What They're Saying About Education...or Not

It seems the Democratic presidential candidates are betting on Iraq and healthcare, giving the minute attention they've given thus far to the dire state of American schools. Though the issue has yet to come up seriously in any debate, at least one candidate has given it some thought. Here's what each of them say about education on their respective Web sites:

Hillary Clinton*

• Attracting and supporting more outstanding teachers and principals, and paying them like the professionals they are.
• Reforming the No Child Left Behind Act. This law represented a promise -- more resources for schools in exchange for more accountability -- and that promise has not been kept.
• Increasing access to high-quality early education and helping to create Early Head Start.

*These bullets are the full extent to which she addresses education. They fall within her "Supporting Parents and Caring for Children" issue, one of 10 stand-alone issues.

John Edwards*

• Strengthen Public Schools
• Promote Economic Diversity
• Create Second-Chance Schools for High School Dropouts
• Expand College Opportunity

*Each of these bullets are followed by a one-paragraph explanation; these issues are addressed as part of Edwards' extensive and ambitious plan to "End Poverty Within 30 Years."

Barrack Obama*

• Expand Early Childhood Education
• Innovation to Improve Teacher Quality
• Pay Teachers More
• Reform and Fund No Child Left Behind
• Support Teachers
• Improve Testing and Accountability
• Give More High School Students Access to Rigorous College-level Courses
• Expand Summer Learning Opportunities
• Increase Federal Aid
• Free Up Money for Student Aid and Protect Student Borrowers

*Each of these bullets are followed by at least one paragraph explaining the means by which he would address the issue; education is one of Obama's 14 stand-alone issues. Obama seems to be the only candidate who has paid this issue any worthwhile attention.

PLEASE, PLEASE Watch!!!

Miss Teen South Carolina U.S.A. on U.S. Education. I hope she's not our new spokesperson on the issue!

I guess Courtney was too smart to be Miss South Carolina.

Hawaiian Produce

Produce, not surprisingly, grows remarkably well here. This being a near-perfect tropical climate, a huge range of fruits and vegetables flourish. The downside is, however, that in this global marketplace, it's more efficient to grow most things elsewhere. Thus brings the paradox of seeing trees laden with mangoes on my drive to school, yet seeing "Imported from Mexico" stickers on the $2.50/lb mangoes at Safeway. Or knowing that in many backyards in Hawaii, avocados are dropping like stones right now, yet the grocery stores are charging $2.50/lb for ones imported from Chile.

Alas, a few weeks ago one of my teacher friends from school told me about the local farmer's market. Come to find out, on Sunday mornings, just two miles from our condo, there's a wonderful market with a wide range of local produce. The market is sponsored by a division of the Parks and Recreation Department, and vendors are mandated to offer their produce for about 35% below grocery store prices.

We've since been stocking up on mangoes, apple bananas (short and tangy - much more flavorful than the average banana), avocados, papayas and much more. I'm in heaven! Check out this week's catch below.

Broken Arm

This is a photo of Jacob and Angelica. Jacob is a bright and mischievous guy - very easy to love. Angelica is extremely shy, but very devoted. She was one of my biggest success stories last year, making close to two year's growth in reading comprehension and fluency. She recently broke her arm. This makes things awkward for her, as she's right-handed, so is still using the arm to write. When she's not writing, she often rests it on her desk, elbow down, forearm sticking up in the air. I've now called on her countless times, thinking her arm is raised for a question or comment. This usually startles her, as, because of her shyness, she definitely doesn't like to be called on unsuspectingly. We both usually get a good laugh when this happens.

Young College Hopefuls

I've been trying to subtly lead my students to believe that college, for them, isn't really an "option", it's a given. I registered as a prospective student on a few Hawaii and West Coast university Web sites, and my kids enjoy looking through the college viewbooks. If any of you have any old posters or pennants or anything from your alma maters, I'd love to display it in class. Just shoot me an email for my address.

Hurricane Flossie

I've received a few calls and emails regarding Hurricane Flossie. As it stands now, it should bypass us on Oahu. If you look on the map below, worst-case scenario is that it hits the Big Island which on the map, is the biggest island. Oahu is one of the ones to the left of it, so we're sort of in it's shadow. I imagine we'll get some rain, and the winds have been pretty strong all day today, but no need to worry!

Poetry

Sometimes I feel as if my students are supremely limited in their written communication. Most of them speak Hawaiian Creole Pidgin at home, so writing in Standard English is really difficult - particularly with regard to grammar.

