AV#233 - Analysis of one school's 2020-21 Unified Improvement Plan - Aurora Central High

 

Weak UIP reveals one way low-performing schools fail … to see themselves clearly

 

Fall 2020	Enrollment	% FRL
Aurora Central H.S.	1,807	79.6
Adams City H.S.	1,656	74.9
Risley International Academy (6-8)	453	94.5

Why do so many of our lowest-performing schools fail to make progress over 4, 5, 6, … (count’em) 9 years? (22 Colorado schools have been on the accountability clock for 4 years or more. See Addendum A.) How is it possible that three schools (see box) can be rated on Priority Improvement or Turnaround Plans for an ENTIRE DECADE – 2010-2019? (“Year on Performance Watch” did not begin until July 2011, the second year of the School Performance Framework.) How can we say we have an effective accountability process in place when these schools have reached year nine “on the clock”?  

We know there are educators in these three schools working hard to meet the needs of their students. We are aware these schools receive additional grants to support their efforts to improve. And we have some idea of the considerable time and attention the Colorado Department of Education and the State Board of Education devote to these schools. All this—and yet, so little progress. How can this be?

In some cases, as I will argue (again*) here, it is because the schools fail to take a hard look at themselves. They do not see themselves clearly. A prime example: their inability to write a meaningful self-assessment.

*I first made this point SEVEN YEARS AGO. It is telling that I use the same school as my example here, using its recent UIP as evidence. AV#109- Why turnaround schools do not turn around -1/12/2014 One reason struggling schools fail to make real progress: Aurora Central High as a case study "The unexamined life is not worth living." Socrates The unexamined life of a low-performing school – an omen that much will remain the same

                                                                                                  

The state of Colorado expects these schools to produce a thoughtful self-report, the Unified Improvement Plan, over the summer and early fall. The 2020-21 UIPs were submitted to the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) last October. The public gained access to these reports in April 2021. I examine one such UIP here. You will see why it fails to present a thoughtful self-study of the current state of the school. Though over 31 pages long, there is little about 2019-20. Much copy and paste work from the previous year. And worse: from the previous two years.

 

This failure reflects poorly on the school and its district. I realize that Aurora Central High School just experienced one of the most difficult school years imaginable.* And, before that, the spring of2020—part of the school year which the current UIP is  

*The same is true, no doubt, of the other two schools on YEAR 9 of the accountability clock. Another View has written about both in the past. But Aurora Central’s UIP is by far the weakest of the three. At least we hear a new voice, a fresh view, in the UIPs from Adams City and Risley. Moreover, Aurora Central is the only one without any leadership change (Superintendent Rico Munn, 2013; Principal Gerardo De La Garza, 2015) in years. The argument - “we need more time” - rings hollow. See AV#88  -Aurora Central High – The Case for State Intervention, Sept. 18, 2012.

supposed to address—must have been incredibly hard. So I am sure the school leadership and staff are exhausted – or “fried,” as they say. In that light, my criticism of the school’s UIP will seem ill-timed and unkind. We’ve been through hell, ACHS staff might say; give us the summer to recover. So why do I consider it necessary to produce this study? Who does it help? 

 

“a plan that has true meaning…” Unified Improvement Planning was introduced in 2009 to streamline improvement planning …     Colorado schools and districts can improve student learning and system effectiveness by engaging in a cycle of continuous improvement to manage their performance. To support this purpose, the Education Accountability Act of 2009 requires each Colorado district and school to create an annual improvement plan. The intent is that schools and districts create a single plan that has true meaning for stakeholders… (CDE[i])

I believe we should see any chronically underperforming school in our state as a tragedy for its students. I do not agree that tolerance or “grace” should apply when a school presents to the state a report as deficient as this. It looks as if Aurora Central did not even try. I present this study in the hope it adds to the urgency with which CDE and the State Board “monitors progress” at Aurora Central High.

One place to begin, given the school’s highly unsatisfactory UIP for 2020-21, is for the state to insist the school produce an entirely new plan for 2021-22. And early. The Colorado Charter School Institute expects its 43 schools to submit a first draft of their UIP for review before the school year begins. (See box. Sounds logical, yes?) Why not borrow this  timeline for schools “on the clock”? Call on Aurora Central to make a sincere effort to reflect on all it has learned about its Innovation Plan the past 12 months and to write a clear (and much shorter) UIP for the coming year.

