Birthday Weekend

Well my 30th birthday weekend has come to a close. It was a great three days that begun on Friday with a visit at school from New York State's, Department of Education. The State's Education Department was visiting our school as part of the process to help remove us from the "persistently dangerous schools" list. A list which any educational institution is not proud to be on.

In retrospect I felt that the visit went extremely well I was the first person on the agenda to present. I presented to the "team" from State Ed. our schools' Microsoft Sharepoint Intranet site. I mainly focused on how we as a school our using this to increase our electronic communication and collaboration as a school building. I emphasized the power of having a digital library of resources for staff to reference from our site. I also spoke about how we use it to post school news, events, meeting minutes and weekly bulletins.

The visit had other presentations and facets to it that I rather not go into detail about. I will end this piece by saying that the visitors were very cognizant of the realities of urban education. They understood the importance of our work and how difficult it is when you have a numerous amount of external factors that we cannot control going against us.

The highlight of my weekend was my birthday party. My wife spent a lot of time coordinating this event. As usual we had a plethora of food and entertainment. My gifts ranged from educational books to gift cards. The highlight of all my gifts was a shadow box my wife created for me. The shadow box was a snapshot of my 30 years of life. The shadow box is unbelievably amazing and I can't wait to hang it up in my office at work. I have included a photo for those of you who may never have a chance to see it.

Lastly the weekend ended better then I could have ever expected. I was able to spend time with those individuals who matter the most to me in my life. My wife, family and friends really know how to make every moment together enjoyable.

Thanks!

Living the Dream!

Anibal Soler, Jr.

The Lose of a Colleague

It saddens me to say that the search of William “Bill” Thurston, a Rochester City School Vice Principal, father, and mentor has tragically ended. This afternoon Police Officials have revealed that they have found the body of Mr. Thurston.

I unfortunately did not have the opportunity and privilege to meet Mr. Thurston, but from the reactions of the students he served at John Marshall High School, and the information I received from fellow district administrators he was an amazing, loving and caring man.

I cannot imagine the pain and suffering that his family, students and dear friends will face. The road ahead of them must be filled with the positive thoughts, memories and influence that he had on their lives.

There are many questions still left unanswered.

I want to take this moment and send my condolences to the Thurston family. I want the students at John Marshall High School, although extremely difficult too continue to succeed in the name of Mr. Thurston. It is important that his legacy be never forgotten and that students demonstrate this through their positive attitude and success.

Mr. William Thurston, you will be missed! Rest in Peace.

Living the Dream,
Anibal
www.anibalsoler.com

Oprah's Town Hall

I was priviliged enough to watch Oprah's two part Town Hall series courtesy of my DVR (digital video recorder).

Oprah Winfrey did a two part Town Hall special, focusing on Don Imus's comments and she invited a vast array of guest speakers as part of the committee. The focus was on the use of language towards women and women of color.

The show was very thought provoking and raised a numerous amount of questions in my mind that, I hope they will be answered with time.

My questions are:

What will actually be done to change the language in the music industry?
What will Oprah do to show some accountability on why she had created the forum in the first place?
What will be done in education with our students who view this hip hop culture as the proper way to speak and live in today's society?
Will there be any additional pressure placed on the government and community members to address the underlying issues of poverty?

Lastly, I think of my students. I think of the effect that hip-hop and rap have on them. My students always wear the latest fashions they see in music videos. My students always know the latest slang and street terminology. My students spend so much time and energy in reproducing the behaviors they see. If only the time and energy was spent equally on education. If only they realized that it was just music they were listening to, and not a right of passage.

The debate will continue, and I will end with saying this; When we take care of the social inequities that currently exist in place in our society, then rap artist and others will not have the right to blame their lyrics on society.

Living the Dream!
Anibal
www.anibalsoler.com

Tragedy in Virginia Tech

Let me start out by saying my heart goes out to all of the students and families affected by this horrific tragedy. Who would have thought that this would have occurred at location that is designated for learning, sharing, growing and collegiality.

Although I am hundreds of miles away I feel the sorrow personally as I watch the convocation on television. I find myself misty eyed and saddened by this event as I continue to watch and hear the reports coming from CNN and various other news outlets.

I continously try to put myself in the shoes of the students who went through this event and ask myself what would I have done had I heard shooting outside my classroom. What would I have done had someone began shooting in my classroom? What would I have done had a been the School President? I am not sure what exactly I would do or how I would have handled the situation.

I do hope that those students who survived this mass murder, will share the stories of the classmates whose lives were lost.

As the day progressed, I began to think if my students at school would be affected by this tragedy. Would they come into school with questions or comments about what has occurred so far away from their surroundings?

What was quite ironic was that a lady did eventually ask me the question if my students at school would be bothered by this event. I thought about it briefly before responding and said, No. I don't think my students have a grasp of events outside of their community. Most of my students have a tough time realizing that life is larger than the block or neighborhood they represent. I continued to tell her that most of my students are so preoccupied with their daily struggle of survival that I doubt if this incident would really affect them.

