My Beauty Best Teacher

While the clueless 'leadership' in Nigeria fiddles, MEND lays the foundation for an independent state with its own revenue.The FT reports:

Now, inhabitants of the delta have started processing crude. In small, modular refineries they are producing kerosene and other fuel and selling to the local market from so-called mushroom enterprises in the creeks and swamps.

More here
For related coverage read Niger Delta Solidarity

While the clueless 'leadership' in Nigeria fiddles, MEND lays the foundation for an independent state with its own revenue.The FT reports:

Now, inhabitants of the delta have started processing crude. In small, modular refineries they are producing kerosene and other fuel and selling to the local market from so-called mushroom enterprises in the creeks and swamps.

More here
For related coverage read Niger Delta Solidarity

From the assassination of Guinea-Bissau's president:

Guinea-Bissau President Joao Bernardo Vieira was assassinated in the first hours of this morning, allegedly in an attack by renegade soldiers as he fled his home. The crime happened a few hours after his long term rival, the country's army chief General Batista Tagme, was killed by a bomb blast, late on Sunday. Although the reasons are still unknnon, the crimes have sparked alarm at instability in the young West African republic...Global Voices

To this past December's coup d etat in Guinea-Conakry:

Guinea's prime minister and some 30 other ministers have submitted to the leaders of a military coup.The government officials met Capt Moussa Dadis Camara, who has declared himself Guinea's new president, at a military base in the capital, Conakry.
The rebels staged the coup on Tuesday, just hours after the death of veteran strongman President Lansana Conte...BBC

...plus in February when MEND guerrillas attacked Equatorial Guinea adding a new twist to African based non-state actors:

Men in speedboats attacked the capital, Malabo, which sits on an island off the West African coastline in the Gulf of Guinea. They struck before dawn on Tuesday and were heavily armed, the government said in a statement, but the army, using boats and a helicopter, quickly repelled the attack.-NYTimes

The common thread is that these actions all occurred in countries on the verge of becoming failing and or failed states. With largely non-existent institutions and an attendant parasitic ruling class.What are the options? Don't expect much from the largely ineffectual African Union. Should we look to a Paul Collier inspired solution of more unilateral military intervention by neighbors or something else?

Shocked and agast, my son's pants were agape. Last night was the final game on the season and, the 26th straight win for the Westwood Wildcats and my son blocked a 270 pound behemoth with his pants flapping in the breeze.

My Westwood Wildcats Football Team 2010, 2011 State Champs winner 26 straight football games

We were picked to lose by 13 or 20 points depending upon who you asked. They had 10 boys over 200 pounds and one over 300 and we had barely 2, maybe.

My son's pants ripped during the last football game. When I say rip, I mean a big old tear from crotch to way up the back. My son's gray sliding pants were his only salvation from indecent exposure.

Last week I had snatched up the pants and was preparing to mend them when my son interrupted emphatically:

"We're wearing the orange pants for state, Mom, don't touch 'em. They'll get fixed in the off season when they send them in to the shop."

OK, so the word "shop" should have let me realize that I was being taken to the cleaners. Imagine my shock when I look at those boys coming out of the locker room and there I see my son's grey sliding shorts and those pants and the big old rip traveling quietly up towards the waist band in the back like spilled syrup on my kitchen counter.

Isn't it funny how we're not shocked at our children as much as we say,

"What is everyone going to say about his Mama, not fixing his pants like that?"

But after the game. After we won a second state championship in a 33-21 nail biter (it was tied 21-21 with 2 minutes to go in the fourth quarter), he sheepishly said,

"Mom, it would have been bad luck for any of us to fix our pants. We all agreed to leave the tears in our pants. When you're winning, you keep doing what you're doing until it doesn't work any more."

At that point, I didn't care what anyone said about his Momma, I was just glad they won (and very glad he was OK.) But his words echoed in my ears.

Fixing What Works Breaks What Works
Sure, it was to the point of superstition and but all I could think of was some teachers I know caught in very nonsensical situations.

For example, in the state of Georgia, there were some schools that were climbing in Math scores but the state required them to move from Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, etc. to Math I, Math II, and Math III and many of the best math teachers were lost in some districts.

They tried to fix what wasn't broken for some schools to fix what was broken for others.

In the south the saying goes,

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

But we don't listen to that in education. Here are just a few examples I can think of:

• An amazing teacher does a great job at a certain grade level. She hits her stride and is really doing a great job after a year or two. But "they" decide it is time for a change and give her a new grade level even though she's already taught that grade level at another school and knows it isn't a great fit for her.
  