Colorado Department of Education – UIP “As a reminder for the 2021-22 school year, all school and district UIPs will be due for public posting on October 15, 2021. This is the launch of the new permanent timeline shift. CDE recommends that planning for the next school year begin this spring, as your local data becomes available. The state will review plans for identified schools and districts (i.e., Priority Improvement, Turnaround, …) when they are submitted in the fall, so feedback will be available much sooner in the year.”   Colorado Charter School Institute – UIP    (Bold mine) Spring       • Schools begin work on Improvement Planning       • School-specific CSI work sessions as needed Summer  • Schools complete first draft of UIP July 15 (renewal)/Aug. 15 (non-renewal) August-September       • Schools receive feedback and update UIP October 15       • Final UIP due          (Taken from webinar on the UIP by CSI’s Jessica Welch[ii])

 

Some have lost hope about high schools like Aurora Central and Adams City. One hears this: no one knows how to successfully transform schools as complex and as chronically low-performing as these. Don’t expect much. (An ugly phrase from the Nixon Presidency comes to mind: “benign neglect.”)

We cannot give up. We can and we must expect something better.

Outline of AV#233

Flaws in Aurora Central High School’s UIP 2020-21

1.      Cut and paste - 2019-20.

2.      Cut and paste and cut and paste - from 2018-19 and 2019-20.

3.      How little we learn about 2019-20.

EXAMPLES OF GOOD UIPs – Fresh thinking. Clear language. (By Risley, another school on year 9 of the clock, and Gateway High, another low-performing high school in the same district as Aurora Central.)

Addendum A – 22 Colorado schools on the accountability clock for 4 years or more

Addendum B – Questions on how the UIP explains its (State Board recommended) partnership with the PEBC

Addendum C – Careless writing reflects careless thinking 

 

 

 

1.     Cut and paste - Fresh thinking? An up-to-date self-analysis?

               A good portion of the 2020-21 UIP is merely a copy of what was written in the 2019-20 UIP.

