Kathy Griffin: Poor Choice

Kathy Griffin made a poor choice when she used a violent image to make fun of Donald Trump. Donald Trump made a poor choice when he made fun of a handicapped individual. We have all made poor choices in our life.

What's important is that we try to avoid those poor choices with a "do not go there" list, a list that can include the following:

• Do not use violent images or speak
• Do not make fun of individual's physical challenges, mental challenges, class, race, culture, or appearance
• Do not make fun of children or treat children with judgmental, disparaging remarks

I am a big fan of humor. I recognize the fine line between funny and insulting--it's a line that good comedians are always working to navigate. I know it's not an easy line.

Donald Trump name calls and demeans people all the time. He is the first President in my lifetime that makes disrespect a daily sport and activity--he is not a good role model for respectful, kind, and dignified behavior. While he has not used violent images (thank goodness), many of his supporters fill Twitter and other feeds with violent images and speak of many. Many nonsupporters of Trump do the same. I don't agree with this behavior. It goes back to the old adage my parents said almost daily, "Two wrongs don't make a right" and the wise words of Michelle Obama, "When they go low, we go high." 

Bottom line here is that we all make poor choices. When we make poor choices, we have to face the consequences and move on and ahead of that poor choice. We have to do what we can to remind ourselves not to make that kind of poor choice again.

The difficulty with Trump is that while he spoke out against Griffin's poor choice, he still does not apologize for his poor choices such as his demeaning talk about women and the handicapped man, and he continues to use name calling (Crooked Hillary) and disrespectful language when talking about others (sick!). 

Hopefully this incident, highly covered in the news because it's an "easy issue" and doesn't really require any sacrifice or hard work by others (hard issues are issues such as poverty, violence, climate), will result in greater discussion about respectful action, fair use of power, and the limits of comedy, disrespectful speak/acts, and positive cultural norms. 

What do you think? 

A Person I Honor is a Trump Supporter

Soon I will visit with a person I honor, and this person is a Trump supporter. This individual feels that Trump was sent to us from God to improve society. She prays for Trump, and is adamant about her support.

Last time I met with this individual, our conversation became heated as I do not support almost every policy and statement Trump makes and leads. Yet, I don't want that to happen again as I honor this person. She is a person of good character who has worked hard, loved her family, and cared for others with her talent and craft.

I wonder why this person is such a staunch supporter of Trump, a President whose efforts to date do not support this individual's lifestyle or needs. I can only think of the following reasons.

Trump represents the "Great White Hope" 
It's likely that this individual likes Trump because he is the same race as she is. It's possible that this person has deep seated racist views when it comes to diversity and skin shade. She watches a lot of television and probably sees mostly negative portrayals of people of color which has probably added to her potential underlying racist views and fears.

Trump has represented a strong stand on immigration
This individual's industry has faced considerable competition from new immigrants. Her own shop has noted less success in recent years due to this competition. This too could impact her support of Trump.

Trump represents an old America
I think this individual may long for days of old, the kind of days and routines that Trump speaks of when he talks of "Making America Great Again." This person lives a life that includes old time, traditional roles of women and men as well as old time prejudices too against new age freedoms for multiple people.

Trump represents Christianity
This person is religiously extremely conservative and values the idea that Christianity is the one religion. Trump has represented this viewpoint in action and inference.

Trump is Anti-Education
This individual did not have a positive education in her faith-based school. She was one of those students who came from a family that couldn't support her good education well, and she represented an alternate learning style--one of those students who is very bright, but a student for whom the traditional teaching methods did not work well. Hence, I imagine that she was a struggling student who was often demeaned for the fact that she couldn't grasp the learning quickly with traditional methods. Thus she has an anti-intellectual, anti-education attitude. Yet because she is so close to her faith, she still believes in faith-based schools. For these reasons, I think she may support Trump and his educational view.

Trump Values Traditional Ideas of Beauty
This individual values beauty in a traditional, "Ivanka Trump," way, hence she loves the way the women in Trump's life dress and look, and that's another reason why she values Trump.

Trump Says He Represents the Average Working Family
While Trump's policies and acts seem to represent the wealthy in our country, his speak says he represents the working family. This woman values that.

Conservative Radio and Television Supports Trump
This woman is an avid listener of conservative radio and television. She believes what she hears and supports Trump because of that.

