DAZZLE

The goal of core service is to satisfy the customer; the goal of customer service is to DAZZLE the customer!  Barbara Glanz

What can we do to DAZZLE our Esperanza stakeholders?

Book Mobile

I LOVE this!!!  Want to find ways to use something similar at Esperanza. 

More Than a Degree

I don't share this to encourage us to discourage our Esperanza scholars from going to school but as a reminder that vision, persistence, and hard work can take a person a long ways. 

Field Trips for All of Us

This was a reminder how beneficial "field trips" can be to help us keep a balanced life. 

Music and the Spoken Word

Delivered On: June 10th 2012
Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell

Look Around You

A traveler once pulled into a gas station and asked the attendant how far it was to the Grand Canyon. "About 170 miles” was the answer.

"What’s it like there?” the traveler asked.

"I don’t know. I’ve never been there,” the attendant answered.

The traveler was shocked. "You mean to tell me you live this close to the Grand Canyon and you’ve never visited it?” Then he thought for a moment and said, "I guess I can understand that. I live in New York City, and I’ve never visited the Statue of Liberty.”

The gas station attendant exclaimed, "I’ve been there!”1

When was the last time you visited a place of interest in your community? Do we sometimes become so accustomed to our surroundings that we are blind to the beauty around us?

Field trips are not just for school children. Whether it’s down the street or across the town, there are many things to see and experience in every community: a historical marker, a walking trail, a museum, a factory or farm, a sanctuary or garden, to name just a few.

A daughter, now grown with children of her own, fondly remembers how her father would occasionally pile the family in a car and go on a Saturday field trip—after the chores were done. They did not have time or money to go very far, but they discovered all kinds of sights and adventures close to home. Now she tries to do the same with her family.

You don’t need to get in an airplane and fly across time zones to go on a field trip. Right where you live there are things to learn about and do, discoveries to be made, and sights to see.

Look around you. Don’t let the opportunities pass you by. Don’t let the school children have all the fun.

Being Tested Is Part of the Process

I listened this morning to a BYU Devotional Speech that Elder Robert D. Hales gave Sept. 14, 2010.  Although his speech was focused on spiritual things, I feel that there were some lessons in his speech for us at Esperanza. 

We will be tested, often to our limit. And the greatest blessings will be based on how well we endure our tests.  They [tests/challenges] are provided for a reason—so that we can become and accomplish what we were sent to the earth to be and to do.

[What we are to be} won’t come without challenges, and it won’t come about all at once.  We are prepared line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. And that always

Elder Hales told a story I have never told before to explain how we can move forward.  “As a boy, I had the job of shellacking a wooden floor. As I neared the end of the task, my father found me in a terrible predicament. He literally stood at the door and laughed. I had worked from the only door to the far end of the room. I had painted myself into a corner, without a window. There was no escape! At that point I had two choices: sit down and accept being stuck for many hours until the varnish dried or walk back across the floor, undoing all I had done. I knew what it would take to refinish it properly. The sanding and refinishing—I knew what was ahead of me, and so did my father.”

Through our choices “we are either choosing to move toward a new door with many possibilities or into a closed corner with very few options. “

Master Rather Than Servant of Technology

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/

This is a great program that I encourage all of our Esperanza stakeholders to watch.  It a reminder of why we want technology to serve our Esperanza goals rather than becoming technology's servant. 

I am now reading the Dumbest Generation by Mark Bauerlein, one of the people interviewed in this documentary. 

One Child At a Time

Banned Books

I definitely feel that we need to be careful about the books we expose our children to, but some of these books are some of my favorites. 

What Employees Really Want

From Kevin Eikenberry:  What Employees Really Want


Reason Why. People want to do work that matters. Help people see the big picture in their work. Connect their work (or help them connect it) to the larger, aspirational mission of your team or organization. This bigger picture will make a big difference.
Clear expectations. We all want to know what is expected – what a target for success is. If expectations change, let people know – and engage them in that conversation. How can people meet your expectations if they don’t know what they are? Do they know?
Relationship. People don’t want to work for a paycheck, they want to work for and with people. That goes for you as their boss and their co-workers. How often do you share a kind word, give specific encouragement, or check in to see what they need? These mean more than you will ever know – unless you realize how much they matter from your boss.
Targets. Human beings are goal oriented beings. Give people something to shoot for. When these targets are connected to the big “why,” magic occurs.
Freedom. Even in the most process-oriented and procedurally-focused jobs, there is room for personal approaches. Give people some latitude within the framework. You will get higher levels of commitment, and likely process improvements too!
Input. Ask questions. Shut up. And listen. People have valuable perspectives. They want to share it. So ask for their input and value it.
Future. Help people see themselves in a future they desire – and help them get there. That future may or may not be the one you see them in, so you must ask. Then do what you can to support and encourage them to reach that future.

The Arts

This picture says it all!

Teaching History

When teaching history we need to remember that we are still writing it. 

 

 

 

 

Published on The Root (http://www.theroot.com)

Home > When Were Blacks Truly Freed From Slavery?

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When Were Blacks Truly Freed From Slavery?

By: Hillary Crosley

Posted: June 15, 2012 at 12:22 AM

For Juneteenth, The Root investigates the blurred line of emancipation in America.

