Dreams Are Hard Work!

My computer would not download the photo that I took of my Dream's 5 year plan and 12 month goal so I have included the link to the e-mail that includes the picture:

http://us.mc01g.mail.yahoo.com/mc/showletter?mid=1_32638_1_2299955_0_AIGzo0IAAKl%2BSQxfCwwvzDRismE&fid=%2540S%2540Search&prevMid=1_31106_1_2259663_0_AH6zo0IAAXr%2FSRA%2BYw6L6Xj30g0&nextMid=&search=1&extraargs=%26.rand%3D1345353601&noFlush&mcrumb=eEL.Oaed.rl#_pg=showMessage&pSize=25&sMid=3&fid=Inbox&sort=date&order=down&startMid=0&filterBy=&.rand=1067577422&midIndex=3&mid=1_7608164_AIOzo0IAAFjsScA1Kw4ynxrCF3o&m=1_7610519_AH6zo0IAAYB3ScBnQwah2EJJdNQ,1_7609995_AIOzo0IAARSwScBFlAztVROM7%2FI,1_7609321_AH2zo0IAASFQScA41AkoKjBRO4s,1_7608164_AIOzo0IAAFjsScA1Kw4ynxrCF3o,1_7607565_AH%2Bzo0IAALcRScAuQA36yBTzhdw,1_7606792_AH%2Bzo0IAAEMbScAkewCspB7dszk,1_7606144_AICzo0IAAKf8ScAebwbGn0r4sgQ,1_7604962_AIGzo0IAAR%2F7ScAaZAq%2BU3RF5Cc,1_7605608_AH6zo0IAARTgScAawwjDbDqNglI,&hash=fd1c7bb60a512d4b48f97f63e8021657&.jsrand=9

Can you see it??????

My auto dealership role model could not be reached for comment despite the help that I received from the professor. But, I did not give up. I was able to reach a role model in education, which is one of the five lives that correlate with my dream of owning my own auto dealership. Since I will pursue education, particularly in the urban communities, I asked David Schaafsma what his thoughts were on the charter school movement in Chicago. I am pursuing an alternative teaching certificate program that partners with CPS schools that have been "turned around" or are now, charter schools. Let's take a look at what David Schaafsma, Director of English Education, had to say when I asked a couple of questions via e-mail.


What comes to mind when you hear school reform and Chicago Public Schools?

I think school reform is a catch phrase. Are schools being re-formed? All
the time. The small schools movement is one interesting experiment I
support. Everything good is still being undermined by the triage system
CPS put in place whereby they pull the best students from bad
neighborhoods and create uber-schools like Whitney Young and Northside CP,
etc. leaving Crane and Manley and Orr in the lurch. Until inequities are
addressed, and they will not be, school reform can't be taken seriously.
Any efforts are undermined as well by No Child Left Behind and similar
polcies that punish schools for failures that the government created.

What role does charter/turnaround schools play in school reform?

I think that charters are an interesting experiment and create room for
creativity, but they are also a mixed bag: some of them are great, with
good ideas, and some of them are not good. See Geoff Reu's EE MA thesis on
this, borrow it from me. Turnaround schools are like shuffling the deck
chairs on the Titanic. Much ado without funding.

Do you feel teaching programs such as Teach for America, where all majors
are welcome, are effectively contributing to school reform or hindering its development?

I don't think they hinder, but they don't reeally contribute. They don't
know how to teach. The elitist assumption is that knowing subject matter
makes you a smart teacher, but teaching isn't primarily about subject
matter and content knowledge, it's about how to work with kids. TFA
doesn't adequately address this.

Are there any setbacks for students that proceed into the
education field without any prior education/theory from their undergraduate experience?

Yes, many, see above. What do you do in the classroom? The arrogance of
TFA is that it says pedagogy doesn't matter, that curriculum theory is
irrelevant. It's like college teaching. Pedagogy is beneath talking about.


Are there any negative/positive consequences for providing a set curricula
when people such as Bill Gates donates money to teaching programs such as
the Academy of Urban School Leadership?

Set curricula are always bad, fundamentally. People are not machines. But
I don't understand your question.

What is needed to equip Chicago Public schools students with the
educational foundation that will enable them to compete with suburban
school districts, or any other well funded school? Should students boycott
and be bused to suburban schools in order to shed light on the ongoing
issue of schools being underfunded?

The boycott like Kozol's Savage Inequalities brings attention to a system
of injustice. I think that poverty and crime undermine equity, too. Money
matters. You can't change the school system to overcome those problems,
but some cool things can be done, and are being done, nevertheless.

Is there any connection between CPS school reform and the 2016 Olympic
bid? If so, how will it affect the chances of obtaining the bid to host the games?

The crime rate will hurt the bid. They won't give Chicago the Olympics if
it is the Murder Capitol of the World, as it is. One kid a week has died
since the beginning of the school year. Daley is touting success in school
reform as the reason we should be proud of Chicago, the reason it should
get the Olympics, but at the same time, kids are getting murdered here at
an alarming rate. The reform is not working for all of the above, and even
if it were, this is a crime town. Not safe for the Olympics.