10 Questions for Finding Your Classroom Theme

Yesterday I shared about my theme for this school year and reflected on past years. As I was writing that post, I thought it might be helpful to generate a list of reflection questions for processing through what YOUR classroom theme might be if you're feeling uninspired.

1. What's the most important aspect of your educational philosophy?
2. What do you MOST want kids to know after leaving your class?
3. What is your community currently rallying around?
4. What's the character trait you wish your students had more of but need some guidance acquiring?
5. What piece of professional learning is most transformative to your teaching right now?
6. What are your students most interested in (that you can wrap most of your curriculum around for relevance)?
7. Is there a new tool you're super excited about implementing this year? (chromebooks/tablets, Google Apps, Google Classroom, PBL, etc)
8. What's your favorite inspirational quote or scripture?
9. What role as a teacher do you most identify with? (coach, brother/sister figure, mother/father figure, counselor, friend, etc)
10. Are there any commonalities between the major projects/learning experiences in your class that your theme could connect to enhance the engagement/memory of both?

The last tip I'd have for you in finding your theme is to rephrase it this way?
What are you about as a teacher?

Giving Student Opinion Surveys: Data-Driven SELF Evaluation and Reflection

Being a reflective teacher isn't only about writing - you need to give yourself some data to write ABOUT.

I know that "data-driven evaluation" gets a lot of action from talking heads on any conversation about school reform, and good intentioned teachers and administrators argue both for and against using surveys as evaluative tools for teacher-effectiveness.

The Damage Done by Data-Driven Evaluation http://t.co/O99OmvFu via @wordpressdotcom
— Diane Ravitch (@DianeRavitch) August 25, 2012

I don't exactly know how I stand about student surveys and test data being used on my official tenured evaluation, but I AM here to speak in favor of student surveys for YOUR OWN data and uses. 

I've given a paper or electronic form of this survey for every (nearly) every semester I've taught (I may have missed one out of my 7 years, back when I was still administering them by hand.) Back when the students took the survey on paper (before I had a class set of iPads), they were good to take a glance at, file them away, and make mental notes. I never did anything more with them because as I've written before, entering paper-based data into spreadsheets IS AWFUL.

If you really want to make the time it takes giving this survey to your students worth it, find a way to do it electronically (or make it short enough that you CAN reasonably transcribe the results) so that you can archive the results and analysis trends. 

I was anxious to analyze these results at the end of the semester because when last spring my results were NOT good. They were still acceptable with my AP Stats kids (my students who can "play" the school game the best), but for my other, lower-level courses, the results were disheartening. Nearly every quantitative question was as low I could remember it, and many of the open-ended responses said things like, "argues too much," and "too sarcastic." I went back further through past semesters' results and noticed a trend developing. This was not the teacher I wanted to be. I did a lot of introspection over the summer of how I viewed my role as teacher, re-examined some of my classroom policies, and (no matter what my official professional development plan says) made a goal to have a classroom where kids were comfortable and their teacher was an ally instead of an adversary.

The open ended questions further down this spreadsheet for this semester were very positive and several Algebra 1 kids said they would "recommend his class" (which I can't really remember ever happening on this survey), and that they were going to miss my class.

That makes me feel really good, but because I also have these quantitative numbers to go with that, I know in part their positive responses were because I was 58% more in control of class, was able to give 38% more individual attention, provided a 38% more relaxed atmosphere, and gave 14% more relevant work.

"Why are all those numbers important?"

I can hear you thinking right now.

"I was IN the room, Chuck. I know how my semester went. I know what things I did. I know how good I am. I even keep a journal. What good to me is this extra work?"

The value of doing this is that getting your students' opinions and reflecting on THAT will give you information you cannot gather on your own. When I was reflecting only on my perception of how this crazy, #Ferguson distracted semester went, I was feeling quite discouraged. Yes, some kids will use the surveys as a means to vent all of their frustrations (and that's of some use, too, I think. Even just this semester, I got a "can you fire this teacher" response), and some will use it to sugarcoat everything, but through my years of experience looking at my own survey results, I can tell you with confidence that your students will just tell the truth.

