"But without heads!"

While perusing the racks (That's what she said.) at GAP on Friday afternoon, Alex pointed out to me that these two mannequins are dressed exactly the way Jess and I dress. Jess is on the right; I'm on the left. It's sort of uncanny, actually.

How much more yuppie can we get.

role models

I invited Idris Goodwin to speak to some of our kids today, as he is spending this week on campus hosting various events each evening. He was really exciting; the kids seemed really interested in what he had to say. I'm really looking forward to processing some of it with them tomorrow.



One thing I don't want to process them tomorrow is Goodwin's response to the question, "How do you make a living writing poetry?" He answered that in this capitalist society, everybody's gotta sell what they can. When people call Kanye West a sell-out, he went on, that's unfair. Everybody's selling something. He goes around selling his type of hip-hop at poetry slams and at schools. Ms. Dahlke, he continued, comes to school to sell herself.

Yeah, he said that. And yeah, the kids got it.

cultural divide

One of my cousins in Dublin sent me a message via bebo this morning that read:

i'm thinking about coming over for a few months, i cant get a job for my placement n i think im gonna start lookin over there!!!

Hit me back...

So I responded:

you have to!

when would you come? (that's what she said)

And she wrote back:

thats what who said??? what are u talkin about??

Since I don't really believe that Americans actually get the perks that we so often broadcast about ourselves (i.e. all are created equal, land of opportunity, the American Dream), at least I can get excited about this perk of being an American: that's what [s]he said jokes.

come ON

After a lovely morning at the Urbana farmers' market, Kasey and I cut through Lincoln Square Mall on the way to pick up some delicious bagels from Schnucks. I wanted to check out the new piano bar there. I'm so glad we did, because we also got to take a gander at the featured pieces in the window of a local studio photographer, including this one:

hairy wong

Here's the thing about many of the professional development opportunities I've had as a student-teacher. They're insulting to our (student-teachers' and professional teachers') intelligence. They try to "teach" us shit they we've already learned. Today, a well-meaning district official "taught" us what a jigsaw activity is. We also "learned" that having effective classroom management strategies are an important way to enhance student learning.

I'm someone who's most certainly not in teaching for the summers off. I love teaching, and I really believe in the profession's importance. Teachers, I think, have the opportunity to create and nurture a space in which students can talk about the complexities in our communities and in our country (as Obama's speech this morning implored Americans to do!)

My point is, I am not a slacker. I like learning about teaching, and I like reflecting critically on my own teaching. And want to know what I thought the best part our professional development day today was? When the district official said that she was going to show us a clip from a video by a motivational speaker, Harry K. Wong, because the evaluation she received on her last workshop said, "We want more Harry Wong!," one of my colleagues whispered, "That's what she said."

At what point can we assume that everyone in the room, when the room is filled with teachers, knows what differentiated instruction is? Why the constant review of basic concepts in educational psychology? At what point can we move the conversation forward in more productive and creative directions?

I found this when I Googled Harry Wong (ha). Like, seriously? Why do professional development things always have to make teaching out to be the most boring thing in the world?:



I guess this is more of a post for the vlog, huh?

personal victory

Today at school I was able to silence my "That's what she said" reflex not once, but twice. I can't believe it. And let me tell you, I had some killer opportunities.

student: "Ms. Dahlke! Can you come here? I don't know what to do with this thing. It's too long and hard!"

another student: "My locker's broke and I can't get any of my books or homework out."
me: "That sucks. What's wrong with it?"
him: "The thing that you pull on won't come up."

On a more professional note, I think one of the best things about teaching so far has been the large number of times I've been in a position to genuinely compliment someone. With about seventy-five students all working on independent research projects, I've been doing a lot of one-on-one conferencing. It's been great for helping me to get to know each of them, and to take notice of their progress. You know, to see them coming along well (that's what she said?).