I am much more of a fan of leadership that is altruistic, respectful of diversity, open minded, respectful, and honest. To me, Trump does not represent those values, yet for the person of whom I write, she values Trump as if he were a religious icon--it's perplexing for me, but makes me realize the following.

Trump's Support May Have Grown From the Fact That Many Americans Felt Disrespected and Unheard
I do think the woman I write of felt disrespected and unheard in the past, and her reaction to Trump tells me that we have to look for ways, in this country, to better respect all people of all classes, professions, neighborhoods, and lifestyles. This respect should include good services, support, and development of inclusive culture.

Media Has to Include More Positive Stories of Diverse Cultures
I often call the media the "bad news," because it highlights stories of despair, violence, and horror. Yet we know more good happens than bad. It's imperative that the media regularly include the positive stories of multiple cultural groups.Too often the only images of diversity people see are images that include violence and despair--this kind of reporting only leads to greater prejudice.

Strong Culture
As communities we have to talk about and make decisions related to what it means to develop a strong culture. This woman sees her values diminishing in the culture, values of strong families, healthy food, positive activity. Do our culture acts and values demonstrate a value for people's choice of religion, family time, multiple career paths, and more. To build a strong culture, we need to work to invite the voice and choice of all.

In all, I believe that this woman supports Trump because she wants to belong and feel valued. She's afraid of the changes that have occurred and has somewhat felt voiceless and choiceness. I want to think about how I can work towards valuing all people in our communities and working towards building strong culture. I think if we do this, we'll see less people easily swayed by marketeers like Trump who use strategies to convince people he will care for them, when it seems that he has no real interest or insight when it comes to truly caring for the average family or individual in the USA.

This is a messy post as I grapple with this woman's very different perspective than mine and get ready to spend time with this person, a person I honor in so many ways.

It Takes a Team to Teach Well

Old speak of schools brings to mind images of one-teacher-one-classroom, but the truth is that today schools are filled with multiple teachers who work together to serve all children. There are teachers trained in the traditional sense with college education programs. Those teachers include special educators, specialists, teaching assistants, and classroom teachers. Then there are administrators, counselors, coaches, and therapists. After that there's the office staff, custodians, lunch room staff, and recess teachers. In all, our students at one grade level are served by about 30 teachers--people who spend their days serving, coaching, mentoring, guiding, and yes, teaching students.

At the start of the year, we share a chart like the one at the top of the page with all the teachers' names and images--this sends the message to students and families that there are a lot of people working everyday to serve and teach the children. Further the chart helps families and students get to know the names of those that teach and care for the students. Next year, I want to use the chart more explicitly with students to help them learn to say each teacher's name. We will talk about polite greetings and responses including please, thank you, good morning, good afternoon, how are you, and more.

I'll ask students to practice using the names of their many teachers. We'll practice that with greetings and gratitude as those teachers help all of us.

Too often as I've written about before, we don't take the time to politely recognize the helpful and kind people in our midst. When we teach children the importance of using names and polite language we help to build a culture of kind support and care, the kind of community that respects one another and lends itself to happiness and success.

Friday Musings: June 2, 2017

It was a BUSY day and week as we enter the final stretch of the year.

Today's highlight was the modern-day performance of Pyramus and Thisbe by a group of high school Greek and Roman literature students. The fifth graders had a good discussion about Avid's poem before attending the short playful performance, and then they had many good questions afterwards. It was a positive event.

Other events in the day found us working on biography projects and doing an activity related to seed packets and seed germination. Our morning meeting mostly focused on supports and schedules for math teaching and the biography project.

Next week finds us doing more of the same science study, biography research, and a bit of math tech. I'll also be attending to final project review and progress reports too.

So far it's been a very positive final chapter, may it continue!

End-of-Year Details: 2017

There are a large number of details at the end of the school year. Attention to those details create a positive ending.

As I think about this, I realize that we'll need some time for a class meeting to review the following:

• field trip permission slips
• STEAM supplies: bottles and boxes
• Another clean-up
• Biography project to-do list for every child
• End-of-year celebration and special event pictures, permission slips, and fees

I also need to set aside plenty of time to complete the myriad of end-of-year tasks:

• Finalizing move-up letter, supply list, summer study, and website with the grade-level team
• Completing cum cards and conference lists
• Reviewing final assessments and completing report cards
• Editing final biography presentations
• Room clean-up

There's few days left and lots to do, and what's most important is that we support our young learners well during this busy and celebratory time. Onward.