Today we began a unit on poetry, one we unfortunately didn't get to last year. I think it will be a great way for them to throw off the bowlines in their writing, as in poetry, conventions matter very little. Today was a great start - here are some of my favorites. The rules were: no more than three words to a line; no rhyming words.

Braces, by Shayna
Heavy weighted metal.
I'll be heavier.
5 pounds or more.
Bright Lights
Laughter of people.
Giggling around school.
Teasing my braces.

Lunch Lady, by Lyric
I wonder who
is she mean
is she ugly
I hope not
I hear her
saying next loudly
what will happen
will she give
gross food
like eyeballs
or ears or
hands I wonder

Moving Away, by Bailey
throat tightens
tears settle in
lips shut
eyes open
heart turns cool
black out
knees weakening
think of memories
walking away silently

Scared, by Henriette
I was scared
at Maili Beach
A fight started
With my uncle
I was frightened
and started crying
Then cops came
and stopped it.

Untitled, by Jacob
Mr. Landry isn't good
No rhyming words
How could he
I love rhyming
He's still Mr. Landry
He's my teacher
I'm his student
can't do anything
I'll tell Ms. Owen
he took off
his wedding ring.

Supreme Awkwardness

So many situations as a male teacher are awkward. Number one in my book is the hug. As a compassionate individual with 33 young people around everyday, there are countless situations when at any other time, a hug would be a natural occurrence or remedy. The last day of school, when a kid is sick or his or her feelings have been hurt, etc. But alas, I have resorted to the half-hug, and only when initiated. Ka'aina, of previous posting fame, is a bit clingy, so he gets a lot of half-hugs (one arm around the shoulder).

Other awkward situations are one-on-one situations, i.e. tutoring, or when I keep someone in from recess. I basically just make sure there is always more than one student in the room, and parents sometimes request that other students be there if their kid is going to stay for extra help.

One particularly awkward moment was when on the day after school let out I called a couple of students to come help me clean my room. They'd said they wanted to the day before, but try explaining that to a parent. "Hi, can Angelica come to school (when school's out for the summer) to help me scrub some desks?" Courtney can do it and have parents think nothing of it, but if Mr. Landry does it, it's pretty weird.

So, that brings us to today. None of the previous awkwardness has even compared. See, I have a whiz in my class named Josiah. He's a brilliant little guy, part Hawaiian, part Korean. He's incredibly disorganized and habitually late, but so perceptive. He's truly gifted. The latest reading comprehension diagnostics I gave him put him at an 8th or 9th grade comprehension level. This is fantastic in itself, but presents a few minor challenges. The first being I teach 5th grade. Therefore, my classroom library is geared towards 5th graders. I don't have many options for him to have a challenging read. I do, however, have a couple of books. One of which is To Kill a Mockingbird.

On the second day of school, Josiah picks up To Kill a Mockingbird. My initial instinct was "Sweet!!" What teacher wouldn't want his student to pick up that book on his own? But after he took it back to his desk, I started thinking about the content. I remembered that the premise is a rape trial, though, of course the book is about so much more than rape. I thought about how relatively liberal my parents were with me growing up and how if I came across anything I was unfamiliar with, they generally never held information back.

I took the book away, but said I'd call and talk to his parents about it. So today I rang his mom, invited them to open house, then brought up the book. I explained that Josiah was reading on a super-high level, and that makes some books with mature topics accessible for him. I asked if she knew of the story To Kill a Mockingbird, and she said no. That should've been my first clue, but I went on. "Well, this story has a rape in it," I explained, "and I wanted to know if you were ok with him reading it and would just like to talk to him about the content first." Awkward pause. "Oh, no, I don't want him reading stuff like that." I ramble a bit about how I just wanted to check with them first and stuff. Awkward pause # 2. "Well, ok, I hope I see you guys at the open house, bye!"

Ahhh! Lorrdez, my fun-loving, matter-of-fact co-teacher (she teaches math), said I should call her back and explain what the book is about, but I just fear that would make things even more awkward. But I don't know - as it stands, Mr. Landry called to see if Josiah could read a book about rape. Hmm. I just wonder if this would've been as awkward if it were Courtney calling a parent.

Honeymoon Continues - Volcano, HI

As the Big Island came into sight through the airplane window, Courtney and I knew that we were visiting a place wholly different from crowded Oahu. Hilo, the Big Island's biggest and Hawaii's second largest city at 47,000 people, is a quaint, but sleepy town on the island's eastern shore.

