This is me with my students today as we worked on composing The Digital Simile and Metaphor project (as tied to various themes in the novel we are just finishing, Sharon Draper’s Tears of a Tiger.

Can you feel the joy? The energy? The enthusiasm? This is what real education looks like — at least at certain moments over the course of a school year, but unfortunately far too many of America’s classrooms never have even one spectacular moment of sheer joy for the kids whose butts are in our seats. And if students aren’t enjoying learning, how effective can we really be as educators.

Smile, it’s Happy Friday!! And we are being very productive. (Rigor and enjoyment are not mutually exclusive — when are our schools going to learn this?)

So today in class — as if I needed any more proof – my students showed to me for the zillionth time how and why they should never be underestimated.

Find one minute and 14 seconds to check this out and you will see that inner-city kids at a Title I school are NOT the stereotype that society wants to perpetuate.

Click here: http://thebookjam.ning.com/video/brilliant-student-alice-in

(I just posted the video under BRILLIANT Alice in Wonderland in case the hyperlink doesn’t work).

Once you have viewed this, please take into consideration how our own expectations of students dictate the realities of ou modern day classrooms. And what’s the prevailing belief at schools like mine? Unfortunately, it’s best evidenced by the educational publishing companies who keep providing silly scripted curriculums and dumbed-down, watered down textbooks to “serve” the educational interests of our students.

These people have no idea what our students want. And frankly, while thy may say they care, it’s rare that I see how. What they do care about is the sale. The moola. The contract that seals the deal on milking the district cow. That’s why they bend over backwards to create materials that simply meet “criteria” and vest very little if any interest in effectiveness.

The video that was made shows a depth and scope of comprehension as well as a knowledge of technology in concert with a litany of critical thinking that is SO RARE to find in our nation’s classrooms. And did it come from a textbook assignment? Did it come from scripted curriculum seeking to differentiate instruction. Did it come from Intervention? Of course not. It came from a group of students who simply WANTED to make it. The fact that they showed it to me was only because I try and do PBL projects all the time and they thought I might be interested.

Interested? I want to broadcast their capabilities all across the planet and show the world that Lynwood is not a ghetto school and we have plenty of kids on our campus that can innovate with the best of them if only given the chance.

So keep your boring worksheets, stuff your 5 pound textbooks where the sun don’t shine and start bringing real books, real stories and real engagement back to the classroom. Our nation’s kids are starving to be challenged and far too many powers-that-be are simply busting their brains and emptying their wallets trying to teach to a silly bubble test.

I know I am preaching to the choir on this ning when I yap about this but we have got to start somewhere, right?

You go, Esther! (She’s on this ning.) Students such as Esther, Maura, Mary, Danielle and so on are the reason I stay in the classroom. They make me better a better human being.

So today I am back (at least at half speed) after burying my grandmother. It was a remarkable experience, a time filled with more smiles than tears, more laughs than anger and more warmth in my family than almost any other time I can recall in the past decade. Nothing like a funeral to remove a few shoulder chips — including my own — huh?

Crazy how a trip to a cemetery can put a few things into perspective.

And then I get a phone call that says this…

The American Library Association has named The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers 2009. (Homeboyz was a top ten ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers for 2008 so I just went back-to-back with my last two books of young adult fiction. Incredible, huh?)

And then they said, please make sure your publisher puts it on the cover. I have a feeling they won’t forget to mention this small little detail. Just a hunch. Too funny and too cool. Librarians are the BEST!!!

And then I get an invitation that says this…

The Convention Director of SPEAQ (SPEAQ is the Society for the Promotion of Teaching of English of a Second Language in Quebec) has formally invited me to be the keynote speaker at their annual conference in Montreal, Canada this November and is really hoping I’ll be able to say yes. (For really good pay, too including all travel meals and lodging.)

Not bad, I think. Not bad at all.