• A reading program works incredibly well but there is a new curriculum director and she wants to change it because she's "heard" another one is better.
  
• A history teacher has a phenomenal history program and has a book he loves. He's aligned the book with videos and has written quite a bit of content to go along with the book for his students. It is "time' to update the book and "they" go with another program and he looks at the new curriculum to decide if he really feels like starting over. The new book isn't just a new book but a whole new way of teaching it.
  
• A school decides that everyone is going to now be "on the same page" so the teacher who loved to quickly teach more "boring" topics (which were mastered, by the way) to accelerate into some great things that are more advanced is held back because the other teachers in the group don't want to do it that way.
  
• A good teacher is now given a script so administrators can know exactly what is being taught in every classroom over the complaints of those teachers who feel scripts stifle the good teaching they've been doing for more than 20 years. These teachers are told they will be replaced if they can't go with the new turn teaching has taken.
  
• I teach keyboarding with a class average of over 70 words per minute (or gwam as we say.) I use the same textbook my Mom did and teach it the "old fashioned way" because it works. We don't go into software until after I've taught them all the keys. My friends in other schools who were forced to move to a software-based approach run about 30 words a minute and the kids look at their fingers. Many don't care about the right way to teach typing, only that software makes it easier. I'm happy with my circa 1994 textbook and don't want a new one! I'll do it the old fashioned way because it works but in many schools, I wouldn't be allowed to be so "backwards." My students are still blogging, making videos, using QR Codes and doing incredible things but I just need a book to teach typing. (See my 8th Grade keyboarding portfolio using QR codes)

"Get better and better every day in every way."

An extract from Michael Peel's ‘A Swamp Full of Dollars: Pipelines and Paramilitaries at Nigeria’s Oil Frontier’ FT:

As our speedboat casts off from Yenagoa, in the heart of the Niger Delta, I feel as if I am being propelled into a more welcoming world. A bracing wind replaces the humid closeness of the town, a monument to disorder clustered around a single, thunderous main road. The foliage on either side of the water is thick and lush, with oil palms peeping over the top of the tree line. The river traffic – mainly canoes loaded with goods such as fish, wood and plantains – clings to the banks to avoid being capsized by our wake.
I am traveling with a few guides and a fellow journalist, Glenn ­McKenzie, in search of the Niger Delta’s main militant movement: the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or Mend. The organisation had attacked oil installations and kidnapped dozens of oil workers, prompting the big companies to send non-essential staff home and shut down hundreds of thousands of barrels a day of production.

More here
See Niger Delta Solidarity for further coverage

Related articles by Zemanta

• Nigerian rebele group extends ceasefire (telegraph.co.uk)
• Nigeria rebels extend ceasefire (news.bbc.co.uk)

Yesterday I posted "Rhee Rhee-Acts To Taking a Lashing From DC Teachers". I asked you to weigh in with your comments on the recent meetings conducted by Rhee in response to the January 16th City Council hearings. The response from DC teachers and others was overwhelming with 17 blog posts, to date. These blog posts deserve front page billing. Sounds like most DC teachers who commented here as well as the teachers that I spoke with this week and received emails from view Rhee's efforts as disingenuous. Here's what bloggers said:

Anonymous said... I attended one of the sessions this week and heard about another from a reliable coworker. One of last week's sessions was announced via email to a very selected group of teachers. Most of them were new TFA and DC Teaching Fellows. My colleague attended and said people identified themselves as such when asked for their names and schools. Very few veteran teachers were there, she reported. My coworker found out from a friend and attended, though she didn't receive an email invite. The meeting lasted around 2 hours where Rhee took teachers' questions about supplies, support, a new teacher evaluation, the discipline code and other issues on teachers' minds. It appeared as if Rhee was trying to reach out to new teachers and show them support.This week's meeting had around 50 teachers in attendance, mostly but not entirely veteran (or at least not 20-something)teachers. The first question a teacher asked was the big one. She was brave to do so. The veteran teacher asked Rhee about the perception many DC educators have that her reform efforts want to rid the system of older teachers. All around the room, teachers over 40 were nodding their heads. Rhee blamed the media for putting this perception out there. She said there is no memo or mandate that says that. But it's Rhee's own words and actions that give great credence to the so-called perception and no one challenged her. No one followed up on her preference for TFA, who are recent college grads. She said there was no mandated school quota for the 90day plan. Other topics on teachers' minds were brought up. Again, it appears that Rhee knows she has started off on the wrong foot with DCPS teachers and wants to mend some fences. As for parking, I always park in the street and use the meter. So far, I've been lucky.

