Check out these two articles about the college access and experience...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/education/scholarly-poor-often-overlook-better-colleges.html
&
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/opinion/sunday/does-affirmative-action-do-what-it-should.html

Field Notes March 8, 2013

Math Lesson: Fractions

• the class was studying equivalent fractions by working on an equivalent fractions question like a puzzle. The initial question was, which fraction is greater than the other? Teacher L would talk out the problem like he was having a conversation with his class. He did this a few times, with the next question comparing three fractions, and for the last question he asked me to say a fraction (2/5) and had the class independently write 5 equivalent fractions on their own.

• He chose one student, T, to come to the board and write his answers and then explain how he got them to the class, just how he had explained the previous two questions

• He continued the conversation, and waited until the end to ask students to take notes.

• At one point during the end of the lesson, he spoke with one student, I, but directed to the larger class conversation, about how fractions are like pizzas, because his dad works at a pizza shop sometimes.

“I think;

Therefore, I am,”

Said the philosopher, Renee Descartes.

“I think;

Therefore, I am;

Therefore, I can change who I am,”

Argued the neurobiologist, Paul Grobstein. 

I write;

Therefore, I know;

Therefore, I can change what we know.

Might the poet, Martin Espada, write. 

March 6th, 2013

Ms. Gander’s class – 5th grade music

I arrived for my visit with fairly few expectations, feeling open.  I knew I'd be with 5th graders (a new age group for me) and that we'd be doing music, and that was about it.  We jumped right in: the class entered, and Jim, my classmate, led them in an initial name game. The children went around in a circle and said their name along with a gesture (a swoop of the arm, a snap, jumping into in “x” shape, etc.).  Momentum built as they went around the circle; laughter bubbled up as the kids (obviously very comfortable with each other) shared nick-names, made gestures more active, and generally had a good time with it.

On Tuesday, I worked with Erica again on both reading and homework. “Work with me, work with me,” she asked, so I agreed to come upstairs and work with her. After 20 minutes of reading, we switched to work on homework.

Looking back over my notes, I was surprised by the number of distractions we had. While we were reading, a tutor and a student came upstairs and started reading out loud too; another student had a tantrum in the corner and the director, Mariah, and 2 other tutors were talking to him for 5-10 minutes to get him to settle down. Erica was, for the most part, able to stay focused during that time. However, when we were doing homework, she was more prone to distraction – both of her own making, and others.

Erica had one double-sided worksheet of math problems. She wanted to work upstairs instead of downstairs, where students usually do homework – I assumed this was because it was a little quieter and less hectic upstairs. We sat down on a couch, and Erica took out two whiteboards, and put her paper on top of them. She also got a sharpened pencil and a dry-erase marker.

InClass/OutClassed arrives this week @ the Supreme Court:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/sunday-review/the-liberals-against-affirmative-action.html
"elite public and private colleges remain dominated by affluent students. Some colleges probably have more students from the top 2 percent of the income distribution than the bottom 50 percent....Racial discrimination obviously continues to exist. But the disadvantages of class, by most measures, are larger today. A class-based system would be more expensive, forcing colleges to devote some money now spent on buildings and other items to financial aid instead, but it would also arguably be more meritocratic."

...I am hearing echoes, this Sunday morning, of our conversations together 3 semesters ago..

Dear women, now unwalled--
I realize that you are on spring break, so unlikely to be around for this event,
but it seemed so relevant to our conversations in-and-about The Cannery (and leaving it),
that I wanted to share. Perhaps you'd like to get hold of the video, if you can't
attend the screening and conversation?

Thinking of you all,
always,
Anne

Please join us on 3/14/13 at the Fitts Auditorium at UPenn Law School at 5:30 p.m. for a
Screening of this Amazing Philadelphia Documentary, Pull of Gravity:
http://www.pullofgravityfilm.com/

700,000 Inmates are Released Each Year in the U.S.
What Happens When They Come Home?

The film will be followed by a panel discussion with the Directors of the film, the Participants in the film, United States Magistrate Judge Timothy Rice (from federal reentry court), the US Attorney for the Easter District of Pennsylvania Zane Memeger and Professor Regina Austin of Penn Law School.

This is free and open to the public. The last two showings have sold out, so please go to www.pullofgravityfilm.com to reserve your tickets (for free).
 
Sponsored by the Women's Legal Assistance Project, the Prisoners Education and Advocacy Project and the Criminal Record Expungement Project