Blog Post- Week 6- a glimpse into journalling. 

 

This week felt swollen. The Cedar River crested at 22.1 feet. The 12 foot earthen burns piled high and packed down tight by diesel land movers and the Hesco barriers made of steel mesh and full of sand held the river in. The aerial footage looked like a map of the city, with the river line drawn in too-thick, with accidental ink blots to the north and the south of the neighborhood the city has worked so hard to build up, the neighborhood I work in.

 

Cedar Rapids, swollen in two by the swollen river, moved slowly from one side to the other on interstate 380, the only road open not covered by water, the only passage over the river where bridges held on to the banks as the water pushed for days and lapped hungrily toward the roads. Cedar Rapids canceled schools for the entire week. They didn’t want students to get stuck on the interstate, there were pile ups every day, impatient cars dented and smoking, slowing the traffic down even more. The only thing to do was to role down the windows listen to Iowa Public Radio ask for money and smell ADM process corn syrup to make us all a little fatter.

 

The other 3 high schools BIG serves were relatively unaffected by the flood, so we officially met at Prairie, but suspended all projects and concentrated on supplemental English content. On Monday I stayed at home and cleaned the house, which was crying from neglect. On Tuesday I drove 15 minutes out of the way to avoid the interstate and reported to Prairie, even though officially I was not contractually obligated to report to work at all. Walking into Prairie High School was a flash back to my student teaching and subbing days. The building is new, clean and full of posters and trophies. The walls are covered in murals and the toilets don’t leak. The students are mostly white, well dressed and I imagine most of them drive their own car and participate in extra-curricular activities. The staff in the office was helpful and pleasant. The happiness level was something I hadn’t experienced in a school setting since I’ve taught outside of Urban Cedar Rapids.

 

On Tuesday I sat with Nate and Troy most of the day, waiting for the occasional student to drop in. Working was nearly impossible while projects were on hold and to top it off, the internet wasn’t working because the fiber optic cable connecting the school surrounded by corn fields to the rest of the world was drowning in water somewhere. Shawn Showed up at lunch, and caught us up. Dennis and Shawn skyped with the president of XQ the night before. This was the first communication after the surprise videotaped award. After the meeting it became clear that XQ had learned from Steve Jobs and from Bill Gates and was neither going to give the money blindly and freely, and they were not going to micromanage the situation. They want to connect BIG with their network of innovative schools and help BIG find their voice, focus their vision and spend their money responsibly. It is also clear that they want results. They want good publicity, video clips, student success, they want a return on their investment.

 

After Tuesday the water started to recede. Slowly. The National Guard relaxed a bit and businesses and homeowners started to trickle in to remove sandbags and survey the damage. I dove in to prove my enthusiasm for my new job and was one of the first people there to remove sandbags on Thursday and didn’t stop until the building looked back to normal. Friday was spent moving furniture kitchen equipment and solid wood doors. I helped move the doors with a fit man in his 60’s named Frank. The doors were ridiculously heavy. So heavy that by the 10th or 11th door an image of the Lego firefighter with an axe that my son was playing with earlier last week flashed into my head. How long would it take for a firefighter to hack through these doors? You might as well use a chainsaw. My body is still sore.

 

When I wasn’t trying to prove my enthusiasm by lifting heavy objects I was having conversation with the BIG staff. The subject: What do we do with this money? We were moved around all week, We were at the Prairie Board Room, Iowa Hall in Kirkwood Community College, and on Friday we met with Trace Pickering, the associate superintendent of Cedar Rapids, the man who started BIG alongside Shawn Cornally. Each day we threw out ideas, asked more questions. What do we need? What are we all about? Will more money solve the problem? Will more money cause more problems?

 

Trace drew out BIG’s original long term goal. 5 tables of 4 teachers with 100 students each, full time or 80%. If that is the case, I asked, where do I fit in? If those 4 teachers are core teachers, where does the elective teacher fit in? I am so used to defending myself, defending my profession that at some point during this explanation I got a little, well, defensive. I need to remember during these brainstorms that they hired me for a reason. What reason exactly I’m not quite sure, but I think it has something to do with my history working with underserved students and my interest in social justice education. I need to let my guard down a little. Something that is so new to me, and has caught me off guard a few times is that they listen to me when I suggest things. I have the feeling that if I come up with an idea they will seriously consider it, and try things I suggest even if they’re not totally sure. The name of the BIG game is experimentation.

 

SO. My big dilemma is that we are inviting XQ out to observe us and spend time with us within the next month. They will immerse themselves, observe and help us figure out how to best spend the grant money. They will want us to look to a big picture. If I suggested that within this long term picture of the future of BIG that there should be a fine arts group, they might actually really be into it. I got super excited at this prospect, but it flies against the basic structure of BIG, the interdisciplinary benefits that you get by working with a team of diverse teaching staff. I also need to keep in mind that student projects need to have a community connection, a partner where they are doing more than interning, where they are working on their own project start to finish with guidance and accountability. What do I do? There’s also a fair amount of excitement around the idea of storytelling in education and in the world of business. The idea is that if you can tell your story in a compelling and reflective way that connects the story teller to the audience, you’d be a more successful human being who can self-advocate and ace an interview.

 

What is the next big thing? What should I pitch to my co-workers, to the XQ Superschool staff? I can change the way things are done, and though I’m worried about totally failing, what choice do I have but to put my whole heart and soul into it, even if I fall hard at the end? I have a feeling I will have the support to try again.