How do I get started?
You've got two options:

1. Make copies of the PDF and have students fill out with pen/pencil (how I started)
1. Pros: 
1. not reliant on technology
2. students don't have to type
2. Cons: 
1. analysis more difficult, particularly over several semesters
2. "I forgot to make copies"/"I ran out of copies"
2. Use the PDF above as a guide and create your own Google Form (how I do it now)
1. Pros:
1. No paper to copy/keep track of
2. Analyzing/observing trends over time
2. Cons:
1. some of my students struggle with persevering through typing the open-ended questions on the iPad

One last note on administering the Google Form:
For the first couple of years, I embedded my Form on a Google site that I often used for class notes or our benchmarking bubble sheet (because I hate scantrons). This year I tried sending my students directly to the form via a shortened link (bitly.com/cbakersurvey), and I had fewer "Where is the survey?" "How do I get to it?" type questions.

Mentoring: Know Thyself

As mentioned a couple of posts ago, I'm mentoring a teacher new to the district this year, so my self-reflection machine is probably going to be in hyper-drive as I reflect on my own practice and attempt to guide hers.

I had several conversations this summer about the importance of confidence and attitude in contributing to your capacity for professional growth and excellence. If you don't think you're exactly the teacher those kids in your room need, your students will have a harder time believing it themselves. At the same time, an ability to reflect and/or invite transparent relationships is weighted into the formula. Without knowing your weaknesses or areas of growth, you cannot know where to take risks to invite growth.

Representing the two components of my formula are two ways of viewing yourself that I call "Your Resume" and "Your Mirror." 

#475137993 / gettyimages.com

Your Resume flaunts your successes, unapologetically advertises your strengths, and paints a portrait of who you are and what your classroom looks like on the best of days. Your Resume is an idealist. Your Resume is the teacher all the kids think fondly of at graduation and reunions, the colleague everyone wants to collaborate with, and the shining star your boss mentions as an example of their leadership. ;) 

#158889131 / gettyimages.com

Your Mirror points out your weaknesses, reminds you of your insecurities, and always tells the truth. Your Mirror is a realist. Your Mirror is the teacher that knows sometimes lessons don't go well, every teacher cannot reach every student, and that if you're doing something in life really well, it's probably to the detriment of something else.

So who am I?

A Letter To Me on My First Day Teaching - Teacher Appreciation Week 2014

Have you seen this video from Edutopia and SoulPancake in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week yet? (Prepare the tissues)

I've written a post about your first year teaching before, but "letter to me on my first day of teaching" seems different, so I did that this afternoon during my prep.

Dear First-Day-of-Teaching-Chuck, 

You did it! Congrats on your first job - I know its been a long road for you since you first started applying to social studies jobs 2 years ago. I know you didn't imagine your first job in a math classroom, but you're gonna love it - trust me. There is a lot of satisfaction in knowing that your efforts (good and bad) play a large factor in crafting how your students remember their high school experience. 

You don't have to have it all figured out today. Or even tomorrow. More important than your content and instructional strategies is your care for students. Your students will rarely be impressed with how smart, rational, or quick-witted you may be. They will remember and respond to how you treat them, how you respond to them, and how quick or slow you are to quit on them.  

They won't respect you for your degree, your content knowledge, or even your skills with technology - they may even resent you for it. The best relationships you have with students will always be driven by how well you show your care. 

I know you've got two lessons to prep for tomorrow, so let me finish with a few tips to carry with you. 

1. Be quick to listen and slow to speak.Students sometimes just need to be heard, and our colleagues are always good for a fresh perspective to a problem you may have. The only teachers or student-teachers I've seen completely flounder or burnout are the ones without the humility and wisdom to know you never have it all figured out. 

2. Show your care first, then your students (might) care about what you have to say.I've see a few, but its been rare that I've bonded with students with the math. What I've seen much more often has been students who will persevere because we've bonded over something else. If the learning spark never ignites, however, don't beat yourself up. Ultimately, its up to the kid.

3. You can't be friends with your students, but you can love them (and you'll understand that more the older you get).They're still kind of close to your age right now, but by the time you're in your early 30s, they'll have more in common with your own children than they do you. Just as you would with your own, never tire of second chances, and be careful to burn any bridges you'll have to repair tomorrow. The best you can do as their "friend" is to be "cool" - a passing achievement indeed, but if you love them enough to let them hurt you, or even disappoint, then you can win them.
Good luck, Chuck. Whenever you have tough days (and they will come), always remember that your heavenly Father knows and gives you everything you need, and He will come through at school as well.

Always,
Chuck

Never Smile Until 2nd Quarter (and Other First Day Myths)

I think the "never smile" rule was one of the first things my cooperating teacher told me before our first day before student teaching. That and wearing ties. But who made that up? Why is it still perpetrated? Here's a list of reasons I think to save our smiling for the 2nd Qtr.

