The Art of Growing in Purposeful Silence

Nearly 600 teachers at this conference and I could only count 6 who were black. I'm the biggest proponent of solidarity. I truly believe that we are one, however, I was utterly disappointed to find myself at a conference that did not reflect this ideology.  This was in Philly, where according to my research, "Black and Latino students showed a 29-point gap in reading proficiency rates compared to White and Asian students." I went to learn from one of my favorite authors, Jenn Serravello. Her books are like my teaching bibles. During the PD she took her expertise from one deminsion to 3-D. Multiple ways to confer with students, seeing data as student work- not standardized tests, and using goal setting to intrinsically motivate students were just a few of my takeaways ... but I was literally in tears, at the fact that other teachers of students who share the same dismally low desire to read as mine (according to the data, Philly children and Baltimore children are pretty

I am an over-thinker. Deeply involved in my own head. Without reading, my perspective would be extremely limited to the messages and ideologies of the mainstream world. So I read to expand my imagination , compassion , and ability to problem solve. The conflict is: not enough people are doing the same. Brains washed and hung to dry and they don't even know it. Collectively, when we gain new ideas, we all have to begin sharing them with people who don't have them. Whether it's an issue of access or exposure, we that know have to help others who don't know. I don't want to build a community of educated intellectuals who have meet ups and talk about books and culture. I want to reach beyond those of us that already understand the importance of learning for ones self. Summits and conferences are cute and fun for networking but I am more interested in going into the neighborhoods and spaces that have never even heard of most of the people we look to as public s

Email me for a PDF of the lesson: ValenciasClassroom@gmail.com