we can
practice tracking motion, I call in the
Solidarity, Strength, help of middle school students, who hold
and Courage to Our signs and run around our soccer field
until my students can instinctually whip
Rethinking Schools their binoculars to their desired field of
Comrades! view and focus on their target.
Armed with their binoculars, stu-
dents learn to identify common urban
Venceremos! bird species. The logo exercise showed
us that names matter. Learning the birds
names, features, and habits gives the
birds the very individuality and value
that Domingo was so skeptical of.
34 > SPRING 2017
Today is a special day in our class-
room, I announce. Today, each of you
is going to adopt a bird.
A collective chorus erupts. You
bought us all birds!?
All eyes are on me. They are excited
and hopeful, and I realize the error of my
messaging.
OK, no. Youre going to adopt a spe-
cies of bird. But this is your bird! Youre
responsible for this bird in our class. You
are the expert. Youre going to learn ev-
erything about this bird. When we see
it outside, were going to turn to you for
information.
The birds from the 20 common ur-
ban bird species are all up for grabs, and
kids agonize over their choices. With
their bright colors and familiarity as
team mascots, the northern cardinal and
blue jay usually go first. I want the most
savage bird, Lilia asserts. I steer her to-
ward the otherwise nondescript brown-
headed cowbird, knowing that she will
be delighted and appalled to learn how,
instead of raising its own offspring, this
invasive species lays its eggs in other
birds nests.
Once theyve selected their spe-
cies, students use the Cornell Lab of
Ornithologys All About Birds website to
research their birds identifying charac-
teristics and natural histories. They learn
whether their species is solitary or travels
in flocks. They learn about territoriality
and competition. They learn what their
bird eats and what its habitat and beak
shape tell us about its needs. They learn
about the birds range and migration pat-
terns, classifying it as a year-round resi-
dent or neotropical migrant. They learn
the birds songs and calls and create their
own mnemonic devices to recognize and
remember them. As they research, stu-
dents become fiercely invested in and
dedicated to their birds. Each student
then shares their knowledge with the
class, so students can create their own
personalized bird guides.
During her presentation, Alicia
plays the Carolina wrens distinctive
three-syllable song for the class.
Oooh, Julius says, smiling, that
bird is saying twerk-ety, twerk-ety,
twerk.
Aisha reports that her bird, the Eu-
ropean starling, sounds like a malfunc-
tioning computer.
The crow sounds like Jeepers Creep-
ers, says Elias.
Unlike the mnemonics that orni-
thologists traditionally use, these phras-
es and concepts are personal to the kids
and their experiences. It shows that they
are internalizing their learning. Despite
their initial reluctance, they are falling in
love with birds.
When its her turn, Lilia and the
brown-headed cowbird steal the show.
She tells her peers about how young
brown-headed cowbirds gobble up all of
the food that the unsuspecting host par-
ents bring back to the nest to feed their
own offspring. Eventually many of the
other fledglings will starve to death.
Her classmates are appropriately
shocked and horrified by this concrete
example of how non-native invaders af-
fect the native species in an ecosystem.
So they make somebody else raise
their kid? Oh no. Unh unh! Aisha says,
Thats not right! It gives our previous
investigations into invasive species a new
and specific context.
Out into the Community
Once students have their personalized
field guides, we identify the habits of
strong birders, and we practice them on
birding walks around the neighborhood
several times a week:
Move as quietly as possible.
Always keep your binoculars
ready.
Use hand signals to show the
group when youve spotted
something.
D
 ont put your binoculars up
until youre out of the street,
even if you have a really good
look.
On our early walks, students watch
with delight and intensity from the side-
walk as house sparrows flit around the
bushes near our school. A few weeks in,
theres a magical moment when theyre
no longer satisfied by seeing only ubiq-
uitous, invasive European starlings and
house sparrows on our bird walks. Like
other birders, they want to add new
species to their life lists. They are now
eager to go back into the woods. Were
still on alert, aware of both the dangers
and the promise of the natural space,
but the graffiti, beer cans, and condoms
fade into the background as they strain
to see a white-breasted nuthatch hopping
around the trunk of a tree.
Strong partnerships with experts
from local nonprofits allow my fledgling

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Rethinking Schools.indd 1 2/6/17 7:49 AM

RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 35

birders to experience a wider range of
birds. Adults who bird are eager to share
their passion with younger folks. After
a few emails and phone calls, seasoned
birders from our local chapters of the
Audubon Society and Latino Outdoors
come in to help my students spot tran-
sient and difficult-to-find migratory spe-
cies like palm warblers and Cape May
Congratulations
FROM
Teaching for Change
TO
Rethinking Schools on
your 30th anniversary
We are proud to partner
with Rethinking Schools on the
Zinn Education Project.
TEACHINGFORCHANGE.ORG
ZINNEDPROJECT.ORG
36 > SPRING 2017
warblers in the park behind our school.
Working with ornithologists from the
Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, my
students use superfine nets to capture
live birds in the forested section of the
park, and then tag them with identifying
leg bands. Last year, Jamilla stood wide-
eyed as she watched the ornithologist
gently extract a gray catbird from the net.
When the ornithologist extended the
bird to her to touch its feathers, she whis-
pered to herself, Thats my bird! While
students get to see birds alive and close
up, they are also helping amass popula-
tion data about migratory and resident
birds in the park.
Our work with birds culminates
with students taking concrete action to
protect the migratory birds that live in
and pass through our city. Migratory
birds face many threats, including habi-
tat destruction and attacks from outdoor
house cats. One of the biggest dangers
for migratory birds, though, especially
in urban environments, is deadly colli-
sions with glass windows. To combat this
threat, my students partner with our local
Now I cant go anywhere without seeing birds! And
then I have to try to identify them!
wildlife rehabilitation center, City Wild-
life. Through their Lights Out D.C. pro-
gram, a dedicated group of citizen scien-
tists walks a five-mile loop of downtown
early every morning during birds spring
and fall migration seasons. Theyre look-
ing for the bodies of birds that have hit
the illuminated glass of buildings during
their overnight migration flights.
One of our class requirements is that
students go on one of Lights Out D.C.s
5:30 a.m. data collection runs with an
expert and a small group of their peers.
The complaints when I announce the as-
signment are strong and sincere. You
want me to be downtown when? Is the
Metro even open then? Do you know
what time Im going to have to get up?
In the end, not all students are able to
drag themselves out of bed, but Im al-
ways pleasantly surprised that, when
given the opportunity to protect birds,
most students are invested enough to go.
Even three students who havent attend-
ed school in weeks somehow make it out
to walk around in the dark, drizzly pre-
dawn hours to look for birds. Students
show up with bleary eyes, hoodies over
heads, McDonalds wrappers in their
hands, and a conflicting mix of exhaus-
tion, excitement, and dread about the
possibility of finding a bird. Lilia voices
what we are all thinking: I hope we find
something! I mean, I hope we dont find
anything, but it would be cool to find
something.
In one particularly touching mo-
ment, Luis and Armando find a yellow
warbler with a broken neckdead, but
still tender and warm to the touch. As
they stroke its feathers, they grapple not
with the abstract idea of humans impact
on migratory birds, but with the perma-
nence of death. We cant revive it? they
plead. After I shake my head, we spend
a few silent moments appreciating the
beauty of the tiny bird and its journey
from South America before placing it in
its bag to be cataloged.
Back in class, my students analyze
the bird mortality datagraphing the
number of collisions per species at each
building over time and comparing it to
the total number of birds killed in colli-
sions each year. They present their data
and findings to stakeholders from City
Wildlife, to inform their outreach to
building owners and architects. The goal
is to protect vulnerable species by modi-
fying lighting and construction material
choices. I hope that, as we deepen our
partnership, my students will soon be
able to report their findings and sugges-
tions directly to the building owners and
architects themselves.
Now I Cant Go Anywhere Without
Seeing Birds!
Every year when I begin teaching about
birds, I forget about the wall of skepti-
cism and resistance that descends upon
our classroom. No disrespect, Miss,
Alma wonders a little testily, but why
are we learning this? Then later, Ugh.
Are we still learning about birds? By the
end of the semester, though, the most vo-
cal complainers often change the most.
Despite themselves, students get drawn
into the world of birds and birding. The
birds win them over. Within a few weeks,
Almas questioning has changed: Why
When students develop even a small connection
in my students lives. Are they out lead-
ing protests, talking to elected officials,
or writing letters to advocate for the en-
vironment? Maybe, but I also know that
environmental stewardship takes many
forms. I find great hope even in subtle
changes to my students personal ac-
tions.Because I teach seniors, I rely on
reports from alumni to gauge the im-
pact of our time together. Luis recently
emailed one of those updates that teach-
ers live for: I want to thank you for al-
lowing me to love science and for giving
me the inspiration to pursue a career
relating to science. After finishing two
years at community college, he is now
majoring in biology, and hes not alone.
Julio reports that he is studying urban
planning. Laura is studying environmen-
ting pretty good at naming them, too.
When former students come back
to visit, they are eager to talk about re-
cent sightings of cardinals, bald eagles,
and mysterious species. We get out guide
books and debate plumage coloration
and flight patterns.
All of this gives me hope for my stu-
dents and their role in saving our planet.
When students develop even a small
connection to the natural world, theyve
gained a stake in its preservation. Thats
why both Orlando and I were grinning
when he shared his end of year course
evaluation, I used to hate the woods and
being outside, and now I hate it a little
bit less. n
RESOURCES:
City Wildlife. Lights Out DC. citywildlife.org/
programs/lights-out-dc.

to the natural world, theyve gained a stake in its
preservation.
did you have to teach me about birds?
she whines. Now, I cant go anywhere
without seeing birds! And then I have to
try to identify them! Marta echoes her
sentiment. Youve done something to
me, Ms. Royse.
As a teacher, it can be difficult to as-
sess the difference that my work makes
tal science.
As she heads off to her first year of
college, Marta is excited to be taking ur-
ban ecology againthis time at the college
level. Shes also sharing her birding knowl-
edge within her own community. When
I go walking with my boyfriend, she ad-
mits, I point out all the birds, and hes get-
Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Celebrate Urban
Birds: Focal Species. celebrateurbanbirds.org/
learn/birds/quick-guide-to-focal-species.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology. All About Birds.
www.allaboutbirds.org.
Latino Outdoors. latinooutdoors.org.
Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. nationalzoo.
si.edu/scbi/migratorybirds.
Sobel, David. 1996. Beyond Ecophobia: Reclaiming
the Heart in Nature Education. Orion Society.

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RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 37

 I
n San Francisco, there are a variety of different ways that non-
English languages are taught, including dual-immersion pro-
grams, bilingual programs, and pull-out programs. Taken to-
gether, these are called language pathways. A few years ago,
the Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC), Vietnamese
Youth Development Center, and Arabic- and Vietnamese-speaking
parents in San Francisco successfully organized a campaign to ad-
vocate for the addition of Arabic and Vietnamese language path-
ways. Despite unanimous school board approval of the resolution,
implementation has met obstacle after obstacle.