(The Root) -- Though President Abraham Lincoln ended slavery with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, slaves in Texas had no knowledge of their freedom until two and a half years later. On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston and declared the end of the Civil War, with General Granger reading aloud a special decree that ordered the freeing of some 200,000 slaves in the state.
Because of the delay, many African Americans started a tradition of celebrating the actual day slavery ended on June 19 (also known as Juneteenth). But for some, their cheers were short-lived. Thanks to the South's lucrative prison labor system and a deceptive practice called debt peonage, a kind of neo-slavery continued for some blacks long into the 1940s. The question then arises: When did African Americans really claim their freedom?
Chattel slavery in the classic sense ended with the Civil War's close and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Reconstruction followed, creating new opportunities for African Americans who owned and profited from their own land and dug into local politics.
"It's important not to skip over the first part of true freedom," says Douglas Blackmon, author of Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans From the Civil War to World War ll and co-executive producer of the eponymous documentary film. "Public education as we know it today and the first property rights for women were instituted by African-American elected officials."
But the social achievements were fleeting.
"Put yourself in that place," Blackmon says. "You're enslaved, then liberated for 30 years, and then all of a sudden, a certain group of people begin a campaign to force you back into slavery."
Across the South, laws were instituted that stripped African Americans of their rights, making celebrations like Juneteenth a distant memory. A prison-labor paradigm developed. Jail owners profited from the hard labor of their black inmates who were incarcerated for petty crimes like vagrancy, which carried long sentences.
Prisons sold their workforce to nearby industrial companies to work as coal miners, for example, for as much as 9 dollars a month, and inmates were often worked to death. Elsewhere, whites fabricated debt owed by blacks, forcing them into peonage and trading years of free work for their freedom, a practice that spread across the Bible Belt.
"Black people had been seen as chattel for many years and just because someone says that we're free doesn't mean everyone bought into it," says Sam Pollard, who directed the documentary film adaptation of Slavery by Another Name, which aired on PBS earlier this year. "It's racism and how whites perceive us; some see us as people who shouldn't have any kind of rights."
But in 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved against that notion. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor during World War II by Japanese troops, Roosevelt signed Circular No. 3591 (pdf), giving teeth to the Anti-Peonage Law of 1867, which criminalized the practice. Dispatching a federal investigation, Roosevelt's team prosecuted guilty whites and effectively ended peonage in 1942.
However, African-American second-class citizenship has reappeared as a result of the war on drugs and draconian laws created during the 1980s. As civil rights litigator and author Michelle Alexander points out in her recent book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, the subjugation of African Americans through criminalization continues through the prison industrial complex.
"Racial caste is alive and well in America," Alexander wrote in the Huffington Post. "Here are a few facts ... There are more African Americans under correctional control today -- in prison or jail, on probation or parole -- than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began. As of 2004, more African-American men were disenfranchised (due to felon disenfranchisement laws) than in 1870, the year the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified, prohibiting laws that explicitly deny the right to vote on the basis of race."
But Blackmon explains that the American economy doesn't rely on prison labor for major financial gain the way the New South did. For that reason, he is hopeful that the prison industrial complex won't evolve into a form of modern-day slavery.
"As the crime rates have dramatically dropped in the last decade, people have begun to feel less threatened," Blackmon offers. "Now they can open their eyes and say, 'Why are these young men who really didn't do much of anything in jail?' "
Hillary Crosley is the New York bureau chief of The Root.

One-on-One Time

Yesterday on "Music and the Spoken Word" Lloyd Newell's words had to do with the importance of having one-on-one time with your children.  I believe that the same could be said for teachers.  It could be having lunch with the teacher or doing a certain activity together. 

I remember doing this when I taught at Realms.  One activity that stands out in my mind is going on a bike ride with Ben Jones--the activity that he chose. 

Small and Simple Things

I listened this morning to the BYU Devotional speech given by Stanley Johnson on June 5, 2012.  His talked was based on the principle that great things are brought to pass through small and simple things. 

One thing he shared that stuck with me was that loaded trains don't jump the track.  In other words, when we are loaded down with our Esperanza responsibilities, it is time to stay on course...and countinue to do the small and simple things that will make a difference. 

Background Knowledge

This is amazing!  It reminds me of something Luc from Salt Lake City School District used to show the importance of background knowledge.  He had us fill in words to a fairy tale and reminded us how difficult it would be for an English Language Learner to do it. 

Image of Self

Books In the Home

The Home Library Effect: Transforming At-Risk Readers

 By Justin Minkel

Melinda started 2nd grade with everything against her. She lives in poverty, her mom is not literate in English or Spanish, and she was severely abused at the age of 6. At the beginning of the year, she owned only one book.

Despite these barriers, Melinda made extraordinary academic progress. She moved from a kindergarten level (a four on the Developmental Reading Assessment) to a 4th grade level (a 40) in the two years she was in my class. Her demeanor changed: She began smiling and laughing more often, and she became a confident scholar.

Part of the reason for Melinda's growth is elusive—that combination of resiliency, strength, and utter grit that awes those of us lucky enough to teach these remarkable children. But another reason for her success is simple—instead of one book at home, Melinda now has a home library of 40 books.

The Project

We called our classroom adventure "The 1,000 Books Project." Each of the 25 children in my class received 40 books over the course of 2nd and 3rd grade, for a total of 1,000 new books in their homes.

