The last weekend in July, my mom, dad, sister and I all took a family vacation to Washington, D.C. But it wasn't your normal vacation...oh no...we went for my first ever official march on Washington. The event was called the "Save Our Schools" march and was a grass-roots movement to protest the policies the current department of education are making. This was something that my sister and I felt especially strong about with our experiences in public education over the past few years. A lot of times, a person forms judgment on one political decision or another, but doesn't necessarily see the direct effects as it trickles down from the top. For us, we have seen the devastation the standardized testing movement and No Child Left Behind has had on our schools. And apparently we were not the only ones. Thousands of teachers marched and rallied that weekend for what they believe to be best for the children they teach: keeping creativity and critical thinking in the classroom, allowing teachers to have autonomy with what and how they teach, putting resources into failing schools rather than closing them or offering vouchers, evaluating teachers by their effectiveness in the classroom not by how their students do on standardized tests...I will stop before I get ahead of myself. It was an unforgettable experience. We even had a few celebrity sightings (Jonathan Kozol...Uh-mazing...all you education people will know what I'm talkin' about!!).
Other than the march, we spent a morning at the Smithsonian and saw Oscar Wilde's play, "The Importance of Being Ernest". We also got to eat at some delicious DC restaurants (Indian and Tapas, among my favorites).
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| Oh yes...Matt Damon advocates for teachers. So does Jon Stewart..no surprise there :) |
Among other things, I have definitely been more productive lately than I have been in the past (maybe less happy hours has something to do with that???). I have done a few DIY projects around the house and am having a blast with them!! Who knew they could be so exciting??? Seriously?? So anyways, here are my most recent projects:
Coasters: These things are so easy/cheap/amazing!!! I love them and I want to give them for every present in the near future. All they take is a ceramic tile, some scrapbook paper, felt, and some gloss finish!! Check them out:
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| I made a set for my mommy too :) |
I also put these cute little miss-matched knobs on the dresser in our guest room...found them on sale at Anthropologie!
And finally, I ran my first 5k today!! We did Race for the Cure downtown with Tom's work, which supports breast cancer research. It was amazing weather and the view was very scenic, especially with the finished Kauffman Preforming Arts Center in the background! Gorgeous!! I ran it in 36 minutes, my new personal (and only) high.
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| Thousands of People!! |
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| Kauffman Performing Arts Center |
This year my district is not taking the state assessment. We are going to use a different test that measures progress from the beginning of the year to the end. But the district is also pushing us to do more project based learning but we still have to make ayp. so the pressure is there to be a good teacher but also to please the man. I hate being stuck in the tension! Can we just get rid of standardized tests already?!
ReplyDeleteps those coasters are really cute!