To Readers,
Thank you for your good wishes.
I am on the mend. As you may have noticed, I have not stopped blogging!
I am on blood thinners and blood pressure medication. I had a pulmonary embolism in 1998, and I am lucky that this time the blood clots in my legs did not turn into a pulmonary embolism, which is life-threatening.
My spirits are good. I will be holding a book talk at P.S. 15 at 71Sullivan Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn, on December 11 from 5-7. No lecture, just conversation. Read the book first. If you live in New York City or anywhere nearby, you are welcome to attend.
On January 11, I will be speaking at the Modern Language Association annual conference in Chicago about Common Core. It was supposed to be a debate with David Coleman, but he informed the MLA that he had to attend a meeting elsewhere that weekend.
On January 16, I will speak at Fox Lane School in Bedford, New York, at 7:30 pm, to superintendents, school board members, and the public about testing and Common Core and other issues.
On January 22, I will be speaking at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
On February 1, I will speak to the Kentucky School Boards Association.
On February 3, I will speak to the New York City Performance Standards Consortium
On February 11, I will be in Raleigh, North Carolina, to speak at the Emerging Issues Institute
On March 1, I speak in Indianapolis to AACTE. After I speak, I fly to Austin, where I will speak to the first national conference of the Network for Public Education in Austin. The conference will be held on March 1 and 2. I speak on March 2.
March 3, I speak at the SXSW in Austin about standardized testing.
Much more in store for the balance of the spring!
I intend to slow down, occasionally smell the roses, and try to stay healthy.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Please take care of yourself. I am hoping we can lead by your example so that we can alleviate the weight off your shoulders so that you can smell the roses.
We missed you in Virginia at our VEA conference. Glad to here you are on the mend. Thank you for leading the charge to support public education and fix the testing monster.
Diane—at what time of day is the Raleigh talk?
Keep well dear Diane! Jorge
Wishing you well as you continue to recover. On a different note, it would appear that you have been intimidating those who were scheduled to debate you – victory of sorts by default?
Thank God, you are recovering. Sitting in those cramped airline seats are terrible for maintaining adequate blood circulation in your legs and back. Maybe Bloomberg or Bill Gates will offer you the services of their private jets for your speaking engagements.
Thank you for this update on your health. I am happy to hear that you are better and that you plan to continue to take good care of yourself. You, first!
I hope you’re getting some good fresh and delicious chicken soup, along with some good fresh and delicious goodies over this Holiday season… Please take care of yourself — you are a national treasure…
Is there any information on the subject of loosing, failure and desensitizing humans to the point where it becomes normal? I ask this because it seems as though this test/fail test/fail and then test/pass (to show what great progress we have made) is teaching us that this normal. There is not a life coach or mentor anywhere that does this especially to children unless they are sadisticly evil. The old theory of break them down to then build them into a millatary killing machine has even been changed. We try to teach our children to excel, strive for excellence, archive great things. We are there to help pick up the pieces when needed and help them go on. We do not smash a toy and then give it to a child, this does not feel, smell or sound ok and it is starting to taste like crap.
Read Foucault’s “Discipline and Punish” to get an idea of his concept of “subjectivization”.
What makes any “testing”, but especially standardized testing, is the pernicious effects of what I call “internalization” whereby the student internalizes what is said, written, and/or spoken about him and comes to believe it to be true. “I am a failure” or “I’m an A student” are equally pernicious.
Yeah…Foucault.
Are you looking for academic citations? Maybe something on negative reinforcement or the history of scientific management (Taylorism) is what you are looking for?
There have been a few recent pieces (even in the mainstream press) about “freedom to fail” and how this is actually very good for learners. The basic idea is that if students are anxious about failing they won’t try “out of the box” strategies or be willing to push the boundaries of their comfort zones (proximal zones of development) on their own.
If the recent financial crisis can teach us anything, it should be that we must get better at evaluating risk and learning from failure. Developing good judgement takes practice and it is the exact opposite of what we are teaching our children under reform-y education. We are implicitly teaching them to fear failure and mistakes, that there is a right answer, and that it exists externally from themselves. Of course that is a big lie because very little in life works that way.
Thinking out side the box and freedom to fail for R&D perhaps. College students and adult minds may have a developed mind to handle this, (some) not a six or 9 year old.
My children, 6 & 9 are tested, and in the words of my nine year old “epic failure” and “look how dumb I am” and it has not gotten any better. He has a 95 average! Teach, test, re-visit as necessary. This is wrong and just because one deceased billionaire used it in a speech, the media, mass or not ran with it.
