gotta LOVE district-mandated trainings. i have to go to this stupid literacy program conference this entire week. i have to go for the next 3 years. i went last year. same ish!!! well... u know me, i like to spice things up. =) ok maybe not quite that, but being the political person that i am, i have to speak up when i feel strong enough about something.

so the day starts off with "introduce yourself and say something else interesting." well everyone was talking about their dogs, and babies, and gardening, and stamp collections. gets to me and i said something to the effect of, "i'm a very political person (don't vote for bush) and i'm really inspired by the mobilizing and organizing tha'ts been happening at our school, 99th Street in Watts. parents and teachers are coming together, we got the principal out, but there is still more work to be done.... vote for kerry!" that was interesting. it's fun seeing how people get all quiet and uncomfortable when political things are mentioned. so taboo! *gasp*

so later on we have this discussion about teaching and learning, and blah blah. anyhow, this guy was all, "sounds like we're talking about something larger than just teaching and learning." so to respond to it, i say (in a nutshell) "we are. we're talking about the system. open court (the literacy pgm) is part of the perpetuation of the system that's in place. open up the teacher's manuals to the About The Authors page and look at who they are. all white, except one token african american woman. whose knowledge are we saying is most important? whose knowledge are we teaching? i'm sorry, but the system has NOT changed, because decades after Brown v. Board, my kids are STILL all black and brown. don't tell me segregation is gone. the system is still the same system. and for open court, and CA state standards, which i also have a problem with, dictates whose knowledge is more important. what's important to my kids in watts is not important to kids in pacific palisades, and vice versa." so the stupid workshop facilitator, older white woman than she is (i bet she never taught in an urban school), goes "let me ask u this. how many years have u been teaching?" WHAT A F***IN CHEAP SHOT! so i call her out and ask, "are u trying to pull rank on me?" of course she was. but she denied it and try to pass it off as some other bullshit. i knew what she was going to say: well i've been teaching x amount of years and you're just young, idealistic, and unexperienced.... bullshit. it has nothing to do with how long you've taught. it's about philosophy. anyway, that lady hated me for the rest of the week. i gave her a lot of shit, but every cheap shot she tried to shoot at me i just either shot back or just laughed it off cuz it was so stupid, and everyone else in the workshop could see it too. biznatch...