So I grew up in East Los Angeles, not even realizing I was poor. My dad was a high-ranking gang member who ran the streets. Everyone knew who I was, so I thought I was a pretty big deal, and I was protected, and even though my dad spent most of my life in and out of jail, I had an amazing mom who was just fiercely independent. She worked at the local high school as a secretary in the dean's office, so she got to see all the kids that got thrown out of class, for whatever reason, who were waiting to be disciplined. Man, her office was packed.
Odrasla sam u istočnom dijelu Los Angelesa i ne shvaćajući da sam bila siromašna. Moj je otac bio visokopozicionirani član ulične bande. Svi su znali tko sam pa sam mislila da sam prilično važna, i bila sam zaštićena! Iako je moj otac većinu mog života proveo u zatvoru, imala sam nevjerojatnu majku koja je bila jednostavno silno neovisna. Radila je u lokalnoj srednjoj školi kao tajnica u ravnateljevom uredu, pa je mogla vidjeti svu djecu koja su bila izbacivana s nastave iz bilo kakvih razloga, i koja su čekala neku disciplinsku mjeru. Čovječe... Njen je ured uvijek bio prepun.
So, see, kids like us, we have a lot of things to deal with outside of school, and sometimes we're just not ready to focus. But that doesn't mean that we can't. It just takes a little bit more. Like, I remember one day I found my dad convulsing, foaming at the mouth, OD-ing on the bathroom floor. Really, do you think that doing my homework that night was at the top of my priority list? Not so much.
Tako da, znate, djeca poput nas, suočavamo se s puno toga izvan škole, i ponekad jednostavno nismo spremni koncentrirati se. Ali, to ne znači da ne možemo. Samo nam je potrebno malo više. Kao, na primjer, sjećam se da sam jednog dana pronašla tatu zgrčenog, pjena mu je izlazila iz ustiju, predoziranog na podu kupaonice. Zaista, mislite li da je domaća zadaća te večeri bila jedan od mojih prioriteta? Ne baš.
But I really needed a support network, a group of people who were going to help me make sure that I wasn't going to be a victim of my own circumstance, that they were going to push me beyond what I even thought I could do. I needed teachers, in the classroom, every day, who were going to say, "You can move beyond that." And unfortunately, the local junior high was not going to offer that. It was gang-infested, huge teacher turnover rate.
Ali, zaista mi je trebala mreža podrške, grupa ljudi koji će mi pomoći, pobrinuti se da neću postati žrtva okolnosti u kojima sam se našla, da će me pogurati čak i iznad onog što sam ja mislila da mogu. Učitelji su mi bili potrebni, u učionici, svakog dana, koji će reći: "Možeš se izdići iznad toga." Nažalost, lokalna osnovna škola nije mi to mogla ponuditi. Bila je preplavljena bandama; mnogo je učitelja odustajalo od tog posla.
So my mom said, "You're going on a bus an hour and a half away from where we live every day." So for the next two years, that's what I did. I took a school bus to the fancy side of town. And eventually, I ended up at a school where there was a mixture. There were some people who were really gang-affiliated, and then there were those of us really trying to make it to high school. Well, trying to stay out of trouble was a little unavoidable. You had to survive. You just had to do things sometimes. So there were a lot of teachers who were like, "She's never going to make it. She has an issue with authority. She's not going to go anywhere." Some teachers completely wrote me off as a lost cause.
Pa je moja mama rekla: "Ideš na autobus, sat i pol dalje od mjesta gdje živimo. Svaki dan." Sljedeće sam dvije godine radila upravo to. Išla sam autobusom do otmjenog dijela grada. I na kraju sam završila u školi koja je bila mješavina svega. Bilo je ljudi koji su stvarno bili pripadnici bandi, a bilo je i nas koji smo stvarno željeli upisati srednju školu. Nastojati izbjeći nevolje bilo je pomalo neizbježno. Morali ste preživjeti! Ponekad ste jednostavno morali učiniti neke stvari. Mnogo je učitelja mislilo: "Ona nikad neće uspjeti. Ima problema s autoritetom. Neće nikamo stići." Neki su me učitelji potpuno otpisali kao izgubljen slučaj.
