Our Misguided Obsession with Interscholastic Sports: a Provocation
It was thirteen years ago, in March, and I was playing the last game of my first and only year as a member of the Huntsville Havoc, a minor professional ice hockey team based in northern Alabama. I had enjoyed a successful college career, and I was proud to earn money as an athlete, living […]
Improving Equity and Empathy at School
Last spring a group of students representing our Gender Sexuality Alliance asked to have a meeting with our district’s curriculum director and myself. We sat down in my office and the students began to make a calm, thoughtful, and well reasoned case for more LGBTQ+ representation in our curriculum. The students made a persuasive case […]
French Bread Tastes Different When it’s Raining
I worked in a few restaurants when I was younger. I don’t remember all of the names and some that I do I’ll keep quiet about (lest someone should inquire regarding trade secrets gleaned from high quality VHS viewing in the backroom for training). I moved away right after college and have spent most of […]
Speaking Up for Equity Takes Courage — But the Standards Have Your Back
Ruja Benjamin’s keynote at the 2018 Rowland Conference was a call to action. She implored us not just to talk about equity, but to put that knowledge to use, to act! It can be a challenge to determine how to take action against inequity. As educators we can feel disempowered, we may not know how […]
When School Choice Isn’t Really a Choice
When school choice isn’t really a choice…A version of this piece originally appeared at VTDigger.org on 07/02/18 Much has been written about public schools vs. private schools (and vouchers, choices, etc.) in Vermont lately, but nothing I’ve read has gotten to the true heart of the conversation: School choice isn’t really school choice because not […]
A Rumination on Choice
I’ve been thinking a great deal about choice lately. For those who know me and have had the misfortune of being in my physical vicinity, perseverating may be a more accurate choice of words. And it is this very issue – choice of words, choice of action, taking or making choices – that I’d like […]
Equity Begins with Knowing the Heart
Several years ago, as students rolled up their yoga mats and filed out the door at the end of the school day, a senior boy slowed as he passed by. “Thank you for making me not hate Ben,” he said. And then he speeded up and continued on his way. As the loudspeaker announcements competed […]
The Equity Traps within Act 77: Flexible Pathways and Personalized Learning Plans
In Vermont we are actively working as a state to adopt a number of exciting and meaningful school transformation initiatives. One of these involves creating Personalized Learning Plans (PLPs) for each student, starting this year in the seventh grade, that will be a dynamic process to help guide students through multiple pathways towards their post-secondary […]