Once we picked up our Chevy Cobalt from Avis, we ventured into Hilo town and made the farmer's market our first stop. We were in heaven as the produce was all locally-grown and much cheaper than our neighborhood Safeway. We bought hothouse tomatoes, Japanese (burpless) cucumbers, a giant avocado, mangoes and a huge bag of papayas (this must be peak season as I got 7 for $2!!).

After the market, we explored more of Hilo, then made the 30-mile drive West to Volcano, home of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The Guest Cottage at the Volcano Rainforest Retreat was heavenly, complete with a cozy, but adequate kitchen and a woodburning stove.

The next few mornings we got up early to hike around the national park. It's tough to describe how odd the terrain was at the bottom of the different caldera, but if I had to sum it up in one word, it would be "otherworldly." I kept commenting to Courtney that it seemed like we were on a different planet - minus the few plants springing up now and then. The scene was terrific - the Alpha and Omega. Some parts of the caldera were completely barren, a wasteland representative of a place where all life ceases to exist. Other areas were hopeful and inspiring as Ohia trees and ferns were springing up, almost unbelievably, in the black volcanic rock - proving the fortitude and perseverance of Mother Nature.

Other highlights were walking through an underground lava tube that was once filled with molten magma and steam vents where the the subterranean heat was close enough to the surface to heat rainwater seeping down, turning it to steam.

Check my facebook.com album for photos from this part of our trip.

Honeymoon Begins - Latta, SC

Latta, South Carolina, was a tiny town stuck in a simpler time with tree-lined streets and a downtown post office and library. Everything in walking distance and everything quiet (of course, we were there on a Sunday), tucked just far enough away from I-95 for it to be sheltered from Interstate visitors. Courtney and I left the wedding reception at about 10 p.m. and made the 35-minute drive to Abingdon Manor - a Greek Revival mansion set on a lush yard complete with magnolia trees and an enviable herb garden.

The next morning Courtney and I awoke, feeling pretty well-recuperated from the previous day's festivities, and readied ourselves for church at the quaint Methodist church down the street. We were the obvious newbies in the small congregation, and after the service, Ms. Iratene Henry welcomed us, inviting us to their monthly pot-luck lunch. It didn't take much to convince us, as we hadn't at that point given much thought to where we would have lunch on a Sunday in sleepy little Latta. Ms. Iratene was a very gracious host, introducing us to everyone and quickly making us feel like celebrities (a few folks had seen our picture in the Florence Daily News that morning).

Lunch was a great mixture of summer food with squash casserole, shrimp and grits, deviled eggs and an incredible creamy pecan cake for dessert. We had a wonderful time, and it was a perfect reminder of the generosity and graciousness of small-town America - something Courtney and I have been away from for a long time now.

Monday morning we rode to Charlotte with Courtney's parents and brother, Chris. We connected in Atlanta for the 9-hour plane ride back to Honolulu. Although we were dreading returning home (mainly because it means returning to work), arriving in Honolulu to 75-degree weather and a light Hawaiian mist was definitely refreshing.

Remodeling Update

I laid the tile and Courtney and I painted this bathroom before we left for the mainland. We planned to finish it completely during our one-day visit home between the wedding and the honeymoon. It went down to the wire, but we did finish before we left - leaving it in pristine condition for our new roommate. It seems with remodeling there are endless frustrations and complications, but when it's all said and done, the feeling of accomplishment is overwhelming.

Before



After

Finished!

Courtney and I broke away from the confines of Oahu and are now enjoying the wonderful heat and humidity of Louisiana and South Carolina. We had a great time at our "Cajun Wedding Party" in Jennings, La. My Granny even got Courtney's dad out on the dance floor!

The year ended quickly for us. Our schools were both in disarray towards the end. They manage their disorganization relatively well all year, but as the end of the year rolled around, going to school became a bit of a headache. Learning was definitely not prioritized during the last two weeks, which was pretty unfortunate. Just chalk it up as one more reason why my school is in the state that it's in.

On a happier note, Courtney and I cut loose after our last school day ended and joined some friends for a sunset sail on a catamaran in Waikiki. Here are some photos.

$13,000 Per Student, Per Year!!

The Honolulu Advertiser once again covers an important story on education, but misses the point. In today's article, the newspaper reports the fact that Hawaii schools receive more than $2 million each year in private donations. It even states that some schools have become reliant on these donations, even to cover some operating expenses. The article goes on to tell us that the state spends roughly $13,000 per student per year in public education (Louisiana spends about $7,600).

