{"id":1789,"date":"2016-05-25T00:45:16","date_gmt":"2016-05-25T00:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/826boston.org\/redesign\/?page_id=1789"},"modified":"2017-03-23T20:42:51","modified_gmt":"2017-03-23T20:42:51","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/826boston.org\/redesign\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter from the Teacher"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the companion website of Tendr\u00edamos Asistencia Perfecta\/\u00a0Attendance Would Be 100%<\/em>, a book by the first graduating class of the Margarita Mu\u00f1iz Academy, published by\u00a0826 Boston. 12th<\/sup> grade English Humanities teacher Ms. Laura Gersch reflects upon her experience leading this project.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

\n

Attendance Would Be 100%<\/em>\u00a0is a collection of writing on high school redesign; it is also an artifact of redesign. It documents the challenge presented to this year\u2019s seniors at the Margarita Mu\u00f1iz Academy to envision high school from the student perspective.<\/p>\n

The authors of this book are the first graduating class of the only dual-language Spanish- English high school in Massachusetts. They have been trailblazers of biliteracy, with the courage to build a revolutionary school and challenge the doubts about multilingual education in this country. Mu\u00f1iz Academy graduates are bilingual, so this book is, too. We hope this will inspire you to tap into your own bilingualism, whether that means languages you have already learned or are still looking forward to learning. (In the meantime, you might tap into the multilingual world surrounding you for assistance.)<\/p>\n

Margarita Mu\u00f1iz students share the unique experience of charting a new course for education in their hometown and state. So the call for high school redesign in Boston by Mayor Marty Walsh and Superintendent Tommy Chang last spring emerged as a timely opportunity for their senior project. The best experts about schools must be, without a doubt, students\u2014and this\u00a0group of students in particular\u2014so why not ask them how to redesign high school?<\/p>\n

At first, my students had doubts that anyone was interested in their opinion. But as we studied the history and changing purposes of school, they realized that it\u2019s the students for whom and by whom high schools should be redesigned. Their revolutionary spirits were roused. They had opinions and wanted their voices heard.<\/p>\n

Having opinions, however, was not enough. Ending academic tracking, starting the day later, and making classes smaller were great ideas, but these ideas needed to be rooted in research to grow into authoritative proposals. Students had to identify ways to enter the conversation about education\u2014a conversation which, more often than not, is a vast and confusing one.<\/p>\n

With the help of 826 Boston tutors, we brought this conversation alive in our classroom. Starting in October, tutors and students researched, read, and discussed different perspectives on what works and what doesn\u2019t in secondary education. As students\u2019 annotated bibliographies took shape, so did their depth of understanding for these issues.<\/p>\n

Next, students took their research into the community. Equipped with questions and phones set to record, students conducted in-depth interviews with experts in their areas of research. These interviews turned out to be pivotal moments in our project, not only because they allowed students to take their own learning outside of the physical classroom, but also because these same experts welcomed and respected students as researchers and scholars.<\/p>\n

When it came time to synthesize our research, students became aware that there are no silver bullets. No single solution can close the achievement gap, raise the graduation rate, or guarantee college success. And, as we learned in January, even the most promising proposals might run into a budget crisis. \u201cWhy are we working on redesign, if there is no money to even keep schools going as is?\u201d students wanted to know when we learned of the imminent Boston Public School budget cuts. They were becoming cynical. \u201cIf only money grew on trees,\u201d one student wrote in her proposal. But money, we reminded ourselves, is not enough. We need ideas, too. And if we put off change until there is enough money, nothing will ever change.<\/p>\n

So we focused on our solutions. As students worked on their proposals, their writing became the antidote to their cynicism. They knew they were writing about real issues for a real audience\u2014you! Of course, ideas alone won\u2019t redesign our schools. But we are confident that this book full of ideas will inspire you to help move the mountains necessary to make them happen.<\/p>\n

Ms. Laura Gersch<\/em>
\n Humanities Teacher<\/em>
\n Margarita Mu\u00f1iz Academy<\/em>
\n April 2016<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Attendance Would Be 100%\u00a0is a collection of writing on high school redesign; it is also an artifact of redesign. It documents the challenge presented to this year\u2019s seniors at the Margarita Mu\u00f1iz Academy to envision high school from the student perspective. The authors of this book are the first graduating class of the only dual-language […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1789","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2141,"url":"https:\/\/826boston.org\/redesign\/letter-from-the-student-editorial-board\/","url_meta":{"origin":1789,"position":0},"title":"Letter from the Student Editorial Board","author":"April Wang","date":"March 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"We are the first graduating class of the Margarita Mu\u00f1iz Academy, the only two-way bilingual high school in Massachusetts to date. We hope that the proposals in this book will be taken seriously. As seniors, we may not benefit directly from any changes Boston Public Schools decide to make, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2138,"url":"https:\/\/826boston.org\/redesign\/credits\/","url_meta":{"origin":1789,"position":1},"title":"Credits","author":"April Wang","date":"March 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Congratulations to the first graduating class of the Margarita Mu\u00f1iz Academy! Isabella Conde Aguirre Franlin Almonte Ver\u00f3nica Anguiano Ver\u00f3nica Arana Lauris Isabel B\u00e1ez Priscilla B\u00e1ez Wilfredo B\u00e1ez Marfry E. Cabral Willis Calderon Anthony Lucas Cruz Carrillo Diego Casta\u00f1eda Giancarlo Guerrero Castillo Stephanie Castillo Esther Franchesca D\u00edaz Clase Lorian De Lahoz\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1612,"url":"https:\/\/826boston.org\/redesign\/blog\/","url_meta":{"origin":1789,"position":2},"title":"About the Project","author":"admin","date":"May 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Welcome to the accompaniment site of\u00a0Attendance Would Be 100%, an 826 Boston Young Authors Book\u00a0Project. 826 Boston is a nonprofit youth writing and publishing organization that empowers traditionally underserved students ages 6-18 to find their voices, tell their stories, and gain communication skills to succeed in school and in\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2133,"url":"https:\/\/826boston.org\/redesign\/foreword-by-dave-eggers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1789,"position":3},"title":"Foreword by Dave Eggers","author":"April Wang","date":"March 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This book is important on many levels. First, it's a work by students about issues, in and out of school, that affect them, and this is intrinsically important. It's as rare as a red moon when we actually ask young people for their opinions about the workings of the world\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1610,"url":"https:\/\/826boston.org\/redesign\/home\/","url_meta":{"origin":1789,"position":4},"title":"Home","author":"admin","date":"May 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P7wVLn-sR","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/826boston.org\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/826boston.org\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/826boston.org\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/826boston.org\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/826boston.org\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/826boston.org\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1789\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/826boston.org\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}