Anonymous #2 said... cynic that I am, I suspect that she is taking names at the meeting - literally - to punish or reward or somehow co-opt those in attendance. If you're too outspoken - she'll find a way to get rid of you, or perhaps keep you on as a means of showing she doesn't mind outspoken people, thus encouraging others to speak up, so she can smoke out even more trouble-makers and get rid of THEM. I don't think this is paranoia on my part. I just don't think she's suddenly turning into a good person. I think she's an opportunist.

Kat said... Last week's session invitations were not limited to "new TFA and DCTFs", so please don't propagate that rumor. I've been receiving them from my PD office, and our (non-TFA) teachers received them as well.As for the veteran teacher asking in the 2/4 mtg. about the perception Rhee is trying to rid the system of older teachers, that teacher was, when asked by Rhee, completely unable to provide details about the origin of her impression. The response she gave was very vague and non-specific, and from what I could discern, could be summarized as "other people." Rhee gave her time to think more about it, but an hour later, she still had not responded (I left at 6, so maybe she did come up with something.) Brave, maybe so...but prepared would've gotten her a lot farther in my estimation.And that last explanation -- "If you're too outspoken - she'll find a way to get rid of you, or perhaps keep you on as a means of showing she doesn't mind outspoken people, thus [sic] encouraging others to speak up, so she can smoke out even more trouble-makers and get rid of THEM" -- is the craziest thing I've heard on this topic. Seriously, it ventures into conspiracy theory territory.

Anonymous #3 said... Hi, it's me again - that Anonymous saying crazy things.I already know Rhee's a liar and already know - from listening to council testimony, as well as from talking directly with teachers, that teachers have been targeted for speaking out.Go ahead and think I'm crazy, but remember what I said later when more good people get axed.As for that veteran teacher - you're right, she should have known her source, but Rhee also could have acknowledged the source - her own plan. Just because the teacher didn't know it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It looks like Rhee just used that teacher's lack of knowledge to make her look bad. Also, maybe the teacher was taken aback -- no longer sure it was in Rhee's own plan, when Rhee challenged her. Rhee is much more devious and and disingenuous than the average teacher.

Anonymous #4 said...I am the first anonymous that posted and attended the session on Wednesday evening. I am not paranoid and am the first to denounce conspiracy theories especially regarding DCPS and DC politics in general. But I AGREE WITH the notion that Rhee may well be taking names to get rid of people and I sure don't want to find out the hard way. Why am I posting anonymously if I weren't being cautious? Don't I wish I could use my name, even my blogging name, but know better.As for the meeting last week, I was told that most of the attenders, with the exception of a handful of others, were young, new white teachers, many TFA and DCTF. I didn't say so immediately because I didn't want to put that out there for some of you to jump on. Rhee herself has stated a preference for those teachers (irregardless of race or ethnicity). TFA teachers are by definition in their 20s, as opposed to veteran teachers, who are in their 40s, 50s and even 60s (and many of them excellent, dedicated career educators). I wish I knew the average age of DCPS teachers for purposes of this discussion. I have often heard of 30 year veterans. A 50-year DCPS teacher was recently honored at her church. We have the impression that Rhee wants to get rid of older teachers by reading her own words as reported magazine and newspaper interviews. There is not some media conspiracy out there putting words in Rhee's mouth. For the most part, the media is reporting what she says. And of course most telling are the words in her plan. "...too many of our teachers are not up to the demanding job of educating our youth effectively. Some teachers will be bought out of their contracts." She wants to transition those teachers out and replace them with new TFA types. Who does she want out? Veterans, to be replaced by TFA. Plus her history with TNTP gives support to the theory of what kind of teacher she wants in DCPS, not the ones she has, but new ones she wants to bring in. And thank you Jesus, that my principal recognizes me as a valuable part of our school and that I am not on the 90 day plan.