1ST DAY CHECKLIST
Alienate students.

Inspire dread at the thought of coming to my class.
Ensure students don't think I care.
Build a connection between cold personal interactions and negative atmosphere toward learning my content.
Quench any fun.

I don't know about you, but I have a better time teaching the more I smile through the day. I cannot imagine getting through weeks of school forcing myself to keep a straight face in the midst of the silly things kids do and say. For another perspective on "never smile," here's a post middle school principal +Shawn Blankenship wrote a couple years ago. "Never Smile Until Christmas"

What about some others?

1. KIDS DON'T WANT TO DO ANYTHING THE FIRST DAY

Correction. They don't want to hear a lecture and produce a worksheet the first day. Of any days, the first day should perhaps be the MOST engaging. The first day of school is a time for first impressions for you just as much as for the students. Most of us would go out of our way to seem extraordinarily amazing and interesting on a first date or job interview - why don't we pull out the stops for that first experience for our students? There'll be other days for book cards.

Today in AP Stats, I'll be taking advantage of the massive crowds of schedule-changers and ID photo takers to provide a captive audience for my students' first attempts at data collection, and Algebra 1 will be developing linear expressions for modeling toothpick figures (although they won't know that until day 2)

The best example I've seen that wasn't content related is my friend Beth. She brings a whole duffel bag of stuff in and shares the experience of each trinket with her students. It really sets the stage for establishing a safe environment for sharing in her classroom.

2. I'LL NEVER LEARN ALL MY STUDENTS NAMES

Are you a "hit the ground running" teacher? I'm sure you probably cover more content than me, but at what expense relationally? Spend time in activities the first day that get you and your students talking to each other and saying each other's name. Keep up the deliberate name-learning activities for several days.

3. NEVER GIVE HOMEWORK/ ALWAYS GIVE HOMEWORK THE FIRST DAY

I think this one is hyper-contextually subjective. If you're teaching an honors, AP, or upper-level course, or intend to be super-dedicated and habitually with when students can expect homework, I think it sold be completely appropriate. If you're doing it to seem tough and shock some kids into changing their schedule, my opinion is that kids usually see through the ruse.

4. YOU MUST DISCUSS EXPECTATIONS AND PROCEDURES AS A CLASS

Definitely. Early and often. But going back to #1, find a way to make a game of it; get kids moving around.

Are there any others you've heard? Any you disagree with?

5 Reasons Why Teaching Summer School is Good for Professional Development

I'm beginning my 6th edition of summer school for my district on Monday. My first summer, before we had children and my wife was still working, summer school was a means to cut my teeth in my own real-life math classroom before the fall semester began and stuff got real. 

Teaching summer school is more of a financial requirement for our family now, but there are still several things I enjoy about the summer session that I think make me a better teacher.

1. "Do your worst."

If you can handle what summer school students have to throw at you, you'll probably be prepared for the worst you may see during the regular session. Some summer school students are highly motivated (which is what I expected of all of them before my first summer), and they are a delight, but most in my district come to me with one or several of the following: immaturity, frustration, anger, dejection, ambivalence, complacency. I jumped over a table last summer in the midst of what was looked to be a fight brewing. It was awesome.

2. Try new things.

The thinking on this is that for most of these kids, whatever traditional activities you or a colleague tried during the spring or fall were not successful strategies, so repackaging the regular curriculum into a shorter chunk is asking for boredom at best, and more failure at worst. I feel less pressure to have my lessons or activities go perfectly during the summer because classes are smaller and we meet longer, so its more feasible to clarify directions and completely change course if necessary without sacrificing an entire day's 50 minute period.

I love piloting projects, games, and software in the summer.

3. Motivate, motivate, motivate.

This is for my students, too, but secretly maybe for me the most. :)

There aren't a ton of self-starting, goal-setting 16 and 17 year olds to begin with - you're definitely not going to find them in summer school. Teaching my summer students forces me to rethink why I teach, and what heights are possible for any of these students. 

Morning-grump-Chuck does not fly in summer session.

4. Make new connections with colleagues

Since my district consolidated summer school for our 3 high schools into one building 3 years ago, summer school has meant working more closely with teachers I only see on sporadic district PD days. Collaborating with these teachers during the summer has given me a clearer picture of what goes on across my district and helps me make sense of goals and vision given to us from administration across the street. Most of the trainings on this page were made possible by connections I made during summer school.

5. Prioritize and dump.

You know that practice where you teach some things during the regular school year "for exposure," just because its in your book, or you like that trick? 

