“The world is divided into those who see
that there is a problem and those who deny that there is a problem. Many of the
people that deny that there is a problem are the older folks in the profession
who would have to admit that they have used bogus evidence to obtain
convictions. And that is a hard thing to admit.”
- The Brilliant mind of John J.
Lentini, Scientific Fire Analyst, National Geographic Program, investigating Cameron
Todd Willingham’s 1992 wrongful conviction of arson murder of his three
daughters in December 1991. Despite scientific evidence produced on time to
exonerate Mr. Willingham of the charges he was executed by lethal injection
February 17, 2004.
Another issue that caused me much harassment
and defamation of character was inquiring about the practice of separating
language by color and its implications to the learning process. This practice
came-off to me as not necessarily student-centered. For one, it goes against
preparing middle school students for high school and college especially since
there is no existing high school or college which implements said practice. I
also always wondered who selected, and why, the color red for the Spanish
language; a color that is cross culturally saturated with negative
connotations. Are we sublimely trying to repel learners from the Spanish
language?
For a long while many teachers, on the
side lines, have expressed reservations about the actual function of this
practice and the specifics of its implementation but were too fearful to bring
it up to administration.
When I asked administrators to be
guided toward finding some scientific bases for this practice they did not
respond favorably. When I tried to do my own research, I found no scientific basis
for this practice. This motivated me to create my own experiment.
Below you will find two letters which were
inspired by a one way shouting session of insults, threats, belittlement, and
condescension, by administration for merely bringing up the above concern and a
follow-up meeting that was promised to the teachers about this particular topic
but neglected to ever occur, despite reminders. Somewhere close by you will
also find the research which I conducted in order to quantify some of the
dynamics I was noticing in the classroom as a practitioner, (Segregating
Language by Color: Red for Spanish & Blue for English, Perez, spring
2009).
Worthy Human
I cannot wrap my
mind around the idea that you believe that I am worthy of immediate termination
and worthy of being blacklisted from working in the educational system, especially
during these difficult economical times, because (a) Spanish charts in the
classroom are not in the color red, and (b) because according to you, my grades
are submitted into the system late although I have never actually exceeded the
specified deadlines for submitting grades.
After our
disturbing meeting on Tuesday, October 1, 2011, I took a closer look at my
room. It turns out that the Spanish written charts that were up on the walls
were actually written in a brown/maroon color, which is the closest to the
color red that I had available. Spanish information in the dry eraser board
however was written in red but with a thin-tip dry erase marker because I was
told that there is no other available type. As you already know, the extra
emphasis on the budget cuts and scarcity of school supplies dissuaded me from
making any supply requests.
On a similar
note, last year we held a meeting where many concerns surrounding the
segregation of language by color, (Spanish in red & English in blue), were
discussed.
One of the most
important concerns raised was how this practice can make high school
preparation difficult for learners since it is unlike anything they are going
to encounter in high school, college, and beyond.
Other concerns
were - *the fact that the clever use of multi-colors seem to be more appealing
to learners and thus calls their attention and focus to the work more
effectively than the mundane use of single color, *the research behind the
negative connotations to the color red (in contrast to the positive
connotations to the color blue) and its affect on learner’s attitudes toward
paired items with said color (in this particular case attitudes toward the
particular language), *should comments written on student work, memos provided
by the main office, worksheets, handouts, power-points/smart-board slides, text
books, be color coded, *should students submit their work color coded, *will
the school provide color printers, *have we considered the extra expense on
ink, etc.
You said that
many of these concerns sound legitimate and that we will have a follow-up
meeting about the practice but that for the mean time, since we were facing an
audit, we should portray consistency through out the grades by separating
Spanish in the color red and English in the color blue. This important follow
up meeting never took place.
Concerning
the grades, although I never violated the due dates for grades submittal, I can
understand what you mean about having the grades in the system as early as
possible for (parents and students to view). My intentions this year was to
have them in the system faster than I have ever before but I ran into some
issues.
The fallible
skedula system now operates differently from last year which takes some getting
used to; it takes some getting used to having to prepare and teach, back to
back, without a single prep, Monday and Wednesday mornings and Tuesdays
mornings without a prep because of case study meetings with B; last
minute scheduling of administrative meetings which are scheduled without
considering what teachers had previously planned for that prep (such as grading
and preparing for class), inconsiderably taking away all preps from a teacher
on a long 8:30 am to 4:05 pm day, despite requests to get this changed, last
minute assignment to create the first 4 lesson plans for advisory for teachers
to begin implementing immediately, having other teachers conducting class in
your room during your prep, being the only teacher to prepare and teach two
different subjects in the middle school.
I honor and
welcome the challenges and believe that many are genuinely constructed for good
cause but I am only human.
Sincerely,
Mr. Perez
“When you
encounter someone greater than yourself,
turn your
thoughts to becoming his…” or her “…equal.
When you
encounter someone lesser than you,
look within and
examine your own self”.
– Confucius
Dear M,
I noticed you had two witnesses taking minutes of our Thursday, November 10,
2011 meeting; KG (4th Grade Educator) & ER (Office Staff).
It concerns me slightly that one of your witnesses may harbor a particular bias
concerning one of the issues that you raised because she is a lower grade
school teacher and segregating language by color is a common form of
controlling student behavior in the lower grades.
As depicted by observational analysis attained from the most recent in-house
teacher tours in "A", everyone is well aware that there is a significant
negative correlation between the occurrence of segregating language by color
and grade level. In other words, the practice of segregating language by color
dwindles as grade level increases. This was evident across the board.
Additionally, both of your witnesses are probably not aware of the incessant
concerns raised by middle school teachers surrounding the segregation of
language by color, which you were made aware of on several different occasions.
One of which you openly agreed and admitted that it sounds like we may have to
begin weaning off the middle school students from said practice.
Concerning grading, there are several significant obstacles, you are well aware
of, which impede in the efficacy of this practice.
To place things into perspective I wish to share with your witnesses the letter
I emailed you after our Tuesday, November 1, 2011 meeting. Thank you.
Dear K and
E, please factor into the equation the forwarded email titled Worthy
Human.
Sincerely,
Mr. Perez