Advocating for Arabic

An interview with Lara Kiswani

BY JODY SOKOLOWER Lara Kiswani, executive director of

This interview was conducted for the upcom-
ing Rethinking Schools book Rethinking
Bilingual Education.
Lara Kiswani
AROC, talked with Rethinking Schools
editor Jody Sokolower about the success-
ful organizing effort and the ways that
the Jewish Community Relations Coun-
cil (JCRC), racism, and xenophobia have
so far kept the Arabic and Vietnamese
language pathways from being rolled out.
JODY SOKOLOWER What is your
own history with Arabic?
LARA KISWANI Arabic is written in
my history, identity, and culture. I was
the first of my siblings to be born in the
United States, and I was raised speak-
ing both Arabic and English. I went to
English-only schools, and I was put in
English language learner classes because
I spoke Arabic at home.
I learned a lot about my family histo-
ry and our Palestinian culture in Arabic
from my grandma, who lived with us as I
was growing up. On Friday evenings I at-
tended a community-run Arabic school,
and on Sunday mornings I attended a
community-led Islamic school to learn

38 > SPRING 2017

to read and recite the Quran. Since then, and aid workers to our region. There is learning and engaging with a deep his-
I have continued learning on my own. little accurate understanding of the so- tory. You see a lot of Arabic in Spanish,
I can speak, read, and write Arabic, al- ciopolitical landscape of the Arab region. French, and other languages.
though not as well as I would like to. Learning Arabic is one window into that JS What do Arab American stu-
JS Did you learn enough academic landscape. And it is a window into the dents and their parents say about the
Arabic to study at a university in an Arab Arab world from the viewpoint of those lack of Arabic language in San Francisco
country? who live and breathe it. schools?
LK No. Although I did learn clas- And, of course, we know its good for LK The way that Arab American
sical Arabic, most of my Arabic is con- children to learn more than one language. students and parents relate to the lack
versational. I can read classical Arabic, Thats not specific to Arabic. Theres lots of Arabic language is part of a broader
I can understand some, and speak and of evidence that knowing more than one issue, one that goes beyond not being
write even less. I dont have a formalized language supports cognitive and aca- offered Arabic language instruction. Its
knowledge of the language. demic development. Although Arabic about feeling isolated, marginalized, and
JS Is that fairly typical of second- is often viewed as a difficult language to invisible. Its about living in a city where
generation Arabic speakers in the United learn, it has a long history that is visible racist anti-Arab and Islamophobic ads
States?
LK Most Arab American
youth understand conversa-
tional Arabic, but cant com-
municate in Arabic. Some can
speak Arabic, but cant write
or read it. Others can read and
write, but only conversational
Arabic. They arent able to un-
derstand classical Arabic, so
watching the news or reading
a novel is really difficult.

Why Learn Arabic?

JS Why is learning Ara-

bic important, not just for
kids from Arabic-speaking
families?
LK Its obvious that the
Arab region is of great interest
to the world for political and
economic reasons. This per-
petuates a contradiction: the
hyper visibility and invisibility RAMSEY EL-QARE
Arab American and Vietnamese American families celebrate approval of the new language pathways.
that Arabs face in the United
States. What is known about
Arab people, history, and cul-
ture is often based on stereotypes and in current subjects taught in U.S. class- drape the buses you and your children
racist understandings of Arab people as rooms such as math and science. Its also ride each day, where your people and
the other. Otherwise, we as a people unbelievably beautiful and rich. There family are vilified on a daily basis in
with a history and a living culture are not are multiple words in Arabic to describe mainstream media. And its about the
seen at all. What is seen is the devasta- one word in English. There are ways to deep desire to maintain your culture and
tion of our region, often at the hands of describe feelings that you dont have live a dignified life despite that.
the United States and Israel, and the rela- in English or other languages. When It can be very difficult for Arab-
tionship of Western military, politicians, you read, write, or hear Arabic, you are speaking family members to commu-

RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 39

nicate with the school district or with children rely increasingly on English and
their childrens teachers. There have been dont keep up their Arabic.
some efforts at Arabic interpretation, but Theres also a fear of losing the heri-
they are totally inadequate in reaching tage, the culture, and the history that are
the growing Arabic-speaking population transferred through language. Often after
in San Francisco. Like other immigrant kids come home from school, their par-
parents, Arab parents are particularly ents make them study Arabic or read the
concerned because, in an environment Quran. Or they are sent to volunteer-run
that denigrates their home language, weekend schools, as I was, at a mosque,
theres a breakdown in communication where there is some Arabic instruction.
between them and their children as their But these programs are informal and not
as effective as they could be.
Ensure The Journey Begins
Everyone When Arab parents realized that San
feels... Francisco has a commitment to world
Each of the seven language pathways and that 10 languages
letters represents a
progressive, feminist
are offered, they were excited. They
value. were happy to have their children learn
Small: vertical, 5 x 35 Spanish or French, but they wanted
P695CW$14 them to advance in their native language
5+ @ $12
Large: 9 x 60 as well.
vertical or horizontal When the idea emerged that there
P705CW$25
P707CW$25 was a way to implement an Arabic
language pathway, these parents felt
This Welcome
empowered. They said they felt that they
banner hangs by
the door of my had a place in San Franciscothey were
middle school being seen and heard. Their experiences
art classroom, were being validated, and it brought
reminding every them closer to a point that they could
student of the
importance of trust their kids to the school district. It
connection, love, created a sense of belonging for Arab
and cooperation parents in terms of decision-making in
in learning and the district and the city more broadly.
growing.
Once they realized they could fight
Marissa L. Hill
Artist Educator for an Arabic language pathway and win,
it became something they were very
Union committed to.
Printed JS How did the campaign begin?
LK One of AROCs ongoing pro-
SCW has hundreds grams is working with Arab youth. Back
of resources for your in 2009, the youth decided to do a re-
classroom and home.
Please visit our search project on what it was like to be
website for more. Arab American in the San Francisco
schools. They interviewed hundreds
15% Discount on
School Purchase of teachers and students, and surveyed
Orders Over $100 them on the representation of Arabs in
high school curricula. They came out
800.949.5139
SyracuseCulturalWorkers.com with a report and one of the recommen-
dations was to have interpretation avail-
40 > SPRING 2017
able for Arabic-speaking families. As an
extension, a group of mother leaders de-
cided to advocate for interpreters in the
district because they were having a dif-
ficult time communicating with teach-
ers and administrators. And rather than
trying to bridge the gap, teachers and ad-
ministrators were labeling these families
as hard to work with or inaccessible. We
fought for interpreters and eventually
two part-time Arabic-speaking inter-
preters were hired. Thats been tremen-
dously helpful. It hasnt resolved the ten-
sions or lack of accessibility to resources
and information, but it has helped.
Then, about two years ago, one of
the teachers from San Francisco Teach-
ers 4 Social Justice, Jeremiah Jeffries,
was thinking about the large Arab pop-
ulation at his elementary school in the
Tenderloin neighborhood of the city. He
wondered: Given all the language path-
ways the district is implementing, why
isnt Arabic being taught? Jeremiah ap-
proached AROC to see if it was some-
thing wed work on, and we said, Abso-
lutely yes!
In the same area in the Tenderloin,
we noticed there was also a need for
Vietnamese. Its a growing population
larger than the Arab population in San
Franciscoand there was no Vietnam-
ese being offered. So we began collabo-
rating with the Vietnamese Youth Devel-
opment Center.
Together we advocated for Arabic
and Vietnamese language pathways in
San Francisco. A couple of members
of the board of education co-authored
the proposal and worked with us. Some
members of the board of supervisors
were also advocates.
The resolution passed unanimously.
It was obvious, with the several dozen
community members who mobilized to
the board of education meetings, that
our families were visibly in support, and
there seemed to be no reason to say no
to something that would benefit Ara-
bic-speaking and Vietnamese-speaking
families, as well as other families in San
Francisco who might be interested in
learning one of these languages.
JS You looked at different models
for language pathways, right? What did
you decide to recommend and why?
LK Since the resolution passed, we
have been working with the district to
develop models to roll out. We had to
weigh a number of factors: how to best
support the development of Arabic flu-
ency and literacy, what is realistic po-
litically, and what is realistic in the face
of a shortage of credentialed Arabic-
speaking teachers. We decided to sug-
gest a model similar to the way Japanese
is taught here. An important strength of
the Japanese model is that, although the
principal teachers are credentialed, there
are opportunities for Japanese-speaking
members of the community to partici-
pate and help teach the students. There is
also an emphasis on Japanese culture as
well as language acquisition. Because this
is a grassroots effort, we want to involve
the community in helping teach Arabic
and cultural aspects of the Arab world as
much as possible.
This will start as a small program. So
children enrolled in the Arabic language
pathway would be with other classmates
most of the day; about an hour a day they
would go to Arabic class. And anyone
who wants to enroll will be welcome, of
course, so it wont only be Arab Ameri-
can children. In middle school, one sub-
ject would always be taught in Arabic;
in high school, it would be offered as a
foreign language. Thats the model we
think will work best for the number of
Arab students we have and the current
resources in terms of Arabic-speaking
teachers.
JS Are there Arabic language path-
ways in other parts of the country?
LK Not similar to this. Arabic
is taught in some charter and private
schools, and some schools in Michigan
teach it as a foreign language. There have
been attempts to open schools focused
on Arabic, including the Khalil Gibran
School in New York, which was based on
a dual-language grades 612 model, but
Khalil Gibran School was systematically
destroyed by the mayor and New York
Department of Education in the face
of racist and Islamophobic attacks. So
there are resources for curriculum and
approaches, but no similar public K12
programs.
JS Why do you think some lan-
guages are privileged over others in
schools?
LK In general, education in this
country doesnt reflect the needs of fami-
lies, communities, and neighborhoods;
its more about whats politically expe-
dient and what fills business needs and
projections.
The situation with Arabic is compli-
cated because there are a lot of expensive
private institutions that teach Arabic to
adults for military and political reasons.
We want to make Arabic language and culture part of
K12 education to reach out to a population labeled as
other and bring us into the fabric of life here.
Many non-Arabs are learning Arabic be-
cause its useful for U.S. foreign policy.
But no one is making Arabic language
and culture part of K12 education. That
would mean reaching out to a popula-
tion that is being labeled as other, vali-
dating our place in society, and relating
to us as part of the fabric of life in the
United States.
The Attacks Begin
JS What has happened since the
Arabic and Vietnamese language path-
ways were approved by the board?
LK Its been stalled time and time
again. The Jewish Community Relations
Council (JCRC), a wealthy private in-
stitution thats pro-Israel, has led an ef-
fort to kill the plan, specifically because
AROC is listed as a partner and has been
one of the main champions of the effort.
JS Why is the JCRC opposed to
AROC being connected with the pathway?
LK This is a period when Zionist
organizations are escalating their efforts
to isolate pro-Palestinian organizations
anywhere. In the Bay Area, JCRC tries to
ensure that any criticism of Israel is at-
tacked and marginalized. They want to
make it impossible to be critical of Israel
and still be a community organizer. They
have threatened the funding of nonprof-
its that held workshops or took positions
in solidarity with Palestinian human
rights. They succeeded in getting the
Museum of Childrens Arts in Oakland
to cancel an exhibit of artwork by chil-
dren in Gaza. They destroyed the eco-
nomic base of a community newspaper
that printed articles questioning Israeli
policies. Theres a long list going back
many years.
AROC is a community-based orga-
nization. We provide legal help to Arab
immigrants, we work with youth, we
advocate for Arabic interpretation in
education and healthcare, we work in
coalitions against police violence. But
we are unapologetically anti-racist and
anti-Zionist, and our work reflects those
values. The JCRC saw how much the lan-
guage pathways mobilized our commu-
nity. They also have seen the impact of
our work over the years, and the strength
of cross-movement building in raising
awareness about the struggles of Arabs,
the role of Israel in our region, and the
ongoing systematic racism we face here.
As an institution committed to main-
taining Israeli apartheid, supporting the
occupation, and dehumanizing Arabs
and Palestinians, they saw our work as a
threatthey dont want the Arab voice to
be heard and definitely dont want it to
have an impact.
They used our criticism of Israel as
RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 41
a basis for us not to be allowed to work
in the schools or to be a partner in the
languages pathways. They tried to get the
board of education to take a new vote on
the resolution, removing the community
partners from the proposal. That has nev-
er happened before for any of the other
language pathways. But we got a lot of
Arabic is unbelievably beautiful and rich. When you
read, write, or hear Arabic, you are learning and
engaging with a deep history.
support from the community and from
allied social justice organizations, and ul-
timately the board decided not to revote
but to move forward.
But since then, the process has been
stalled. This never happened beforenot
for Spanish, Latin, Japanese, Chinese,
Hebrew, or any of the many languages
taught in San Francisco. Once a path-
ways resolution gets passed, theres an
internal process working with commu-
nity partners to decide on an approach
and assess which schools to place the
languages at. Those recommendations
come back to the board and, within a
year or so, theres staffing, the program is
implemented, and its rolled out.
But that hasnt happened with
Arabic and Vietnamese. Now we have
teachers sending petitions to the district
saying they dont want this language at
their school. They say they dont want to
change the demographic of their school
by attracting more Arab or Vietnamese
families.
This has put the district in a dif-
ficult position. They are committed to
the language pathways. On the other
hand, there is this campaign by powerful
forces. And we dont have as much po-
litical power as other communities. The
district still says its committed to seeing
the language pathways implemented in
schools by 2017. And we are committed
to working with them to see this pro-
gram through.
42 > SPRING 2017
Families and Supporters Mobilize
JS How has the Arab American
community responded to the lack of mo-
tion on the pathway?
LK This is having a huge impact on
our community. Hundreds of parents
were so excited. Families mobilized to
come to the board of education meetings,
to speak up and let the district know we
want this. When we won, it was extreme-
ly empowering and inspiring. People felt
motivated to fight for what they believe
in ways they hadnt before.
This is an immigrant community
escaping from war-torn home countries,
coming to the United States and feeling
marginalized, feeling they dont know
how to communicate with people in
power. Then to see they can exert them-
selves, be heard, challenge power, and win
something for their childrenespecially
working alongside the families from the
Vietnamese Youth Development Cen-
terit was a transformative experience.
For that to be followed by attacks
smearing the community-based or-
ganization theyre a part of, attacks by
teachers questioning the need for and le-
gitimacy of having Arabic taught in San
Francisco at all, to find themselves pitted
against teachers who dont want them,
their families, their children, and their
language in the schoolthat experience
has been extremely demoralizing. Par-
ticularly in this political moment.
JS Is the Vietnamese pathway fac-
ing similar obstacles?
LK At this point, yes. We dont
know if it would have been similarly
stalled had they done it on their own. But
we do know that the same case is being
made against Vietnamese. Our suggested
schools for the two languages are differ-
ent, and at the schools were looking at
for Vietnamese pathways, the teachers
are similarly saying we dont want to
change the demographics at our schools,
we dont need to have youth who are
having difficulty learning pulled out of
the classroom for an hour a day to learn
Vietnamese.
Whats coming to the surface is that
there continues to be racism in the school
district and xenophobia in San Francis-
coa reflection of society at large and
also our history as a city, even though we
dont always want to remember that. And
in times like these, it is easier for people
to express it.
JS How has the teacher union
responded?
LK The union hasnt taken a posi-
tion. I will say that many teachers and
union leaders have spoken up and been
advocates for the language pathways.
Teachers, administrators, community
members, faith leaders, unions, youth,
parents, and Jewish alliesall have writ-
ten endless letters and testimonies to the
board about the need for this, and the
impact of the attack on the pathways.
JS How do you see this in the over-
all context of the anti-Arab, Islamopho-
bic atmosphere in the United States?
LK Suddenlyand this was even
before the electionsomething like lan-
guage pathways is controversial.
AROC has a long history of working
with the city of San Francisco, providing
services for immigrants and organizing
our community against war and rac-
ism. We have been in the schools since
2009. The district has acknowledged that
they need us; they need every commu-
nity to have a way to address racism in
the schools. AROC plays that role for
the Arab community. We create a place
for Arab youth to talk about issues that
matter to them, to unpack things theyre
experiencing, and to come up with ways
to address them. Thats an important as-
pect of the social and political develop-
ment of youth, and its also part of help-
ing them feel connected and committed
to their schools and their education.
So our work is necessary and criti-
cal. But the political climate has made it
OK to question our legitimacy. A white-
led, wealthy, political organization like
JCRCwho are they to say that an Arab
organization cant work with Arab youth?
Its unfortunate were up against
these huge forces, but at the same time
its been inspiring to see the ways were
able to develop our own force and power
and resistance through community
through solidarity and a commitment to
social justice. Weve been meeting with
families over the past months to find out
how they would like to move forward.
And they want to fight for this, to do
whatever they can.
But the antagonism thats been cre-
ated as a result of the tension and oppo-
sition has changed things. Families no
longer feel that the city and the school
Winner of an American Library Association Stonewall Book Award
district are partnering with them to just unfortunate that the process has been
make this wonderful thing happen. Now, so difficult for people who are already
its the Arab community fighting to make facing mounting challenges because of
our case. Theres no longer a clear part- who they are. Yet it is inspiring to see
nership, and thats exactly what the op- the outpouring of support that AROC,
position wanted. the Arab community, and the struggle to
But they havent succeeded in crush- fight for the dignity of Arab families in
ing the commitment of the Viet-
namese and Arab families and
communities. Its so deep and
This has become a fight against
so grounded in our lived experi- anti-Arab racism, Zionism, and
ences, rooted in our values. Thats Islamophobia.
not going away, it wont dissipate.
And despite all the delays
and problems, the school district still has San Francisco has received from people
a commitment to diversity, and to the val- all across the country. This has become a
ues of language and world language path- fight against anti-Arab racism, Zionism,
ways. They havent been able to navigate and Islamophobia. And it has brought
the racism that still existsor its impact. I together movements and people from all
think theyre struggling to figure that out. walks of life, who, as people struggling
I believe these different aspects will against all forms of oppression, under-
ultimately lead to a positive outcome. Its stand this fight as their own. n
Rethinking Sexism, Gender, and Sexuality
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Rethinking Sexism, Gender, and Sexuality is in education. The essays
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RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 43
 I Cant Answer These Test
Questions About My Own Poems
BY SARA HOLBROOK
Sara Holbrook is the author
of multiple books of poetry for
children, teens, and adults. Her
first novel, The Enemy, Detroit
1954 (Calkins Creek, A Highlights
Company), was just released.
Adapted from an earlier version
published in the Huffington Post
Jan. 4, 2017.
44 > SPRING 2017
W
hen I realized I couldnt answer the
questions posed about two of my own
poems on the Texas state assessment
tests (STAAR), I had a flash of panic
oh, no! Not smart enough. I checked to
see if anyone was looking. The questions began to swim on
the page. Waves of insecurity. My brain in full spin.
The two poems in question are A Real Case, which
appeared on the 2014 Grade 7 STAAR Reading Test, and
Midnight, which appeared on the 2013 Grade 8 STAAR
Reading Test. Both poems originally appeared in Walking
on the Boundaries of Change (Boyds Mills Press, 1998).
Let me begin by confessing that A
Real Case is my most neurotic poem. I
have a pile of them, but this one is the
sour cherry on top. The written evidence
of my anxieties, those evil gremlins that
ride around on tricycles in my mind,
shooting my self-confidence with wa-
ter pistols. How in the name of all thats
moldy did this poem wind up on a pro-
ficiency test?
Dose of reality: Test makers are for-
profit organizations. My poems are a lot
cheaper than Mary Olivers or Jane Ken-
yons, so theres that. But how would your
vulnerable, nervous, No. 2 pencil-grip-
ping 7th-grade self have felt opening your
test packet to analyze these poetic lines:
 Im just down with a sniffly case ate your help. Thank you so much! Lets go with D. I definitely have is-
of sudden-self-loathing-syndrome Oh, goody. Im a benchmark. I text- sues, including issues with these ridicu-
... ed Sean an image of how the poem ap- lous test questions. The same year that
an unexpected extra serving peared in the original publication. Prob- Midnight appeared on the STAAR test,
of just-for-now-self-hate. lem one solved. But I just put that stanza Texas paid Pearson some 500 million
break in there because when I read it bucks to administer the tests. Test scor-
Seriously? Hundreds of my poems aloud (Im a performance poet), I pause ers, who are routinely hired from ads on
in print and they choose that one? I apol- there. That is not an option among the Craigslist, receive scant training, as re-
ogize to those kids. I apologize to their answers because no one ever asked me ported by Dan DiMaggio in the Monthly
teachers. I apologize to the entire state of
why I did it. Review. Im not sure what the qualifica-
Texas. I know the 90s were supposed to These test questions were just made tions are for the people who make up the
be some kind of golden age, but I had my up, and incomprehensibly, kids futures questions, but the ability to ride unicorns
bad days and clearly, these words are the and the evaluations of their teachers comes to mind.
pan drippings of one of them. will be based on their ability to guess Now comes research that reveals
Did I have a purpose for writing it? the so-called correct answer to made-up that a simple demographic study could
Does survival count? questions. have accurately predicted the outcomes,
Teachers are also trying to survive as After I responded to Sean, I went on- no desks or test packets needed. Educa-
they try to teach kids how to take these line and searched Holbrook/Midnight/ tor/author Peter Greene reports:
tests, which they are told to do by dig- Texas and the results were terrifying.
ging through past tests posted online. Dozens of districts, all dissecting this [Christopher Tienken and his fel-
Forget joy of language and the fun of dis- poem based on poorly formatted test low researchers] have demonstrat-
covery in poetry, this is line-
by-line dissection, painful and
without anesthetic. One teach- Any test based on assumptions about the motivations of the
er, Sean, working after 10 p.m., author without asking the author is a big baloney sandwich.
wrote to me last month, trying
to figure out the test makers
interpretation of my poem Midnight. prep materials. Texas, please know, this ed that we do not need to actually
This poem isnt quite as jarring as A Real was not the authors purpose in writing give the Common Core-linked Big
Case; its about insomnia. this poem. Standardized Test in order to gen-
Sean wrote: Hello Mrs. Holbrook. At the end of this article is a ques- erate the student achievement
Im an 8th-grade English teacher in Tex- tion-by-question breakdown of the data, because we can generate the
as. Im attempting to decipher the num- test questions on A Real Case and my same data by looking at demo-
ber of stanzas in your poem Midnight. thinking as I attempted to answer them. graphic information all by itself.
This isnt clear from the formatting in our Fair warning: Your eyes are going to glaze Tienken and his team used
most recent benchmark. The assessment over as you read them. But try to hang in just three pieces of demographic
asks the following question: there. Pretend your future depends on data:
Dividing the poem into two stan- itthat you might not be promoted into 1. 
Percentage of families in the
zas allows the poet to: the next grade with all the other kids and community with income over
A. Compare the speakers schedule will have to remain in 7th grade for the $200K.
with the trains schedule. rest of your life. 2. 
Percentage of people in the
B. Ask questions to keep the reader Meantime, here is my question: community in poverty.
guessing about what will happen Does this guessing game mostly 3. 
Percentage of people in the
C. Contrast the speakers feelings evidence: community with bachelors
about weekends and Mondays A. The literacy mastery of the degrees.
D. Incorporate reminders for the student? Using that data alone, Tien-
reader about where the action B. The competency of the students ken was able to predict school
takes place. teacher? district test results accurately in
According to STAAR, the answer is C. The absurdity of the questions? most cases.
C. How many stanzas are in this poem? D. The fact that the poet definitely
Where are they located? I would appreci- has issues? Now technically, Texas does not

RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 45

adhere to the Common Core, but since
their tests are written and administered
by the same behemoth, Pearson, its fair
to draw parallels.
When I heard the campaign promis-
es to eliminate the Common Core made
by Donald Trump, I thought, Yeah, right.
Wait until someone educates him on how
much money is being made making kids
miserable with these useless tests. Talk is
cheap. School testing is big bucks, and
those testers are not going down without
a fight.
Stop It. Just Stop It.
The only way to stop this nonsense is for
parents to stand up and say, no more. No
more will I let my kid be judged by ran-
dom questions invented and scored by
people who never met them. Thats not
education, thats idiotic.
Hair-splitting questions pertaining
to nothing but profit-driven motives on
46 > SPRING 2017
the part of the testing companies and test
results that simply reveal the income and
education level of the parentsfor this we
need to pay hundreds of millions of dol-
lars and waste 1045 days of classroom
time each year? More if you consider the
number of days spent in test prep?
What creative ideas might Sean
have been cooking up at 10 p.m. on a
cold Wednesday night to excite his kids
about reading and learning if he hadnt
been wandering down this loopy laby-
rinth? Would he have been drafting a les-
son plan for those kids to develop their
writing skills through creating their own
poetry? Maybe by leading kids to poetry
instead of force-feeding it to them, Sean
could have helped them sort through
their own neuroses, become better
adults, and see themselves as something
other than a test score. Or maybe he just
would have been catching an extra hour
of sleep to feel energized for the colossal
task he is faced with every day: turning
on adolescents to reading, writing, and
learning.
But we cant know that, because at 10
p.m. on Dec. 13, 2016, Sean was writing
to me, trying to decipher misleading test
prep materials hed been handed to ready
his kids for a test they will take sometime
next spring.
I may be neurotic, but this is crazy.
But then, what do I know. I cant answer
the questions on my own poetry. n
A Real Case
By Sara Holbrook
Doubtful,
I have a fever
Or any other measurable symptom.
Im just down with a sniffly case
5 of sudden-self-loathing syndrome
TODAY!
It hit like a thwop of mashed H TODAY!/It hit like a thwop of mashed
potatoes
Snapped against a plate
An unrequested extra serving
10 of just-for-now self-hate.
Today, Im worthless,
A leftover bath,
A wad of second-hand gum.
I belong in a twist-tied bag
15 with the rest of the toys that wont run.
My moods as welcome as
Incoming dog breath,
Or a terminal case of split ends.
I sparkle like a dust rag,
20 I could attract mosquitos
maybenot friends.
In fact, I could be contagious!
Im a downer to say the least.
And if you try to push
25 My mood swing, Ill only drag
my feet.
Why? I couldnt tell you.
Just, some days, I get up and get down.
Its not a permanent disability,
though.
Tomorrow,
30 Ill come around
From Walking on the Boundaries of Change by Sara
Holbrook. Copyright 1998 by Sara Holbrook. Published
by Wordsong, an imprint of Boyd Mills Press. Used by
permission.
Sara Holbrook Tries to Answer the
Questions About A Real Case on
the 2014 STARR Test for 7th Graders
Lets take these questions one at a time:
32 Which lines from the poem best
suggest that the speakers situation
is temporary?
F Doubtful,/I have a fever.
G Tomorrow,/Ill come around
potatoes.
J I could attract mosquitoes
/maybenot friends.
Im guessing G, but I could make a pretty
good argument for H. Mustnt overthink
this, clocks ticking. Lets go with G.
33 What is the most likely reason that the
poet uses capitalization in line 6?
A To highlight a problem the speaker
experiences.
B To stress the speakers expectations for
tomorrow.
C To indicate that the speakers condition
happens unexpectedly.
D To show the speakers excitement.
about an upcoming event.
Could be A. I guess I wanted to stress
the fact that the feeling belongs to TO-
DAY. But maybe the answer is B. Lets
see, today is not tomorrow, could be that.
But climbing into the test makers mind,
Im guessing they want C. But heres the
thing: I remember adding the caps dur-
ing revision. Was it to highlight the fact it
arrived today or was it to indicate that it
happened unexpectedly? Not sure. Move
on, lots to cover.
34 Read lines 2225 from the poem. These
lines most likely suggest the speaker
F Does not wish to be pushed on a swing.
G Wants to deal with the situation alone.
H Does not often receive help from others.
J Is not physically strong.
F. Definitely F. I dont like being pushed
around, especially on a mood swing.
Or maybe F and G, clearly the speaker
doesnt want anyone in her space, push-
ing her around. But how about H? Push-
ing me around when Im in a mood is not
helpful, but people do that all the time. J
is just stupid, but is it a trick?
35 The imagery in lines 16 through
19 helps the reader understand.
A The shift in the speakers attitude.
B The speakers unpleasantness.
C Why the speaker has no friends.
D What the speaker thinks of others.
Where is E, all of the above?
36 The poet reveals the speakers feelings
mainly by:
F Using similes and metaphors to
describe them.
G Explaining their effect on others.
H Connecting them to memories.
J Repeating specific words for emphasis.
Now I really need that all of the above
option. Yes F, using similes and meta-
phors in description. G, the phrase
could attract mosquitoes, not friends
is a pretty sure indicator my lousy mood
had a bad effect on others. H? How else
except through memory would I conjure
up nasty dog breath and a terminal case
of split ends? And then theres J, repeated
words (today, today, today). This one was
the real stumper. Total guessing game on
this one.
My final reflection is this: Any test
based on assumptions about the motiva-
tions of the author without asking the
author is a big baloney sandwich. Mostly
test makers do this to dead people who
cant protest. But Im not dead.
I protest.
RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 47
30TH ANNIVERSARY
The point of teaching:
to help create a more just
and joyful world
Ann Berlak
THANK YOU.
We need you.
Sooz Stahl
Keep up the terrific work!
Best wishes from
RADICAL TEACHER
The Public Science Project, CUNY
Congratulations! In solidarity and in
Thank you for inspiring,
affirming, leading.
Elizabeth Bondy
Congratulations!
Thanks for guiding us
We need RS now more than ever!
Global Education Center
For your invaluable contribution
toward a more just and
compassionate world.
Debbie Sonu
48 > SPRING 2017
Thank you for 30 years of
courageous leadership,
wishing for 30 more!
Christine Sleeter
Congratulations!
Thanks for inspiring so many
teachers and students to make
the world a better place.
Faith Rogow
Congratulationsnow more
than ever, we need the wisdom,
radical courage, heart, and
chutzpah
of RSto another 30!
Michelle Fine
gratitude for your good work.
National Writing Project in New
Hampshire
Black Lives Matter! Schools
must be centers of democracy.
Rick Ayers
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Kate Napolitan
Congratulations for 30 years of
service to public education.
Joyce Thibodeaux
Bravo to Rethinking Schools!!!
Thank you for your groundbreaking
commitment and contribution to
our struggle for educational justice!
Warmest solidarity,
Antonia Darder
Rethinking Schools elevates
and celebrates teachers!
Amy Hagopian
Hasta la victoria, siempre!
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Keep teaching, keep
reachinga luta continua!
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your very first issue. I value your
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public education.
Ken Zeichner

