This has been about six months in the making (literally), which is kind of sad, actually… But, I’ve finally finished my piece of education reform and the tracking system in public schools, and I posted it on the Charlottesville Podcasting Network. It’s worth a listen for anyone that currently is or will be attending a public school in the next decade - because things are a changin’.

For decades, students in the public education system have been given labels: “General,” “Advanced,” “Honors” - and split into classes with others who supposedly have roughly the same intelligence level. This practice is called Tracking, and there’s currently a big push among educational professionals to get rid of it, and stop segregating students based on their IQ.

Chad Prather, a history teacher at Charlottesville High School, is part of the movement to abolish tracking, and has created a “detracked” class for the 2007-2008 school year. The Charlottesville Podcasting Network’s Michael Strickland spoke with Prather about his class, and how students will be affected by this new style of teaching. Also interviewed were Rick Wellbeloved-Stone, an environmental science teacher at CHS who would prefer the tracking system stay put, and Carol Ann Tomlinson, a Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Virginia who is an international advocate for detracking.

Currently a heated and sensitive topic among school administrations, this piece overviews the tracking system as well as the movement towards detracking, and presents the highly varied opinions teachers have on the issue.

You can listen to the podcast at the Charlottesville Podcasting Network.

P.S. - I was lucky enough to have a cold when I needed to record this… yay.

I’ve been sick for a few days now - quite sick, actually. Ever since I got back from Governor’s School, I’ve had a killer cold. Plus, I got an ear infection yesterday, which thankfully has all-but disappeared by today. Under any circumstances, this would be annoying. But I’m trying to record a piece for the Charlottesville Podcasting Network by Monday, and it’s difficult when all of your recordings sound like a congested thirty-year-old made them. I need to get over this. Soon.

Naturally, I’ve been taking things like DayQuil to cope with the symptoms, but while I was in town today, I decided to pick up some more “supplies”. I’d gotten sick of swallowing that goop called DayQuil, so I picked up some DayQuil “LiquiCaps” - also difficult to swallow, but without the bad aftertaste. I also picked up some Breath Right strips for good measure.

I finish scanning the items, when the computer shouts at me, “You have scanned an age-restricted item. Please wait for a cashier for assistance.” Apparently, you can’t buy DayQuil if you’re under 21. Something about making drugs (acceptable if you’re 21, but not if you’re 16).

“Fine, then.” I say as she takes away the caplets which can’t contain more than a few ounces of the offending liquid. I hit the “Finish and Pay” button again, but once again, the computer yells at me. Apparently, Breath Right strips are also age-restricted. Breath Right strips. Those things that come in a package that say in big letters, “Drug-Free.”

I leave the store with only my chocolate bars - the only real medicine I’m allowed to buy.

I bring you, Theatre CHS 2.0!!!

http://www.theatrechs.org/

Damn straight we’re an org!

I’ve been back from Governor’s School for a few days now, so I’m gonna give you all a little summary about how it was for me there.

Obviously, the primary focus of the program for me was theatre. I had it for 3.5 hours every morning except for Sunday (our one day off). We learned about clowning, vocal technique, ensemble work, and (my big class) learning how to “mine the text” for information about a character. Basically, we analyzed every type of text imaginable to find the clues about a character the playwright hid in the text. Very interesting stuff. We had three teachers, all who have worked everywhere and done everything (including broadway, one man shows, television shows, soap operas, etc.).

In the afternoon, I had a class called Forbidden, in which we talked about forbidden and taboo things throughout different cultures and different people. From North Korea and Cuba to the drinking age, we got into heated debates that left people very angry at each other… Quote from one girl outside of the class: “I’d speak up more in class, but I think people would get mad at me… I think all the Jews should shut up and stop complaining about the Holocaust.” Yes, dear - people might get mad at you for saying that…

We had evening activities like variety shows (where they playing one of my music videos!) , African drummers, the Ash Lawn Opera company, folklorists, a jazz singer, among many, many others. We also had lots of free time, which surprised me. Unfortunately, the smoothie place and Starbucks both closed at 3PM… Who the hell decided they should close then? We also had a GSA that met a few times, and we watched movies.

Favorite parts of the month:

• Getting a crowd watch me play DDR at Kings Dominion
• Giving the director of the program a coconut bra and poster of a shirtless David Beckham in front of 450 people during the morning announcements
• Holding dances in a room with a giant spider (UR’s mascot is the Spiders)
• Sleeping in a bed with two other guys (1 gay, 1 straight)
• My theatre teacher giving me his shirt on the last day (three sizes to large)
• Finding that I could still be happy

Governor’s School was seriously the most amazing four weeks of my entire life. It made me so angry I have a year left of high school! But, even though this sounds really cheesy, Governor’s School made me grow a lot as a person, and I plan to bring that into my Senior year to make it better for me and the people around me. I’m currently in the process of finding a teacher to sponsor a GSA - something CHS is woefully without.

I will miss Governor’s School - the kids, the teachers, the most amazing dining hall in existence… But I’ll treasure the experience for the rest of my life.