All the very best wishes to you! It’s funny how the Corporate Reformers, self-billed champions of the civil rights issue of our time, can’t find the courage to debate you. Hard to imagine Martin Luther King shying from an opportunity to confront the status quo.
Mark: see GE2L2R’s remarks above.
Yes, it is hard to imagine that a Martin Luther King Jr., one of so many in the genuine civil rights movement, wasn’t ready, willing and able to take on any of the “choice” advocates of his day—remembering that the racist segregationists claimed that the vast majority of blacks and whites had freely chosen Jim Crow and that sick outside agitators (combined with a few perversely inclined locals) were stirring up trouble where little or none had existed before. But as for the self-proclaimed leaders of the “new civil rights movement” who tout “choice”—
David Coleman won’t debate Diane Ravitch.
Michelle Rhee [then plus one and then plus two] won’t debate Diane Ravitch.
We don’t need an old dead Greek guy for this one: No guts, no glory.
Perhaps on the days of the scheduled debates the owner of this blog can put up a posting that reminds us of the “cancelled” event and invite the self-cancellees to take a few seconds to use that newfangled invention called the “internet” and contribute some thoughts to a genuine discussion of ed issues, hosted on another newfangled invention known as an “electronic bulletin board” and called “Diane Ravitch’s Blog A site to discuss better education for all.”
You know, get with the cage busting achievement gap crushing twenty first century. iPads, keyboards and $1 billion anyone?
😄
Diane: your health is most important. There are plenty of fine bloggers out there to fill in when necessary. So to help maintain your health, when you are with those close to you, remember [Dr.] Charlie Chaplin’s advice:
“A day without laughter is a day wasted.”
Remember to use this day well!
😎
ALSO, I wanted to tell you to rest and feel better, but there is no sense. You are driven, want to succeed and there is no stopping you. Anyone who tries is wasting their breath.
THANK YOU AND LIVE LIFE AS YOU CHOOSE!!
Please take care very, very good care of yourself. Those of us who truly care about kids and the teaching profession really value your presence in this toxic environment that we are presently experiencing. You are my hero. When I grow up, I want to be just like you!
Would love you to come back to the west coast, more specifically fresno in the central valley. Love your books and hope you feel better.
Jane
Diane, it is wonderful to know your schedule and see your trip here to Texas. I have looked up the conference and hope that I can be there. I have just submitted a workshop (if it is not too late) on the School Time-Capsule Project. After 9 years it is certain we have something powerful evolving. Students, and parents wanting to motivate students, love it. A focus on the future is the most powerful discipline tool and birth control in the world. The original inner-city middle school from 2005 only had 1 pregnancy last year among 1,200 students, with 95.7% on free or reduced lunch programs. Disciplinary actions are cut to 1/3 of what they were. The 33% graduation rate from the Class of 2006 is now at 70%! The first 10-year reunion will be next November when returning former students will be prepared to speak with current students and answer that “What would you do differently if you were 13 again?” question. Hopefully I will see you in Austin in March. Did you know you will be speaking on Texas Independence Day? Here is our photo from this past February when we last met:
This is very good news. Your schedule sounds challenging, but I am sure that you will have the wisdom not to monitor this and not push yourself too hard. I am excited that you are coming to Florida, for I shall see you then. What a delight that will be!
I second what jsolomon said! Your ideas are cool, clear water in a time when the springs of learning in the U.S. have been polluted by toxic corporate wastes.
Hi Diane– Thanks for your health report and schedule. Good to be busy. Rolling stones and moss and all that. But do take care. Happy to hear your name and information from your writings used on MSNBC panel of four last night as PISA was discussed. More rational than Duncan andRhee who were on MSNBC in the morning with dire predictions and the need to have standards aligned with PISA. They see children as little parts of an economic machine. Classroomsmust be happy places So thanks so much for your leadership, research , and writings. Phil Kaldahl Bellevue, Nebraska
Stay healthy ….the education world needs your voice
I am happy you are doing better! You still sound too busy, but I’m sure you will take care of yourself. Diane, take a trip to Italy or France or somewhere like that with your partner and just rest and enjoy the beauty. You deserve to treat yourself to some rest and relaxation.
So glad that you are feeling better, and that you are taking care of yourself! As I’ve gotten older I’ve learned that maintaining physical health (following doctors’ orders, healthy diet, regular exercise, plus a good sleep schedule) has to be a top priority, otherwise it becomes very difficult to accomplish anything else.
The stellar quality of your research and rhetoric is highlighted by the fact that no one on the other side has the guts to debate you!
“I intend to slow down, occasionally smell the roses, and try to stay healthy.”