Reteaching an entire semester's worth of content is obviously impossible, so the summer session requires refinement of the curriculum to essential topics and strategies. Fortunately for me, my district already has separate pacing guides for the summer, so I don't have to reinvent the wheel every summer.

This year, to cut costs, our district is holding only "credit recovery" courses, which the state allows for students who were close to passing. My class will be 2 weeks instead of the usual 4, so I'm forced to prioritize and predict where the biggest needs will be amongst my recovering students.

Why does this matter for the regular session? The topics we end up covering in summer school often become the subject of smart goals and data collection from common formative assessments in our PLCs.

Student Blogging - In High School Math?!

Thursday's #moedchat was all about blogging in the classroom. And if the energy flowing in the chat was any indication, I'm apparently missing out on the fun.

The chat was moderated by the amazing +William Chamberlain (@wmchamberlain), a #comments4kids advocate, an EduBlog nominated writer many times over, and general tweep I trust. Beyond William, my sister, @JenBearden is in her second year blogging with her 5th graders at http://kidblog.org/MrsBeardensClass2012/

The archive is here. We had a great, enthusiastic chat about the purpose of kid blogging, defining the meaning and purpose of "authentic audience" and explored what makes kid blogging transition from another assignment to a transformative experience. A lot of good experiences were shared, and I know the power of reflection in learning for myself in teacher professional development, but my perception for now is that most classroom bloggers fall into one of 3 categories:

• Elementary teacher
• English/Communication Arts teacher
• History teacher

I'm completely in favor of writing in the content area, and believe in my heart that writing/reflecting in math can improve your little thinkers' reasoning and understanding of the content, but it feels like an impossibility to integrate for my 50 minutes a day. @jenbearden says that her 5th graders write about math often, but I still think its "cheating" because elementary teachers have so much more flexibility with time allotment in their room. (How much learning time do high school/middle school students lose moving from class to class?!)

My Current Perception

Can it be done?

If you've been to any number of PD sessions, conferences, or graduate classes as a teacher, you're probably used to hearing something like, "How would this work in the math classroom?" The facilitator, bless their heart teaches NOT math, has passion for their content, but has no perspective on integrating it fully in your subject. And their waiting for you to figure it out. :) 

The "How would this work in math?" stage is how I feel about classroom blogging, so I'm just going to start my research how I would direct my students. Google. Storify. 

Now that I've even begun reflecting on this I know I've got to try, but I need your help! What experience do you have with high school math students blogging? What teacher experts do you know?

Need a EdTech Graduate Program? Go Mizzou, Go Online.

This reflection piece was a part of my grad school portfolio in 2011. The portfolio was hosted on Mizzou Bengal servers and has since been wiped, but the knowledge lives on... this Mizzou Online program was seriously, GREAT.

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Image and Slogan Copyright Chuck Baker, 2012

I entered the Educational Technology program at Mizzou with a good level of confidence in my ability to find and use technology resources for myself and my classroom, and a desire to build my leadership potential with my colleagues in integrating technology in their classrooms.  Bad technology is almost worst than dust-collecting technology.  I wrote this reflection in August 2010 after reading the first chapter in textbook for my first course, Intro to Technology in Schools.

“I begin this EdTech journey feeling like I already know a lot about integrating technology into my business as a teacher, and I even feel like a leader; at least at my own school.  I know full well, however, that my "knowledge" could very well be a level of ignorance over not even knowing how much I have yet to learn through this book and this entire Master's Program.  If all else fails, at least I'm going to commit to having an attitude of humbleness and to take each lesson with a fresh mindset.”

I’d venture to say that my predictions were largely spot-on about what I knew and did not know.  As I began interacting with my classmates on the Blackboard discussion forums I found that there were many who were a little intimidated by technology and had never taken a course online, and there were still others who had designed courses online and had great experience in web design and training in the private sector.  So, the former encouraged my confidence, and the latter reminded me that there was much I could learn from my classmates and this program.  

So what did I learn?

My best lessons learned can all be summarized in this - educational technology is about way more than flashy new gadgets or expensive computer labs.  At its focus is the cornerstone of all teaching; changing the lives of our schoolchildren and growing the next generation.  Educational technology is just the (powerful) tool we choose to use.

