Tag: Core Values

Olympic chatter chastising a champion

Olympic chatter chastising a champion

Reading Time: 3 minutes

I have easily watched more television since the Olympics began on July 27 than I have since July of last year. It is so easy to just keep watching event after event. The command athletes have over their sports, their bodies, and their minds is evident and addictive to watch and think about. But, the actual competition is only part of the story and only part of what keeps me roped in. Continue reading “Olympic chatter chastising a champion”

Caine’s Arcade

Caine’s Arcade

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Watching a popular video clip on YouTube typically causes me to laugh at a clever bit of irony or to groan at some ridiculous slapstick. More often than not, clips involve cute babies, funny pets, or somebody falling down and being embarrassed – far from intellectually challenging. I recently watched a video that was sentimental, but also thought provoking.  Caine’s Arcade features Caine Monroy, a nine year old boy who lives in an East Los Angeles. To keep himself busy while his dad works in his used auto parts store, Caine spends months building an arcade out of cardboard boxes and miscellaneous found objects and dreams of the day when customers will come and play in his arcade.  Nirvin Mullick just happens to come into the shop in search of an auto part, notices this little boy and his arcade, and becomes not only the first customer in Caine’s Arcade, but an advocate for creative kids everywhere.  Remarkably, Nirvin is a film maker and skillful in the use of social media.  He organizes a flash mob to bring customers into Caine’s Arcade and uses Facebook to create interest, which draws in television media and a lot of exposure through redditNirvin films Caine before the surprise flash mob and captures his reaction when he sees the crowd and interacts with a throng of eager customers. The film was posted to the internet.  (My viewing was hit # 3,086,106 on YouTube.) Continue reading “Caine’s Arcade”

Brain Food:  New National School Lunch Program Standards

Brain Food: New National School Lunch Program Standards

Reading Time: 3 minutes

For students returning to school this fall lunch in the cafeteria will look different. That’s because the upcoming school year marks the beginning of the new Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program. The regulations, unveiled in January of this year by First Lady Michelle Obama and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, are a component of the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act and include offering students whole grains, larger portions of vegetables and fruits, and less overall sodium and saturated fats. Continue reading “Brain Food: New National School Lunch Program Standards”

The Burden of Understanding:  The Challenge for English Language Learners

The Burden of Understanding: The Challenge for English Language Learners

Reading Time: 4 minutes

In my second year as a doctoral student, I worked with a professor who was finishing his first book.  Among my many tasks was to help him write footnotes for his first chapter.  This is how I was introduced to Rosina Lippi-Green’s English with an Accent: Language, Ideology and Discrimination in the United States (1997).  Although a bit dated, many of the points she makes are still salient as we consider creating and implementing effective policies to assist English Language Learners (ELLs). Continue reading “The Burden of Understanding: The Challenge for English Language Learners”

School’s Out for the Summer!

School’s Out for the Summer!

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Yesterday was the last day of school for my first grade son. He came home with a backpack full of journals filled with writing, unsharpened pencils, jackets I thought were gone forever, and a bag of candy from his teacher. His younger sister will go to Kindergarten in the fall and she is full of questions about school. She asked him what the best thing about first grade is. His reply made me both smile and frown as comments from older brothers to younger sisters often do. He said, “My teacher, of course. She is cool and nice. But she is going to a new school, so she won’t be your teacher.” My daughter looked a bit sad, but then he said, “You know school is a nice place to go. There’s recess and P.E. and music. And when you do have to learn stuff the teachers make it fun, so you don’t want to leave. Plus you get rewards if you are good. I can show you how to act good.” I am not sure what exactly that means, but I am choosing to be proud of it anyway. Continue reading “School’s Out for the Summer!”

Observing Cultural Heritage Months: Not a Simple Decision

Observing Cultural Heritage Months: Not a Simple Decision

Reading Time: 3 minutes
Created for West Wind Education Policy by Leah Dusterhoft

As a company passionate about imagining and enacting a public school system that overcomes historic and persistent inequities, you might think that celebrating national cultural heritage months is a standard staff activity for us.  It is not.