Where the article misses the point, however, is how in the world a state can spend that much money on public education and still have schools relying on private donations! Not to mention still have crumbling (in a figurative sense) schools. That's absurd!! Punahou, the most elite private school in Hawaii, alma mater of Steve Case (founder of AOL), Michelle Wie (golf phenom) and Barack Obama, charges $14,725/year in tuition. Shouldn't a public education be comparable in quality?

These numbers highlight two major points. First, money is not the issue! Competency is the issue! (one of many, I guess, but a leading contender) Second, there are inane inefficiencies in a system that can spend so much money per student, yet have so little of it trickle down to the classroom. With that kind of a budget, you'd think teachers could be paid a professionally-competitive salary, and all classrooms would be equipped with a set of personal computers. Instead, we have a top-heavy Board of Education bureaucracy hiring a slew of carpetbagging consultants, among many other money-draining endeavors, I'm sure.

The disappointing thing is that nobody is calling them on this. The Honolulu Advertiser's mission is "to chronicle Hawaii's story while being a vigilant partner in helping the Islands shape their future. To be diligent, truthful, accurate and fair. To provide a voice for all the community..." Unfortunately, as I've become accustomed to, the voice of my students is not being provided by this powerful publication.

Ode to New Orleans

Nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina hit, New Orleans is still struggling to find itself and rebuild the vibrant core it once was. My friend Rob is doing his part, volunteering for Habitat For Humanity this month. You can read his musings at Quarry Hill Road.

There was also a wonderfully-written 'Ode to New Orleans' of sorts in today's Times-Picayune by gifted writer Chris Rose. Courtney and I have, as of late, thrown teaching a couple of years in New Orleans into the mix of things we'd be interested in doing post-Hawaii.

Memorial Day Bewilderment

With nearly 3,500 U.S. troops dead and more than 26,000 servicemen wounded, not to mention the more than 100,000 Iraqis killed, this was a poignant Memorial Day for me. I remember attending a lecture at LSU in the spring of 2001, and the lecturer listed all the reasons why Iraq was not capable of an attack on the U.S., and the reasons why a preemptive strike would be the wrong thing to do.

Five years later, those words echo as we've dug ourselves into a quagmire that has destroyed our reputation around the world, made our country exponentially more unsafe, and created a haven for Islamic extremists (in Iraq). It's tough to ignore the parallels to the Vietnam War that also began under the pretense of promoting democracy abroad, and ended in a senseless waste of money and human life.

Each evening, at the end of The News Hour on PBS, the program airs photos of soldiers recently killed in Iraq. Below the photo is the soldier's age and hometown. I'm not sure what saddens me most, seeing the 18 and 19-year-olds fresh out of high school, or the 35-year-olds who probably have three young kids at home waiting for their return. I think everyone who supported this disaster should sit through this photo roll each evening.

Watching this episode unfurl during the past five years has been at times unbelievable, and other times amazingly ironic. In a Christian society that each election cycle debates the value of human life with regard to abortion, we're so easily led into battle and are so quiet in the face of this enormous loss of human life. Equally ironic was tonight's report on The News Hour about proposed cuts to the SCHIP program that provides health insurance to America's least privileged children. Apparently we can't find the money to insure the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters, yet we supported a war that at this point has cost each American family $20,000.

This site compares the cost of the Iraq War to what we could do in healthcare and education with the same amount of money.

Initial White House cost estimates were $50 to $60 billion dollars. Some economists have now predicted that this war will end up costing $1 trillion.

I can try to find the bright spot in all of this and say that we'll learn from our mistakes and a transgression of this magnitude won't happen again. But there isn't a bright spot. As we've seen over and over again throughout history, nationalism and colonialist tendencies are no match for our feigned concern for human life.

A Year's Reflection

Courtney and I are part of the "Sponsor A Teacher" program in Teach For America, where the organization gets corps members to communicate with important supporters and donors. It doesn't require much, just sending a couple of reflections during the year. I wish there was more contact, so that we could really engage in discussion about our experience, but this at least allows us to put some of our reflections down on paper. Here's the recent letter I sent to my sponsor.

"May 21, 2007

Dear Sponsor,

More than 300 days ago, I landed in Hawaii with an inimitable mixture of excitement, curiosity and trepidation. I had no idea what was in store, and still, after nearly an entire school year, can’t fully quantify the ways that this experience has affected me.

What I can quantify, however, are some of the ways that I’ve been able to impact my own students. I’d be remiss to say that I moved every one of my students the elusive two grade levels of growth, but I have collected my share of success stories.