And then I check my email and get this…

Hi Alan,

I will do my best to keep this email brief. I have seen you speak several times and am always inspired by your passion and your drive. As a very new teacher, I need all of the inspiration to stick with it that I can get. I bought your book “Teaching Teens & Reaping Results” and started reading it tonight. I head back to my Master’s program Wed, and therefore, there goes my own reading time. Anyway, I saw the quote “Fall down seven times, stand up eight”and it really resonated with me.

I was lying in bed and I just kept thinking about that quote and how cool it would be to turn that into a poem – to write about 7 times we have fallen and the 8 times we get up. I am going to copy/paste my poem at the bottom of the email (I’m always wary of attachments from strangers). It was a profound writing experience for me. I wanted to share my idea with you since you inspired it!

Thanks for your wisdom and your genius!

Emily

P.S. The numbers were just for me to keep count. It’s too late for editing that before I send it! Cheers!

7 falls – 8 stands

1. I once fell when I stepped on a neighbor’s remote control because I let my anger get the best of me.

I stood up because I still wanted to be friends.

2. I once fell when my father died because I wanted him to help me figure out just who I was supposed to be and how.

I stood up because I know that’s what he wants me to do.

3. I once fell when we moved from Ohio to Wyoming because the boys who had finally reciprocated my crushes were going to be left behind.

I stood up because I figured there would be more romance ahead.

I once fell when Nick died that day in August because he was my best friend, we loved each other, and 18 year old boys are not supposed to have their heads’ crushed in car accidents.

I stood up because if I didn’t, the pain would crush me forever.

I once fell in Texas because I was so painfully lonely; two years and not a single friend to show for it.

I stood up because I knew that that was not how I wanted to live my life, and I knew I had the power to change it.

I once fell when my Mom was a suicidal pain medication addict for years because of the intolerable back pain the surgeries caused; she thought I did not love her because I told her she should not drive under the influence of the drugs.

I stood up because I loved her and wanted my strength to overwhelm her and become her strength.

I once fell when I was terrified of committing myself to my husband for the fear that he would also die, and I would be left with the grief.

I stood up because fear will not rule my life, and I will never stop believing in the powers that be.

The Book Jam ning is jamming, I can’t wait to get back to school and start rockin’ again with my kids and my literary agent just came to terms with Disney on a children’s book I submitted to them — my first children’s picture book (something I have always wanted to do). Plus, my real goal for the next, oh, rest of my years on this planet, is to bring authentic books back into our classrooms, get rid of the ridiculous scripted curriculums and let our kids read some awesome YA literature so that educators can simultaneouesly cover the standards, engage the students and build a bridge to 21rst learning projects so that America doesn’t get left behind much in the way England got smoked by folks like us due to their hubris about 150 years ago.

It’s our time, people. We MUST revolutionize our nation’s schools. And who better than us?

Remember when I said I was back at half speed? Screw it — full steam ahead. After all, one day we’re all gonna be gone anyway. What seems to me the matter the most is the way in which we spend our days while we’re here.

I am back on the roller coaster… and thrilled that you are coming along for the ride.

I came to work today — the day after my grandmother died and I prepared to fly to New York to attend her funeral this weekend — because I wanted to make sure my affairs are in order and things go semi-smoothly for my students.

I am blogging right now because hanging a black curtain over my head and burying myself in a sad closet is the absolute last thing my grandmother would want me to do.

She was a person who understood “life goes on.” Dorothy Sitomer was an optimist. (She was also a pain in the ass but she knew it and had no problem with the idea of it, either. Sometimes God mixes chutzpah, bluntness and intelligence together in combustible combinations and forgets to sprinkle as much diplomacy as some of us down here thinks he ought to have. You’ve heard of bull in a china shop? Dorothy was the type of person who other bulls in the china shop feared.)

This may feel supremely trite to read but at times like this we are forced to recognize that life doesn’t go on forever. And as dorky as this sounds, the only way for me to go on is to pursue things which have genuine meaning to me. I often self-rationalize my almost work-a-holic nature as a by-product of simple zest and zeal. I love to teach. I love to write. I love to learn. I love to interact with people. (I also love to argue which is a weakness of mine because things have been known to fly out of my lips that are often really wrong, really stupid or really asinine. Some of you might have heard them before… LOL!)