But then, they were very surprised when I graduated from high school. I was accepted to Pepperdine University, and I came back to the same school that I attended to be a special ed assistant.
No opet, bili su jako iznenađeni kad sam maturirala. Upisala sam Sveučilište Pepperdine, i vratila se u istu školu koju sam pohađala kao asistent u nastavi za djecus teškoćama u razvoju.
And then I told them, "I want to be a teacher."
I onda sam im rekla: "Želim biti učiteljica."
And boy, they were like, "What? Why? Why would you want to do that?"
Stvarno su ostali, ono, "Što? Zašto? Zašto bi to željela?"
So I began my teaching career at the exact same middle school that I attended, and I really wanted to try to save more kids who were just like me. And so every year, I share my background with my kids, because they need to know that everyone has a story, everyone has a struggle, and everyone needs help along the way. And I am going to be their help along the way.
Tako sam započela svoju učiteljsku karijeru u višim razredima iste osnovne školekoju sam pohađala. Stvarno sam željela pokušati spasiti više djece koja su bila poput mene. I tako svake godine dijelim svoju prošlost sa svojim učenicima, jer trebaju znati da svatko ima neku priču, svi se borimo, i svima nam je na tom putu potrebna pomoć. A ja ću njima na tom putu biti ta pomoć.
So as a rookie teacher, I created opportunity. I had a kid one day come into my class having been stabbed the night before.
Dakle, kao učitelj početnik, ja sam stvarala prigodu. Jednom je jedan učenik ušao u moj razred nakon što su ga prethodne noći proboli nožem.
I was like, "You need to go to a hospital, the school nurse, something."
Rekla sam mu: "Trebaš ići u bolnicu, školskoj medicinskoj sestri, nešto!"
He's like, "No, Miss, I'm not going. I need to be in class because I need to graduate." So he knew that I was not going to let him be a victim of his circumstance, but we were going to push forward and keep moving on. And this idea of creating a safe haven for our kids and getting to know exactly what they're going through, getting to know their families -- I wanted that, but I couldn't do it in a school with 1,600 kids, and teachers turning over year after year after year. How do you get to build those relationships?
A on: "Ne, gospođice, ne idem. Moram biti na nastavi, jer moram maturirati." Dakle, znao je da neću dopustiti da bude žrtva okolnosti u kojima se našao, nego ćemo ustrajati i nastaviti dalje. A ta ideja o stvaranju sigurnog utočišta za našu djecu i upoznavanju kroz što točno prolaze, upoznavanju njihovih obitelji - to sam željela, ali nisam mogla učiniti u školi s 1600 djece, s učiteljima koji se iz godine u godinu mijenjaju. Kako uspijete izgraditi takve odnose?
So we created a new school. And we created the San Fernando Institute for Applied Media. And we made sure that we were still attached to our school district for funding, for support. But with that, we were going to gain freedom: freedom to hire the teachers that we knew were going to be effective; freedom to control the curriculum so that we're not doing lesson 1.2 on page five, no; and freedom to control a budget, to spend money where it matters, not how a district or a state says you have to do it. We wanted those freedoms. But now, shifting an entire paradigm, it hasn't been an easy journey, nor is it even complete. But we had to do it. Our community deserved a new way of doing things.
I tako smo stvorili novu školu! Stvorili smo Institut San Fernando za primijenjene medije. Pobrinuli smo se da ostanemo u sklopu školskog okruga radi financiranja, radi potpore. A sa svime time dobili smo slobodu: slobodu da zaposlimo učitelje za koje smo znali da će biti djelotvorni. Slobodu da utječemo na program kako ne bismo obrađivali lekciju 1.2 na petoj stranici, ne. I slobodu da upravljamo svojim proračunom, da trošimo novac na ono bitno, ne onako kako okruzi država kažu da morate učiniti! Željeli smo te slobode. No, mijenjanje cijele paradigme, put nije bio lak, niti smo ga još uvijek okončali. Ali, morali smo to učiniti! Naša zajednica zaslužila je da počnemo drugačije raditi.