Don’t get me wrong.  The West Wind staff agrees that these observances are important.  Our dilemma is, what is what are we recognizing? What does it mean to celebrate groups based on certain shared physical or genetic attributes? When we try to decide we find ourselves with all sorts of questions: Which cultural heritage months do we observe? Which cultural/social attributes count: Race? Ethnicity? Gender? Is it an observation or celebration and what action do we take to observe or celebrate? By making these observances are we taking part in something that separates specific groups from the whole of American history and experience? Continue reading “Observing Cultural Heritage Months: Not a Simple Decision”

West Wind Hosts Screening of the American Teacher Documentary

West Wind Hosts Screening of the American Teacher Documentary

Reading Time: 4 minutes

On Tuesday, April 3, West Wind Education Policy, Inc. and the Bijou Theatre at the University of Iowa co-hosted a screening of the American Teacher, a documentary produced by the Teacher Salary Project.  The Project aims to raise awareness of teacher working conditions in America, including salary, hours, and respect for the profession.  The film’s producers include Ninive Caligari, co-founder of the 826 National writing programs and a former classroom teacher who also co-authored the book Teachers Have It Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America’s Teachers with co-producer of the documentary Dave Eggers, best known for his 2000 book,  A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.   The film is directed by Vanessa Roth, who won an Academy Award for Freeheld, and narrated by actor Matt Damon. Continue reading “West Wind Hosts Screening of the American Teacher Documentary”

Cheers to health & happiness in 2012

Cheers to health & happiness in 2012

Reading Time: < 1 minute

New Year’s resolutions are all about better living which is something we work to have as part of our culture here at West Wind. We strive to create a healthy and joyful workplace that promotes balance between work and life.

We recently decided to experiment with the concept of standing more during our work days for the sake of our health. We purchased some standing work stations to try out and we are finding they keep us on our feet with our muscles activated. So far, so good! Here’s an article that explains the health benefits of getting up and keeping our bodies in more full motion during long days at the office: http://tinyurl.com/42cx4eu.

Movement is great, and so is laughter. We’ve all heard laughter is the best medicine, right? Well, here’s an interesting article that explains the potential emotional and physiological benefits of laughter: http://tinyurl.com/aq2nc9.

And, to tie it all together, here’s a short clip from the t.v. show, The Office, about office-dwellers standing at work. This entertained us and might make you laugh too: http://tinyurl.com/88yrgm6.

Best wishes for good health, laughter, and happiness in the New Year!

Iowa Latin@ Conference Engages, Embraces Growing Population

Iowa Latin@ Conference Engages, Embraces Growing Population

Reading Time: 3 minutes

 

Earlier, we wrote about the planning of the Iowa Latin@ Conference[1]. Every year for the past thirteen years the conference has occurred in a different town across the state – it was Muscatine’s turn in 2011. In just about the same span of time (about 10 years), Iowa’s Hispanic population has doubled, still totaling just 5 percent of the whole[2].

The selfish urgency to attend to an increasing Latin@ population for the greater good of the majority is a notion I increasingly see in a lot of public messaging as Latin@’s populations increase in many places across the US. But, that was not the message behind this conference.

The conference convened over 200 Iowa youth and adults over two days to learn about the importance of uniting, becoming informed and advocating for the good of [our] people who are dispersed across Iowa’s changing communities. West Liberty, Iowa City, Dubuque, Waterloo and other Iowa towns were represented at the Youth Development Summit portion of the conference and individuals came from as far as Michigan to attend the Professional Institute portion.

Two sophomores, Joanna and Areli from West Liberty High School attended the conference for the first time with one of their teachers and some of their classmates.

One thing Areli, originally from New York, enjoyed about the Youth Development Summit was the opportunity to meet new, Latin@ youth. Both she and Joanna agree that being Latina in Iowa is something they appreciate and embrace– recently their West Liberty place of residence (also located in Muscatine County) was recognized as the first Hispanic majority town in Iowa.

With an offering of a variety of workshops – from a showcase of indigenous dancing by Omeyocan Dance Co. to a session on trading Gang affiliation for Academia and a screening of the film, “abUSed: The Postville Raid,” there was much to take in.

The girls’ favorite part of the Youth Development Summit; however, was its Keynote Speaker, Michael Benitez Jr.

Benitez Jr., a doctoral candidate at Iowa State University engaged the over 150-student audience during his 45-minute speech and encouraged them to become young activists. He urged them to be willing to listen to and believe in the stories their elders (“wisdomkeepers”) told them. But, he also asked the same of the wisdomkeepers – that they take the time to hear what young people (“wisdomseekers”) have to say, even if it isn’t stated politically correctly.

What Joanna and Areli took away most from Benitez Jr.’s speech was the significance of being  bicultural; that we must adapt to and continually learn from our Latin@ identity in the United States (and Iowa). In other words, while understanding American culture, “we have to be proud of our culture, [too]” Joanna said.

One example Benitez Jr.’s used to illustrate this notion took place in his classroom experiences, long before his doctoral candidacy days—“I got all A’s in my classes except for in Social Studies, History…because I didn’t see myself [in the books].”

Much like the duality of cultures, American History cannot be considered without considering Latin@ History, too. They are one in the same. Unfortunately, though as Benitez Jr. sought a raise of hands from the audience, asking what pertinent Latino history—i.e. the 1930 Lemon Grove, California desegregation case and the Bracero Movement of the 1940s, they have learned (as high school students) in their classrooms, few hands were raised.

