TE 818: Synthesis: Theme 2: The History of Curriculum in the United States

I didn’t read the Dewey chapter for my initial post, so I referred to it for an additional perspective for my final post. Two things to say about The Child and the Curriculum. First is that just yesterday I was working with our education service center. The presenter talked about how this particular curriculum included the Performance Indicator (test of sorts) in each lesson so that teachers could keep “the end in mind” so that lesson delivery can build toward that end. And so it has been from the beginning of this curriculum endeavor. The Performance Indicators are always listed at the beginning of the instructional focus documents and the exemplar lesson. I’m going to have to ask one day if they are following Dewey’s model. The second is that I like how Dewey emphasizes that a child has an interest in what is being taught to him. “Appealing to the interest upon the present plane means excitation…” (p. 112). I have served as a new-teacher mentor several times, and one of the points I make to my new teachers is that student learning has to be meaningful in order for them to engage. This is not an original idea of mine. I heard it at one of a hundred professional development sessions, but it made so much sense to me that I pass it along every chance I have. “They must operate, and how they operate will depend almost entirely upon the stimuli which surround them…” (p.114). I do believe it is up to teachers to take the curriculum and find the stimuli that will both meet the curriculum requirements and hold real meaning for the student.

TE 818: Theme 2: The History of Curriculum in the United States

Reading through Schubert's perspectives on curriculum, I immediately identified with the Intellectual Traditionalist. For a moment I thought it was because it was the first one I read, and I linked it to the hypochondriac who believes his/her symptoms match every illness in the book. As I read through the others, I found, as Schubert said, that I was a "blend" of probably two other perspectives, but the main ingredient was that of the Intellectual Traditionalist. The place where I found I most related to the Intellectual Traditionalist was where the textbooks were concerned. I told myself that I didn't consider myself an elitist, unless you count where I try to stay away from textbooks as much as possible because I find them so limiting, particularly in Reading, and I won't even go into how embarrassingly outdated our Science textbooks are. I have been with my district for ten years, and they were already old when I got here. Reel it back in, Lupita. "Too many teachers do not know or appreciate the depth and breadth of their subject, so how can we expect them to inspire others to immerse themselves in it?" (Schubert, p.2). I know that because I am a good reader and writer, I put on a great show for my students when teaching these subjects. I had to develop a better understanding of Texas history and Science in order to put the same effort into those areas, and Math, well, let's say it's a work in progress, and I can tell the difference in my classroom. Where the Social Behaviorist was concerned, I clearly understood the point of hanging on to old courses and/or teachings..."Fish Grabbing with the Bare Hands and Saber-tooth Tiger Chasing with Fire." Times and needs change and we must change with them. Also from the Social Behaviorist's perspective, I related to the "what" and the "how" comments about curriculum as I have gone through a number of trainings where this was reiterated after our district adopted a new curriculum. What also struck me here was the discussion about a needs assessment. I'm assuming someone in Texas put one of these together to develop our TEKS. And they have obviously re-re-revisited that needs assessment many times as our TEKS are now "college readiness" based. I seemed to have a lot to say about the Social Behaviorist quoting Bobbit..I get it, except that by the time their assessment is over, the students who would have benefited most from the assessment are probably out of high school and on not-to-college, or are pursuing the jobs and/or degrees of the previous needs assessment. The students who will receive the instruction based on the new needs assessment will be yrs down the "ladder, " and by the time they reach the job/college world, the results of a new needs assessment will be on the horizon. In other words, there is a HUGE gap between needs assessments and implementing the results to those who would truly benefit from it. The last tidbit I will include about the Social Behaviorist, I'm beginning to think I might swing this way after all, is the discussion about "[T]he multitude of handbooks, encyclopedias, journal articles, synoptic texts, and research reports that exist make it inexcusable that research is not a stronger basis for curriculum development" (Schubert, p.5). I wonder if the idea of a tailor-made curriculum is too daunting for the policy makers. It's interesting that teachers end up tailoring the curriculum to meet the needs of our students on a daily basis. Schwab also makes mention of how educators are only brought into the picture for developing assessments and for evaluation (p.125). In reading the Critical Reconstructionist's reply to the Second Questioner, I began to wonder…would I be perpetuating educational injustices were I not seeking my master's degree? I mean, I would then only be exposed to whatever professional development came down the pike, and I would be responding to my social environment. I believe myself to be a rather intelligent person, and to some extent, I can see having run into some research on the whole thing, and I do see inequities in the system. Finding teaching materials in Spanish alone will suffice. But how time would be lost in the long run?