At the end of the day though, I am comfortable in realizing that my work feeds my soul and as I look around the world of education, I realize its soul is starving right now for inspiration, leadership and positive action. That’s what this is all about. It’s why blogging at this moment makes sense to me and continuing to ferociously pursue the aims of getting rid of the buffoonish elements of our current schools (like scripted curriculum and boring textbooks) in order to bring about common sense, authentic solutions to our classrooms (like putting REAL BOOKS in the hands of our students and bringing project-based learning to the forefront of our methodology) is why I go on.

Somebody has to step up for our kids. Just like Dorothy once upon stepped up for me and taught me the value of knowing that, “No matter what happens, know that you have the strength, intelligence and courage to forge on. So get off your ass and go do it.”

What I believe is that we all have this same strength, intelligence and courage of which my grandmother spoke. The Book Jam is intended to be a tool which empowers many, many, many of us to apply it.

Thank you for joining me.

Today I went to work inspired and energized, with a proverbial bounce in my step. And why? Well, it’s simple.

Our new president, Barack Obama. It was his first day of work in the White House and the fact is, in my opinion, it feels like it’s the first real day of honest, noble, best-interests of America work that has been done in that building in a heck of a long time. I am not sure any of us realized how numb we had become to the idea of a total buffoon leading our country for so long. With Calamity George gone, it feels as if we can now get back to doing what Americans do quite well once in a while… make history in a positive way that shines a light on the highest ideals of what mankind can ultimately be.

It’s also clear that this ning inspires me. I mean it’s pretty unreal the amount of smarts, passion and genuine insight which has already assembled here in the Jamdom. I guess invitations started rolling out in earnest about 2-3 days ago and already we are have a host of truly wise people — people with opinions I greatly respect and admire, if not always agree with — assembled at this online expresso bar chatting up everything from books like The Burn Journals to videos starring 1rst graders imploring Obama to really step up for education.

I guess I am gonna have to get off of the bashing George Bush bus. However, there is still a part of me that thinks/fears he’s gonna come back. Like Obama’s inauguration will be revoked, Karl Rove will pull a Karl Rove and Dubya is gonna end up with the power to manage the financial crisis, Iran, Iraq, green energy and NCLB for the next 4 years while Sarah Palin preps her run for 2012.

Grrrrgghh!

I know it’s irrational, yet still I worry about it much in the way that a person wakes up from a nightmare, realizes they were just dreaming and then is still concerned to go back to sleep since they have no desire whatsoever to go back to bed with the beast they just slept with in their head again. And this is not a red state/blue state thing. It’s not republican bashing or any of that. It’s simply my opinion that George Herbert Walker Bush just finished his marathon tour of being the worst president in the history of the United States and our entire nation is worse off for having him.

Seeing Barack reclining in the Oval Office today well, it made me feel as if we have authentic stewardship once again. And now I want to do my best to help — by applying best efforts towards the area of remaking and reshaping America’s schools. It is do-able. And necessary. And when I think of the folks who are already stepping up to join this cause, it makes me feel good.

Now is our time. This is our part.

Go ahead. Chime in on the ning-thing. Love to hear from ya!

Michael Cirelli flew in from New York and for the past few days we’ve been hammering away at the creation of our super-secret, top-priority, no one knows about it, ultimate urban, supremely-stealth literacy weapon.

Okay, you got me. It’s BookJam #6 on the horizon… The Poetry Jam. Flat out, this thing is going to be off the charts!! If you are not familiar with Michael, you are missing out on knowing about the work of of one amazing guy in the world of contemporary poetry. And not only is he a GREAT writer and performer, he is one of the nation’s leading teachers in the world of teaching spoken word poetry to teens. Ever heard of Urban Word NYC? If not, you have no idea what kind of cool stuff the kids in our country are doing with words, ideas, books, and passion these days.

