On January 25 and 26, the Melrose Leadership Academy community assembled for the Winter performance expo in Oakland, California. Students danced, sang and played instruments. Kindergarten students through 8th graders danced traditional Mexican dances, such as ballet folklorico. Parents and educators helped students prepare.

Before the expo, students dressed for the performance. Once dressed, all the students shared the same “backstage” area. The bigger kids teach the smaller children. The adults teach the children how to prepare and learn. Meanwhile, the children remind us why we invest our time helping them grow.

Because the school continues growing, the organizers added a second January show. Photos from the top are from day one (and here). Photos just above are from the second day.

When Melrose Leadership Academy students walk into kindergarten on the first day of school, teachers talk Spanish about 90% of the day. For the first few months, some students are confused, but quickly students acquire language. Perhaps because of our school’s success, our community ignores that our students also learn other subjects. Melrose Leadership students must learn the same content standards as other public school students.

The one hundredth day of the school year is one example where students learn an important number sense math lesson. This year, my second child has participated in the ritual. Students enjoy playing with the different items. Some students eat Cheerios or wear noodle necklaces. All the students learn about the number 100, whether it is one hundred or cien.

Another important note: While this blog post is dated February 13, I publised it two weeks later on February 27.

As a former Oakland school teacher with two children in the Oakland public school system, I can sympathize with the families who protested on May Day. Five OUSD schools will close next year; communities will be displaced. Children will be forced to attend different schools. If our Spanish immersion public school were closing, I would be protesting too. Instead, Melrose Leadership Academy is moving into one of the “closed” schools and a charter school is moving into our current site.  MLA is moving to Maxwell Park Elementary and The Urban Montessori School will move into our current building.

Urban school districts must balance many unfair choices. School closures seem especially unfair since the disruptions will ripple  throughout the district for years.

Protesters cause disruptions, sometimes unintentionally. As the photo above illustrates, disruptions create confusing messages. To the left, a person looks into the trash while a man blocks the word “Fe, leaving the message “Save Santa.” In March, some protesters disrupted a school board meeting, but their message confused potential supporters.  The disruption affected our school also, postponing our new parent orientation and other planning for our eventual move.… Read the rest

My children attend a school in our neighborhood. The school, Melrose Leadership Academy, belongs to Oakland Unified School District. Parents and educators have created a supportive community.

So far, so good. Nice simple story.

Except that everything is a little more complicated. MLA has been continually growing and moving. This summer, we have moved to Maxwell Park School after outgrowing our old site at Elizabeth Sherman. Both Elizabeth Sherman and Maxwell Park Elementary have closed in the last ten years, but both buildings are still called by their former names.  (I think… it’s complicated.) Melrose Leadership Academy is a K-8 school without 4th and 5th grades. The lower grades are dual Spanish immersion and the higher grades are middle school. When the Spanish immersion program began, we started with kindergarten.

On Saturday, many of our community met for a school work day. Teachers unloaded boxes and set up their rooms again.… Read the rest

After I posted photos two weeks ago, many people wondered if Melrose Leadership Academy’s new site would be ready for the first day of school.  MLA community members were at the school for the parent work day, but the site was still unprepared. The PTSA (Parent Teacher Student Association) Board had planned a 2012 Welcome Day for the weekend before school started. Would the school be available? On Saturday August 25, 2012, painters were still working outside while parents were meeting their children’s teachers. Who would have guessed that movers were still removing furniture one night earlier?

Two weeks ago the new multipurpose room was full of supplies from our old building and the current one. Our old school’s multipurpose room was much smaller with a maximum occupancy of 146. The new site has a maximum of 550, so not only was our current site full of boxes, it was full of many more supplies than our last site could hold.… Read the rest

Yesterday was the first day of school for Melrose Leadership Academy at our new school site. MLA has moved from one Maxwell Park neighborhood site to another. Despite the move, the first day was a success.

Of course, the first day was still stressful. For some families, yesterday was their first day attending any school. Since MLA is a Spanish language dual immersion school, some families could not understand the teacher. Fortunately, many parents helped the new parents understand the transition.

I love first days. I remember being a kindergarten student and I remember each year that my children start school. What do you remember?

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How do you measure success? It seems that education reformers want innovation, but use outdated test scores to measure achievement.

How do you measure parent involvement? Do you measure fundraisers by the amount of money raised or by something qualitatively different? If you are a parent, do you want your children to learn by your example? Do you merely want your children to give money or give something more substantial?

Do you picture your children learning how to become better community members?

At Melrose Leadership Academy, our students take tests and our parents donate money. We also donate time. (Considering our size, we volunteer a great deal.) Our community also does something more.

We trust each other.

Even when it is uncomfortable, we trust that our diverse community is creating leaders for the next generation. We trust each other when we stop for another parent to translate English to Spanish (or Spanish to English).… Read the rest

When parents toured Melrose Leadership Academy during the current school year, many asked about our after school program. Parents, grandparents and guardians asked if our students learned about different cultures. We were asked if our children were engaged and challenged. Most people wondered if there were enough physical activity.