lodesterre said... I didn't attend the meeting, in large part because I didn't find out about it until it was too late and in part because I have commitments at that time to my students. I never received a notice and I am DCTF. A colleague, who is a veteran teacher, non-TFA/DCTF etc. did attend and I received information from her.What I heard from her was a lot of blaming of the media, i.e. the media did this, the media said that and the media took this out of context. The problem, as stated before, is that her 5 year plan disputes this. She can also be seen in quite a few taped sessions - the Aspen Institute, the Saint-Ex Cafe night, and others - that have been televised several times on cable. Here her words can be heard in context.I found this link on a DC Wire post that quoted a parent in Sacramento (or it might have been a teacher) who had complaints about Rhee's time out there. The letter, mistakes and all, should be read in its entirety - http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2007/07/02/rhee-hearings-liveblog/ - whether it is a disgruntled teacher or parent what is disturbing, and hard to dismiss, are the similarities between what happened in Sacramento and what is happening now in DC. This letter was dated July 2007, a good year before any of her plans were really put into effect. Most disturbing of all, and I would love to know if this is accurate, were the turnover statistics cited at the end of the post. You have to scroll down to get to this letter but don't pass a couple of other letters that are there as well. One talks about funds and misappropriation and the other is by a DC Teaching Fellow.

Old School DCPS said... BREAKING DCPS NEWS: I just read on the WaPo that Rhee has plans to close 3 ES in SE, including Draper, Webb and Birney. Candi, please set me straight. Did Rhee not say that teachers from closed (and reconstructed) schools will have their positions abolished, that there will be no memo of understanding to automatically place those teachers in vacancies in other schools for SY 09-10, as was done at the beginning of this school year for teachers from closed and restructured schools?

Anonymous #5 said... After a long, hard day at work with my little "ankle biters", all of whom I love, many times in spite of themselves; the last thing I feel like doing is fighting North Capitol Street traffic. We ALL know what a trip to headquarters is like.... I just think it's wonderful that one teacher who responded has never had any problems. Unfortunately, I've literally circled around the block quite a few times, over the years I've been with the system. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you're not. Lucky is more "not", than "often". Ms Rhee might have thought more about visiting every school, on some sort of timed schedule. She's visited some. What happened to the rest of us? It's easier, for her to get to us, than vice-versa. It would show a level of caring and concern for those of us who work long, hard hours, and probably have more to do once we get home. I have spent all of my energy during the day, educating, exhorting, collaborating, chastising, communicating, parenting, small-grouping, writing, testing, reevaluating, fussing, loving, correcting(I'm sure there are more "-ings"....)I am also a National Board Certified Teacher. There may not be any empirical evidence at the present, that directly correlates test score increases to test scores; but you can bet your bottom dollar that the time and effort one puts into this very reflective, and rigorous process, makes a teacher MUCH more aware of his/her practice, and in the long run, that's what matters. If you know better, you do better. Doctors must pass exams for medical school. Lawyers must pass the bar. Every profession has some sort of high-stakes requirement, something that says, to coin President Obama's phrase, "Yes, I(emphasis on I) can!" Should this not be the same for those of us in the "most noble profession"? Ms. Rhee should recognize that. She too, was once a child in school. Who taught her?

Anonymous #6 said...Rhee blaming the media sounds right. she was the media's darling - convincing the sophisticated WaPo editorial board of her magical powers to fix the DC schools simply by remodeling the schools and getting the right teachers in there, and denying any other problems. then the media started to turn on her - I'm sure she sees it this way -- and now it's their fault. She feels betrayed and WATCH OUT when Rhee feels betrayed. However, she doesn't have mayoral control over the media and journalists can't be cowed the way teachers can. Teachers can be fired or leave, or just try to hide. The media wants news - good or bad - and it's too late to make them go away now.

Anonymous #7 said... Rhee was there AT THE TIME this report was filed. Here's a copy. This really points to poor judgment. http://media.sacbee.com/smedia/2008/04/15/21/Child_Abuse_Report.source.prod_affiliate.4.pdf And to think he could have been around our children running schools. Wow ... There is no way to say he would be fit given the actions in here. I find it hard to believe the previous police report could have been fabricated.

Anonymous #8 said... link to inappropriate allegations for Kevin Johnson http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/893111.html financial deal Rhee's boyfriend cut to get out of trouble WITH A MINOR:http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/951761.html The Bee also obtained a "demand letter" sent by the teen's lawyer to Johnson after the police investigation had concluded. The letter, sent by attorney Kent E. Turley as a precursor to a civil lawsuit, outlined the girl's allegations against the then-Phoenix Suns point guard. Copy of police report on incident: http://media.sacbee.com/smedia/2008/04/15/21/Phoenix_Police.source.prod_affiliate.4.pdf
And she wanted this person to work with children in DC? WTF? What kind of judgment is that, particularly of a mother with young children?