We need you more than ever.
Mike Rose
May your coming years be filled
with magic and dreams and good
madness.
Geralyn Leannah
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inspiring our future teachers!
Antioch University Los Angeles
Thanks RS for being part of my
education resources educating
all my future teachers
in Sonoma County.
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network for educational equity!
Educators for Social Justice
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Your social justice work is
more important than ever in
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for public education!
Lee Bell
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sister organizations!
Heres to another 30 years!
Education for Liberation Network
Thank you for
30 years of hope
and inspiration!
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Thank you for leading the work in
critical social justice education!
Hasta la luz!
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Your work has been invaluable in
expanding the consciousness and
commitments of our participants.
Adelante!
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Center for Critical Environmental
and Global Literacy
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Practices at Eastern Oregon
University
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of inspiring leadership in
social justice education!
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alive, best education journal
in the nation!
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thanks for the vital progressive
voice in education!
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RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 49
30TH ANNIVERSARY
Thank you for inspiring, teaching,
and supporting teachers and
education for democracy.
Long live Rethinking Schools!
Sonia Nieto
Thank you to Rethinking Schools,
Thank you for teaching us all with
a beacon for democratic,
the best journal on the planet.
inclusive education.
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we need you.
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and Bill Sparks
Our public school community
thanks you!!
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Celebrating 30 years with RS
of teachers, by teachers, for all
teachers and children. Thank you
for helping to educate us all!!
Betsy Sason
If there is no struggle there is no
In solidarity with RS in our work
progress Frederick Douglass
against corporate ed reform for
authentic anti-racist, social justice
teaching/learning.
Social Justice Education Activists
Seattle
50 > SPRING 2017
Thanks to the leading edge
of justice, love, and
respect in schools.
Ginger Rhodes
Renegade Learning
Deborah Menkart
You are a source of critical
information as well as hope
and inspiration to educators
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and thank you!
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Rethinking Schools now more
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Inspired Schooling Solutions
To the editors and staff of
Rethinking Schools
with the greatest respect.
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Congratulations for making
change
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2nd-grade teacher, Fairfax
County Schools
Continue the struggle for
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and curriculum. RS is so needed in
this era of white nationalism.
Michael Charney and CJ Prentiss
Thank you for your commitment to
Social Justice! Happy 30th!
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Speaking truth to power for
30 Years! Much love,
CSIEME Program @ UNLV
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Badass Teachers Association
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as well as teachers and their
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because the articles are excellent!
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 Congratulations and solidarity
against the GERM from
across the pond.
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Educators Network for Social
Justice Wisconsin
Gratitude and thanks to RS and all
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Deborah Young
Naropa University
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In solidarity with Rethinking
Congrats and gratitude to Schools for social justice in
Rethinking Schools. education!
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In honor of the teachers of
Rethinking Schools
Oakland Unified School District.
needed, now more than ever.
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Shanthi Gonzales
Honoring 30 years of inspiration
Keep on keeping on!
and commitment to quality
Education for Social Justice
education for all. Adelante!
Graduate Certificate
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Iowa State University
and Stephanie Harvey
With appreciation for the
Congratulations!
inspiration you offer social
30 years strong!
justice educators!
Teachers for Social Justice:
Nancy Schniedewind
Deaf Learners
Humanistic/Multicultural Education
Program, SUNY New Paltz
Now more than ever, building
Thanks for 30 years of
our Beloved Community with
inspiration and activism!
and for our children.
UCLA Center X
Kipp Dawson
RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 51
30TH ANNIVERSARY
30 Years! Write on. Big thanks.
Hudson Valley Writing Project
at SUNY New Paltz
Rethinking Schools is the
BEST thing going for our schools!
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In honor of our own visionary
educator, Jon Durham, we thank
Rethinking Schools for 30 years.
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52 > SPRING 2017
Congratulations! Thank you for
your national and international
Proud to stand with
contribution to our progressive
Rethinking Schools.
and democratic education.
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Minoru Sawada
Japan
Thank you for your commitment
Thank you for promoting
to equity and social justice.
truth and critical thinking
Heres to 30 more years!
in education.
Wingra School staff
Kristin Brown and Neil Joyce
Madison, Wisconsin
Congratulations for Cheers to 30 years of a
30 great years! teacher-powered movement!
Anita Simansky Portland Association of Teachers
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RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 53

 Trapdoors
High school exit testing in the age of
college and career readiness

H
igh school exit tests are the trapdoors of the edu-
cation world. These are the tests that tie scores to
high school diplomas and push students who miss
the mark out of school into the streets, the unem-
ployment lines, and the prisons.

BY STAN KARP A national uprising has highlighted
the many ways the misuse and overuse of
standardized testing hurts students. Now
Stan Karp is an editor of the effort to end high school exit testing
Rethinking Schools. may be its next step.
Richie Popes work can be In the last few years, 10 states have
found at richiepope.com. repealed or delayed high school exit ex-
ams. California, Georgia, South Caro-
lina, and Arizona even decided to issue
diplomas retroactively to thousands of
students denied them due to scores on
discontinued tests. Although 13 states
still use exit testing for diplomas and
policies are in flux in several others, the
number is down from a high of 27 states
during the testing craze promoted by No
Child Left Behind (NCLB).
There are several reasons for this
retreat, including the research on exit
testing, which clearly shows that exit
tests dont help the students who pass
and hurt the students who dont. They
increase dropout rates and incarceration
rates without improving college partici-
pation, college completion levels, or eco-
nomic prospects for graduates in states
that have them.
A 2014 report by the Gates-funded
New America institute, The Case Against
Exit Exams, declared, New evidence
has reinforced the conclusion that exit
exams disproportionately affect a subset
of students, without producing positive
outcomes for most. It found that rig-
orous exit testing was associated with
lower graduation rates, had no posi-
tive effects on labor market outcomes,
and, most alarmingly, produced a 12.5
percent increase in incarceration rates.
Exit exams, the study concluded, have
tended to add little value for most stu-
dents but have imposed costs on already
at-risk ones.
The introduction of the new, hard-

54 > SPRING 2017

 RICHIE POPE

er Common Core (CCSS) tests and the Ready for What? sure what they pretend to measure
contradictions behind college for all intelligence, academic ability, college
rhetoric have been another factor. Even Exit testing relies on several related, readinessand they dont measure at all
supporters of these new tests have ac- flawed premises. One is that standard- qualities that high schools should nur-
knowledged that using them as exit ex- ized testing can serve as a kind of qual- ture in all young people, like responsibil-
ams would produce dramatically nega- ity control for high school graduates, ity, resilience, critical insight, and empa-
tive effects. A report from the Carnegie guaranteeing that graduates are college thy. Although the passing or cut scores
Corporation predicted that, with-
out an unprecedented increase
in educational supports for high Standardized tests can predict scores on other
school youth, the implementa- standardized tests, [but they] cannot validly predict college
tion of college and career ready readiness. Bill Mathis, National Education Policy Center
tests as diploma requirements
would cause the national high
school graduation rate to plummet from or career ready. Another is that they on standardized exit tests can be manip-
more than 75 percent to the low 50 per- have predictive value for future suc- ulated to produce varied outcomes, their
cent range. As a political matter, it will cess in academic or workplace situations, main impact is to narrow access to op-
be difficult for supporters of CCSS, al- and serve a useful gatekeeping func- portunity for some, not to produce better
ready under attack from various corners, tion for institutions that ration access to preparation for all.
to sustain a system in which large num- opportunity. For example, both federally funded
bers of students are denied diplomas, But there is little evidence for these Common Core test consortia, PARCC
said researcher Richard Kahlenberg. contentions. The tests dont reliably mea- (the Partnership for Assessment of Read-

RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 55

iness for College and Careers) and SBAC
(Smarter Balanced Assessment Consor-
tium), claim that students who earn a
college ready designation on their ex-
ams will be better prepared for college
work. But there is little real evidence
connecting scores on these tests with fu-
ture college success. As Bill Mathis of the
National Education Policy Center noted,
Both the PARCC and SBAC tests were
administered to the nations schoolchil-
dren without a single empirical study
demonstrating the tests actually had the
predictive capability they claimed.
Last year, PARCC boosters began to
cite a study by the research firm Math-
ematica that compared first-year col-
lege grades with scores on PARCC and
on the Massachusetts Comprehensive
Assessment System (MCAS), the states
traditional high school exit test. PARCC
CEO Laura Slover boasted that the study
proved that PARCC does what it was de-
signed to do: measure college readiness.
But Mathis showed the actual predictive
The use of PARCC exams as a graduation standard after
a single administration was educational malpractice.
validity for both PARCC and MCAS was
extremely low, accounting for less than 20
percent of the variation in college grades.
Standardized tests can predict scores on
other standardized tests, Mathis con-
cluded, but they cannot validly predict
college readiness at any meaningful level.
Like the SAT and ACT before them,
scores on the new Common Core tests
closely mirror existing patterns of in-
equality and privilege. Expanding their
use would reinforce those patterns rath-
er than disrupt them. Although sorting
and labeling students with test scores oc-
curs throughout elementary and middle
grades, high school exit testing is one of
the most blatant examples of how high-
stakes testing hurts the most vulnerable
students.
Numerous studies have shown that
high school grade-point averages are
a better predictor of academic success
in college than standardized tests. This
makes sense for several reasons. Even
though grading is notoriously subjective
and variable across subjects and schools,
a students grade-point average reflects
nuanced judgments from many teach-
ers over multiple years. It also reflects
more subtle abilities that contribute to
academic success, including the abil-
ity to read and respond to institutional
expectations, find appropriate support,
develop persistence and resiliency, and
solve problems. Grading, of course, can
also reflect institutional and individual
bias. But as problematic as that can be,
the substitution of commercially pro-
duced standardized exams for teacher
judgment further undermines education
for students and contributes to the de-
skilling of the teaching profession.
A reasonable case can be made that
test scores should be one part of a stu-
dents high school record that includes
credits earned, courses taken, activities,
service, attendance, projects, and other
indicators of academic accomplishment.
But diploma decisions should be based
on evaluation of that record by teachers
and schools that know the student best,
in collaboration with the students and
their families. They should not depend
on the make-or-break measure of a state
cut score.
Case in Point: New Jersey
As a high school teacher, I saw New Jer-
sey use an alphabet soup of state exams
as exit tests over a 30-year period: the
Minimum Basic Skills Test (MBS), the
High School Proficiency Test 9 (HSPT9),
the High School Proficiency Test 11
(HSPT11) the High School Proficiency
Assessment (HSPA) and, most recently,
PARCC. Each successive test prom-
ised and failed to ensure that all New
Jersey high school graduates would be
well prepared for college, careers, and
citizenship.
But because the earlier tests were of
modest difficulty and because the state
also mandated an alternative pathway
for students who did not pass, New Jer-
seys relatively soft exit testing regime and

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56 > SPRING 2017

generally strong public schools helped
sustain one of the nations highest gradu-
ation rates. It currently ranks No. 2 in the
nation at just over 90 percent. Gaps across
districts and student groups continue to
reflect inequalities in one of the nations
wealthiest and most segregated states. But
overall New Jerseys current graduation
rate for low-income students is nearly the
same as the national graduation rate for all
students (82.7 percent vs. 83.2 percent).
Enter the CCSS and PARCC. As
one of the original governing PARCC
states, New Jersey committed early on
to replacing its state tests with PARCC
exams. Even as the number of states us-
ing PARCC eroded from the original
25 to just six today, New Jersey doubled
down, implementing six new PARCC
high school exams, phasing out its tradi-
tional state tests, and narrowing the al-
ternative graduation option. In 2016, the
state joined New Mexico, which has the
lowest high school graduation rate in the
nation, in making PARCC a high school
graduation requirement.
The implications came into focus as
soon as the first PARCC scores were re-
leased. New Jerseys senior class typically
has about 95,000 students statewide.
Only about 40,000 seniors passed the
PARCC English language exam. Twenty
thousand failed and another 30,000
graduation requirements. In an effort
to evade the law and diffuse opposition,
NJDOE allowed students to use a maze
of transitional options, from SATs to
expanded use of the ASVAB military
Contrary to popular impression, there is no federal
mandate requiring high school exit testing.
placement test to satisfy the exit test re-
quirement. Under legal pressure from
the Education Law Center (ELC, where I
work as a policy advocate) and the Amer-
ican Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey
(ACLU-NJ), the state also kept open a
modified portfolio process that allows
districts to graduate students through a
review of student work samples suppos-
edly aligned with PARCC frameworks.
However, the real purpose of the
transitional plan was to grease the skids
for the institutionalization of PARCC as
New
Facing
THE
Future
the primary state exit test and to clamp
down on New Jerseys parent-led opt-out
movement, which was one of the largest
in the country. State data showed that
about 135,000 students in New Jersey
across grades 311 did not take the states
test in the spring of 2015.
Beginning with this years 9th grad-
ers, only students who sit for all the
PARCC high school exams can use the
transitional graduation options, and
by 2021 all options except PARCC and
the narrowed portfolio review will be
eliminated. For now, most seniors are
still graduating through the transitional
pathways, but the 2021 deadline looms.
The PARCC fiasco has provided an-
other chance to end exit testing in New
TM