The first way technology can change lives is in the way it changes how we work.  Technology makes lesson planning and grading dramatically more efficient and effective for the teacher, leaving him or her more time to focus on the kids.  In the teacher technical interview, I found an experience similar to mine.  My interviewee knows she can plan and teach without technology, but she wouldn't want to!  Technology changes her lessons through presentation (and quick retrieval) of past lessons on her SMARTboard, communication is more efficient and frequent thanks to email, and her schedule is more in order because she uses electronic calendars to keep everything together.  This truth is also evident in the way classrooms can operate.  Sure, teachers using right pedagogy that were already great teachers can still teach, but why would they want to stay with the "old" ways?  As I showed in the intervention strategy to spice up a barren e-learning course for kids needing extra help, the web gives us many, many tools to support and differentiate for learners to develop environments best suited for their individual needs. Maturing multimedia production tools allow teachers to create their own online, digital content for students to access for their homework so teachers can give the help kids need while they are at school.  Who wouldn't love to kill the "my teacher never helps me" excuse?

Ironically, technology also changes our expectations for excellence.  When we know (and see for ourselves that we can!) do more than just worksheets and lectures, how can anyone settle for anything less for their curricula, classrooms, and learners?  But here's the caveat - excellence and optimal uses are unattainable, which is why we have to mitigate the inevitable snags through planning, research, and reflection.  When I performed the concerns-based adoption model of my school network of standards-based grading, I found that almost everyone I studied was at a different level of implementation, each for their own, usually valid reason.  Even the teacher who had led multiple trainings on standards-based grading was not through the stages of adoption; she was still synthesizing what she had learned with her own experiences to make the grading work for her.  In Instructional Systems Design, we performed learner, task, and contextual analyses, trying to allow and adapt for every possible scenario, which was a big help in completing my Learning with the Internet project.  But no matter how many variables I tried to account for in the lesson plan, my students still found new ways to foil my lesson plans.

Image Copyright Chuck Baker, 2012

That need for constant adaption to continuously work toward addressing instructional and learning problems is the force behind action research, and the last thing I learned.  If we settle consistently into patterns of just using technology for novelty's sake, then the technology begins to trump pedagogy in our instructional methods, and it actually impedes learning.  Several of the studies I reviewed in my action research plan confirmed this from feedback of students during experiments.  What I found as I began to implement my own research plan, was that sometimes we will continue to use technology without proven results of effectiveness, if only because we know we "should" be using it in our lessons.  I learned in reflection of an adaptation of my technology integrated learning plan, that if a technology is superseding the real learning, sometimes you just have to let it go.

What’s next for me?  

What I’ve liked best about the Technology in Schools program is not that it fulfilled my every professional desire and dream, but that it gave me new ones.  The program has built my capacity for leadership in the school beyond just technology, but in any reforms and changes we make to curriculum or procedures.  Beyond knowing what the best website is for learning x, y, or z, the program has given me the confidence to evaluate resources and hardware, by broadening my frame of reference. Through discussion board forums and group projects with heterogeneous backgrounds, I have a better idea of how administrators or other teachers in the building approach the same technology purchases or integration that I had seen as a black-and-white issue.  Ultimately, I hope what’s next for me is to use my new knowledge (and degree) by moving into a new role in the district of technology coach for my colleagues, and teacher-liaison to the district technology department. 

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Post-script:

You've probably felt it, too, so I'm sure you know that school district budgets have gotten tighter and tighter since I wrote this originally. Thus, "new role in the district" has happened, but it has come with little extra pay, like I'd hoped. It is responsible for the iPad cart in my room, the eInstruction clickers I am currently piloting, near-monthly PD leading responsibilities in the building, and a great eval from my principal last week. 

Bored?

I'm sure, 15 years later, that she said it in passing, but her single sentence has overtime become one of the paramount principles in crafting my character and personality today.

We were smack dab in the middle of the 6th grade class Spelling Bee, whose top finishers would go on to represent the two classes in the school-wide Spelling Bee later that week. Class sizes had not yet been legislated smaller, so when we were all instructed to line up our chairs in a row, there were close to fifty of us. Mrs. Steinmann went down the row, one at a time, giving us a word to spell while the others waited; some in restless anticipation, others in restless boredom and disinterest. As you can guess, I belonged to the former, but we'll focus on a member of the later.

"I'm bored," Jim Bennett said while kicking his legs underneath his plastic blue seat. "This is taking for-ev-er."
"Only boring people get bored," Mrs. Steinmann replied to him, and went about her business of letters.

