EVERYDAY HERO - And THIS is what happened on my dad's birthday.........

                               Channel 7 EVERYDAY HERO

May 1^st

Around 9 this morning, a typical weekday morning, I went off to Mountain View Elementary School to talk to Ms. Laurie Rondou’s class of  2^nd graders, as part of their science time. I knew they were going to be joined by students from Cherry Valley Elementary School that I visit each week. “They’re going to share their science time with each other,” I was told.

I get to Mountain View and I'm greeted and then told by Drew, the principal, that he was going to have a really busy day as he was expecting a lot of visitors. I took that to mean that I needed to do a quick session with the kids and then push off. I was ok with that, thinking that I would take a walk out in the countryside.

As I head towards the classroom, I bump into Ms. Jan francis, the teacher from Cherry Valley, and she tells me that her kids were being brought by their parents in cars -  and then redirects me to the library. “Don’t go into the classroom,’ she says, “Laurie's kids are finishing off some work from yesterday.”

I do as I’m told and go into the library where I see a table full of small blue cakes, red cakes and white cakes. “Must be someone’s birthday,” I mutter to myself. I sit down, and await the larger than usual audience of students. This won't take long, anyway, I think, 'cos I know I'm just there to welcome the kids. About ten minutes later, around 9:30, in come Laurie's 2^nd graders. There all dressed in white. Why is that, I wonder? Oh, the cakes.......must be somebody's birthday today.

The kids sit around me, full of smiles, and already wanting to show me rocks and twigs they’d collected, and, just killing time, I begin to tell them about the little mouse, caught by my tomcat, Bertie, that bit my finger yesterday when I tried to save its life.

I look up and I see loads of MV teachers smiling at me...........ok, they must be going to Drew's important meeting.......

Then, the library door opens and in come the Cherry Valley children accompanied  by their parents, and they join the kids seated around me. They're all dressed in red..........Mmmm.....what's going on?Then, before I can say more than 7 words, I’m surprised to see another class, 5^th graders from North East School, appear, led by Jeannine, my wife. What IS  going on? I wonder, as I see them all dressed in blue!

Suddenly I’m very aware that all eyes are on me and that I have a library full of kids and teachers and other adults. Wow! Didn’t expect this, I thought. Hey, hey, ne’er mind. Get going, JP, tell a story.

I tell everyone that it’s Arthur Charles, my dad, 103^rd birthday. To celebrate, I take a large wishing rock from my bag and ask the kids to help me send a special wish to my long departed father. I hold  up high the big wishing rock (found on penzance promenade beach last year), I stroke it, and ask the kids to close their eyes. 

Bless them and their cotton socks, they do.

In absolute silence we  send my dad, Arthur Charles, the BIGGEST wish, we me thinking, if only he would walk through the door………..

OK, move on, JP.

Holding a bottle quarter filled with water, I tell the boys and girls that, as there are so many in front of me,  I want to capture the young scientists atmosphere for ever. Laurie kindly brings me a small dish and holds it under the dish……I turn the bottle upside down and take off the lid………..and, wouldn't you know, flippin' 'eck, the water splashes all over Laurie’s blouse…………so sorry, Laurie, I mumble…..she laughs out loud.........I quickly put back the lid, telling my audience that I have captured the air, the excitement,  and their brain power, in the jar, FOREVER!

Hey, hey. That done, I pull a pocket museum from my bag, and, slowly, open it. It’s an old OXO tin my dad had buried in our garden way back in 1949 – one that I dug up again in 1996 when I knew I was moving to the States. The kids' eyes are wide open as they look inside the very old and very rusty OXO pocket museum.

As I show the kids what’s inside, ( 1942 - my birthdate - and 1949 pennies, a fossil, a seashell, one of my grandfather’s clay marbles, and a chicken wishbone)  in walks a smartly dressed fella wearing a shirt and tie, and I think to myself, hey,  he must be one of Drew’s important visitors. I wonder why the all-dressed-up gentleman sits to my right as I continue talking to the kids. Must be killing time before he sees Drew, I suppose........