The conference was successful for bringing Iowa Latin@s face-to-face with each other and for giving them a rare chance to embrace their impact on the state. Those who were there to learn also were given a thorough picture of what it means to be Latin@ in Iowa today. As such, we look forward to supporting the conference again in the future.

Click the respective links to read more about Muscatine’s first time hosting the conference and Benitez Jr’s keynote.

 

 


[1] The “@” is used in the term ‘Latino’ where it can apply to Latinos of both the female and male simultaneously.

[2] Schaper, David. (October 10, 2011). A look at Iowa’s first majority town. NPR. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2011/10/10/141150607/west-liberty-is-iowas-first-majority-hispanic-town

Willing to Learn:  Reactions to President Obama’s Back-to-School Speech from Finn

Willing to Learn: Reactions to President Obama’s Back-to-School Speech from Finn

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Last week on September 28, 2011, President Obama addressed the students of the nation from Benjamin Bannecker Academic High School in Washington, D.C.  This was his third annual back-to-school address to the nation’s students and the second one I watched with my son, Finn.  Finn is in first grade and will soon be seven.  For the first time, this year he was old enough to know that the President was speaking to him and his classmates.  It was truly enlightening for me to sit with him this year and hear what the President had to say from the perspective of a six-year-old.

His class had spoken about the speech at school and he brought home the beautiful picture you see here, complete with the President standing alongside the White House.  When we sat down to watch the speech he told me that he didn’t know the President of the United States had time to talk to a bunch of kids, but that he heard Mr. Obama (as he calls him) say that he and his class were really important and needed to work hard.  We sat back on the sofa, me with my notebook, and Finn with a stash of homemade playing cards he has been working on.  We listened together, occasionally looking over at each other to gauge our reactions.

Of course, what I heard as I listened was different than what Finn heard.  He spent some time fumbling with his cards, fidgeting in his chair and looking at the ceiling as I took notes.  During the speech, I could feel myself nodding in agreement to the calls for students to work hard and take responsibility for education; I felt called to action as the President spoke about making America’s schools as strong as they could be; I was emboldened to think more about reforms to our system as he talked about rising as a country to once again have the highest percentage of young people with a college degree; I felt pride in the accomplishments of the young entrepreneurs he used as examples; as a parent, I felt obligated and determined to make sure my children get a great education; and I felt determined to make sure all the children of this country have that same opportunity.

When the speech finished, Finn and I had a conversation about what we watched that went something like this:

Me:  You said President Obama thinks that you and your classmates are really important?  Why might he think that?

Finn:  There’s two reasons, I think.  We have to do our very best and if he didn’t tell us to we might forget.  And our teachers work really hard, even harder than I thought.  If we don’t work hard for them, then they would just work hard for nothing.

Me:  I think you understand a lot about what he was saying and you are probably right about those two reasons.  We want to please our teachers and work hard like they do and it is helpful to have the President remind us of something we should do.  Can you think of some reasons why working hard would be important for you and your classmates at school too?

Finn:  Well…you remember when I didn’t know what addition meant and I got mad when you made me play Addition Bingo.  I learned all about addition at school and now when we play I always win.  Oh, and the President said we have to go to college and get jobs.  I am going to be a race car driver and you said I had to know how to read to drive.”

Me (laughing):  That is true.  I am glad you watched with me.  I never would have thought the President’s speech might be relevant to your plans to become a race car driver.

Finn:  You know what else the President said, Mom.  He said that school is about trying new things.  I am going to try new things and when I don’t do them right I will just try again.  Next time we have art I am going to listen to what the teacher says and not just work on my comic book.

As we turned off the computer screen we had been watching on, I felt proud that he was thinking about school and learning as positive opportunities—and, I must admit, I felt a little disappointed that he hadn’t been listening in art.

But the thing I took away from that conversation wasn’t something that made me proud as a parent or something the President said.  It was the amazing ability children have to try new things.  Learning addition or the basics of calculus, learning that a group of letters is a sound and that sound is a word, or learning the proper technique for a great jump shot are all big, sometimes scary steps and they require faith in your teachers, coaches and school leaders.   And they require a leap into the unknown that stems from a belief we all have to have to grow up:  Change is necessary to grow.

Change is necessary for growth in our educational system too.  As we work towards reforming educational policies and practices to create stronger schools and to support our teachers and students, we have to be willing to make big changes and to learn the lessons offered from past experiences, new research and other types of systems from around the country and the globe.

So as I continue with my work here at West Wind and at home, I will take a cue from Finn and his classmates and pledge to be willing to learn and push myself and my thinking to new levels, even if that makes me uncomfortable sometimes.

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