I have spent a lot of time on this, and I can obviously provide support for each of the perspectives. I will end my observation of Schubert's article by focusing on his reference to Dewey and not to become a "card-carrying" anything. I know it's not the same, or maybe it is, but this is what I think about when we attend a professional development session. There is an underlying pressure to implement every aspect of the training every day in every subject. This is entirely too overwhelming for any teacher. I say, take the best of each training and work with that. After all, if you pay close enough attention, they all tend to overlap one another. Also, do what works best in your classroom and for your students. That ALONE might require you to change your approach from year to year.

I saw in Popkewitz and Schwab's articles that Labaree's idea of education being a "public good" was present. Schwab says "...for societies do not exist only for their own sakes, but for the prosperity of their members as individuals as well" (p.28). So yes, we want students to be able to serve society, but Schwab also emphasized meeting the individual's needs so that they can help out with the public good. Popkewitz was a little more direct, I believe. "These technologies linked public objectives about good health and the moral order of the social body with individual personal health and well-being" (Popkewitz, p.185).

In general, I found Popkewitz's History of Curriculum a difficult read. I did relate to his citing Thorndike that the purpose of education "was to shape the mind and the spirit so the individual can be responsible for her or his progress and trustful of her or his future" (Popkewitz, p.183). I made an instant and personal connection to this. I do believe that we are all responsible for where we allow our education to lead us. I found the establishment of a curriculum in the United States interesting, and did I understand this correctly...the use of the word "all" doomed curriculum to inequities from the onset? And as a final chuckle, I can see Paul Rabinow's (which fittingly I read as "Rainbow" at first) and the whole "education is aesthetic." I have to think about how to make my lessons "look pretty" every day so that I can keep kiddos engaged and interested.

TE 818: Synthesis: Theme 1: Conflicting Notions of the Purposes of Schooling

After reading several TE 818 posts and responding to the required 2 and also reading through the responses on my own post for this theme, I realize that focusing on only one aspect of our readings left most of my thinking unsaid, even on the one point.

I will maintain that education is a commodity to me, in each of the perspectives from which I commented. I can see how it came across a little crass, and perhaps even very black and white. I do, in fact, have a very real love of and enthusiasm for learning which I connect very closely to a formal education. I say these last few words because we all know that not all learning comes within the confines of an academic institution.

I'll refer to my "teacher self" and say that I hope I convey this to my students on a daily basis. I want them to come to school wondering "what will I learn today?" and I want them to leave thinking "Wow! I can't wait to come back tomorrow." That's what I want for them. Do I tell them that they have a better shot in the world with an education? Sure. But I also tell them that if they don't actively participate in their learning, they'll never appreciate where it can take them. I don't think I've ever told them that they need to fill a specific niche in the real world, although the teaching of good character does lend itself to discussion about the kind of person they want to be outside of what occupation and/or career they will hold. And Jillian hit it on the nose in response to my post when she said we're not in teaching to get rich (or something very close to it). I really do work to provide quality learning for my ELLs, more than anything to build their confidence and self-worth. Public good? I will say this, though. I really do wish many more parents would see their child's education as a commodity even if only to light a fire under them to speak up for an equal education for their children, to get them involved and in the schools to see what's going on between teachers and students.

As my "parent self," I know that I have instilled a love of learning in my son. He's always gone off on his own either exploring, reading, or observing. Is that a "private good?" I am now trying to develop in him a sense of loyalty, if you will, or some connection with an institute of higher learning to get him a little more excited about college. He KNOWS he has to go to college, and I suppose that's the "commodity" point of view, but I want him to look forward to it as what may well turn out to be some of the greatest years of his life.

As a student, I will say again that I love learning. I remember when my relationship with my husband started getting serious. I sat him down and told him that my education was very important to me. I didn't know what I was going to be "when I grew up," but I had to complete my degree no matter how long it took. I told him in no uncertain terms that if he could not support that part of me, that it was a real, honest to goodness deal breaker. We could negotiate children, a home, and anything else, but there was no negotiating my education.  I needed that piece of paper. I had no idea where it would lead me, if anywhere at all, but I needed it. As I mentioned in my original post for the cycle, I know that a degree from MSU carries more weight than one from the local university (commodity), but this degree is really for private/personal reasons.