The project was simple to launch. Scholastic donated 20 books per child, and I purchased the other 20 through a combination of my own funds, support from individuals and local organizations, and bonus points. The kids received three types of books each month: copies of class read-alouds, guided reading books, and individual choices selected from Scholastic’s website.

Working with family members, each child chose a space to become a home library, ranging from a cardboard box decorated with stickers to a wooden bookcase. Through class discussions and our class blog, the students talked about everything from how they organized their libraries to their favorite reading buddy at home.

The total cost for each student's home library was less than $50 each year, a small investment to move a struggling reader from frustration to confidence.

Growing Readers

These 25 students made more progress in their reading than I have experienced with any other class. By the end of the project's second year, they had exceeded the district expectation for growth by an average of nine levels on the DRA and five points on the computerized Measures of Academic Progress reading test. And they made this growth despite formidable obstacles to academic success—20 of the 25 are English language learners, and all but one live in poverty.

The shift in the students' home libraries reflects their growth as readers—the first book every child received was the picture book Where The Wild Things Are, and the 40th book was the novel The Lightning Thief, which is geared toward 5th and 6th graders.

While the numerical data on my students' achievement is encouraging, it is their stories that will stick with me. The exhilaration that blazed through the room each time another massive box from Scholastic arrived. The rainy day of indoor recess when the kids made up "The Fantastic Mr. Fox Game" based on our read-aloud and ran around shrieking gleefully, the baby foxes fleeing the vile hunters. The kind of question a teacher loves to hear: "Can we take the poetry books out to recess today?"

I watched child after child become a different kind of writer, thinker, and human being because of his or her growth as a reader.

Closing the Book Gap

Jonathan Kozol has called it "the shame of the nation": the educational gap between children born poor and children born into affluence. To close that gap, we need to look beyond the hours students spend in class to the hours they spend at home. A 2001 study by Susan Neuman and Donna Celano found that the ratio of books to children in middle-income neighborhoods is 13 books to one child, while in low-income neighborhoods the ratio is one book to 300 children.

This "book gap" is easier to erase than the more complex barriers involved in poverty. Richard Allington found that giving children 12 books to take home over the summer resulted in gains equal to summer school for lower-income children, and had twice the impact of summer school for the poorest of those children.

All this without worksheets, extrinsic rewards, or sitting in a stifling classroom in the middle of July.

Home reading surveys showed that at the beginning of 2nd grade, my students had access to an average of three books at home. Increasing this number to 40 or more books had far-reaching effects. Students' fluency improved because the children could engage in repeated readings of favorite "just right" books, and parents reported increased time spent reading at home during weekends, holidays, and summer break.

The only incentive for this increase in reading time was intrinsic: the pleasure each child felt in reading his or her own book, beloved as a favorite stuffed animal.

Family Literacy

The home libraries have also had a tremendous impact on each child's love of reading, which has ignited that same love of books in their parents, siblings, cousins, and friends. Several students told me their parents, brothers, and sisters have now placed their own books and magazines in what has become the family's home library. Ava said to me on a field trip during the last week of school, "Mr. Minkel, I just finished reading The B.F.G. to Esperanza [who is 4], and she liked it! I even think Yesica [who is 2] understood it, because she was laughing at the part about whizz-poppers!"

When I expressed surprise at how much progress Melinda had made since the last time I'd done the DRA with her, she said, "Well, you know those books you gave me? Now when my mom and my little sister are watching TV, they say, 'Melinda, read to us!' So we turn off the T.V., and I do." This courageous 7-year-old girl has become the one literate person in her family, and her ability to read has changed the fabric of her family's evenings.

A Simple Truth

The world of the classroom is incredibly complex. But for those of us fortunate enough to teach, we have discovered certain simple truths. Build a relationship with each child through one-on-one moments, whether it's a conversation while taking a running record or a hug goodbye at the end of the day. Listen carefully to what our students say, and pay close attention to what they do and create. Laugh a lot.

This is my newest addition to that list of simple truths: To help kids develop a love of reading, put great books in their hands. Then watch in amazement as their worlds change.

Justin Minkel teaches 2nd and 3rd grade at Jones Elementary in northwest Arkansas. He is the 2007 Arkansas Teacher of the Year, a 2011 National Board-certified teacher, and a member of the Teacher Leaders Network. He is currently writing a book for teachers on Common Core-aligned instruction at the eleme

Quality

 

This favorite story by John Galsworthy is perfect for Esperanza! 

