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.