So much to say about this. I don't know if I packaged my thoughts any better than I did the first time in trying to provide the flip side of my original post. "Too many minds..." as one character says in The Last Samurai.

TE 818: Conflicting Notions of the Purposes of Schooling

I just spent the entire day writing a reading lesson plan for my grade-level for the upcoming week. It was late. It was due at the very latest this past Friday. One of the reasons that it took so long is that I was working to create a lesson which would engage students from the onset and prompt them, or lead them to that higher order thinking that the entire educational world speaks of. But how does that get accomplished in a one-hour block each day, in two languages, with accommodations for special education, GT, and RTI students, and pending benchmarks and three grades due for the grade book each week? Talk about losing sight of the purpose of schooling.

Labaree talks about social mobility in education, making education a commodity. At the elementary level, particularly in our bilingual classes, we don't see much of the parents who are fighting to make sure that their child/student is being distinguished in the classroom. We see them at award ceremonies at the end of the school year which indicates that they, too, see the value of academic success. However, the benefit to their children would be immensely multiplied were their interest year round.

As a parent, I see education as a commodity. I removed my son from the school district that I work in after his elementary years. As a district employee, I was privy to the state test academic outcomes of the middle schools available to my son. In addition, there were several instances in which the very teachers at the middle school level were not very flattering with their comments about their own schools. I also did not want my son to go to school to participate in a drill-and-kill academic environment. I placed him in a charter school, and so far, I am convinced it was the best decision we could have made for him. The school does resort to test-taking practice and/or strategy sessions as testing approaches, but for the most part, I see that a "real" education is being provided. I see that his school diploma and the college readiness that is highly and publicly emphasized will weigh more heavily than my school district's high school diploma when it comes time for college applications.

As a student I see that education is a commodity as well. Having received my bachelor's degree at the local university, I feel that it does not weigh as heavily as if I had received one from MSU or Texas A&M. In my decision to attend graduate school, I could have had that out of the way years ago if I would have simply enrolled in the local university's graduate program. I did not see how that would enhance my education. Some people see it as a chip on my shoulder, and perhaps it is, but I dare anyone to tell me that a master's in education from UT Brownsville weighs the same as a master's in education from MSU does. By the same token, I have a sister who does not have a college education, but who worked her way up through management levels of a retail chain which shall remain nameless, and now has a management position at a pharmacy chain which, too, shall remain nameless. She makes crazy amounts of money more than I do and never had a student loan to repay, much less a second one. Now let's compare the exchange value of her high school diploma and my pending graduate degree. She wins. In terms of salary, anyhow.

As a school teacher, I see education as a commodity, too. Its basic value and exchange value are different from those of my personal life. I want my bilingual students to be able to compete with all students at their grade level, in fourth grade as much as in subsequent years. Their ability to perform in English becomes an academic as well as a social issue for them. There is somewhat of a lingering stigma about the quality of a bilingual education in our school system. In my classroom, I work to provide an equal education for them, but I don't know what happened before me or what will come after. Another way that education becomes a commodity for me is that of accountability. The exchange value in this aspect is a high one in terms of job security. This is where the purpose of education becomes somewhat skewed. Was I hired and kept on to teach, to provide what I consider a "real" education to elementary school children, or was I hired to meet state-mandated testing requirements? I ask this question because before becoming a teacher, I worked at that local university from which I received my bachelor's degree. It was fed primarily from the local high schools which were achieving recognized and exemplary status for state test performance. Curiously, though, there were a large number of remedial courses having to be offered to these students. Now the question becomes, "What is the REAL exchange value of passing high school level state-mandated tests?" This does, in fact, place a huge strain on classroom instruction.

My goal for this year is to provide the best education for my students whether they choose an academic or vocational future.

TE 818: Introduction Post

Hello, All.

My name is Lupita Ochoa. On our course roster and on the book club list, you will see my name listed as Maria Guadalupe Ochoa. One-and-the-same, I promise. I tried for about an hour and a half to get a neat little video done to upload as an introduction, but finally gave up.

This is my second semester of the MATC program. I started my undergraduate studies at MSU (Go GREEN!) in 1990, but was unable to complete my bachelor's degree, so successful completion of the MATC program is hugely significant to me.