Quality

By John Galsworthy

I knew him from the days of my extreme youth, because he made my father’s boots; inhabiting with his elder brother two little shops let into one, in a small by-street-now no more, but then most fashionably placed in the West End.
That tenement had a certain quiet distinction; there was no sign upon its face that he made for any of the Royal Family—merely his own German name of Gessler Brothers; and in the window a few pairs of boots. I remember that it always troubled me to account for those unvarying boots in the window, for he made only what was ordered, reaching nothing down, and it seemed so inconceivable that what he made could ever have failed to fit. Had he bought them to put there? That, too, seemed inconceivable. He would never have tolerated in his house leather on which he had not worked himself. Besides, they were too beautiful—the pair of pumps, so inexpressibly slim, the patent leathers with cloth tops, making water come into one’s mouth, the tall brown riding boots with marvellous sooty glow, as if, though new, they had been worn a hundred years. Those pairs could only have been made by one who saw before him the Soul of Boot—so truly were they prototypes incarnating the very spirit of all foot-gear. These thoughts, of course, came to me later, though even when I was promoted to him, at the age of perhaps fourteen, some inkling haunted me of the dignity of himself and brother. For to make boots—such boots as he made—seemed to me then, and still seems to me, mysterious and wonderful.
I remember well my shy remark, one day, while stretching out to him my youthful foot:
“Isn’t it awfully hard to do, Mr. Gessler?”
And his answer, given with a sudden smile from out of the sardonic redness of his beard: “Id is an Ardt!”
Himself, he was a little as if made from leather, with his yellow crinkly face, and crinkly reddish hair and beard; and neat folds slanting down his cheeks to the corners of his mouth, and his guttural and one-toned voice; for leather is a sardonic substance, and stiff and slow of purpose. And that was the character of his face, save that his eyes, which were grey-blue, had in them the simple gravity of one secretly possessed by the Ideal. His elder brother was so very like him—though watery, paler in every way, with a great industry—that sometimes in early days I was not quite sure of him until the interview was over. Then I knew that it was he, if the words, “I will ask my brudder,”had not been spoken; and that, if they had, it was his elder brother.
When one grew old and wild and ran up bills, one somehow never ran them up with Gessler Brothers. It would not have seemed becoming to go in there and stretch out one’s foot to that blue iron-spectacled glance, owing him for more than—say—two pairs, just the comfortable reassurance that one was still his client.
For it was not possible to go to him very often—his boots lasted terribly, having something beyond the temporary—some, as it were, essence of boot stitched into them.
One went in, not as into most shops, in the mood of:“Please serve me, and let me go!” but restfully, as one enters a church; and, sitting on the single wooden chair, waited—for there was never anybody there. Soon, over the top edge of that sort of well—rather dark, and smelling soothingly of leather—which formed the shop, there would be seen his face, or that of his elder brother, peering down. A guttural sound, and the tip-tap of bast slippers beating the narrow wooden stairs, and he would stand before one without coat, a little bent, in leather apron, with sleeves turned back, blinking—as if awakened from some dream of boots, or like an owl surprised in daylight and annoyed at this interruption.
And I would say: “How do you do, Mr. Gessler? Could you make me a pair of Russia leather boots?”
Without a word he would leave me, retiring whence he came, or into the other portion of the shop, and I would, continue to rest in the wooden chair, inhaling the incense of his trade. Soon he would come back, holding in his thin, veined hand a piece of gold-brown leather. With eyes fixed on it, he would remark:“What a beaudiful biece!” When I, too, had admired it, he would speak again. “When do you wand dem?” And I would answer: “Oh! As soon as you conveniently can.”And he would say: “To-morrow fordnighd?” Or if he were his elder brother: “I will ask my brudder!”
Then I would murmur: “Thank you! Good-morning, Mr. Gessler.” “Goot-morning!” he would reply, still looking at the leather in his hand. And as I moved to the door, I would hear the tip-tap of his bast slippers restoring him, up the stairs, to his dream of boots. But if it were some new kind of foot-gear that he had not yet made me, then indeed he would observe ceremony—divesting me of my boot and holding it long in his hand, looking at it with eyes at once critical and loving, as if recalling the glow with which he had created it, and rebuking the way in which one had disorganized this masterpiece. Then, placing my foot on a piece of paper, he would two or three times tickle the outer edges with a pencil and pass his nervous fingers over my toes, feeling himself into the heart of my requirements.
I cannot forget that day on which I had occasion to say to him;“Mr. Gessler, that last pair of town walking-boots creaked, you know.”
He looked at me for a time without replying, as if expecting me to withdraw or qualify the statement, then said:
“Id shouldn’d ‘ave greaked.”
“It did, I’m afraid.”
“You goddem wed before dey found demselves?”
“I don’t think so.”
At that he lowered his eyes, as if hunting for memory of those boots, and I felt sorry I had mentioned this grave thing.
“Zend dem back!” he said; “I will look at dem.”
A feeling of compassion for my creaking boots surged up in me, so well could I imagine the sorrowful long curiosity of regard which he would bend on them.
“Zome boods,” he said slowly, “are bad from birdt. If I can do noding wid dem, I dake dem off your bill.”
Once (once only) I went absent-mindedly into his shop in a pair of boots bought in an emergency at some large firm’s. He took my order without showing me any leather, and I could feel his eyes penetrating the inferior integument of my foot. At last he said:
“Dose are nod my boods.”
The tone was not one of anger, nor of sorrow, not even of contempt, but there was in it something quiet that froze the blood. He put his hand down and pressed a finger on the place where the left boot, endeavouring to be fashionable, was not quite comfortable.
“Id ‘urds you dere,”, he said. “Dose big virms ‘ave no self-respect. Drash!” And then, as if something had given way within him, he spoke long and bitterly. It was the only time I ever heard him discuss the conditions and hardships of his trade.