Wish I knew, though, who he was. Obviously from Douglas County Administration.

Then, then, I hear a noise to my left, and................and, surprise, surprise, in comes a TV cameraman………………….with Drew. My brain goes into overdrive. I continue telling a story, thinking that there was some filming project going on about the school…….hence the important fella sitting to my right.............hope I’m not in the way……….but the cameraman, sets up his camera and, and……………and aims the camera at my chair and starts filming me!

Whatever is going on?

The man in the white shirt comes over and introduces himself. He’s from Channel 7, he says, and he’s making a film for a series called, Everyday Hero, and the program is about……….me!! Me telling stories to kids......

Mitch (that's his name I learned later)  presents me with a beautiful framed Everyday Hero certificate.

Crikey………my mind is a whirl…………there's a horde of tiny flies buzzing in my head..........catching my breath, I thank him, and I sit down again and look at the kids. They smile broadly and give me a heart-touching loud clap. HEY!! They KNEW all the time!! THEY knew!!!!!

One of them asks if I will tell the tale of Radjel the fox………………I’m flustered, and I stumble through the story, telling it really, really badly……..hey, hey. Well, ok, c’mon, it ain’t every day you have a TV camera and a hundred pairs of eyes staring at you. T'ain't easy, you know.....:)

Drew, bless his cotton socks,  saves my bacon. When the story comes to an end, he steps forward and thanks everyone for coming…….

I look up and receive a big hug from Jeannie, Jeannine's principal, and then I see neighbors Kim and Carol! THEY knew about it, too? Uh.........! :)

And the red, white and blue clothing and cakes? Well, that's to celebrate my impending citizenship meeting when I become an American - June 5th.

An hour later, I'm interviewed by the fella in the smart shirt and tie, then Drew, the principal, Jan, and a few kids are interviewed, and I’m told that the program will be shown at these times:

Sunday May 17^th at 10:00 p.m.

Monday May 18^th at 11 a.m.

Saturday May 23^rd at 5 p.m.

Sunday May 24^th at 7:00 a.m.

Thursday May 28th at 11 a.m.

And will be on the Channel 7 website for about a month, starting May 19^th.

IF you have nothing better to do, you might want to take a look!!!!!!!!! 

I might……………

But, my question: HOW did so many people, adults (especially Laurie, Jan, Jeannine and Drew) and children, keep such a secret for such along time?

Hey, hey…………..Flippin' 'eck, life’s never dull, is it? Well, it ain't when you have a pocket museum handy and a wishing rock...........

John

Laurie, Jan, Drew, Jeannine and kids - you made me feel SO proud!
BLESS YOUR COTTON SOCKS!!!!!!!!!!

Coming - May 1st, my dad's 103rd birthday......

Bless his cotton socks!! 103.....crikey, just imagine.

Walking back from Ding Dong Tin Mine, 1969, I think..........
He knew his stuff when out and about..........most of what he knew was acquired from first-hand observation, years and years of hunting, trapping and catching rabbits, duck and fish.

Tell you what, though, I wouldn't mind a walk with him today.
 He'd love where I live and its access to the open, wild countryside.

From the NYT: Beyond education wars, Nicholas Kristof.

NYT Thursday April 23rd.

For the last dozen years, waves of idealistic Americans have campaigned to reform and improve K-12 education.

Armies of college graduates joined Teach for America. Zillionaires invested in charter schools. Liberals and conservatives, holding their noses and agreeing on nothing else, cooperated to proclaim education the civil rights issue of our time.

Yet I wonder if the education reform movement hasn’t peaked.

The zillionaires are bruised. The idealists are dispirited. The number of young people applying for Teach for America, after 15 years of growth, has dropped for the last two years. The Common Core curriculum is now an orphan, with politicians vigorously denying paternity.

K-12 education is an exhausted, bloodsoaked battlefield. It’s Agincourt, the day after. So a suggestion: Refocus some reformist passions on early childhood.      