35,000 didnt take the test at all, either BIG WORLD, SMALL PLANET
opting out in protest or otherwise avoid-
A comprehensive guide to global issues and sustainable solutions
ing a new and confusing layer of testing
that was the target of unrelenting nega-
tive media coverage and parent protest.
The use of PARCC exams as a grad- Module 1: Getting Started with Sustainability
uation standard after a single admin- Module 2: Ecosystems: Learning from the Natural World
istration was educational malpractice. Module 3: Essential Human Needs
Many students had been told the scores Module 4: Wants vs. Needs - Pushing the Boundaries
wouldnt count. The passing levels were
set by the N.J. State Board of Education
six months after the tests were given and
applied retroactively to results from the
previous spring.
The new policy was also illegal since
it was imposed before the N.J. Depart-
facingthefuture.org
ment of Education (NJDOE) adopted
the regulations needed to change state

RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 57

 Jersey. ELC and ACLU-NJ have filed a
lawsuit challenging the new graduation
rules on behalf of the NAACP of New
Jersey, the Latino Action Network, the
Latino Coalition, and the Paterson Edu-
cation Fund. Bills that would end the use
of test scores to make graduation deci-
sions for individual students are pend-
ing in the state legislature, and the lead-
ing Democratic candidates in next years
governors race have publicly pledged
to end both PARCC and high school
exit exams. Parent groups like Save Our
Schools NJ continue to press candidates
and legislators on testing issues.
Teachers 4 Social Justice Punish or Prepare?
would like to congratulate
Contrary to popular impression, there
Rethinking Schools
is no federal mandate requiring high
for 30 years of insight, school exit testing. Since No Child Left
Behind was passed in 2001, federal law
support and leadership.
has required testing once during grades
912 in math, English language arts, and
58 > SPRING 2017
science. The Every Student Succeeds Act
retains this mandate. But the decision to
tie diplomas to the results of those tests is
totally a state decision.
There are real issues of inadequate
preparation for many students leav-
ing high school. But they are issues that
standardized testing has helped create
instead of solve. Test-based reform has
undermined good education practice in
numerous ways, narrowed curriculum,
and wasted scarce resources.
When I went to college many years
ago, college for all meant demands for
open admissions, free tuition, and race,
class, and gender studies. Today it refers
to bootstrap notions of individual prepa-
ration validated by test scores. Putting an
end to high school exit testing would be
a step toward expanding opportunity for
young people and putting the focus back
on the resources and supports needed to
provide it. n
The Northwest
Teaching for Social
Justice Conference
Congratulates
Rethinking Schools
on 30 Years of
Inspiration and
Education

Join us for our 10th Annual

Northwest Teaching for
Social Justice Conference

October 21, 2017

Chief Sealth International School
Seattle
www.nwtsj.org

Keynote Speaker: Brian Jones

New York City educator, researcher,
and activist

RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 59

 M
ara: Caroline sits in my office weeping. She has
failed the edTPA (a high-stakes assessment of
teaching readiness) and cant understand why. Her
previous performance (both in class and in her
practica) has been stellar; feedback from cooperat-
ing teachers and supervisors all speak to her enthusiasm, her cre-
ative lessons, and how well she engages a broad range of learners.

How the edTPA

Disrupts Relationships
BY MARA SAPON-SHEVIN
AND SUE NOVINGER ROBB
Mara Sapon-Shevin is professor
of inclusive education at Syracuse
University. Her work focuses on anti-
oppressive education and teacher
education reform. Sue Novinger Robb is
associate professor of literacy education
and associate dean of the School of
Education and Human Development
at The College at Brockport, SUNY.
Her work focuses on the implications of
federal, state, and district policies and
mandates on childrens and teachers
identities. Names have been changed.
Illustrator Christiane Grauerts work can
be found at christiane-grauert.com.
Reclaiming our visions and integrity
I ask her which lesson she submitted
for edTPA analysis. Caroline had organized
the students into heterogeneous cooperative
learning groups, and each group was en-
gaged in seeking information about aspects
of the Civil Rights Movement. She thought
the lesson was successful, and the students
performance was what she had hoped for.
But in writing up the lesson, she struggled
to describe what she did in a way consis-
tent with the edTPA framework, and her
evaluations of group and individual work
werent a good fit for the edTPA rubric.
I dont know what to say. Carolines
lesson flowed directly from our programs
focus on inclusion and diversity. I dont
want to warn students to structure lessons
based on the edTPA rather than their best
understanding of students and their learn-
ing. But I want Caroline to get her creden-
tial. Words stick in my throat.
This vignette highlights one of the
many problems and disruptions cre-
ated by the edTPAamong prospective
teachers (PTs), teacher education faculty,
and cooperating school personnel. In
fact, the edTPA calls into question what
we value about ourselves, our teaching,
and our relationships.
Originally named the Teacher Per-
formance Assessment, the edTPA was
developed by a team of distinguished
researchers at Stanford, including Linda
Darling-Hammond, with the stated goal
of improving teacher quality, teacher
education, and the professions reputa-
tion. They worked with Pearson and the
American Association of Colleges for
Teacher Education to roll it out.
To complete the edTPA, PTs compile
a portfolio of materials, including short
videos of learning segments and analytic
commentaries drawing on research and
theory to justify their pedagogical choic-
es and interpret their students learning.
The commentary prompts do have the
potential to elicit thoughtful analysis
(e.g., PTs are asked to explain how they
used assessment data to plan for in-
struction). But the prompts are highly
prescriptive, and PTs must use the spe-
cialized vocabulary of the edTPA (e.g.,
academic language, language function)
and grapple with complex, redundant
instructions in the manuals. Completed
portfolios are submitted to Pearson for
scoringby Pearson-trained reviewers.
The reviewers have no knowledge of the
context or people involved, other than
what PTs write in their commentaries.
Use of edTPA is widespreadand
growing. More than 600 teacher prepa-

60 > SPRING 2017

ration programs in 40 states and the Dis-
trict of Columbia are using edTPA. As of
this writing, 12 states have adopted and
more are considering edTPA for teacher
licensure or approval of teacher prepara-
tion programs. Hawaii and Washington
require PTs to pass the edTPA for educa-
tion program completion.
In 2010, teacher educator Ann Berlak
first warned of the negative impact of an
early test version of the edTPA (Perfor-
mance Assessment for California Teach-
ers) in the pages of Rethinking Schools,
which also printed a special section with
varying perspectives on the assessment in
2013. Concerted resistance to the edTPA
at the University of Massachusetts Am-
herst in 201213 resulted in teacher edu-
cator/activist Barbara Madeloni losing her
faculty position there. (See References.)
Now, after a number of years of ex-
perience with the edTPA nationally, in
this article we grapple with the ways that
it radically disrupts the very relationships
that create rich contexts for transforma-
tive education and teacher education.

Disruptions Between Faculty and

Prospective Teachers

Sue: I was a kindergarten teacher before

the standards movement, before No Child
Left Behind. As early childhood educators,
we were encouraged to create curriculum
that engaged children in critical inquiry,
to make space for creativity and play.
Children were writers, readers, mathema-
ticians, artists, scientists, and social scien-
tists, and we used holistic, focused class-
room-based assessment strategies. When I
visit classrooms now, I see few remnants
of those practices. Every part of the school
day now seems structured to teach chil-
dren fragmented knowledge and skills
needed to meet grade-level standards and
pass high-stakes standardized tests. Much
of my work as a teacher educator has be-
come focused on helping PTs imagine pos-
sibilities that arent constrained by high-
stakes tests and teacher evaluations based
in large part on student test scores. Weve

CHRISTIANE GRAUERT RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 61

explored strategies for how to approach Disruptions Between Prospective account where they place various stu-
teaching as innovative, ethical educators Teachers and Their Students dents, including those who do not have
in schools immersed in standardization. permission to be recorded. Tremendous
And now, that standardization has At a recent conference, Sue struck up a amounts of time are spent organizing
made its way to teacher education. conversation with Lynn, a special educa- filming and editing, pulling PTs away
Many classroom teachers report tor who has worked with PTs from her from other important teaching tasks
deep distress at having their students program over a number of years. Her and opportunities to interact and build
nuanced strengths and needs evaluated perspective resonates with what we hear relationships with students. This is what
by standardized tests; now, as teacher from many cooperating teachers. concerns us the mostthe edTPA has
education faculty, we are similarly an- A master teacher, Lynn is innovative the very real potential to alter how PTs
guished. As faculty, we struggle with in how she collaborates with content area think about students, planning, teaching,
which of our beliefs to share with our teachers in her middle school to provide and assessmentnot just during their
students. Its challenging to say both rich learning experiences for PTs. She student teaching experience, but once
Teach to change the world, keep social mentors PTs through their shared focus they become practicing teachers.
justice at the forefront of your teaching on studentswhat they know and can
and Play it safe so you and your students do, what they cant do yet, how they are Disruptions Among Faculty,
can be judged successful by someone situated socially and culturally, and so Cooperating Teachers, and PTs
who knows neither you nor them. on. This provides an authentic context for
The focus of the student teach- PTs to reflect on and develop their own According to Lynns colleague Jack, a
ing internship in our institutions has practice. Now Lynn reports that many number of their colleagues have be-
changed with the advent of the edTPA PTs, anxious about their performance on come reluctant to invite PTs into their
certification requirement in New York. classrooms. Annual professional perfor-
the edTPA, have shifted their primary fo-
Before the edTPA, college supervisors mance reviews that rely heavily on stu-
cus from their students to their own per-
focused student teaching seminars and formance on the assessment. Rather than dent test scores are one reason for their
individual conferences on challenging immersing themselves in deep discus- reluctance, but increasingly teachers are
and supporting PTs in their work with wary of the edTPA requirements and
sions about the students in their classes,
their students. Seminars were structured their concern is how to plan lessons andprocess. Theyre concerned about the
around challenges PTs faced in the field: write commentary that will earn passing ways that PTs need to adapt curriculum
dealing with child poverty and hun- marks from the Pearson scorers. Their and classroom practices for the edTPA,
ger; involving parents in their childrens anxieties often permeate their interac- including the video-recorded perfor-
mance. The high-stakes nature
of the edTPA creates conflict-
Many prospective teachers have shifted their primary focus ing goals for college faculty and
from their students to their own performance on the edTPA. cooperating teachers, as each
advocates for the needs of their
own students.
education; responding to racism, sex- tions with Lynn, shaping how they re- When teachers are already finding
ism, and homophobia in the classroom spond to her feedback and support. Lynn their teaching negatively impacted by
and outside. The focus of those seminars spends much of her time working with high-stakes testing and highly scripted
and conferences has overwhelmingly PTs to reduce their anxiety and refocus curriculum, adding another require-
become preparation for completing and them on the children. mentone they may not understand or
passing the edTPA. The very nature of With the edTPA looming, PTs are agree withfurther complicates what
the PT/college supervisor relationship pressured to evaluate their own teaching, should be a collaborative and mutually
changesand not for the betterwhen not in terms of what they have learned, supportive relationship.
the focus of their work together shifts to what seems effective with students, or The relationship between university-
meeting the expectations of an unknown what they believe, but in terms of what based teacher education programs and
evaluator. As teacher educators, we teach will look good and fit with the edTPA cooperating schools must be negotiated
our PTs the importance of knowing their assessment. For example, the video- and nurtured with care. Fieldwork and
students, while at the same time they are recording requirement of the edTPA practicum experiences are essential for
being evaluated by someone who doesnt disrupts the planning and teaching pro- PTs, and faculty often have specific re-
know them or their teaching context. cess; teacher candidates must take into quirements for what PTs need to accom-

