hope

I’m old.

My knees tell me this.

My back tells me this.

The mirror tells me this.

And I’ve found that getting old(er) makes me cynical makes me feel justified in those moments when I descend into cynicism. Particularly when it comes to education reform. After all, as a student I “learned to read” with an SRA Reading Lab, caught the tail end of the Open Classroom movement, attended a magnet high school. I got certified to teach K-6 by developing an Integrated Day project (Ancient Egypt), was there at the beginning of the standards-based movement, was told backwards design and differentiated instruction would, done well, make my students proficient learners. I witnessed the rise of No Child Left Behind, standardized testing and scripted curricula.

A depressing arc, wouldn’t you say?

I could paint the same picture when it comes to politics. I was born during the Great Society – which had as its goals the elimination of poverty and racial injustice. (Seriously, those were the goals.) I live now in a time when the very wealthiest get bigger and bigger tax breaks as our schools, government programs and social safety nets are bled.

But then a thing will happen. Like President Obama’s memorial address in Tuscon last week. Which made me tear up in its empathy and compassion and call to be greater, collectively and individually.

Or I attend a gathering of teachers, like I did this past weekend. Teachers who have decided to write honestly and reflectively about their practices. Lacy Manship, who put a flip video camera in the hands of her urban first graders, giving them the locus of control, then helped them deconstruct and analyze the resulting films. Steve Moore, who blogged consistently during and about his first year of teaching, despite all the challenges. Joe Wood, who uses Google Earth with students to create stories, and asks himself “why.” Margit and Janet and Jenny, from two different parts of the country, each of whom have helped facilitate an out-of-school summer program for English language learners whose dual mission is that of social justice and digital literacy. Karen Chichester, who helps her special education students revise their writing via real-time commenting using Google Docs. Laura Fay who has introduced Scratch and gaming in her English classroom because she sees connections between gaming affordances and language learning. Lindsay, who documented an “electronic writing marathon.” Sara Beauchamp-Hicks, whose students created multi-genre projects that involved music composition. Meenoo Rami who wrote about her motivations for starting the weekly chat for English teachers on twitter called engchat, and the impact it has had on her practice and thinking. Kim Jaxon and Troy Hicks, who curated collections for the website Digital Is, where all these pieces will be stored and available for public use.

Despite busy schedules, they engaged in conversation, composing and revising with the hope of elevating their own practice and possibly the practice of others by publishing their writing at Digital Is.

Emily Dickinson wrote “Hope is the thing with feathers.”

Woody Allen countered, “Hope is not ‘the thing with feathers.’ The thing with feathers has turned out to be my nephew.”

And I say hope is teachers writing and reflecting and sharing.