Again, I'm sure it was a phrase she had perhaps heard from someone in her life a multitude of times in her childhood, but it was the one and only time I've seen it used. Only boring people get bored. It started in sixth grade as a matter of marketability. Boring people are not cool, I reasoned, and I want to be cool, therefore, I should not be boring. It's formulaic nature appealed to my deepest core. It didn't go well those first few years, however, because (1) this moment was bookended by junior high, and (2) my approach to the principle was erred from the onset. I sought to be "exciting" by trying to reflect "cool," which as you'll remember in 1996 was ridiculously baggy pants, plaid shirts or giant t-shirts, and long hair parted down the middle. And I did far less than excel at reflecting. But my failures in posing were moot. (ed. note: I didn't find out until today when perusing freerice.com, but who knew in 8th grade that when a girl called me a poseur, which I would have spelled as "poser," that she was using such an impressive word?)

Not being boring, is of course, not about copying the un-boring, but in finding a passion within that drives you to action. It's about finding a niche in your life to be extraordinary. Discovering an obsession in your life to thirst for may give you heartache, but it will never leave you with nothing to do.

Go be extraordinary, because only boring people get bored.

"I Have a Dream Because..."

I cannot bear the thought of self-righteous contentment.

When I started school at Townsend Elementary in the Hazelwood School District, every year to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr Day our teachers would have us write an essay with this title, presumably to enter into some regional or national contest. I hope there were different grade levels, because when a 1st grader tries to sit down writing about the dream of MLK, one of two things was bound to happen: (1) said 1st grader would probably write about the dream he had last week while snug in his bed about monsters, lollipops, dinosaurs, sports, or racecars, or (2) said 1st grader would go about plagerizing a report about Martin Luther King lifted primarily from the first encyclopedia he found at the library.

By the time I was in 4th grade, now at Commons Lane in Ferg-Flor, the MLK essays were gone, and instead our class did extensive (for 4th graders) poster board projects during February for Black History Month. Although our class was doing projects on a wide range of historical black figures, from politicians to athletes, to doctors and soldiers, I wound up with another project on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Beyond the photocopy of a picture the office secretary made for my poster, the only thing I really remember about my project is that my father made a point to note that I was doing "another Martin Luther King project." As a nine year old, my impression of "another MLK project" was that it was a perfectly natural thing to study yearly - the same way grade school students study the pilgrims every year. Looking back now as an adult, I still don't completely know what to make of my father's words.

Did they mean nothing?
Were they similar in rhetoric to the crowd that questions why there is not a "White History Month?"
Did he wish I could study a different black historical figure?

I guess I've spent fifteen years questioning my father's racial prejudices (or lack thereof). I noticed when we stopped going to some restaurants because "they weren't as clean anymore." I heard my mother say that a certain place was too "dark." On the other hand, I saw him build a new house in Florissant several years ago when it would have been easier to flee to O'Fallon or St. Peters like so many others this decade. Even the fact that we settled in North County in 1987 when we moved here instead of whiter, south county could account for something.

However, a man's questioning of his father and his youth is not what's really important today - its much too insignificant and of much too small a scale. Tomorrow morning at 11am Central Time, Barack Obama will be sworn in on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building, looking back in the direction directly opposite where King gave his "I Have a Dream..." speech in 1963. I hope that the historical poetry of that is not lost on him tomorrow. But how did we get here, and why was this day so long in coming?

"We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

Many people have evaluated the 2008 election and judged that Obama getting more than 90% of the black vote was his key to success. That is a true statement. Kind of. The significance, however, is not in what percentage of the votes he obtained, but in the number of votes he created. Democratic candidates have historically gotten about that percentage of the black vote in elections, so that is nothing new. The difference, I believe, is in the words from King's speech. The Voting Rights Act of 1964 guaranteed that "Negro in Mississippi" federal protection to vote, but perhaps that "Negro in New York" did not believe he had anything to vote for until 2008.

It's important, also, to not confuse the increase in voting from black communities with the mere presence of a black candidate. If merely inserting a black candidate onto the ballot were the answer, then the Rev. Jesse Jackson's efforts in the 1980s would have been more successful. I think the difference was Obama's ability to inspire. President-elect Obama was able to inspire the public's belief in vision and dreams similar to the way Dr. King inspired in the 50s and 60s. It's also worth noting that Obama and Dr. King both have also been criticized as radicals and socialists. The lessons of history also show that it is never the moderate who changes thoughts and actions, but the revolutionary, or the radical.

My final hope for President Obama is the same that King had for the civil rights movement. For so many buying into the hope that Obama represents, 2008 is not the end, but rather, the beginning.