I am in my 11th year as an educator in south Texas, mostly as a 4th grade teacher. The past 3 years have been one heck of a roller coaster ride. It started off leaving my campus to move to a brand new campus. About 4 weeks later, I received a letter that I had been assigned to a Kindergarten classroom. Who does that to a 4th grade teacher? I thought the best thing to do was introduce myself to my new administrator and ask, beg if necessary, if the possibility of a grade change existed. Fortunately, it did. I started off the 2011-2012 school year as a 3rd grade teacher. Did that for 9 weeks before I was moved to a 4th grade classroom (ah, home again). Started the 2012-2013 school year as a 4th grade teacher. Did that for five (yes, five) days before I was promoted to an Instructional Specialist. Ended the school year thinking I'd be doing that for at least another 3 years. I was wrong. A board of trustees decision eliminated the position across the district, and so now I'm back in a 4th grade classroom (ah, home again). As an added bonus, our district is participating in a grant which, long story short, has me capped at 14 students, and only 13 of them showed up. How great is that!?!

I am an EC-4 Bilingual Generalist certified teacher, so I have worked with ELLs my entire career. Last semester I had to rely on memory to relate to course topics, so I am really looking forward to making direct and current connections to my studies in this semester. I have my note-taking notebook ready to go.

I currently don't have any spare time, but I'm going to work on it. I'd like to up my running abilities from zero to 5k by November 9th. The Color Run is in town and I've already paid my fee. I like to read. I keep saying I'd like to read a good mystery, but I haven't picked one up since grade school. Still can't get through Anna Karenina, but did finally read Pride and Prejudice. I like to plan our summer family vacations to places we've never been before. This summer we spent a few days in Colorado Springs, and next year we're looking at Dallas.

Looking forward to the course. I'll work on that video post, too.

Concluding Post (TE 823; Summer 2013)

Esteemed Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction;

For the 2012-2013 academic school year you made an attempt to help our new school improve on the dismal state exam results of 2011-2012. Thank you for taking such a dedicated interest in our campus. Teachers were excited and welcomed any and all assistance. However, the approach was one that only addressed state testing. It did not address our students in the manner that is readily expressed to us at the beginning of the year convocation where we are urged to know our students so that we can address underlying problems in their education or help to motivate them to excel and succeed. It was not in a manner that challenged teachers by stating “if you continue to do things the way you always have, you will continue to get the same results.” Instead, a consultant with a product to sell was sent to our campus, and state-mandated testing end results were the highlight of our teaching. Although test preparation could have been incorporated into the delivery of instruction, it should not have been the dominating factor. I believe there was a grossly missed opportunity here.

Opening a new school presented the perfect opportunity to implement those changes that are so vocally called for at the beginning of every school year. We had the opportunity to know that “every grade has a face, has a name, has a story.” Our school could have been, and I believe still can be, the model for the use of Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design (Tomlinson and McTighe, 2006).

Differentiated instruction, through staff meetings and even professional development sessions offered by the district, is somewhat pigeon-holed to address struggling learners. We see differentiated instruction as something that applies only to students labeled in special education and/or students who require remediation. In short, we see it as the “prescription” for those students who are not passing a given subject matter or for those students who would not pass otherwise. It is watered down to mean modifications and accommodations. At this point, rather than to view differentiated instruction as a benefit to the student, it is viewed as extra work for the teacher.  However, if we were to view differentiated instruction as an entirely different way of teaching every student every day in every subject area, rather than strictly modifications and accommodations, we would have an entirely new ball game. If we were to look at differentiated instruction beginning at the teacher level, have the teacher understand that we are going to live up to those beginning of year statements and change the manner in which we deliver instruction so that it is meaningful to those grades with faces and names, then we have a new level of learner understanding to look forward to in the coming months and years.  If we differentiate delivery of instruction from the outset, we will not only challenge ourselves out of our comfort zone, but I truly believe that our students will rise to the occasion.