And as the very first pilot middle school in all of Los Angeles Unified School District, you better believe there was some opposition. And it was out of fear -- fear of, well, what if they get it wrong? Yeah, what if we get it wrong? But what if we get it right? And we did. So even though teachers were against it because we employ one-year contracts -- you can't teach, or you don't want to teach, you don't get to be at my school with my kids.
A u prvoj pokusnoj osnovnoj školi u cijelom Ujedinjenom školskom okrugu Los Angelesa... vjerujte, bilo je protivljenja. I bilo ga je zbog straha - straha od - što ako nisu u pravu? Da, što ako nismo u pravu?! Ali, što ako jesmo?! A bili smo! Iako su učitelji bili protiv, jer zapošljavamo kroz jednogodišnje ugovore - Ako ne možeš poučavati, ili ne želiš poučavati, nema ti mjesta u mojoj školi, s mojom djecom!
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
So in our third year, how did we do it? Well, we're making school worth coming to every day. We make our kids feel like they matter to us. We make our curriculum rigorous and relevant to them, and they use all the technology that they're used to. Laptops, computers, tablets -- you name it, they have it. Animation, software, moviemaking software, they have it all. And because we connect it to what they're doing — For example, they made public service announcements for the Cancer Society. These were played in the local trolley system. Teaching elements of persuasion, it doesn't get any more real than that. Our state test scores have gone up more than 80 points since we've become our own school.
Dakle, u trećoj našoj godini - kako smo uspjeli? Pa, svakog dana radimo na tome da vrijedi dolaziti u školu. Naši učenici osjećaju da su nam važni. Naš je program zahtjevan i njima važan. I koriste se svom tehnologijom na koju su navikli... Laptopi, kompjuteri, tableti - sve čega se sjetite, oni imaju! Animacije, softver, softver za snimanje filmova, sve imaju. I zato što povezujemo s onim što rade - Primjerice, izradili su javna priopćenja za Društvo za borbu protiv raka. Objavljivana su po lokalnim tramvajima. Poučavati elemente uvjeravanja, Ne može biti realnije od ovoga! Naši rezultati na državnom testu porasli su za više od 80 bodova otkako smo postali samostalna škola.
But it's taken all stakeholders, working together -- teachers and principals on one-year contracts, working over and above and beyond their contract hours without compensation. And it takes a school board member who is going to lobby for you and say, "Know, the district is trying to impose this, but you have the freedom to do otherwise." And it takes an active parent center who is not only there, showing a presence every day, but who is part of our governance, making decisions for their kids, our kids.
No, svi dionici morali su zajedno raditi - učitelji i ravnatelji s jednogodišnjim ugovorima radili su više, iznad i izvan ugovorenih sati bez naknade. Potreban je i član školskog odbora koji će se zauzeti za vas i reći: "Znaš, okrug nastoji ovo nametnuti, ali imaš slobodu učiniti to drugačije." A potrebno je i aktivno vijeće roditelja, koje nije ondje samo da bi bilo ondje, nego kao dio našeg sustava upravljanja odlučuje za dobro svoje djece,naše djece.
Because why should our students have to go so far away from where they live? They deserve a quality school in their neighborhood, a school that they can be proud to say they attend, and a school that the community can be proud of as well, and they need teachers to fight for them every day and empower them to move beyond their circumstances. Because it's time that kids like me stop being the exception, and we become the norm.
Jer, zašto bi naši učenici trebali putovati toliko daleko od mjesta gdje žive?! Zaslužuju kvalitetnu školu u svome susjedstvu, školu za koju će s ponosom moći reći da je pohađaju, i školu na koju će i zajednica biti ponosna. Potrebni su im i učitelji da se za njih bore, svakoga dana, i daju im snage da se izdignu iznad okolnosti koje ih sputavaju. Zato što je vrijeme da djeca poput mene prestanu biti iznimka, i da postanemo pravilo.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)