I've always felt nostalgia for my Kentucky portfolio days while I'm there working through student-created portfolios and applying their writing to a well-established, useful, and practical rubric. Teaching kids to be writers and giving them the opportunity to share their work with readers is the greatest assessment (both formative and summative) a school can do for their kids. It's a test of who they are, where they are, that doesn't come from the money-making industry or superficial insight our standardized tests offer. It's authentic and real. 201 students treated with integrity, and given opportunity to write in a variety of genres - "where words come to life."
Kudos to them. All of us in literacy should be flocking to schools like Barlow to understand how they maintain such excellence in their schools and, better yet, how this requirement sets up their students for success upon graduation.
This is what we once had in Kentucky before politics came into play and they destroyed the beauty of an era - a statewide initiative that was the awe of the nation, toppled by grumpy, ignorant, and short-sided neanderthals (I'm sorry...I kind of like neanderthals. Don't mean to insult them).
I left yesterday having my spirit rejuvenated and optimism restored. The young people at this high school are set up for success and the work should be replicated everywhere. Interestingly, too, the faculty remains joyful. In a period of time when teachers are waving white flags everywhere, the teachers at Barlow are proud (and supported) with the work they do. They should be.
It's simply wonderful. And it's happy.