62 > SPRING 2017

plish in the field. P12 schools are under
increasing pressure to meet various goals
and, often, to teach in specific ways. These
may or may not be compatible. Schools
that have returned to homogeneous
grouping make it difficult for PTs to prac-
tice heterogeneous teaching strategies
like cooperative learning and differentia-
tion. Many schools find that their funding
and continued existence are under threat,
and PTs can be seen as an unnecessary
complication. It is even harder to secure
school placements when the college facul-
ty are not in agreement with some of what
the PTs will be asked to do.
Disruptions Among Teacher
Educators
Mara: I am sitting at a three-hour meet-
ing with teacher education colleagues dis-
cussing the scoring of the edTPA so we can
provide feedback to student teachers. The
tension is palpable. Some colleagues feel
strongly that they cannot (according to
edTPA regulations) give students specific
feedback. They suggest that we ask ques-
tions such as Are your objectives aligned
with your assessments? I am uncomfort-
able with this vague, coded feedback and
want to help the students modify their
responses to work with the scoring rubric.
Im told that I am jeopardizing students
certification by my political stance, and
that we need to just do it.
Although it is important for teacher
education faculty who share the same
group of students to discuss their own
teaching and student concerns, the in-
troduction of an outside instrument that
evaluates both the students performance
and, by inference, the facultys perfor-
mance shifts the discussion; issues of
individual decision-making regarding
curriculum and teaching are scrutinized
in a different way. The discussion is not
What do we want our students to learn
and how are we doing? but How will
the edTPA evaluate our students (and
thus our program), and what do we need
to shift to meet these external expecta-
tions? The possibilities of going rogue whats happening is so exhausting and
in situations when this might result in dispiriting.
innovative, creative, and successful ap- Although my students read my book
proaches are sharply curtailed. Because We Can Change the World, I feel
Are we preparing students to be ex- false when I try to inspire them to social
cellent teachers, or preparing them to pass justice advocacy. Not only is their field-
the edTPA? Current requirements posi- work shaped by high-stakes testing and
tion these as sometimes competing goals. corporate control, but my own work as a
These deeper discussions and rela-
tionships with our colleagues are at the
heart of how we think about our work as
teacher educators. Tensions among fac-
NYCoRE
ulty, all of whom share a commitment to
excellent teacher education, arise from
differing approaches to these external
demands. The conceptions of teaching
required by the edTPA become embed-
ded in programs and professional in-
teractions with each other, constraining
what is possible and valued, and what
is left by the side of the road. Spaces for
thinking differently, taking risks, and
challenging our thinking are squeezed
out by the demands of the edTPA and
other high-stakes assessments. We have
come to dread our edTPA conversations.
2016-2017
Even now we worry that publishing this Public Meetings and
article will be another disruption in our Events
relationships with colleagues.
Monthly Meetings
Disruptions Within Ourselves
5:00-8pm
Check our Website/Facebook for
Among the most upsetting disruptions Location of Meetings
for us are the ones that have occurred
personallythe ways in which we are Friday, Sept. 16th
struggling to be the teacher educators we Friday, Oct. 21st
want to be. Friday, Nov. 18th
Mara: I have been a teacher educa- Friday, Dec. 16th
tor for almost 40 years. My work has cen- Friday, Jan. 20th
tered on the necessity of creating equitable Friday, Feb. 10th
schools, and I have focused on cooperative Friday, Mar 17th
learning, inclusive school frameworks, an- Friday, April 21st
ti-racism and anti-homophobia curricu- Friday, May 19th
lum, and community building. Now, I sit Friday, June 16th
in faculty meetings at the university and
am surrounded by a discourse I barely
recognize. I want to say yes, but or Im
not really comfortable with this conversa- i n f o @ n y c o re . o rg
tion 100 times in a discussion. I feel my- w w w . n y co re . o rg
self shutting down, drawing back, pulling f a c e bo o k .c o m / n yc o re
t w i t t e r. c o m / n y c o re3 0 00
in, because the constant urge to confront
RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 63
teacher educator is similarly constrained.
I feel uncomfortable and dishonest with
myself and with my students. I am a po-
litical activistused to standing on street
corners and protestingand yet I struggle
with what kinds of activism I can engage
in that will challenge high-stakes testing
without endangering the very future teach-
ers whose educations I care so much about.
Sue: Throughout my life as a teacher,
Ive embraced the notion that teaching and
learning are joyous, challenging, engaging,
and wonder-filled endeavors. Ive lived by
the idea that teaching and learning cant be
standardized any more than people can be
standardized, that curriculum is emergent
and culturally relevant, and that engaged
learners and teachers are passionate about
what theyre doing. Im distressed that the
joy, passion, and wonder seem to be dis-
appearing from teaching and learning
in P12 schools and in higher education.
Even though I find ways to push back
lobbying regents and legislators, working
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64 > SPRING 2017
through my union, writing articlesIm
increasingly troubled with the part Im
playing in what feels like the slow, steady
deprofessionalization of teacher education.
To begin a process of change, we
must confront this disruption of our
sense of self as teacher educators. Its im-
possible to separate who we are and what
we teach; its not possible for PTs to do
that either. Nor would we want them to.
We hope to model integrity by enacting
our principles in our teaching, and we
want our PTs to be able to do this as well.
Like us, our PTs will find themselves
in less than ideal teaching situations,
and they must learn to both choose their
battles strategically, and to resist and or-
ganize in ways that are effective.
One of the most offensive narratives
is that beginning teachers arent capable
of simultaneously holding conflicting
perspectives: that the edTPA and high-
stakes testing are highly damaging, and
that the current path to certification de-
mands compliance with particular tests
and processes. This dual consciousness is
not only possible, but should be nurtured
and reinforced; we want all new teachers
to survive in their current situations and
be courageous and intelligent about how
they form alliances and garner support
for models of education (and certifica-
tion) grounded in equity and social jus-
tice. For example, Barbara Madelonis
brave resistance to the edTPA at the Uni-
versity of Massachusetts Amherst was
a powerful example to her students of
standing up for what sheand many of
thembelieve in.
Where Do We Go from Here?
We believe that, as teacher educators, we
can:
1. Work with PTs to unpack the edTPA,
asking who benefits and who loses by
surrendering control of teacher cer-
tification to a single test, one that is
controlled by and profits an interna-
tional corporation.
2. Through our scholarship and by join-
ing with other educators, link the
edTPA with other attempts to depro-
fessionalize teaching.
3. Seek and build alliances with col-
leagues, teachers, and students to cre-
ate constructive resistanceknowing
that there is strength in numbers, par-
ticularly in coalitions that cross groups
often isolated from one another.
4. Help our students explore ways of
teaching from inclusive, social justice
frameworks while also learning and us-
ing the language encoded in the edTPA.
Support PTs to become the teachers
they want to be and pass the edTPA.
5. Encourage PTs to build strong re-
lationships with their cooperating
teachers and P12 students.
6. Stay honest with ourselves and stu-
dents about what is at stake in these
education wars and resist easy accom-
modations or conciliatory narratives
that make us more comfortable with
our complicity.
We must keep relationships at the
center of all our work, resolving the dis-
ruptions within ourselves in ways that
help us to build, restore, and strengthen
our relationships with students, col-
leagues, and cooperating teachers. n
REFERENCES
Au, Wayne. 2013. Whats a Nice Test Like You
Doing in a Place Like This? EdTPA and Corporate
Education Reform. Rethinking Schools 27:4.
Berlak, Ann. 2010. Coming Soon to Your Favorite
Credential ProgramNational Exit Exams.
Rethinking Schools 24:4.
Darling-Hammond, Linda, and Maria E. Hyler.
2013. Role of Performance Assessment in
Developing Teaching as a Profession. Rethinking
Schools 27:4.
Madeloni, Barbara, and Julie Gorlewski. 2013.
Wrong Answer to the Wrong Question: Why
We Need Critical Teacher Education, Not
Standardization. Rethinking Schools 27:4.
Madeloni, Barbara, and Rachel Hoogstraten.
2013. The Other Side of Fear. Schools: Studies in
Education 10:1.
Sapon-Shevin, Mara. 2010. Because We Can
Change the World: A Practical Guide to Building
Cooperative, Inclusive Classroom Communities,
2nd Edition. Corwin.
RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 65
Resources

>> Picture Book
Where Do They Go?
By Julia Alvarez
Illustrated by Sabra Field
(Seven Stories Press, 2016)
22 pp.
Young children wonder and worry about
death, but there are few age-appropriate
books on the subject. This beautifully
illustrated and poetic approach by the
author of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their
Accents and Return to Sender provides
no simple answers. It is instead a series
of comforting and thought-provoking
questions: When somebody dies, where
do they go? . . . Do they fall with the rain
from the sky? Are they my tears when I
cry? . . . Is it them that I feel, alive in my
heart? Is it there that I go when Im sad
were apart?
>> Middle and High School
Zapatas Disciple
By Martn Espada
(Northwestern University Press, 2016)
160 pp.
Martn Espada introduces this new edition
of his classic essay collection with a story
about how Zapatas
Disciple was banned
in Tucson when the
Mexican American
Studies program was
outlawed in 2012. He
notes: On the list of
banned authors I am
keeping company
with . . . are some of
the finest Latina/o
writers alive today.
May our words
always trigger the sweating and babbling
of bigots. The book is full of poetry and
essays that will appeal to high school
students: the letter Espada wrote to Nike tion of youth . . . from signing up to fight
listing all the reasons I could reject your endless wars of domination. In addition
offer to write for their poetry slam; the to offering speakers, the website offers
story of his father, in uniform, being made short, provocative pieces on veterans is-
to move to the back of the bus in Missis- sues and U.S. militarism that can be used
sippi; the poem about Mumia Abu-Jamal in class.
that was banned from NPR. Stunning
writing about topics that matter. Rad Women Worldwide: Artists and
Athletes, Pirates and Punks, and Other
Unbound: A Novel in Verse Revolutionaries Who Shaped History
By Ann E. Burg By Kate Schatz
(Scholastic Press, 2016) Illustrated by Miriam Klein Stahl
352 pp. (Ten Speed Press, 2016)
When Grace, the 104 pp.
enslaved pro-
tagonist of this
beautiful novel-
length poem,
turns 9, she is
sent to live and
work in the big
house, forcing a
heart-wrenching
separation from
her family. Then
Grace hears that
her mother and younger brothers will be
placed on the auction block. She steals
back to her family and they escape im-
mediately. After a harrowing journey, they
join a maroon community in the Great
Dismal Swamp. Even in their newfound
liberty, Graces family is surrounded
by wild animals and the threat of slave
catchers. In the midst of her new com-
munity, Grace struggles to find and define
the meaning of freedom. Ann Burgs
extensive research of the Federal Writers
Project interviews and at the Schomburg
Center are reflected in the details that
bring Graces story, and this little-told
piece of U.S. history, to life. Grades 48.
From the authors of Rad American Wom-
We Are Not Your Soldiers en A-Z (see Resources, summer 2015),
World Cant Wait Rad Women Worldwide has a similarly
wearenotyoursoldiers.org defiant and playful approach, featuring a
We Are Not Your Soldiers brings recent few women students may have heard of,
veterans of U.S. wars in Iraq and Af- but mostly introducing little-known rad
ghanistan to speak in high schools and women who are passionate, purposeful,
colleges throughout the United States. and totally powerful. Its hard not to fall
They explain: The U.S. military creates in love with women like Sophie Scholl,
dangerous illusions through sophisticat- who defied the Nazis through the pro-
ed print and film ads that turn reality on paganda campaigns of the White Rose,
its head. The project is frankly anti-re- distributing leaflets, stenciling graffiti
cruitment, seeking to keep this genera- Down with Hitler and Freedom! Or