Where we define differentiated instruction as an addition to our already burgeoning workload, Tomlinson and McTighe state that they “have ample evidence that students whom we often think of as “low performing” fare better with rich, significant curriculum” (p.84). Additional research references indicate that low performers “increase their grasp of advanced skills at least as much as their high-achieving counterparts when both experience instruction aimed at meaning and understanding” (p.84, citing Knapp, Shields, & Turnbull, 1992, p.27). Clearly defined lesson expectations for all students and clearly defined outcomes with rubrics to indicate appropriate completion can be laid out for all students. Drill and kill is not the best learning approach for any student because it doesn’t have meaning. Is the memorizing of multiplication facts or significant dates in history important? Certainly, but if a student does not know how to apply those rote skills to real world situations, it will not mean anything to him and will be lost as quickly as they were gained. The student will also not have the ability to apply it to standardized testing questions, which quickly becomes our primary goal.

One potential toward Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design to consider is taking a step back from, and maybe even leaving behind, the teacher editions/manuals. A teacher edition/manual could very well be the downfall to differentiated instruction. My son had a teacher who refused to deviate from the reading teacher manual. I could tell the day of the week from the homework he had. We mustn’t fall prey to what the sales representative tells us about their product. “Although the…textbook can proclaim it, few students will comprehend its meaning without some active intellectual work, guided by the teacher (p.108). Teachers cannot chain themselves to the teacher manual. There is very little differentiated instruction offered, and that which is available is, again, addressed to the strugglers or the high achievers. There is no suggestion of different instruction.  In addition, many of the teacher manuals repeat the instructional routine every week with no variance to introduction of a concept or skill, delivery of instruction, or assessment. This can provide some semblance of classroom management, but wouldn’t it be just as easy to maintain respect within the classroom community through student engagement in authentic learning situations? “When a teacher comfortably and appropriately uses an array of instructional strategies, tasks become more engaging to learners” (p.52).  Through Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design (DI and UbD), teachers maintain an active role through presenting the content/concept of instruction and by providing needed and essential guidance. However, “[T]he UbD emphasis on “uncoverage” of meaning (vs. “coverage” of the content) arises from our awareness that understanding must be constructed by the individual” (p.85). On still another note, at a recent Education Service Center ELAR training, we were informed that no textbook adoption in the state of Texas includes (auto)biographies which are a state-tested genre. If we are sticking to the textbook and teacher editions for assurance in “coverage of the content,” then we have come across a potentially damaging gap. Further more, as teachers we should use the “knowing of our students” to guide our delivery of instruction alongside the ideas of DI and UbD to see past grabbing the typical copy of a Cesar Chavez biography and reach for about Selena Gomez, Sin Cara, Ellen Ochoa, and Hector Cantu and Carlos Castellanos instead because the “different individuals [in our classrooms] will construct meaning fro their different experiences, abilities, and interests…” (p.85). “We are [also] teachers of human beings” (p.39). Our human beings happen to be Hispanic, bi-lingual, and some even Spanish-speaking only. We should envelope them in the richness of their culture and surroundings so that they know that they are a living breathing part of their environment.

In making this change, we will not be back at square one, perhaps one foot in square one and one in square two, but not entirely at the beginning. We already have a strong foundation for the implementation of differentiated instruction through specific professional development sessions. Kilgo trainings and CSCOPE rollouts have talked to us about identifying verbs in our Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). CSCOPE already has Performance Indicators laid out for each unit where the targeted TEKS are addressed, and these Performance Indicators in many instances are project-based, feeding directly into DI and UbD. In addition, the sheltered instruction initiative that our campus embarked on last year addresses similar ideas to that of Figure 3.1: Planning Template (p.30), Figure 3.2: Planning Template with Design Questions (p.31), and Figure 6.1: Instructional Strategies That Support Various Teacher Roles (p.87). We have this knowledge to get off to a strong start, but “[R]esearch [also] suggests to us that few teachers in fact translate that ideal (attending to learner variance) into classroom practice” (p.39). At our campus, as part of being a Title I-funded school, we engaged in a book study of The Fundamental Five which speaks to transparency of the content of instruction and the expectation after all the learning has been done as do DI and UbD.

Implementing a new style of teaching brings to light many questions and anxiety. We must remember and be continuously reminded that we are not starting entirely from scratch. One proactive way to view the pending change is to note that if we prepare a lesson with differentiated instruction for all in mind, then we will not have the additional task of having to do so for only a handful of students. It will be built-in to the day’s routine. An added bonus is that we have a substantial amount of professional development based on research under our belts and still available to us and experienced educators available share their bag of tricks. And in terms of cost effectiveness, the experienced educators are in-house…free! In addition, there are surely at least a handful of teachers who already strive to teach in this “new” manner, they dimply do not recognize that it is, in fact, whole-class Differentiated Instruction.