Angelica, one of my smallest, shyest students, has made incredible gains in reading fluency and comprehension. She’s been able to recognize her own progress, and has seen how much her relentless hard work has paid off while moving from a fourth grade to a sixth grade reading level. Ka’au, who had a difficult last year, spending much of it in the principal’s office, has become a leader among his fourth-grade peers. And Jewel has steadily matured into a bright, compassionate young lady, all the while grappling with the disbelief that her father murdered someone in September.

The challenges that I’ve faced, and there have been many challenges, pale in comparison to some of the inherent challenges and roadblocks that my students face in Nanakuli. What I try to do every day is equip my students with the capacity to make the decisions that will steer them in their own direction in life. I recognize my shortcomings in accomplishing this, and will make many changes in the upcoming year; but I also recognize the modest differences that I’ve been able to make in my students’ lives, and I cherish that opportunity.

Thank you sincerely for your support of Teach For America."

Renovation Part 1

In an effort to add some value to our condo, particularly in a cooling real estate market, Courtney and I decided to do a few upgrades. Our place was built nearly 13 years ago, and just about everything but the carpet is original. The prefab cabinetry is beginning to peel, and the appliances were really showing their age. So our first round was to upgrade all of our appliances (fridge, stove and stacked washer/dryer). We found some pretty good deals at the Sears Outlet store. In conjunction with the appliance upgrade, we decided to re-do the master bathroom. It was definitely an undertaking. We ran into a few snags, but nothing insurmountable, and learned a ton along the way. Courtney even broke a sweat once or twice ;) Here are some photos.

Unfortunately, we never really took a before shot of our bathroom before the remodel, so this is a picture of the second bath, which basically had the same layout and fixtures. The vanity light fixture was rusting, and the cabinetry was way outdated. The laminate flooring was a good color, but it just didn't add anything to the room.

Post demolition, installing cement board as a foundation for the ceramic tile. This whole process was brutal on my back and knees. So much so that I took a day off from school to recover.

The final product! After much sweat and bruised knees and knuckles, the project came together beautifully. The ceramic tile is a huge upgrade from laminate rug, and the deep color is refreshing. We're now working up enough stamina to tackle half of the other bathroom before heading home for summer break.

The Zoo!

This week was the end-of-the-year fourth grade field trip to the Honolulu Zoo. My students were so excited. It's really easy from day-to-day to forget that they're such young kids. I demand so much from them academically and behaviorally, that it's easy to ignore the fact that they're just 9 years old. To see them wildly ecstatic was refreshing. Courtney also took the day off of work to join us.

If You Could Travel to Any Period in Time...

If you could travel to any period in time, where would go and why?

"I would go back to caveman time so I could ride dinosaurs!" - Ka'au
"But there weren't any cavemen when dinosaurs roamed the earth." - Mr. Landry
"Oh, well I'd still go back to caveman time." - Ka'au

"I would go to the future to see who I am going to marry." - Lyric

"I would go back to 2003. That was a happy time because my mom used to spend time with me and my sister." - Moani

"I would go back to when my grandma was still alive." - Tresslee

Ed in '08

Yes, I’m alive, and despite the long absence, I’ve been doing a lot of deliberating recently. After a spring break trip back to the mainland, we had a week of state standardized testing – a lightning rod subject in education circles.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) measures educational progress based on these tests, and fourth grade is a benchmark year. I was pretty nervous, and after my own attempt to gauge how my students did, I had plenty of reason to be. I don’t think they fared very well, despite the growth many of them have made. Unfortunately, schools don’t currently get credit for growth – so even if a fourth-grader moves from a first grade reading level to third grade, he/she still can’t hack the fourth grade test.

This is the only criticism I’ll lay on NCLB, as you can hear plenty of it from teachers, administrators and unions across the country. And, quite honestly, I’ve become a supporter of it in principle. The goals are unrealistic, and there are most definitely gaps in the framework, but the way it has brought at least minimal accountability to the classroom is a step in the right direction.

I know I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating. If this experience is teaching me anything, it’s that the problems within our system are ridiculously complex and massive. Because of this, I’ve become wary of any quips and soundbites from critics or politicians – even critics of NCLB because the problems can’t be solved by any simple solutions.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation along with the Broad Foundation are aiming to put education at the forefront of the 2008 presidential discussion. As anyone who’s begun to follow this has already seen, Iraq is dominating the conversation, but the Gates and Eli Broad are hoping that $60 million is enough to grab the nation’s attention. Check it out at www.Edin08.com.