Anonymous #9 said... here is an article linking Rhee in print to Johnson and his 'organization' http://www.publiceducation.org/nclb_articles/archive/20071114_Nonprofit.asp she was there when the data was allegedly cut and spliced as well as during times where accusations of fiduciary impropriety were hurled: http://www.sthope.org/press_releases/rhee1.pdf an outraged parent/citizen in Sacraremento: http://www.susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=522

Anonymous #10 said... good info: http://blog.edu-cyberpg.com/2008/12/08/THE+MICHELLE+THAT+OBAMA+SHOULD+AVOID.aspx

Anonymous #11 said... Here's the full link (assuming it prints) http://blog.edu-cyberpg.com/2008/12/08/THE+MICHELLE+THAT+OBAMA+SHOULD+AVOID.aspx
or just type in http://blog.edu-cyberpg.com/2008/12/08 and search the December archives. It's a good compilation of news stories and comments on Rhee, most of which I'd already seen. The thing that gets me the most - Rhee trying to shame/bully Obama into supporting her plan or be seen as not supporting black children. The nerve, Michelle, the nerve. he's got a combination of smarts, insight and power that dwarfs anyone you've dealt with up to now and he owes you nothing. Don't think for a minute that you can pull the wool over his eyes.

Anonymous #12 said... Again, I want to direct our focus back to the question of whether Rhee wants to rid DCPS of most of its current teaching staff, many of whom are veterans in their 40s, 50s and 60s. In one of the teachers' meetings in answering a teacher's question, she said it was the media promoting that perception. And again I maintain that Rhee's own words, rather than any media sensationalism or misquote, clearly state her position and intention regarding current DCPS teachers. Looking at the draft of the 5 Year Plan, available on line, under A.Teachers, page 26, the first heading is "Remove poor performers". The second sentence under that heading couldn't be clearer: ..."the overall quality of our teaching corps is unacceptably low." teachers are not imagining that Rhee wants many of us out. Her own words leave no doubt.

Anonymous #13 said... Yep - and she's also made it abundantly clear that she thinks the best arrangement is one in which new grads spend just a few years teaching before moving out of teaching and into educational admin positions. Thus she plans an ongoing system in which there are never any veteran teachers. Do you get it? No one with experience, no one with an organizational memory, no one with anything other than the Rhee "vision" of educational heaven in which teachers have attended a few months of intensive indoctrination and are then sent to the salt mines of the "teachers are everything" mentality that burns people out or sends them fleeing. How nice for the kids.

Anonymous #14 said...I am a DCPS parent. A fascinating read and I thank you. I would like to know, however, why "removing poor performers" as stated in Rhee's plan necessarily equates with "removing veteran teachers" as some of you say Rhee is trying to do - except that to be a poor performer one must have been around for a while in order to exhibit poor performance. Good veteran teachers should have little to worry about, in theory. The stories of good teachers being let go are worrying - but id this the norm or the exception? And is this reform about the teachers? Or the children? (Posted by The Washington Teacher).

Directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos, "DELTA - Oil's Dirty Business" "...portrays the image of "development", the way giant multinational petroleum companies would define it. Petroleum leaks in the River destroy flora and fauna, poison the food chain and consequently wipe out the 27 million indigenous people of the area - the Ijaws, the Ogoni and the Itsekiris. The inhabitants dare to ask the self-evident, they demand an end to it. As a response they are massively and brutally attacked by special forces of the army and the police, which are armed by the oil companies. The camera meets at the river militia of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta-MEND- and presents to the world for the first time shattering images of their speed boat patrols and of their heavy weaponry..."

An extract from Michael Peel's ‘A Swamp Full of Dollars: Pipelines and Paramilitaries at Nigeria’s Oil Frontier’ FT:

As our speedboat casts off from Yenagoa, in the heart of the Niger Delta, I feel as if I am being propelled into a more welcoming world. A bracing wind replaces the humid closeness of the town, a monument to disorder clustered around a single, thunderous main road. The foliage on either side of the water is thick and lush, with oil palms peeping over the top of the tree line. The river traffic – mainly canoes loaded with goods such as fish, wood and plantains – clings to the banks to avoid being capsized by our wake.
I am traveling with a few guides and a fellow journalist, Glenn ­McKenzie, in search of the Niger Delta’s main militant movement: the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or Mend. The organisation had attacked oil installations and kidnapped dozens of oil workers, prompting the big companies to send non-essential staff home and shut down hundreds of thousands of barrels a day of production.

More here
See Niger Delta Solidarity for further coverage

Related articles by Zemanta

• Nigerian rebele group extends ceasefire (telegraph.co.uk)
• Nigeria rebels extend ceasefire (news.bbc.co.uk)