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Ruf Starts; Going Back to School

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Rally co-drivers and navigators will often see or write the note "Ruf Starts."  This note communicates to the driver that, just as it sounds, the road is about to get rough.  This could mean large rocks, deep holes, washboard surfaces, or all of the above; it's basically a vague term that means if you don't want to break your car maybe you should slow the F down.   I cannot think of a better analogy for the proposed return to the classroom this fall in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.   Slow. The. F. down.  I spent a great deal of time this spring interviewing teachers from across the state of Michigan, and as much time as I could stomach reading my district's return plan and listening to our lovely secretary of education and stable brilliant genius POTUS push for kids to return to the physical classroom.  Much like a "Ruf" rally stage, it all makes my guts heave. A colleague, friend, (let's call him D...) who is a black male teacher and mentor...
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Out of Service; Errors of Intent vs Inexperience

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At one of my very first rallies, I navigated us out of service (cars are allowed to stop at specific intervals during a two day stage rally to service the car and fuel up,) to the next stage.  Upon arrival, it was clear that we were the first car there! Sounds exciting right??! ...except we were not in first place.  At this particular rally, when we were still running the fitful and chronically heartbreaking Mazda 323-GTX, we were likely not even in the top 10.  I frantically looked through my book and quickly found my error. Photo:  Rhianon Gelsomino; OZ Pro Rally Most codrivers use Post-It tabs along the side or top edge of their 100-200 page route books so that stage and transit information can be accessed quickly.  For example, stage 5 might be marked "SS-5", and the transit from stage 5 to the service area might read "5 --> SVC".  Well, instead of taking us out of the FIRST daily service to the next stage, I flipped the book to what re...
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Reading Notes; Lawsuits about Literacy

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In 2016, two former Detroit Public School students sued Governor Snyder and the state of Michigan in a case claiming that their constitutional rights had been violated.  They alleged that they were unable to effectively participate in the democratic process due to what amounts to a lack of functional literacy.  Recently, a federal court ruling has given credence to their case; American public school students DO have a right to Free and Appropriate Public Education, and that there had been a violation of 14th amendment rights.  (FAPE is a real acronym in education y’all, (just like WRC and IMSA are real racing series even if you haven’t heard of them)....it is  guaranteed by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).) Now, as you know from my introductory post, I am a rally codriver.  You may also have noticed the following picture; But you might not have known what it was.  (I know you know what the i...
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Off Route; An Introduction

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Education in America was in trouble, constantly swerving and veering off the road...(go home school, you’re drunk) and that was back in the good old days of overcrowded classrooms, outdated textbooks, decrepit buildings, and cell phones in the classroom. Then, along came the global Covid-19 pandemic. Now, instead of simply making the occasional wrong turn, school has hurtled off the road, landed in the ditch on its side, and is leaking fuel.  What’s up with the car analogies? This might take a minute. I am a high school science teacher in my 13th year of teaching. I began my career as an educator at an alternative high school which had:  a day care for student’s babies AA meetings twice a week a self-paced curriculum executed primarily through Google Classroom a free PB&J station in the cafeteria for kids who didn’t even really have enough of their own information to qualify for free and reduced lunches (how can this happen you might ask??? Imagine a ...
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