Have you ever interviewed for a job? Even when the questions are the same, the report card seems hidden. Sometimes, the report card is visible, but we forget who is being judged. And often, when we are asked repetitive questions, we hide the truth, even to ourselves.
What are your three greatest strengths? What are your three greatest weaknesses?
Job applicants have become so effective at misrepresenting themselves during the interview process that we have convinced ourselves that we do not really have weaknesses, or that we can shade the truth, when the answer to this question is actually quite simple.
Our strengths and our weaknesses are the same. It just depends on the circumstances.
I remembered this basic truth when I was speaking with education journalist Katy Murphy during Melrose Leadership Academy's Spanish Immersion first Kindergarten graduation ceremony. (Katy Murphy works for the Oakland Tribune; she also writes a popular blog (See the Updated link for Katy Murphy )about local education. She is one of many journalists who have followed our school this year, and below, I photographed how Katy immersed herself into the story during graduation... at first I thought she was a family member.)
Melrose Leadership's Dual Spanish Immersion program is an experiment. That is a strength. As parents, we have input. MLA is an experiment. That is a weakness. The first grade teachers have not been hired yet. We do not know if the first grade classrooms will be inside or outside or ...
Melrose Leadership Academy receives press. Besides Murphy and the Oakland Tribune, other media outlets are interested in our project. Univision televised our first days of school... in Spanish. NPR, the public radio station has covered our school as have other local radio outlets. Our after school program has been featured. It is also a weakness. People are watching.
We are bilingual. This is a strength. Our students are learning two languages. Our students are becoming multicultural. We will not need to teach our children multicultural awareness when they are adults. Our weakness? Though we try, communication slowly. We pause for translation. We lose something in the translation. We learned about the teachers' strike the day before it happened. Who knows what was lost in translation?
Fortunately, Katy Murphy, and others are watching.
In addition to what I missed, I wonder what our educators are missing? What are their strengths? What are their weaknesses? When I received our daughter's report card, I noticed the first two sections: "Responsibility for Learning" and Responsibility for Behavior." I consider this a score for me and the school system. For example, our daughter was scored on how well she:
Participates and cooperates in a group setting
Listens and Follow Directions
Follow Classroom Rules
Follow School Rules
Accepts and respects authority
Accepts rights and property of others
I wonder, how am I demonstrating integrity? How are my daughter's parents teaching her to behave? How are all Oakland Unified employees following rules and working together? How can I expect my child to learn these behaviors if here role models do not?
One of Katy Murphy's recent blog posts illustrate how Oakland educators do not follow rules; the community responses reflect an acceptance. This puzzles me. If people in charge can choose which rules to follow, faith in the system is undermined. Children will not trust the adults. Children will learn to distrust educators. This is not a good lesson.
To see how Katy works, I have included a slideshow. Recently, Katy has started using video, which might interest some viewers. I was more interested by Katy Murpy's style. She attended the diploma ceremony. She talked with parents outside in the play area. She spoke with parents while we were talking with teachers. She also approached the young children at their level.
Katy Murphy Oakland Tribune - Images by bryan farley
Katy also wrote the front page Oakland Tribune article in September, 2009. If you click here, you can see Katy interviewing me during the video.
Note: on June 21, Katy Murphy follow up her blog with this post https://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2010/06/21/new-language-immersion-school-a-year-later/
*Nobody can stop the wheel of history.
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