COTSEN observation

one of the best parts of being a COTSEN fellow is the opportunity to visit other classrooms--in and outside LBUSD--and watch other artful teachers instruct. last thursday we visited heidi fernandez's 4th grade class at roosevelt elementary school in santa monica. hiedi uses no textbooks... for any subject. instead she utelizes her encyclopedic knowledge of children's literature and the internet to teach all content areas, including science and math.

i wished i could have observed her the whole day, but since my focus is reading, i only watched her reader's workshop. her lesson was how good readers employ comprehension skills (questioning, inferring, predicting, etc.) "simultaneously," notice this "thinking journey," and write their "reactions" on sticky notes. i loved her terms d'arte. (sticky notes were "tools, not toys.") she was dynamic and knowledgeable. her lesson was tight. not a word was wasted...

i scrambled to scribble every syllable she said.

i was comforted in the fact that our grade level was not that far off from her model. her "mini-lesson" took 30 minutes, she had to re-focus a few of her "readers" throughout the lesson, and her class was "still working on transitions" from the carpet to their desks. all familiar problems in my room.

the thing that really caught my eye, though was the work she'd done with her class on the election. not only were all the candidates' pictures labeled with their names and party affiliations, but she also had a bulletin board displaying propaganda and students' comments on the effects of media on public perception. i loved this! all i've done this year is hold a mock presidential election (obama, 25; mccain, 5) and buy the schoolhouse rock, election collection DVD, which i haven't even shown yet! for such an historic election year, that's soooooo sad!

senator paul wellstone in memoriam

the progressive movement lost one of its foremost proponents 6 years ago today. watch (at 2:46) as senator wellstone mentions the one thing that can reduce poverty, sustain a middle class, keep us competitive in an international economy, and produce thinking citizens--education.

if all goes well, al franken will follow in wellstone's progressive footsteps when the people of minnesota elect him to the senate over norm coleman in november. (can you imagine bill o'reilly--who derisively calls franken "stuart smalley"--having to address him as "senator franken?")