As we all should. So, be well! And that goes to everyone else here too. 🙂
There is a holiday party at our elementary school today. The kids are very excited and – whether it is said or not – they will know they are loved by how much preparation their teacher has done, the amount of food the parents made and by how much we will clap for the songs they sing!!! None of this is measurable by PISA. However, it is impossible to develop a true learning community without slowing down sometimes and simply enjoying each other. The same basic principles that sustain us individually nurture our communities as well.
You a hero and a real fighter. Salute!
Hope to see more fighters who will take the stages as you do.
Please, Diane, take care of yourself. You are a treasure not only for USA, but for the world too.
Thanks from Italy.
Renata
Diane,
So glad you are doing better. Many care about you. Malama.
Glad to hear you’re on the mend. I’m not surprised in the least that Coleman has also declined to be debated, I think we can all understand the immediate and subtext reasons for that. (Ooops, I hear my mom calling, gotta go! LOL) I’m glad of the delays for this reason: It occurred to me that not only would it be great to have a video to spread around of deformers getting their talking points and policies debunked, but that an huge added bonus would be to have high school and collegiate national debate competition winners judge the debate and give their opinions at the end. http://www.nationalforensicleague.org/aspx/nav.aspx?navid=201&pnavid=201 and http://groups.wfu.edu/NDT/ Having the deformers deceptions and logical fallacies called out by students would be priceless. I wonder if they’d be foolish enough to accept a debate on such terms. I’m guessing they would rather be shamed by refusing than be ridiculed by losing.
I am glad you are doing better. I hope your health continues to improve.
When you are in Chicago on January 11th, will you be speaking any place else besides the conference?
Good health to you from Las Vegas.
Dear Diane: Where is the MLA meeting taking place here in Chicago on January 11th and what time are you speaking? Happy that you are feeling better. Best, Don
Donald M. Stewart
5555 S. Everett Ave., Apt. B1
Chicago, IL 60637
donstewart74@gmail.com
(773) 684-9044
_____
Don Stewart,
The Modern Language Association conference will be held at the Chicago Marriott. I am speaking on January 11 at 10:15 am.
Glad to hear the good news on your health. Be certain you are getting the rest and relaxation you deserve since the stress potential you face can be significant. The schedule is one thing; the topic, another.
Thanks for all you do.
Be well, Diane!
Dear Diane,
Are you canceling your January 16th event at WPSBA in Bedford?
Your health comes first, but please come to Westchester County some time soon!
Lea, I will be in Westchester County on January 16.
For certain!
Ms. Ravitch, I have been engaging with your blog and following your health improve with delight. What a wonder of energy you are. What an inspiration!! Is there a possibility you will be speaking anywhere in Arizona in the next year? You are a giant among my education saints and I would love to have the educators of this ravaged state hear your spirited truth and experience your commitment to our children. Shirley Willis, Retired Educator (34 years, and now writing the “stories out of school” in Naked Teaching, A Novel).
Hi Diane,
So glad to hear you’re on the mend!!! I’ve been worried about you and praying for a speedy recovery. I wanted to share with you a little bit of insight as to the difference between teaching at a US school and a school in Dubai, primarily when life’s unforeseen “tragedies” (of sorts) gets in the way of school-related duties. What I have recently been through here has blown my mind, as I expect it will yours, too…
Take good care of yourself, please!! America needs you to be as healthy as possible, as you well know. Listen to your body, and let others pick up the pace when you feel the need to slow it down again.
Best Wishes Always,
Jill
Sorry for your injury–how awful that must be. It’s also good to know that there are caring people at your school.
I can speak highly of my principal and colleagues much in the same way. Whenever anyone has a personal issue, my principal is there to support. I had to be at my doctor in the morning several times a week while going through treatments recently, and there was no way to know too far in advance about which days I would be going. My principal sat down with me and reworked my schedule for that week so I would not have to take all sick time for these check-ups. He asked after me every time he saw me. I cannot tell you how much easier and less stressful the whole process was knowing that he and my colleagues were willing to rearrange schedules for me.
My colleagues are always organizing to help each other in times of crisis, too. There still ARE places in the U.S. where teachers are valued on a personal level. My whole community is like that. Despite all the hoopla about test scores, we are there for each other in my building from the top down.
Glad to read that your health is improving, and that you are somewhat following doctor’s orders! More information please about the speaking engagement at the U 0f F on January 22.
Cecelia,
Will post more about U of F in early January
Thank you!
Any information on the U of F visit that you can share?
Cecelia
I will be speaking at the University of Florida at Gainesville on Jan 22 at 7 pm in the university auditorium. My understanding is that tickets are available at the door. I will sign books afterwards
Hoping I can go when you are in Austin!
Really glad you are able to travel and are feeling better!