do..be...

so.. a dear friend spent yesterday with her colleagues, crafting the right written words for guidelines required of us as teachers, before we attempt most things in public ed. call these words a curriculum map, standards, lesson plans, rubrics ... any will do. 

the most frustrating part... we get the right words and punctuation - to a t - but rarely use the document again... most certainly never embrace it.  {i've spent many summer hours doing much of the same.}

then she spent the evening with some students and parents and teachers, discussing how they were going to video log all they did for the next year, because most all of it hadn't been done yet. what a contrast. what a paradigm shift.

i think today more than ever, and especially in public education, we need to take heed to a phrase we all know:

actions speak louder than words.

in looking up who penned this phrase.. i was bombarded with not that one, but all these.. and .. they make the point as well..

Trust only movement.  Life happens at the level of events, not of words.  Trust movement.  ~Alfred Adler

Talk doesn't cook rice.  ~Chinese Proverb

Ironically, making a statement with words is the least effective method.  ~Grey Livingston

Don't find fault.  Find a remedy.  ~Henry Ford

Action will remove the doubts that theory cannot solve.  ~Tehyi Hsieh

When deeds speak, words are nothing.  ~African Proverb
As I grow older I pay less attention to what men say.  I just watch what they do.  ~Andrew Carnegi

I believe half the unhappiness in life comes from people being afraid to go straight at things.  ~William J. Lock
People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do.  ~Lewis Cass

I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.  ~John Locke
Well done is better than well said.  ~Benjamin Franklin

one that especially resonated with me... i found in reading Andi Kenuam's excellent post on Learning Today - this post in particular on podcasting in ed and edcamp philly highlights.

"We create elaborate lesson plans, intricate assignment sheets, and detailed rubrics that prevent the creativity and curiosity we are trying to cultivate." @aaron_eyler   Aaron Eyler

not to be lazy or lax in rigor... but today.. playing it safe, doing things the way we've always done them, following the rules, .... those are the things that are proving to be more risky... than taking risks.

so 

with sophistication and grace. 

and especially with a responsibility to logging/giving back a process that is replicable - in order to scale and level the access to learning.

students who say they are bored, teachers who say they are stressed, parents who say they are afraid, .... schools that Kozol writes about... underdeveloped countries..... folks with the money who say they have all the answers... and just keep writing about them... 

we all need this revolution.

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