66 > SPRING 2017

anarchist Emma Goldman, whose illegal
advocacy of birth control and feminism,
labor solidarity, and opposition to the
military draft during World War I led to
her deportation. Or Funmilayo Ransome
Kuti, who organized Nigerian women
to fight for womens liberation and the
liberation of their country from British
colonialism. The short readings and pas-
sionate illustrations lend themselves to
mixer activities, introducing students to a
sampling of inspiring women from around
the world.
>> Professional Development
Anti-Bias Education in the Early
Childhood Classroom: Hand in Hand,
Step by Step
By Katie Kissinger
(Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2017)
180 pp.
Katie Kissinger is the author of the popu-
lar bilingual picture book All the Colors
We Are: The Story of How We Get Our Skin
Color. Her new book is an invaluable guide
for teachers on how to address race and
other issues in the classroomincluding
gender, class, physical ability, and differ-
ent kinds of families. Based on decades
of firsthand experience, each chapter
includes vivid descriptions of classroom
practice and explanations of the issues
that are steeped in research yet written
in lay terms. At the end of each chapter
are guided tasks or questions. These are
offered at three levels: beginner, ally, and
activist. Highly recommended for early
childhood teachers and parents.
Boycott
Amazon!
Visit TFCbooks.org to find out why.
Responding to Hate and Bias at School:
A Guide for Administrators, Counselors,
and Teachers
48 pp.
Speak Up at School: How to Respond
to Everyday Prejudice, Bias, and
Stereotypes
A Guide for Teachers
56 pp.
Lets Talk! Discussing Race, Racism, and
Other Difficult Topics with Students
20 pp.
(Teaching Tolerance, 2017)
The Trump presidential campaign was a
sewer of racism, xenophobia, misogyny,
and homophobia. His election has only
continued this dangerous discourse.
Its more important than ever that we
have in-school conversations about hate
speech. Teaching Tolerance has produced
three short booklets that offer practical,
sensitive, and insightful advice. Respond-
ing to Hate and Bias at School pays spe-
cial attention to the role of administrators
and how they can respond proactively
in restorative rather than punitive ways
when abuses occur. Speak Up at School
is filled with real-world examples of how
teachers respond to crucial moments
of prejudice, the very short time that
passes when somebody says something
and you struggle with how, or even
whether, youll respond. Lets Talk! offers
valuable suggestions for finding ones
own level of comfort and guidelines for
approaching conversations with students.
This is a timely trio of resources for these
tense times.
Est linda la mar: para entender la
poesa y usarla en el aula
By Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy
(Santillana, 2015)
Here is a valuable guide to teaching
Spanish poetry in Spanish from two
award-winning authors. Different types of
poetry are explained and many practical
poetry-teaching ideas are shared. The ex-
amples include a broad range of Spanish
language poets. Appropriate for teaching
students of all ages.
Reviewed by Bill Bigelow, Deborah
Menkart, and Jody Sokolower
CONNECT WITH US
rethinkingschools.org
zinnedproject.org
facebook.com/rethinkingschools
twitter.com/rethinkschools
rethinkingschoolsblog.com/
RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 67
 The National Writing
Project congratulates
Rethinking Schools on
30 years of maintaining a
vision of public education
as central to the creation
of a humane, caring,
multiracial democracy.
www.nwp.org
@writingproject

68 > FALL 2012

 THE NEW PRESS CONGRATULATES
RETHINKING SCHOOLS
on Thirty Remarkable Years of Fighting for
Equity, Democracy, and Justice in Education . . .

. . . AND CELEBRATES THREE GROUNDBREAKING NEW BOOKS THAT CONTINUE IN THIS TRADITION

TROUBLEMAKERS by Carla Shalaby

With a foreword by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot

A radical educators paradigm-shifting inquiry into the accepted,

normal demands of school, as illuminated by moving portraits
of four young problem children

Riveting, luminous, and terrifying, this little book

gives us the tools, the vision, and the confidence to
free our children to change the world.
ROBIN D.G. KELLEY, author of Freedom Dreams

SCHOOLTALK by Mica Pollock

An essential guide to transforming the quotidian communications

that feed inequality in our schoolsfrom the awardwinning
editor of Everyday Antiracism

Pollock is a truly gifted writer.

MICHELLE FINE, City University of New York

PUSHOUT by Monique W. Morris

A groundbreaking look at the educational lives of African American girls

by a powerful advocate who has been featured on NPR and in the Atlantic,
the Washington Post, Essence, the New Republic, and New York magazine

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MICHELLE ALEXANDER, author of The New Jim Crow

To purchase these titles and others, visit: www.thenewpress.com

Fearless Books for Perilous Times

RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 69

Good Stuff
BY MELISSA BOLLOW TEMPEL
One of a Kind, Like Me/nico
como yo
By Laurin Mayeno
Illustrated by Robert Liu-Trujillo
Blood Orange Press, 2016
Jacobs New Dress
By Sarah and Ian Hoffman
Illustrated by Chris Case
Albert Whitman & Co., 2014
10,000 Dresses
By Marcus Ewert
Illustrated by Rex Ray
Triangle Square, 2008
........................................
Melissa Bollow Tempel is a bilingual
elementary school teacher in Milwaukee and
co-editor of Rethinking Sexism, Gender, and
Sexuality.
70 > SPRING 2017
Boys in Dresses
I
m going to be a princess,
just like her. I was read-
ing One of a Kind, Like
Me/nico como yo. It was
after recess, story time for
my class of 2nd- and 3rd-grade bilingual
students. Josue raised his hand.
Is Danny a boy? he asked.
Yes, I said. Danny is a nickname
for Daniel. Isnt there a 5th grader named
Daniel on your bus?
The students nodded, they knew
Daniel. Josue raised his eyebrows and
giggled quietly.
I was a little surprised at Josues reac-
tion. He is one of my 3rd graders and had
been in my class last year, too, when we
read I Am Jazz, about transgender real-
ity star and video blogger Jazz Jennings.
It was a class favorite. We never split up
into groups according to assigned gender
and the students know I will challenge
them if they label anything for boys or
for girls, so they dont.
But I didnt say anything yet. I just
continued to read the story: Danny wants
to be a princess for the school parade. He
asks for a purple dress with puffy sleeves
and ruffles. Danny and his mother go to
a thrift shop to find a dress.
Jasmine raised her hand.
Yes, Jasmine?
Danny is a boy or a girl? she asked.
He is a boy, I repeated, although
now I was unsure if that was the best re-
sponse. The book uses he/him/his to de-
scribe Danny, so I guess its fair to say hes
a boy, right?
As the story continues, Danny gets
his dress and hes excited to bring it to
school.
What do you think will happen
next? I asked.
Theyre going to laugh at him, said
Josue.
Im sure thats what my students ex-
 pected, because thats usually because thats how Bailey thinks of her- One of a Kind, Like Me/nico como
what happens in picture books self, even though Bailey looks like a boy yo is the story that Id read first with a
that try to teach empathy and thats what her family considers her. new group of students. The storyline is
someone is different and they Who is right if the family says Bailey is simple and joyful; theres no one arguing
get picked on. And that is what a boy but Bailey feels she is a girl? I en- with Danny or telling him he is wrong.
happens in Jacobs New Dress, courage teachers to read the book over a It is also one of the few bilingual stories
another story I read to the class. few times and think about how to facili- I have found with a gender-independent
Jacob wears a dress to school tate this conversation before sharing the character.
and has to deal with students book with students. Together, these books contribute to
who feel uncomfortable with it. These three books work well togeth- a library that affirms that children should
I like Jacobs New Dress because er to generate discussion and deepen be able to wear whatever they want, re-
in some ways it is as much for childrens perspectives on gender. Danny gardless of assigned gender. Classroom
adults as it is for children. The and Jacob are boys who want to wear libraries need collections of books on
adult characters in the book are dresses. Does that mean they are ques- topics and issues, not tokens. Thats as
realistic, but they model positive tioning their assigned gender? We dont true about gender as it is about immigra-
ways to affirm our children. For know. Maybe, but the stories are more tion, the Civil Rights Movement, scien-
example, Jacobs mother tells him, about questioning gender roles and ac- tists of color, Muslim families, and other
There are all sorts of ways to be a cepting choices outside our comfort critical issues. Providing multiple books
boy. Although Jacobs father isnt zones. Baileys story is clearly about gen- on a similar topic reinforces the message
jumping up and down at the idea der. Although Bailey feels inside that she I repeat in my classroom: Be who you
of his son wearing a dress to school, is a girl, her family members insist she is are. All are welcome here. n
he concedes, Well, its not what I would a boy.
wear, but you look great. Jacobs teach-
er in the story is also positive about his
dress.
There is one place the story falls
short. Jacob stands up to the bullying
classmate on his own, without the sup-
port of an adult or the help of a friend.
Congratulations to Rethinking Schools
But that makes Jacobs New Dress an op- on 30 years of activism and envisioning
portunity for teaching critical literacy:
What could Jacobs teacher have said?
a public school education that embraces
What could Jacobs friends have done? the needs of children worldwide.
At a few points the book describes
how Jacobs body is feeling. I ask my stu-
dents how they think Jacobs antagonist
is feeling. Might he feel confused? Un-
comfortable? What else could he have
done with those feelings?
The main character in 10,000 Dress-
es, Bailey, dreams of dresses. One at a
time, Baileys mother, father, and brother
tell Bailey that she is a boy and cannot
have a dress. Bailey finally finds a friend
who respects her as a girl and together
they dream up dresses.
The use of pronouns in this book is
important, but needs discussion in class.
The narrator refers to Bailey as she,

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