“Dey get id all,” he said, “dey get id by adverdisement, nod by work. Dey dake it away from us, who lofe our boods. Id gomes to this—bresently I haf no work. Every year id gets less you will see.” And looking at his lined face I saw things I had never noticed before, bitter things and bitter struggle—and what a lot of grey hairs there seemed suddenly in his red beard!
As best I could, I explained the circumstances of the purchase of those ill-omened boots. But his face and voice made so deep impression that during the next few minutes I ordered many pairs. Nemesis fell! They lasted more terribly than ever. And I was not able conscientiously to go to him for nearly two years.
When at last I went I was surprised to find that outside one of the two little windows of his shop another name was painted, also that of a bootmaker-making, of course, for the Royal Family. The old familiar boots, no longer in dignified isolation, were huddled in the single window. Inside, the now contracted well of the one little shop was more scented and darker than ever. And it was longer than usual, too, before a face peered down, and the tip-tap of the bast slippers began. At last he stood before me, and, gazing through those rusty iron spectacles, said:
“Mr.——-, isn’d it?”
“Ah! Mr. Gessler,” I stammered, “but your boots are really too good, you know! See, these are quite decent still!” And I stretched out to him my foot. He looked at it.
“Yes,” he said, “beople do nod wand good boods, id seems.”
To get away from his reproachful eyes and voice I hastily remarked: “What have you done to your shop?”
He answered quietly: “Id was too exbensif. Do you wand some boods?”
I ordered three pairs, though I had only wanted two, and quickly left. I had, I do not know quite what feeling of being part, in his mind, of a conspiracy against him; or not perhaps so much against him as against his idea of boot. One does not, I suppose, care to feel like that; for it was again many months before my next visit to his shop, paid, I remember, with the feeling: “Oh! well, I can’t leave the old boy—so here goes! Perhaps it’ll be his elder brother!”
For his elder brother, I knew, had not character enough to reproach me, even dumbly.
And, to my relief, in the shop there did appear to be his elder brother, handling a piece of leather.
“Well, Mr. Gessler,” I said, “how are you?”
He came close, and peered at me.
“I am breddy well,” he said slowly “but my elder brudder is dead.”
And I saw that it was indeed himself—but how aged and wan! And never before had I heard him mention his brother. Much shocked; I murmured: “Oh! I am sorry!”
“Yes,” he answered, “he was a good man, he made a good bood; but he is dead.” And he touched the top of his head, where the hair had suddenly gone as thin as it had been on that of his poor brother, to indicate, I suppose, the cause of death. “He could nod ged over losing de oder shop. Do you wand any boods?” And he held up the leather in his hand:“Id’s a beaudiful biece.”
I ordered several pairs. It was very long before they came—but they were better than ever. One simply could not wear them out. And soon after that I went abroad.
It was over a year before I was again in London. And the first shop I went to was my old friend’s. I had left a man of sixty, I came back to one of seventy-five, pinched and worn and tremulous, who genuinely, this time, did not at first know me.
“Oh! Mr. Gessler,” I said, sick at heart; “how splendid your boots are! See, I’ve been wearing this pair nearly all the time I’ve been abroad; and they’re not half worn out, are they?”
He looked long at my boots—a pair of Russia leather, and his face seemed to regain steadiness. Putting his hand on my instep, he said:
“Do dey vid you here? I ‘ad drouble wid dat bair, I remember.”
I assured him that they had fitted beautifully.
“Do you wand any boods?” he said. “I can make dem quickly; id is a slack dime.”
I answered: “Please, please! I want boots all round—every kind!”
“I will make a vresh model. Your food must be bigger.” And with utter slowness, he traced round my foot, and felt my toes, only once looking up to say:
“Did I dell you my brudder was dead?”
To watch him was painful, so feeble had he grown; I was glad to get away.
I had given those boots up, when one evening they came. Opening the parcel, I set the four pairs out in a row. Then one by one I tried them on. There was no doubt about it. In shape and fit, in finish and quality of leather, they were the best he had ever made me. And in the mouth of one of the Town walking-boots I found his bill.
The amount was the same as usual, but it gave me quite a shock. He had never before sent it in till quarter day. I flew down-stairs, and wrote a cheque, and posted it at once with my own hand.
A week later, passing the little street, I thought I would go in and tell him how splendidly the new boots fitted. But when I came to where his shop had been, his name was gone. Still there, in the window, were the slim pumps, the patent leathers with cloth tops, the sooty riding boots.
I went in, very much disturbed. In the two little shops—again made into one—was a young man with an English face.
“Mr. Gessler in?” I said.
He gave me a strange, ingratiating look.
“No, sir,” he said, “no. But we can attend to anything with pleasure. We’ve taken the shop over. You’ve seen our name, no doubt, next door. We make for some very good people.”
“Yes, Yes,” I said; “but Mr. Gessler?”
“Oh!” he answered; “dead.”
“Dead! But I only received these boots from him last Wednesday week.”
“Ah!” he said; “a shockin’ go. Poor old man starved ‘imself.”
“Good God!”
“Slow starvation, the doctor called it! You see he went to work in such a way! Would keep the shop on; wouldn’t have a soul touch his boots except himself. When he got an order, it took him such a time. People won’t wait. He lost everybody. And there he’d sit, goin’ on and on—I will say that for him not a man in London made a better boot! But look at the competition! He never advertised! Would ‘ave the best leather, too, and do it all ‘imself. Well, there it is. What could you expect with his ideas?”
“But starvation——!”
“That may be a bit flowery, as the sayin’is—but I know myself he was sittin’ over his boots day and night, to the very last. You see I used to watch him. Never gave ‘imself time to eat; never had a penny in the house. All went in rent and leather. How he lived so long I don’t know. He regular let his fire go out. He was a character. But he made good boots.”
“Yes,” I said, “he made good boots.”
And I turned and went out quickly, for I did not want that youth to know that I could hardly see.

