I knew that teaching was an important step in my career as I fight relentlessly to close the achievement gap, but it was not until this summer that I realized the meaning that it would have for me. As I observe people who work at the district level it seems that each one of them has a story about their past students that informs their daily decision making. I got to experience this first hand as I sat at a luncheon for the Freedom Schools two weeks ago. The summer school students were all at this lunch with tons of big donors and other influential people in the district and halfway through the event the students broke out into this great song
http://youtu.be/cyVzjoj96vs
Aside from the song being moving, especially when sung by disadvantaged students of all ages, I could not help but see my students' faces in the faces of the students before me. My eyes welled up with tears as I watched one student who looked so much like a student of mine from the MS Delta, and then looked over to another student who was a younger version of one of my most challenging students this year. I tried really hard not to embarrass myself in front of all of the influential people (or the students), holding back tears with all of my might. Since this happened it's happened in almost every meeting, interview, or conversation that I get to be a part of. I can't help but put a face to everything that I am doing this summer and it all becomes so much more relevant.
Student advocacy has been a big topic in the news lately, or it is "trending" right now. In this article in the NYtimes the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is referenced multiple times as supporting grass-roots advocacy groups and even providing grants to encourage advocacy. I keep finding myself talking about advocacy after reading this article and thinking about how much it would help our school system if we just picked a few students (in my case many more than a few) to advocate for. I feel that if we focus on advocacy and the power that people have, a powerful movement will begin. So get the ball rolling, think of your children/favorite student/cousin/neighbor and start to advocate for him/her/them for a better education, and if they don't need an advocate then I have many students that do, so call me up and I will share a story.