Nobody asked if the parents were expected to dance at our twice annual Expos. Until Wednesday night, I am not sure if we had been and since I am scared to dance, I probably would have remembered. My daughter would have remembered, because she is scared to watch me dance.

When the older folks were too slow to move onto the stage, the younger people moved down onto the floor and we became more comfortable. (I think we enjoyed ourselves.) I often tell prospective families, Melrose Leadership is not for everyone. We are often pushed past our comfort zone into something magical.… Read the rest

On Wednesday March 6, 2013, third graders from Oakland’s Melrose Leadership Academy traveled to 826 Valencia in San Francisco.  MLA students attended 826 Valencia’s interactive Screenplay program, which is similar to the popular Storytelling and Bookmaking program the students attended last year.

Photography Gallery of the Melrose Leadership Academy Field Trip to 826 Valencia Writing Center in San Francisco

On Tuesday, workshop leader Jami Johnson collaborated with Melrose students to create “The Stolen Ice Cream.” Students practice their writing skills developing characters and story concepts. Before the students voted on their title, the students set the story, “Deep in space on planet Banana Split.” With the “Setting” decided, students chose characters.

Characters were identified by protagonist  sidekick and antagonist. The students named these characters Agent Cheese, Agent Doggy and The Foot. For the story, the students learned how to add actions to the script. AGENT CHEESE (stamps his foot) …

Kavitha Lotun, who helped as the group’s typist, encouraged the students to expand their story.… Read the rest

I often tell my son, “Today is a good day. Do you know why?” He does. If he is having trouble, he reluctantly answers, “Because you get to spend it with me.” And it is true. Every day I spend with my boy (or my daughter) is a good day. Yesterday, was a great day, because the first graders from Melrose Leadership Academy went to Sausal Creek to study the restoration project and habitat.

My son loves animals and habitats. For a first grader, he is either obsessed with living creatures or really smart. He studies animals the way I studied dinosaurs. We argue about whether insects are animals. (He believes that insects are in fact animals.) He has taught me that “water spiders” are actually “water striders,” and that the largest dolphin is… ? Wait for it? Just when you thought nothing was new… the killer whale. (look it up!)

I learn as much during the field trips as the students, and I suspect that the other parents learn too.… Read the rest

Besides learning Spanish and English, Melrose Leadership Academy students also learn presentation skills. In the four years of the Spanish dual immersion bilingual program, my daughter has participated at least nine times during a “presentation expo.” There is always a Winter Expo and a Spring Expo. A few times the students perform twice each season. My son, who finishes first grade next week, has performed at least five times. On Wednesday, June 5, 2013, MLA held the Spring Performance Expo.

As the official PTSA Board Historian for two years, it has been my responsibility to document many of our school activities. Before we had a PTSA, I documented most of the Performance and Academic Expos. I have enjoyed the responsibility. I am able to see the students and educators prepare backstage. I see many of the performers support their classmates. I witness their personal growth.

Our school is a community.… Read the rest

My two children attend an innovative public school in Oakland. The school, Melrose Leadership Academy, is part of Oakland Unified School District. Many people believe that MLA is a charter school, but is not. Our students learn how to lead… in a district public school.

During the annual period known as the “Options Process,” families tour schools searching for an educational community for the following year (and years.) Many parents will not send their children to a charter school, so it is important that parents know our status as a district school.  During tours, some parents reported that even OUSD staff have incorrectly identified our school as a charter. It has happened often enough, that I believe the reports, but I cannot confirm that it has happened.

I am not necessarily against charter schools as much as I am against the confusion. Why do so many people think we are a charter?… Read the rest

When I first became a parent, I felt as if I had joined a secret club. Membership included our own version of a secret handshake too. (It is a sleepy head nod.) New parents could identify each other anywhere. We would also commiserate about our lack of sleep and share our humbling experience of becoming a parent. We knew parenting would be rewarding, but we did not know that it would be so difficult. Sometimes we discussed how we finally understood our parents… or worse, how we had become our parents.

Becoming a teacher was a similar process for me. I assumed it was going to be easier, probably because I had worked with young people for many years. I had also been a good student! What could be so hard? It was a good stable career. I liked kids. Besides, there is all that vacation. (Just like parenting has all that free time when the kids go to bed.) Well, if you have ever been a parent who looked forward to Friday night housecleaning, you might understand teachers and all their free time.… Read the rest

Registration just started for the 2013-2014 school year.  Kindergarten families and first graders register today. (I remember registering our first child before the Spanish immersion program started. We were scared!) Many people worry when they send kids to school… any school, so I thought I would post the galleries  from last year’s kindergarten and first grade classes.