I say that for three reasons. First, there is mounting evidence that early childhood is a crucial period when the brain is most malleable, when interventions are most cost-effective for at-risk kids.

Researchers are finding that poverty can harm the brains of small children, perhaps because their brains are subjected to excessive cortisol (a stress hormone) and exposed less to conversation and reading. One study just published in Nature Neuroscience found that children in low-income families had a brain surface area on average 6 percent smaller than that of children in high-income families.

“Neuroscience tells us we’re missing a critical, time-sensitive opportunity to help the most disadvantaged kids,” notes Dr. Jack Shonkoff, an early childhood expert at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Growing evidence suggests what does work to break the poverty cycle: Start early in life, and coach parents to stimulate their children. Randomized controlled trials, the gold standard of evidence, have shown this with programs like Nurse-Family Partnership, Reach Out and Read, and high-quality preschool. These kinds of interventions typically produce cognitive gains that last a few years and then fade — but, more important, alsoproduce better life outcomes, such as less crime, fewer teenage pregnancies, higher high school graduation rates, and higher incomes.

The second reason to focus on early interventions is that the low-hanging fruit has already been picked in the K-12 world. Charter schools like KIPP showed that even in high-poverty environments, students can excel. In New York City, which under Michael Bloomberg became a center for education reform, high school graduation rates rose to 66 percent in 2013 from 47 percent in 2005.

I support education reform. Yet the brawls have left everyone battered and bloodied, from reformers to teachers unions. I’m not advising surrender. Education inequity is America’s original sin. A majority of American children in public schools are eligible for free or reduced price lunches, and they often get second-rate teachers in second-rate schools — even as privileged kids get superb teachers. This perpetuates class and racial inequity and arises in part from a failed system of local school financing.

But fixing K-12 education will be a long slog, so let’s redirect some energy to children aged 0 to 5 (including prenatal interventions, such as discouraging alcohol and drug use among pregnant women).

That leads to my third reason: Early education is where we have the greatest chance of progress because it’s not politically polarized. New York City liberals have embraced preschool, but so have Oklahoma conservatives. Teacher unions will flinch at some of what I say, but they have been great advocates for early education. Congress can’t agree on much, but Republicans and Democrats just approved new funding for home visitation for low-income toddlers.

My perspective is shaped by what I’ve seen. Helping teenagers and adults is tough when they’ve dropped out of school, had babies, joined gangs, compiled arrest records or self-medicated.

But in Oklahoma, I once met two little girls, ages 3 and 4, whose great-grandmother had her first child at 13, whose grandmother had her first at 15, whose mom had her first at 13 and now has four children by three fathers. These two little girls will break that cycle, I’m betting, because they (along with the relative caring for them) are getting help from an outstanding early childhood program called Educare. Those two little girls have a shot at opportunity.

Even within early education, there will be battles. Some advocates emphasize the first three years of life, while others focus on 4-year-olds. Some seek to target the most at-risk children, while others emphasize universal programs.

But early childhood is not a toxic space, the way K-12 education is now. So let’s redeploy some of our education passions, on all sides, to an area where we just may be able to find common ground: providing a foundation for young children aged 0 to 5.

From the NYT: Where are the teachers of color?

GROWING up in the 1970s and ’80s in the Chicago suburb of Blue Island, Ill., Gladys Marquez, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, never once had a Hispanic teacher. Sometimes, when trying to explain to her parents her plans for college — or even why she wanted to play softball or try out for the cheerleading team — she wished she had a mentor who shared her background.

“It would have been nice to have a teacher in the classroom who could help you bridge over and help you become a better version of yourself,” she said in a recent interview.

Now Ms. Marquez is herself a high school teacher in Blue Island. But while nearly half of the students at the school are Hispanic, Ms. Marquez is still one of a small minority of Latino teachers in the building.

Across the country, government estimates show that minority students have become a majority in public schools. Yet the proportion of teachers who are racial minorities has not kept up: More than 80 percent of teachers are white.