There is still time.  We are on the threshold of a new school year and because we are a new campus, are not faced with the same state testing number issues with which other campuses in our district are. It should be a directive and actively monitored and feverously supported. There should be collaboration amongst our teachers and administrators. We can make this change for our school, for ourselves as teachers, and most importantly for our students.

Cycle Three: Schools as Embryonic Communities

I may have mentioned before that the school that I am assigned to is our district's first "green school." The first "oooo"s and "aaahhh"s come from the gadgets and/or characteristics that qualify our school as a "green school." I will attach a link in a response to this post about just that. But, now what? What are we going to do with this designation? The school district community was excited at the onset, but you can pretty much tell that interest has waned, even for the teachers who work there, and, since our students were never introduced to much more than the solar panels in the two creation stations we have, I don't think they really care either. Picture this: A student wearing a/our school shirt, stopped by a member of the community who asks the student to tell them a little something about what makes their school green and the school's characteristics relate to their learning, and the student can't answer. What a saddening thought. And still another, perhaps, perhaps not, unrelated thought: What a waste of money!

I will say that at the onset of the 2012-2013 school year, I had big plans about how to engage our students in their learning environment. My first thought was that we could set up a milk weed butterfly garden and eventually witness the monarch butterfly migration in our own back yard. When my position changed, I became occupied with other school matters. I will not dote on the lost, but rather focus on the fact that I recruited and totally snatched a science teacher from another school who spent a summer in Wisconsin working with a monarch butterfly program. I'm hoping she can bring my idea to fruition. I don't know if this idea fits the mold of the embryonic community, but I definitely see it as a step in the right direction. The idea is that students will be engaged in the planning, construction (to the extent that elementary students can be), and maintenance of the butterfly garden. When they take ownership of the project, when we saturate "him with the spirit of service, and providing him with the instruments of effective self-direction, we shall have the deepest and best guaranty of a larger society which is worthy, lovely, and harmonious" (Dewey, p.20). I would love it if the entire project was initiated with "activity on the part of the children preceded the giving of information on the part of the teacher, or where the children had some motive for demanding the information," (Dewey, p.23). INQUIRY! I can see the smoke emitting from many tiny heads now. We, meaning my school, have a genuine space and premise for learning. Wouldn't this talk directly to "[P]ersonalizing the school environment is a central goal of effort to transform America's schools" (Felner, Seitsinger, Brand, and Burns, and Bolton)? Our student population desperately needs a concrete connection to their education. I often tell my students that they have to take responsibility for their own learning, but that means nothing to them. The statements in "Creating Small Learning Communities...About "What Works" in Creating Productive, Developmentally Enhancing, Learning Contexts" about "...bringing the learner in as a full and respective participant..." and "...engaging the student more deeply through building on connections..." really seemed to address my idea about taking our green school to an actual academic level for our students rather than have it become stagnant as a green school in name only.

Shifting from the "embryonic communities" focus, the Lieberman and Miller chapters were highly engaging for me, particularly the information about the National Writing Project. Many-a-winter I have invested time and energy in researching New Jersey Writing Project dates in my area. I have not had the pleasure of attending due to planned family vacations or summer district professional development. This year I got a little closer. A long-time colleague and friend attended the The New Jersey Writing Project as a district (not my district) initiative and is sharing some valuable information and insight with me. One day.

And loosely tying into were the references to professional development and particularly teacher buy-in. The premise of a collegial culture where teachers "move beyond consensus...and they go deeper to uncover and analyze problems" (Lieberman, Miller p.19) is one that I have experienced, if only at an introductory level, with my aforementioned long-time colleague. We have been working together on a project with our education service center and have engaged in some in-depth conversation about students and instructional practices. What I notice is that we both have a genuine interest in what happens in the classroom and with our students. From personal experience at one or two campuses I have been at is that constructive criticism, no matter how constructive, is uncomfortable and quite frankly unwelcome. There was so much in the Lieberman, Miller Chapter 2 that I could relate to in terms of what does and doesn't happen with and among teachers in professional development and implementation.

In the 2013-2014 school year, I am headed back to the classroom as a result of school board action. I am excited. I hope to take much, if not most, of what I have read and learned to provide a quality education to the little "esquinkles" (term of endearment which may not be a real word even in Spanish) who walk through my door next month.