Creative People

Often are ADHD kids fit this description.  Let's help them use this gift rather than think of it as a deficit. 

Language Fun

A fun tidbit from wordsmith.org that is a reminder that different languages are different, not one better than another:

In English the verb goes in the middle of a sentence (I love you), while some languages relegate it to the end (I you love). This may sound preposterous to those not familiar with such a language (German, Hindi, Japanese, among others), but it's quite common.
In fact, the largest percentage of languages prefer the verb at the end (45%), followed by the middle placement (43%). The remaining 12% of the languages stick the verb out front (Fijian, Irish, etc.).
Like much in a language, there is no particular reason behind these varied placements. A front placement for a verb doesn't imply that speakers of that language give more importance to the action compared to those who put it at the end. Sometimes things just are.
But wherever the verb sits, it brings life to a sentence.

Be Teachable

I listened this morning to the BYU Devotional speech given by Melissa Heath in May 2012.  It was on how to be come more teachable.  She gave four suggestions:

#1:  Stick to fundamental principles
#2:  Be grateful
#3:  Avoid pride by choosing to be humble
#4:  Get back on track asap when getting off track

Why Civics Education

American Ignorance Is Sinking the Nation

June 7, 2012 | Posted by Jackie Jones
Tagged With: americans voting, Black Vote, distrust in government, poor civics knowledge, voting rate for black, voting young people

The less American citizens know about how our country works, the worse our country seems to work.
The Educational Testing Service, perhaps best known for administering educational and assessments tests, including the GRE, has released a report that links weak civics knowledge to less voting, less volunteering and greater distrust in government.
Fault Lines in Our Democracy: Civic Knowledge, Voting Behavior and Civic Engagement in the United States, written by Richard J. Coley of the ETS Center for Research on Human Capital and Education and Andrew Sum of the Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University, warns that many students in U.S. schools lack acceptable levels of knowledge about civics.
The report said that students were less interested in social studies and civic engagement and that less educated and poorer young people and adults were less likely to participate even as the nation continues to struggle with the economy, budget deficits, an aging infrastructure and struggling public schools—all issues that affect most Americans’ day-to-day lives.
“Solutions will have to come from a well-educated, skilled and creative workforce,” Coley said in a statement announcing the results. “For our democracy to function so that we meet these challenges, our nation must have better-educated citizens who understand how our democratic system works, believe in it and participate by voting and volunteering.”
In fact, according to the report released last month, only 22 percent of eighth-graders could name a role played by the U.S. Supreme Court, while just 27 percent of fourth-graders could explain the purpose of the Constitution.
The adults aren’t setting much of an example for them either.
Despite the credit given to young adults who purportedly helped turn the tide for Barack Obama, the report said that less than half of 18-to-24 year olds voted in 2008. Further, while the 64 percent of voting-age citizens who voted in 2008 was higher than in 2000 and 1996, it was not the highest ever. The rate was similar in 2004 and throughout the 1980s. The only major difference was the voting rate for black people, which was the highest ever, according to the report.
When you consider that black people largely have to contend with double-digit unemployment, poorer health outcomes and weaker public schools in urban centers, it’s hard to have faith in democracy and the argument that many African Americans put their lives on the line to give black people the right to vote. Many young people are going to start to wonder, for what?
But the report is clear that not playing the game isn’t the answer, either. The groups that vote in larger numbers are the ones getting the most attention by legislators and policymakers, including:

• Adults with the most education and the highest incomes, who were the most likely to vote. Those earning more than $100,000, 90 percent of whom voted, compared to 51 percent of those earning less than $20,000 did.
• 55- to 74-year-olds, three-quarters of whom voted in the most recent presidential election, compared to less than half of 18- to 24-year-olds.
• Adults with advanced degrees, who were twice as likely as high school dropouts to vote (83 versus 39 percent).

The authors contend higher student voter turnout rates would improve high school graduation rates and create opportunities for students to participate in civic activities in their communities as well as in school. The report recommends that school systems make voter registration a requirement for graduation, for students who are eligible to vote.
The report also calls for a National Commission on Civic Engagement to seek solutions to the low levels of voting, volunteering and engagement and for the expansion of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in civics to the states so that state policymakers get a better picture of the civics knowledge of the state’s students.
The report supports such reforms as voting-by-mail, early voting and weekend voting, which many states—often the result of Republican initiatives—have taken steps to amend or rescind, as well as find ways to impose new restrictions on voter registration efforts.
The report is available here.
Knowledge is power and knowing enough to vote, apparently, pays off, too.
Jackie Jones, a veteran journalist and journalism educator, is director of Jones Coaching LLC, a career transformation firm.

An Important Message

One of the things Esperanza can do is help prevent this. 

Why to Twitter

This came from Joe Mazza: 


Everyone is on Twitter these days, so why not your school district? Twitter provides an easy platform to keep your followers updated -- moment by moment, if necessary! -- about developing situations, sudden brainstorms and calls to action. Following are 12 reasons to get your school district tweeting this summer so that you can hit the ground running at the start of the next school year.