Michael Cirelli and Alan Sitomer already teamed up once — and this is what they created.

The Poetry Jam. We broke ground today big time today. Look for it in 2010. Once again, the best teaching I have ever done.

Go ‘head. Chime in on the ning. We need you.

Authoring the Book Jam has been an immense undertaking for me. After penning a book a year for the past 6 years in a row, I decided to take some time off and build a curriculum that came straight out of my private filing cabinet as a high school teacher in inner-city Los Angeles. Being that so many people have asked me over the years how I achieve the results I do with my kids, I decided once and for all to publish them in a format which would abide by a few simple rules.

It would have to be affordable, user-friendly, sizzling with energy, effective, intelligently constructed, and progressive in a way that empowered educators to meet the needs of the next generation of learner while returning the classroom teacher to a position of strength.

More than a few people thought I was bonkers to put aside a very healthy and lucrative book writing career (in the arms of Disney, nonetheless) to a pen a standards-based literacy curriculum aimed at reluctant reading 6-12th graders who had an overt disinterest in school.

BO-RING, right?

Well, no, I thought. Matter of fact, I found the idea electric.

The fact is, America’s classrooms are long overdue for change. Everyone agrees on this. Sure, we might not agree on how they should change or what this change will look like, but I meet very, very few people who look at the state of America’s classrooms as we draw to a close of the first decade of a new millennium and think, “You know, this whole school thing we got goin’ here in this country… it’s kinda firing on all cylinders. We need more status quo. Serve up more of what ya already got.”

So I asked myself, “How can I best contribute to creating the change I hope to see?” (instead of bitching about the problems, that is. See, so many people are complainers in the world of education, it drives me nuts. I say, quit moaning, pick up a shovel, a pen, a pile of books, a lesson plan — something — and GO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!! Just quit yapping. We need problem solvers, not problem pointer-outers. Geesh!)

So this is my attempt to re-invent the wheel I so dearly love. I mean face it… I’m a dork. I love school, books, writing, teaching, and homework. If I can’t be honest about my doofy-hood than I certainly don’t have a chance of breaking through to today’s kids.

But I’ve had a pretty good go these past few years breaking through to today’s kids by making connections, building bridges of relevance and accessibility and (yep, here comes the dorkiness) changing lives. It’s just what I love to do.

And Book Jams are how I now hope to empower others to be able to do the same.

Of course, as I type this, it’s late on Saturday night during a three day weekend from school that will see me working 16 hour days to bring the best that I can possibly offer to the Book Jam table. It’s a sick level of commitment which I have invested in these things but the fact is, I deeply enjoy the sickness. (I think if you look that up, it’s called addiction. Yep, I need Teachers Anonymous.)

Yet, I can honestly say that Book Jams are the best teaching I have ever done. Without a doubt. This, I’ll say it again, is the best work I have ever done. Unequivocally.

I can’t say where Book Jams will lead or what doors it will open but I do know that everyone behind the scenes who is working on this project feels a special energy emanating from the potential of that which we have thus far endeavored to craft. Truly, some of the best and brightest have come together to bring Book Jams to the light of day. I am literally amazed at how fortunate I am to work with so many talented people. And when I saw the very first piece of official literature on Book Jams, a simple poster/mailer thing that has everyone who has seen it abuzz, I decided to do a little chronicling.

We stand at the doorstep of unprecedented opportunity to revolutionize America’s classrooms. Book Jams are my attempt to step up to the plate with the biggest swing of the educational bat I have in my teaching bag.

And I am letting it rip.

Onward and upward, I say. America’s kids simply can’t wait

I should also mention that it is but a few days before Barack Obama gets inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States. He enters office riding a mandate for change. It’s incredible to me just how many ripples a man of optimism and intelligence and faith and vision might make in the waters of mankind. Sure, some people are despondent when they look on the educational horizon. Me, I don’t see our problems… I see our opportunities.

I hope you’ll join me in your own special way.

Go ‘head. Chime in on the ning. We need you.