an aha moment for me in our meeting last week came when cambria said something like, there was an ayp sign in the front hall of the ms and maybe we should have used that as a basis for starting to work with the students on nclb (in relation to the interest they already expressed, or passion and upset really, about such things as the testing time and emphasis in their school lives). this really struck me b/c of its connection to freire's literacy work, and specifically to the approach he developed in teaching literacy to adults. his technique as i understand has to do with working with a group of people who are in the same (oppressed) situation to identify what he calls a 'codification' which is usually a visual symbol that carries the group's central issue or conflict. this codification then becomes the starting point from which to generate reading/writing--literacy as reading and writing the world through the word. so i was so struck by cambria's insight because it seemed to me a realization of the 'codificatin' for her students! that is, this ayp banner--and of course they're up everywhere now--signified in a very concrete way how testing pressure was in evidence, in plain sight every day as students, teachers, parents entered the building. what would students do with this as a starting point for investigating the impact and significance of testing in their own schooling?