Reason #1: It's a perfect fit to your current mission statement and overall vision.

In our district, we have a fairly comprehensive mission statement that reads something like . . .
"Working collaboratively, our school district will provide an effective, innovative, student-focused community of teaching and learning where students will:

• Become independent, adaptable, life-long learners who transfer understanding to new applications
• exhibit creative and critical thinking
• achieve at the proficient or greater level in all academic areas
• adapt to a changing technological world
• transition from competent student to productive, responsible citizen of the global society

The words in bold suggest the benefits of using social media tools like Twitter in education. The scope of this tool seems endless at times.

Reason #2: It's free.

Twitter is a free Web 2.0 social media service that allows users to send and receive messages, updates, resources and professional development in 140-character "tweets." With budget crises occurring in every district, harnessing the impactful teaching and learning tools that do not require a purchase order is a no-brainer.

Reason #3: Family And Community Engagement 2.0 (eFACE)

According to Twitter, 460,000 new signups occur daily, 80% from people between the ages of 18-40. What's the significance? These are the ages of most parents with school-aged children. Help your parents learn Twitter with this Parents' Guide to Twitter & Education. To strengthen the relationships necessary for best practice home-school partnerships, schools are adding electronic Family And Community Engagement (eFACE) efforts like blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Two-way communication opportunities build those relationships.

Reason #4: The best organizations communicate and collaborate transparently to all stakeholders.

Using Twitter, schools and school districts can rapidly disseminate information. They can take down the walls in a traditional school structure built for traditional rows and desks. The teaching and learning opportunities for transparent collaboration among students, staff, families and the community are a lofty goal many of us have had for years. Now we have the tool to make it happen.

Reason #5: "Anytime, anywhere professional development"

These are the words of social media guru and high school principal Eric Sheninger as he stated them at the recent ASCD Conference in Philadelphia. Twitter offers more professional development than any conference, workshop or in-service we could ever offer our employees or families.

Reason #6: We all need to be globally competent.

Our classrooms are more diverse than ever. Developing a global perspective is of great importance in today's schools for connecting our classrooms with virtual field trips to other areas of the world. Students and families need to know their teachers understand them and can effectively meet their diverse needs. Tweeting is like being able to communicate via text with anyone in any country at any given time.

Reason #7: We're creating a Personal Learning Network (PLN).

Our schools and districts don't have all the answers. Connecting with others doing the same work for kids can help us develop a strong PLN, strengthen the skills of any administrative team, stay current with the latest research and publications, and keep the conversation going from conferences, in-services and informal dialogue. For example, a colleague recently wondered how principals in Finland evaluated teachers. The answer and multiple resources came moments after this person tweeted a question with the #finnedchat hashtag attached.

Reason #8: School and classroom Twitterfeeds

Updating a website takes away from your teaching time. You must log in and go through a series of commands just to make one small adjustment. Sending a tweet is instantaneous. Educating students effectively takes a great deal of time, and the logistics of keeping a website up to date can be done much more efficiently by embedding a Twitterfeed on the front of a website.

Reason #9: Professional learning should be differentiated and collaborative.

Clicking on the hashtags listed below (and you don't need a Twitter account to do this) provides a quick look at the range of professional development happening right now on Twitter.
#edchat: General Educators Chat
#cpchat: Connected Principals Chat
#suptchat: Superintendents Chat
#elemchat: Elementary Educators Chat
#ptchat: Parent-Teacher Chat
#ntchat: New Teacher Chat
#kinderchat: Kindergarten Teacher Chat
#flipclass: Flipped Classroom Chat
#edcamp: Education Camp Chat
#edtech - Educational Technology Chat
Entering hashtags is how many educators search the Twittersphere. Want to learn more about a flipped classroom or an EdCamp professional development? What are the best ways to engage Kindergartners? Looking for the right technology tool to support teaching and learning? How can you engage the most school parents for an upcoming event? Using the right hashtag can help you answer these questions and more while getting to know others, including some leaders in the field I count on daily such as Josh Stumpenhorst, Larry Ferlazzo, Todd Whitaker and Steven Anderson.

Reason #10: Bring your school district together with a shared hashtag.

In our district, there are over 2,000 teachers. We're in 18 buildings and only see one another at the occasional in-service. Wouldn't it be nice to see what others are teaching and learning throughout the school year? For parents, teachers, administrators and community members to have a quick, easy and instantaneous way of collaborating with each other, we can move mountains. One of the only places we see all of those stakeholders on the same page is on a professionally designed district strategic plan trifold. (As an example of a district hashtag #hs4, Alberta, Canada Superintendent Christopher Smeaton of Holy Spirit School District (K-12) collaborates transparently.)

Reason #11: We're attending less conferences.

Let's be honest. Today's school and school district budgets do not allow for conference attendance like they used to. However, it's our responsibility as leaders to keep up with the latest and greatest around the field. Just because we can't attend or send folks physically doesn't mean they can't participate using the conference hashtag. Remember, using Twitter is free, so following a conference hashtag like #ASCD12 or #ISTE12 allows you to get instant quotes, resources and perspectives from presenters and attendees. Watching a conference on Twitter is always an exciting experience, and you get to meet other "lurkers" that were unable to attend the conference for various reasons. Imagine getting only the very best from 400 different sessions. It's much better than being there to attend only six sessions in person!

