What do we do?

I usually wait to do my reflections, but tonight I left class burdened, with such a heavy heart. To be completely honest, at the end of class, I had to fight tears. I know that may sound extreme and overly emotional, but I am completely appalled by the state of our education system and the disservice that we are doing to our children...The question remains, however: what do we do?
I was a part of Teach For America whose sole mission was to "close the achievement gap"; we watched Waiting for Superman, which I believe sought to shine light on the problems in our education system and create change; I worked in a charter school that attempted to create change in the lives of students that they believed couldn't be done as effectively in a public school; we watched footage on Michelle Rhee who seemed to have such a passion and fire to see the districts reformed and improved; we saw how excited people were when No Child Left Behind was first signed in because people believed that true change was going to take place in our educational system... I believe that all of these things have been created or done with the best of intentions, but all have fallen short. None have created the change that they promised. So my question remains: what do we do?
There are students not realizing their full potential, and there are schools and teachers and bureaucrats that are directly contributing to that problem instead of making it better. I don't think that all, if any, of these people went into their profession with the wrong heart or the wrong motives...so what happened? What happened along the way that made their goals and their actions so convoluted?
When I see the dire state that our education system is in, I want to become an agent of change. I want to create change and reform that no one has been able to create... but then that fact makes me stop in my tracks. I want to create the change that no one has seemingly been able to create. Why? Why haven't they been able to? Instead of improving schools and creating lasting reform, many of the people who labeled themselves as "agents of change" have been villainized and mocked for their attempts. I truly do not believe that any of those people began their mission or their fight for reform seeing their failure as the end result, but they ended up there somehow...what is to say that if I attempt to do the same that I will not end up like them? So the question remains: what do we do?
I will admit, I am extremely overwhelmed by the thought of trying to ever change or reform our extremely broken educational system...I do not have some inspired thought to completely override this feeling of being utterly overwhelmed, but I will say that I am too driven by a sense of purpose to sit idly by and just accept our education system as it is. I honestly have no idea what exactly this means for me yet, and my sense of purpose and determination will always probably be somewhat cloudy and will sometimes feel rather directionless, but what I will say is that I feel extremely blessed that I have found a vocation that I have this much passion for, and I will try to do my calling justice...whatever that may be, and however that may look.

How many poker chips do you have?

I thought that the facilitation was wonderful this week because there were so many interactive, concrete strategies that really helped bring the reading to life! The part that stuck with me the most was the idea of giving students "poker chips." It was heartbreaking to think of how little "poker chips" our students with special needs have, and I was reminded of the importance of building confidence in the students and teaching from a strengths-based perspective, finding ways to build them up and find the things that they are good at and can be praised for. All this week, I thought about everything I did in terms of "poker chips"...when I reprimanded a student for their behavior, I realized that I was taking away some of their poker chips, so I needed to find another way later on to give them poker chips by finding something they had done well. I tried to remember that taking some chips is sometimes necessary, but it is okay as long as I build them back up.
I also loved the part of the evening where we "dined" on new knowledge based on different cases of students with special needs. I think that it is very important to put a "face" to each and every student with special needs instead of placing a blanket label over them. I loved that many of the articles were written from the perspective of the students with the special needs because I think that we often get caught up in the bureaucracy of issues in the schools and we forget to bring it back to the level of our students. I was reminded of how very special each and every student is, and the fact that each and every student brings something uique and important to the class that needs to be discovered and appreciated!