I did say that I hope my teachers take the time to acknowledge the tragedy and share with the students the profound and disturbing effect that one man actions had on an entire community.

In closing I want to reiterate my sympathy for all of those affected in the Virginia Tech killings. My prayers are with you in this time of need.

God Bless you all!!
Anibal
www.anibalsoler.com

Eventful Weekend

My Spring break is coming to a close. It has been an eventful last couple of days for myself. I have been working with three of my student athletes from my high school. These three boys are part of the high school basketball team at my school. They also play for an AAU travel team that I previously coached for and continue to endorse because of its high quality work with student athletes. The team is called East Coast Fusion and it is run by a good colleague of mine, Mr. Lemcke.

I spent the final days of my break with these three young men who I picked up, fed and cheered for during the weekend basketball tournament. One of the boys in particular is of great importance to me.

He reminds me a lot of myself and I have personally taken him on as my endeavor. I have been working with him daily with his basketball abilities and counseling him on planning for the future.

Next year is his senior year and hopefully my investment of time, money and love will pay off.

Living the Dream!
Anibal
www.anibasoler.com

"Teaching the Levees" a free resource...

I just learned today that the, Teachers College at Columbia University through the generous support of the Rockefeller Foundation is developing a curriculum that will help teachers teach issues of race and class in America. The curriculum will be directly tied to the Spike Lee movie, When the Levees Broke.

As I have written before in a prior post about the significant injustice that I have witnessed in New Orleans. This curriculum well help remind us of this disaster and the amount of work that still needs to be done, but also make the situation a teachable moment. I recommend that every teacher and administrator sign up for this free resource.

Here is the web link to the official site Teaching The Levees

Living the Dream!
Anibal
www.anibalsoler.com

Spring Break, a time for reflection...

I hope everyone is enjoying their time off from school and rejuvenating themselves for the final stretch of the school year. When I get these moments of downtime at work I often find myself reading literature that will continue to ignite my passion for what I do. I often go back and read a poem that was first read to me by one of my professors at St. John Fisher.

I remember the day very clearly when Mr. Bell stood up at the front of the class and read to my classmates and me, a poem by Michael Josephson entitled What Will Matter (c)2003. When Mr. Bell finished reading everyone's reaction was quiet and reflective. My observation of the class was stunned and inspired by what they just heard.

Let me be the first to warn you that the poem is very powerful and moving. It may cause you to make a lifestyle change.

I think everyone involved in education; parents, teachers, administrators, students,
politicians and community stakeholders should read and refer to this poem before making any global decisions. My rationale behind this suggestions would to be to make sure that stakeholders are truly, intrinsically doing what is right for our students.

Here is a link to a PDF version of the poem Click Here.
Here is a html version for those of you who would rather view the poem in your internet browser.

Living the Dream!
Anibal
www.anibalsoler.com

New Orleans, "The Big Easy" still recovering.

My trip to Louisiana has come to an end. I was fortunate enough to spend a week down in the "big easy." The teacher recruitment trip was a great eye opening experience for myself. I was able to see a vast array of school districts and network with other school administrators and personnel.

The biggest highlight of my trip was the visit I took down to the "ground zero" area of New Orleans also known as the lower 9th Ward. I decided to take the trip along with one of my colleagues from Rochester and another recruiter who was a school Principal from California.

It has been 19 months since Hurricane Katrina has hit and 18 months since Hurricane Rita followed. My initial reaction to what I seen was very grim. I couldn't believe that I was in a once vibrant neighborhood. I stood near the newly repaired levee and I could see loads of empty fields that were once occupied by houses.

I walked around the area in amazement. I was baffled that something so tragic could occur nearly 2 years ago and yet there was very little improvement in the status of the area.

I drove by school buildings that were damaged and still closed. I began to think as an educator the significant implications on the development of children in the New Orleans area. It will take generations to recover from this natural disaster. The amount of student disabilities and classifications I am sure will increase exponentially. I was amazed but not surprised to find out that there student enrollment had dropped by almost 75%. I hope that the city officials really look at rebuilding up the schools first so that they could be hubs for the community. New Orleans public schools were already classified as one worst in the nation. This would be the right opportunity to change that classification.

I recommend that everyone who has not seen New Orleans first hand to see the movie/ documentary by Spike Lee, When the Levees Broke. This movie is a four hour documentary on what occurred with eyewitness accounts and images. Like many movies I enjoy it makes you think against the norm on what occurred and the actions taking by those in power.

I could go on and on, on what I have seen in New Orleans and my thoughts in regards to it. Let me end it with this. Since my visit I have a deeper appreciation on the luxuries of life that I have. I have a deeper understanding on what life is really about, living.

Living life to its fullest, remembering that what matters most is living a life that matters for all physical and material belongs can be taken away at a moments notice and what will be remembered is what you have done with your life.

Please look at the photos and videos I have posted from my visit.

Thank you New Orleans!!
Anibal Soler, Jr.
www.anibalsoler.com

New Orleans Mar.30, 2007