Reason #12: We need others to inspire and push our thinking.

Last year, Eric Sheninger inspired me to jump into the Twitter pool. And everyday teachers, parents, principals, superintendents, retired educators, school board members and others are also changing the world and pushing us to work harder and smarter. Their students made a connection. They've nailed a presentation. They've found just the right resource for their sixth graders. They've read a fantastic book or article. With each 140-character tweet, a new internal idea is created, shaped or passed along for others to digest. Instead of relying on a single assigned mentor who may or may not be the master teacher all new teachers hope to get, we now have a million other mentors to learn from, whatever our position or experience level.
For support on providing Twitter training for your school district, a sample presentation and agenda is included in Planning Your School District Admin Twitter 101. Feel free to customize for your setting's needs.
Have another idea? Without a doubt, there are more than 12 reasons for school districts to harness the power of Twitter. I just listed the ones that come to mind from my perspective as an elementary principal. I encourage you to add your own lens, and continue this list on why Twitter is a no-brainer for every contributing member of our field of education. Together we are better.

Ask, Seek, Knock = ASK

From Kevin Eikenberry on June 6, 2012:

Matthew 7:7 reads: ”Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”(NIV)
I was always fascinated by this line for a variety of reasons, including the fact that seeking and knocking start with the curiosity of asking - and when taking the first letters of the three pieces of advice: ask, seek, knock – you get ask.

So what are you asking for?

Let me give you a short list of things to consider asking for.

Ask for information.

Ask for ideas.

Ask for an opportunity.

Ask for the sale.

Ask for help.

Ask if people need help.

Ask for forgiveness.

Ask for clarification.

Ask for what you want.

Ask for feedback.

Asking can be an act of daring, but think about how any/all of these questions can make you a more effective human being and leader.
Questions help us learn.
Questions engage others.
Questions make us more real and authentic.
Asking is powerful.

What are you asking for today?

Achieving!!!

We might want to consider putting these three quotes on our Esperanza walls---and hearts!

Reinita

A BEAUTIFUL bird from Puerto Rico--with a wonderful name--"Reinita."  How fun it will be to share these choice and interesting tidpits with our Esperanza scholars. 

Poems With Powerful Messages

This is a book that I highly recommend that every Esperanza stakeholder read!  Each bilingual poem has a powerful message. 

Small Things

I listened this morning to the BYU Devotional Speech "Small Things" that J. Michael Hunter gave on May 22, 2012.  It was a reminder that the small things, that aren't necessarily easy and may be inconvenient, may have a more lasting effect upon our Esperanza educators and Esperanza scholars and their families than any big thing we might do. 

Appreciating Diversity

Delivered On: May 20th 2012
Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell

This Magnificent World

What do you see and feel when you look around at this magnificent world? Do you see diverse colors, faces, landscapes, and seascapes? What do you learn from others who live in different cultures, use expressions you might not understand, and eat things you might not consider food?

A nurse in the Far East stood nearby as a couple from North America prepared to take home their newly adopted little son. He was 18 months old, darling, enthusiastic—and Chinese. The father looked at the woman who had cared for the child since he was placed in the orphanage. "Tell us how you teach him and how you show him love,” the father said. She smiled and responded, "You will do it your way. And that will be good.”

The interchange was not about parenting; it was about respecting the different ways we do things and the beauty of those differences. What if everything in the world were the same? What if there were no tulips in the Netherlands, no Alps in Switzerland, no gazelles in Africa?

What if there were no regional accents or Italian operas, no Great Wall of China? What if there wasn’t a culture that gave us the ruins in Mexico, the hula in Hawaii, and walkabouts down under? Some people eat fish eggs and love them. Others work in rice fields from a tender age. Some live in apartments and others in yurts. This is a world varied in its natural wonders and rich in local traditions. And isn’t that marvelous!

The more we get to know the world’s diversity, the more we feel at home here. Because even though clothing styles, artistic styles, and parenting styles vary widely, we can share an underlying foundation of kindness, generosity, and understanding. In this sense, we can all be bilingual—we speak our native language and the language of love. This is what adds the human touch to an already magnificent world.

Taupe? Torp?

The following is one of my favorite stories from the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee.  It is not only super funny, but it also has a great message, especially for us working with students who will be learning at times in a language that is not their first language. 

RYAN MCLELLAN from New Zealand participated in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.  This is what happens when you`re asked to spell taupe. 

JUDGE: This word has a homonym. Taupe. Taupe is a light brownish- gray.

RYAN MCLELLAN: Is it French?

JUDGE: It`s from French, which formed it from a Latin word.

 MCLELLAN: Torp?

JUDGE: No, no, taupe.

MCLELLAN: Torp?

 JUDGE: Taupe.

 MCLELLAN: Tarp?

 OTHER JUDGE: That`s his pronunciation.

 MCLELLAN: T-A-U-P-E. Taupe.

(APPLAUSE)

That`s his pronunciation. The judge there is trying to save this kid from a potentially fatal error. It`s not torp. It`s taupe.

He knows it`s taupe. He`s just from New Zealand. He knows what the word is.

This 13-year-old kid`s P-E-R-S-E-V-E-R-A-N-C-E in the face of people who would judge you, who don`t understand you, is obviously the best new thing in the world today.