In some school districts, the disparities are striking. In Boston, for example, there is just one Hispanic teacher for every 52 Latino students, and one black teacher for every 22 African-American students. The ratio of white teachers to white students: one to fewer than three.

In New York City, where more than 85 percent of the students are racial minorities, 60 percent of the teachers are white. In Washington, black teachers represent close to half of all teachers — in a district where two-thirds of the students are black — but the Latino teaching force lags behind the growing Hispanic enrollment.

Few would say that a black child needs to be taught by a black teacher or that a Latino or Asian child cannot thrive in a class with a white teacher. “Ultimately, parents are going to respect anybody who they think cares for their kids,” said Andres Antonio Alonso, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. “But if there are no people who somehow mirror the parents and the kids, then I think there could be a problem.”

A few studies have suggested a link between academic performance and children being taught by a teacher of their own race, although the effects are quite small. According to Anna Jacob Egalite, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard and an author of a new study, the largest improvements amounted to about one month of additional learning within a school year.

Other researchers who have found similar academic effects say more than test scores are at stake. “When minority students see someone at the blackboard that looks like you, it helps you reconceive what’s possible for you,” said Thomas S. Dee, a professor of education at Stanford University.

With the population of Hispanic students exploding relatively recently, it will take some time for the population of Latino college graduates — and future teachers — to catch up.

Fewer African-Americans, particularly black men, graduate from college than whites, shrinking the pool of prospective black teachers

In college, minority students are often the first in their families to attend, and may carry significant debt and have high expectations for future salaries. “The majority of those who successfully attend college choose careers other than education, mainly because of the pay,” said Marvin Lynn, dean of the School of Education at Indiana University in South Bend, who is starting a scholarship program for minority students interested in education careers.

Teach.org, a partnership between the Department of Education and several companies, teachers unions and other groups, is specifically targeting racial minorities for recruitment. Teach for America, the group that places high-achieving college graduates in low-income schools for two-year stints, last year sent recruiters to 100 historically black colleges and 130 colleges with predominantly Latino students, said Elisa Villanueva Beard, co-chief executive of Teach for America. Last fall, half of its incoming corps identified themselves as racial minorities.

Some school districts are also more deliberately trying to hire teachers from underrepresented racial groups. For the first time this year, the Boston Public Schools will send recruiters to Texas and Arizona in an effort to find Hispanic teachers. But Ceronne B. Daly, director of diversity, said such strategies were insufficient. “The people currently coming out of ed schools simply aren’t diverse enough,” she said.

The district recently initiated a program to train community members to become classroom assistants who might eventually go on to become teachers. It is also running a pilot program in four high schools to begin cultivating teenagers who are interested in teaching careers.

Such programs may solve only part of the problem. According to Richard M. Ingersoll, a professor of education and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania who has analyzed Education Department data, the number of minority teachers has actually doubled since the late 1980s. The real problem, he said, is not recruitment, but retention.

Teacher turnover is a challenge in general, but Mr. Ingersoll said nonwhite teachers were more likely to resign than their white counterparts. They are disproportionately assigned to schools with large populations of children from low-income families, and are subjected to “student discipline problems and lack of resources and lower salaries, with often more top-down and scripted curricula,” said Mr. Ingersoll. He said minority teachers frequently cited frustration with management and lack of autonomy as reasons they quit.

Arianna Howard, a doctoral candidate in education at Ohio State University, left teaching middle school after two years in Columbus. She was frustrated by the district’s rigidly enforced curriculum and said it was culturally out of sync with her mostly black students. “Oftentimes they were unable to relate to” the assigned books, said Ms. Howard, who is African-American. “A lot of the characters were white males, and a lot of the situations were based in rural locales.”

The race gap among teachers is not likely to be closed anytime soon. To help all teachers learn how to deal sensitively with diversity in their classrooms, the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, runs seminars for its members. “If you are not aware of your own personal biases,” said Rocío Inclán, director of human and civil rights at the union, “then you lose the kids on a personal level and you can lose them in academics as well.”

Motoko Rich is an education reporter for The New York Times.