Here are photos of both first grade classes. Except for the photo that includes me, I took these photos in June. 2012-2013 First Grade Photo Gallery. I think a first grader took the photo of me, and I probably should give him credit and ask permission before posting it.Here is the 2012-13 Kindergarten Photo Gallery. Did you think your kids would have this much fun by the end of kinkindergarten? Tomorrow the second through fourth graders register. On Friday August 16, the  sixth through eighth graders register.   Remember to click the link if you wish to view the photo gallery.… Read the rest

My two children attend Melrose Leadership Academy in Oakland, California. MLA is a Spanish dual immersion K-8 school. Our school is part of Oakland Unified School District. In previous years, I have posted more frequently about our school, but this year I have been busy teaching photography and yearbook at Pittsburg High School. Both school districts finish their year next week.  In this post, I will share a few events I photographed during 2014.

The first photos are from the 2014 Winter Performance Expo. The middle photos are from the 2014 Spring Academic Expo. The last few photos are from the 2014 Spring Performance Expo.

When I walk into the school, I “read” the signs on the wall. I see many of the signs when I am editing my photos. There is one sign that I seem to see more than any others. It reads, “Somos responsables de nosostros mismos y de nuestra comunidad.”

We are responsible for ourselves and our community

I do not speak Spanish, but I can look at my pictures and see people caring for each other.… Read the rest

The last time I attended an Oakland Unified School Board meeting, I taught at an OUSD elementary school. I was an active Oakland Education Association (OEA) union member. People read newspapers. Nobody had a Facebook profile. Board meetings were held in the old district office, but everything else felt oddly familiar.

If anyone is interested, they could probably find an old Oakland Tribune article titled “The Classroom Shuffle.” A reporter learned about classroom consolidation and how it disrupts entire schools six weeks into the school year. Consolidation almost always occurred at low-income/ low-performing schools. It was like a Twilight Zone episode. I could not continue teaching for a district that allowed consolidation to continue. One night I was called by someone who I believe tried to warn me. He told me that if I kept exposing the situation I would lose my job. I kept exposing. I lost my job. Was it related?… Read the rest

On Thursday March 5th, Melrose Leadership Academy held the first TK-5th Grade Choral Concert in Oakland, California. (You can view a photo gallery of The Choral Concert here.) Earlier this school year, MLA held its annual Dance-a-thon. (I have included dance-a-thon images at the bottom and a gallery here.) Since today is International Women’s Day and yesterday was the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, I thought that I would revisit a quote painted on one of the murals where my two children attend school… the quote is about dancing across bridges.

Si no puedo bailar tu revolución no me interesa – Emma Goldman

Melrose Leadership Academy is a dual immersion public school in Oakland. (It is not a charter school.) The kids at MLA are smarter than I am. I can only speak English, and I often forget how to speak and write in my first (and only) language. When my daughter translated the Goldman quote into English for me, I understood that Goldman was advising advocates that social movements needed charisma.… Read the rest

On a standardized test, what does a leader look like? How do you build standardized assessments that reward collaboration and creativity? If you wanted to identify the next Julia Morgan, would you rely on the SAT?

The two 5th grade pioneer classes from Melrose Leadership Academy visited Mills College in Oakland, California. Mills College is in our neighborhood, so the students walked to Mills. Melrose fifth graders are the architects who have built MLA into a model for urban education. This year, I photographed Ms. Jessica’s 5th grade students during their neighborhood field trip to Mills. In April of 2012, I photographed the 2011-2012 kindergarten classes  for their expeditionary learning project at the campus creek. That was also our the last year that MLA was at the old Elizabeth Sherman site. The walk was shorter.

During both visits, students learned about native plants and the natural environments supported by a native ecosystem. This year, Mills College students taught MLA students how to remove invasive plant species so that natives can return to the creek bed.… Read the rest

When my 11 year old daughter began kindergarten at Melrose Leadership Academy, I had a simple idea. I thought I could photograph each kindergarten class as long as my children attended the school. I live in the neighborhood. How difficult could it be?

As I tell my photography students, simple and easy are not the same. “Simple” is difficult and my simple idea has become more difficult this year. I teach in a district an hour away from my home. We have the same breaks, so I don’t have a week to visit the school.

There is another complication. I try to create something different each year. MLA was at a different site the first three years, so those pictures all look different from the more recent images. Each year I wonder how I am going to create something interesting. Last year, I gave the kids magnifying glasses. This year, the students photographed me with my smartphone.… Read the rest

The Melrose Leadership Academy after school program students presented the 2016 Winter Performance Expo on January 20, 2016. I believe that I have photographed each performance expo since my daughter started MLA in 2009. If I am correct, this is my 13th.

A baker’s dozen

The 2016 photo gallery can be accessed here. I have also included the Spring 2015 Performance Expo gallery.

I enjoy watching our younger students prepare for their first assemblies. I enjoy watching them grow into confident performers.

I also cherish seeing older students. Some of these older students I have been photographing since they were in pre-school. I wish our school system would create standardized tests that measured collaboration and presentation abilities. Our students would exceed expectations.

Technology has changed since I first started photographing MLA students… and the marketing of photography products reminds us that “everything has changed about photography.”

But it hasn’t. Kids are still kids.

And adults teach children how to find their place on the stage.… Read the rest