An Immigrant in Us All: Repeal HB56

For the first two weeks of the school year, I am getting the opportunity to get some immediate training in ESL certification. It is a great way to learn and explore another layer of the process that educators face today. With Alabama's upcoming law HB56 going into effect for the next school year, it is an interesting place to be.

With many laws being formed across the nation which target this population for unnecessary investigation and persecution, I am thrilled with the opportunity to work with students from all over the world and have been amazed at what they can tackle at an early age. These types of conversations add volumes to the classroom environment. While these students are not technically the "aliens" that the law attempts to limit, these are the students that it hurts the most. I do not understand why we would ever think these students are anything less than an incredible asset to any environment. It is unfortunate that law makers are attacking a principle which first made our nation great, an immigrant nation conceived in the hope that we can all work to make our dreams come true.

A short list of what this law would look like...
- government workers are required to report violations of the act
- no limits or restrictions to the act
- no "aliens" are eligible for post-secondary education, nor are they eligible for scholarships, grants, or financial aid
- suspension of business contracts for businesses that hire immigrants
- transportation of immigrants is a criminal offense
- every public school must determine whether or not the student is legal and compile data including birth certificates, immigration documents, education in an ESL program, participation in free/reduced price lunch, and a budget of the financial cost for these students

The conversation should be less about how to react to illegal immigrants, and more about how to make our immigration process more effective. It should also be more about how to provide an equal opportunity to give back to a country in which they, and we should also, believe is the best nation in the world with the best opportunities imaginable.

Zuni Graduation

Zuni 2011 - Online Slideshow Maker

For the last weekend of March, I travelled back to Zuni, New Mexico to see one of the first classes I taught in 8th grade graduate from High School. It was unbelievable to return and witness each student's growth and success. Every student from the class had some sort of achievement as well as a definite path chosen in life. I am so proud of each one of them and look forward to even greater things. Thank you so much for inviting and including me in the celebration!

Last Days at Tarrant

Tarrant - Online Slideshow Maker

Thank you to all the students at Tarrant Middle High School for being part of my class for the past two years. On the last days of school, a few of you drew a picture of a path with many directions pictured in the slide show and entitled, "The Road to Dreams." Please enjoy this slideshow and thank you for all your work this year. Life truly does take us on some twists, turns, ups and downs, but what separates as Shelby would say, the heroes from the chumps, is how we handle the circumstances. I will keep this idea with me in my search for the next path, and hope you will all keep in touch and continue striving for your dreams!

Much love,
Ms. Yeilding

Spoken Word

Here is a great example of spoken word performed by Daniel Beatty.



Read the poem below, and identify at least one line with which you identify.
"Knock Knock"
Daniel Beatty

As a boy, I shared a game with my father—
Played it every morning till I was three.
He would knock knock on my door,
And I’d pretend to be asleep till he got right next to the bed.
Then I would get up and jump into his arms.
“Good morning, Papa.”
And my Papa, he would tell me that he loved me.
We shared a game,
Knock knock,
Until that day when the knock never came,
And my Mama takes me on a ride past cornfields
on this never-ending highway
Till we reach a place of high rusty gates.
A confused little boy,
I enter the building carried in my Mama’s arms.
Knock knock.
We reach a room of windows and brown faces.
Behind one of the windows sits my father.
I jump out of my Mama’s arms and run joyously towards my Papa’s,
Only to be confronted by this window.
I knock knock trying to break through the glass,
Trying to get to my father.
I knock knock as my Mama pulls me away
Before my Papa even says a word.
And for years, he has never said a word.
And so, 25 years later, I write these words
For the little boy in me who still awaits his Papa’s knock.
“Papa, come home, ‘cause I miss you.
I miss you waking me up in the morning and telling me you love me.
Papa, come home, ‘cause there’s things I don’t know,
And I thought maybe you could teach me
How to shave,
How to dribble a ball,
How to talk to a lady,
How to walk like a man.
Papa, come home, ‘cause I decided awhile back
I want to be just like you, but I’m forgetting who you are.”
And 25 years later, a little boy cries.
And so I write these words and try to heal
And try to father myself.
And I dream up a father
Who says the words my father did not.
“Dear son, I’m sorry I never came home.
For ever lesson I failed to teach, hear these words:
‘Shave in one direction with strong deliberate strokes
To avoid irritation.
Dribble the page with the brilliance of your ballpoint pen.
Walk like a God, and your Goddess will come to you.
No longer will I be there to knock on your door,
So you must learn to knock for yourself.
Knock knock down doors of racism and poverty that I could not.
Knock knock on doors of opportunity
For the lost brilliance of the black men who crowd these cells.
Knock knock with diligence for the sake of your children.
Knock knock for me.
For as long as you are free,
These prison gates cannot contain my spirit.
The best of me still lives in you.
Knock knock with the knowledge that you are my son,
But you are not my choices.”
Yes, we are our fathers’ sons and daughters,
But we are not their choices.
For despite their absences,
We are still here,
Still alive,
Still breathing,
With the power to change this world
One little boy and girl at a time.
Knock knock,
Who’s there?
We are.

Writer's Notebook Webquest

Our last 9 weeks project will be a portfolio of your writing, above is a sample of our first two "WNB" entries, the collage and heart map.

Below is a guide for this project in the form of a webquest, highlight and paste into your browser.
http://www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=93892

"Let us tell these truths together."~Penny Kittle

Watercress Darter Festival

In honor of the watercress darter, a fish that is unique to our city, several folks from the Southern Environmental Center, Fresh Water Land Trust, and Ruffner Mountain got together at Railroad Park for the first annual Watercress Darter Festival. Kite-making kits were for sale as well as painting of sails for the four places that this fish was found, Pinson, Roebuck Springs, Powderly, and Bessemer. Birmingham City School children's art work was displayed, while many kids and kids at heart (Ms. Leslie Anderson, Ms. Beth Sanders and company) decorated and flew kites for a fine Sunday afternoon in downtown Birmingham. Sans Pointe dance troupe added to the festivities by dancing throughout the park, while Bob Marston kicked us off with some fresh, acoustic tunes. It was a great time for all, and one to hopefully become an annual event. Thank you to SEC's director, Roald Hazelhoff, and our up and running Junior Board: Michael Duffy, Phil Amthor, Catie Yeilding, Christina Schutt, and myself for being the coolest youth board in town.

Tarrant students read information about the fish, collaborated in Ms. Love's art class to submit a painted kite to sell at the park, and designed one of the sails that is hanging in the picture with the James Audobon quote, "A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children." Thank you all for your participation and happy, safe spring break!

Look forward to upcoming Earth Day activities, Real Life Poets and UAB's Youth Poetry Slam from 4-6, April 22nd.

Happiness Project/ Rules of Life

What would my ten rules of life be? In the frame of Leo Tolstoy, here goes,

1. Be who you are.
2. Love deeply and genuinely.
3. Stay positive.
4. Don't stress, nothing will ever be exactly like you expect it to be.
5. Work hard, and don't make excuses for yourself.
6. Sleep (although sometimes I think it's overrated).
7. See the good in people, and teach them to do the same for themselves.
8. Exercise in a method that you enjoy.
9. Never stop learning in all areas of life.
10. Fight the good fight, find people who are doing likewise, and don't ever give up.

Favorites from Leo Tolstoy:
Be good, but try to let no one know it (EJ)

Change nothing in your style of living even if you become ten times richer (Rodarrius)

What are your 10 rules?

And, check this sight out, 6 word memoirs on just about everything, first one HAPPINESS!

http://www.smithmag.net/happiness/story.php?did=183939