June 16, 2008 Scribe: Madeline Martinez
9:00 am 1st call to gather for round table discussion. People seemed to walk, talk and even eat in slow motion. I’ll blame this uncharacteristically odd behavior to the fact that it’s Monday. The better half of our brain is still in weekend mode. As I walked towards the table I’m approached by Angela, whose high energy levels for a Monday, were disconcerting to me. But anyway, she shares with me an interesting and possibly useful piece of information. She relates an incident in which she asked Peter for money and he reached into his pocket, pulled out the money and gave it to her. After giving her the money, he asked what it was for. I’m sure it’s obvious how this information could be useful. Now we know who to go to if we need lunch money. Just be ready to run. I immediately stored this information in my long term memory and sat at the table.
Melissa began the discussion by relating her life altering, traumatizing experience at a sister island I won’t mention, just in case we have Dominicans reading the scribe. But let me just clarify this beautiful island was not at the root of Melissa’s problem. I think it was a combination of weather, a leaky airplane ride and an airport mishap.
Anyway it was obvious she was glad to be back. What was even more obvious was Ellen’s joy at having Melissa back. I couldn’t tell who was happier. Some of our members were M.I.A. Cedric is off on military duty. Arriana will be back next week she’s off somewhere…but she’ll be back next week. Echevaria was also missing because Caridad, her daughter, was sick. I felt like Ellen without Melissa, a little lost. But I had Frances my “name keeper” who sometimes fell asleep on the job. I may have to rethink hiring her again.
After discussing who was missing and why, Melissa who had not been present on Friday read and tried to decipher Cedric’s scribe. Melissa thought that since Cedric was not there to read the scribe, it lacked his writer’s voice. As Melissa is talking, I see through the corner of my eye, Zenaida and Alma singing Tama-Tama-Rindo… note to myself to talk to Ellen or Melissa about separating these two. After Melissa finishes reading, Ellen reminds us of the 3 writing pieces that need to be done by the end of the program
1. Memoir 2. experimental piece 3. position paper
At this point I look at
Oh yeah, we have sacrificed all this in the hopes of becoming better teachers, and bringing something new to our students.
We moved on to Janice’s book talk. ”Writing for a Change” She explained how we can use writing in the classroom to get students involved in social change. In this type of writing the teacher becomes the facilitator and the students think of a problem, why this problem occurs and what can they do about it. This type of writing empowers our students and they become agents of change. It was a great book presentation.
As we transition back to our computer area, I forget for a moment that I’m the scribe, but Angela gently shakes me and reminds me to keep scribing.
Aida begins her demo with an enthusiastic “Buenos Dias” her demo entitled Visualization y activacion de conocimiento. Was excellent and as Peter said, “provocative.” It began with a visualization exercise on what came to mind when we saw the word “apocalypses”. We wrote our thoughts down and then read a short story. This demo had a strange effect on my colleagues, Janice became delusional and began speaking into a red marker, and then Ellen began talking as if she were a computer, Mayra showed us some sticks on a paper and insisted they were people. She spoke with such conviction, she truly believed the sticks were people… it was heartbreaking. Peter must have been hungry and started talking about an onion. Joselyn brought fire and earthquakes to
Before we knew it, it was lunchtime. I caught Angela looking at me through the corner of her eye. Afraid she’d once again shake me into reality, I got up and went to listen to what was so interesting that had all the men mesmerized in the eating area. I went into the little room stood around for a moment. Observed. Took in the heated conversation and concluded, men are easily entertained. As I walk out of the food area , who do I have before me, yet again… talking, laughing, and up to no good… yes Alma and Zenaida…
Reminder- must talk to Melissa or Ellen about these two. Rosalyn and Maria are pretty tight but I’ve seen no signs of delinquent behavior yet.
After lunch, Ellen and Melissa explained the process in writing a position paper, what elements need to be included and what is expected. I looked around and once again I see a lot of deer caught in the headlights, or maybe I’m just projecting. Ellen then gives us a few moments to think about some issues. At this point, several people take on the task of thinking about the issues they would like to discuss, but of course, there are always the unruly few who decide to get coffee, while others decide to look at some books that were donated by a very sweet looking lady named Joanne Baker. Ellen realizes the deer have gone to graze in the field and calls them back. We begin our discussion on the issues we’d like to tackle in our position papers.
Mayra talked about the importance of comunication and cooperation amongst teachers and Melissa spoke about her interest in the differences in writing in English and Spanish.
At 2:30, Ellen concluded that we looked exhausted, for a brief moment many of us allowed ourselves to dream about leaving early. But Ellen quickly crushed that dream and told us we can take this time to write a manifesto. And so, my colleagues and I gathered up the last of our working neurons and tried as hard as we could to make them produce. At the end of the day, as I walked out of the classroom, Mayras words echoed in my head. They, of course, echoed because my head was empty due to exhaustion of my neurons.
But anyway Mayra’s words echoed in my head as I thought about my position paper and I asked myself “Lo estare hacienda bien”. And I remembered Marni Gillard’s words from the book Story Teller Story Teacher…
We in education know there is little certainty in our work. We grasp for “ten easy steps…” or say “skip the the theory, just tell me how.” But our” hows” need to match our” whys”. Children’s bodies, minds, and souls are in our care, and that enormous responsibility requires us to be utterly conscious of our work. We need to wrestle with our unspoken truths and with our confusion and never stop looking at the beliefs (the whys) on which our practices (the hows) are based. We do this by talking and writing together. Otherwise all that uncertainty, all that false certainty, stays locked in our hearts or sits like concrete in our necks and shoulders. If we are to focus on what children need to grow up safe, strong and smart, we need to risk being less certain.