2019-20 UIP	2020-21 UIP
UIP DEVELOPMENT PROCESS The above-listed priorities and major improvement strategies were developed by the ACHS Administrative Team and the ACHS Instructional Leadership Team during the period of April-October 2019. The Administrative Leadership Team convened for two days, specifically to work on this with the support of MIE and the Office of Autonomous Schools (OAS). In addition, the ILT met monthly to provide guidance and feedback on selected priorities and major improvement strategies. Through this guided process, the team analyzed data and used the analysis to instill our SIP priorities and UIP major improvement strategies. These goals are shared with the full staff regularly and the LT has provided feedback on the goals as well as their ongoing monitoring.	UIP DEVELOPMENT PROCESS The above-listed priorities and major improvement strategies were developed by the ACHS Administrative Team and the ACHS Instructional Leadership Team during the period of April-September 2020. The Administrative Leadership Team convened for two days, specifically to work on this with the support of MIE, PEBC, and the Office of Autonomous Schools (OAS). In addition, the ACHS Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) met monthly to provide guidance and feedback on selected priorities and major improvement strategies. Through this guided process, the team analyzed data and used the analysis to instill our SIP priorities and UIP major improvement strategies. These goals are shared with the full staff regularly and the LT has provided feedback on the goals as well as their ongoing monitoring. Our Parents in Action (PIA) and Student leadership also had an opportunity during monthly meetings to provide ongoing input into the development of the plan. Parents and students had an opportunity to participate as stakeholders in the needs assessment, analysis of the results, identification of needs, and provision of input on strategies and interventions.
Description of school setting and process for Data Analysis
In order to develop the UIP, the 2019-2020 ACHS Administrative Leadership Team, comprised of the ACHS School Principal, Assistant Principals, Coordinator of Professional Learning and Talent Development, and Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) supported the development of the plan. The team analyzed three years of data that included PARCC, CMAS, MAPs, SAT and PSAT, Teaching and Learning Conditions in Colorado (TLCC) survey, Bellig Consulting Diagnostic Review, Mass Insight Education and Research Report on Progress, CDE Progress Monitoring Report, and State Review Panel Report. Additional data reviewed included graduation rates, dropout rates, ACT scores, and student daily attendance.	In order to develop the UIP, the 2019-2020 and 2020-21 ACHS Administrative Leadership Team, comprised of the ACHS School Principal, Assistant Principals, Coordinator of Professional Learning and Talent Development, and Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) supported the development of the plan. All stakeholder groups analyzed three years of data that included PARCC, CMAS, MAPs, SAT and PSAT, Teaching and Learning Conditions in Colorado (TLCC) survey, Bellig Consulting Diagnostic Review, Mass Insight Education and Research Report on Progress, CDE Progress Monitoring Report, and State Review Panel Report. Additional data reviewed included graduation rates, dropout rates, ACT scores, and student daily attendance.
COMMENT: How can we believe these statements, above? “Convened for two days”; “met monthly to provide guidance”; “analyzed three years of data.” When? In 2019-20? Did such an analysis even take place last year, when the end result of this portion of the UIP merely copied the data from the 2018-19 UIP? (See next section.) Can this really be the product of many months of work? (By the way, the last time ACHS students took the ACT tests was in 2016. Not even an effort to slip in three new letters: S A T.)
The graduation rate at Aurora Central High School for the 2018-19 school year was 70.1%, an increase of +20% since 2015.	The graduation rate at Aurora Central High School for the 2019-20 school year was 75%,* an increase of +20% since 2015.
	(*According to CDE’s annual report on high school graduation, released Jan. 2021, it was 72.6% at ACHS.)
COMMENT: The 2020 UIP managed to add a new number for the 2019-20 graduation rate (75%), but could not even do the math to show that this meant a greater increase from 2015.
Student Achievement & Growth Data Trends
Using data taken from the 2018-2019 School Performance Framework, Central earned 35.2% of 100% resulting in a Priority Improvement Plan rating for 2019. ACHS earned 7.5/30 possible points and a rating of ‘Does Not Meet’ for Academic Achievement, 19.6/40 possible points and a rating of ‘Approaching’ for Academic Growth, 8.1/30 possible points and a rating of ‘Does Not Meet’ for Postsecondary & Workforce Readiness. The overall CO PSAT mean score was 381.8 in Reading and Writing and 375.9 for Math. The overall CO PSAT/SAT median growth percentile/rate in reading and writing was 43 and 46 in math, and 49 for English language proficiency (ELP).	Using data taken from the 2018-2019 School Performance Framework, Central earned 35.2% of 100% resulting in a Priority Improvement Plan rating for 2019. ACHS earned 7.5/30 possible points and a rating of ‘Does Not Meet’ for Academic Achievement, 19.6/40 possible points and a rating of ‘Approaching’ for Academic Growth, 8.1/30 possible points and a rating of ‘Does Not Meet’ for Postsecondary & Workforce Readiness. The overall CO PSAT mean score was 381.8 in Reading and Writing and 375.9 for Math. The overall CO PSAT/SAT median growth percentile/rate in reading and writing was 43 and 46 in math, and 49 for English language proficiency (ELP).
Post-Secondary Readiness and Graduation Data Trends
On the most recent SPF, in the category of Post- Secondary Workforce Readiness, Central earned 2 of a possible 8 points, a rating of ‘Does Not Meet’. On the Colorado SAT in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing, a rate/score of 406.7 earned 1/4 possible points. On the Colorado SAT in Math, a rate/score of 401.1 earned 1/4 possible points. For the dropout rate, the rate was 5.7 and earned 2 of a possible 8 points for an overall …	The school was identified for Comprehensive Support and Improvement due to low graduation rates.  On the most recent SPF, in the category of Post- Secondary Workforce Readiness, Central earned 2 of a possible 8 points, a rating of ‘Does Not Meet’. On the Colorado SAT in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing, a rate/score of 406.7 earned 1/4 possible points. On the Colorado SAT in Math, a rate/score of 401.1 earned 1/4 possible points. For the dropout rate, the rate was 5.7 and earned 2 of a possible 8 points for an overall…

AV#233 continues for another 16 pages. To request a full copy, please email me at peterhdkpr@gmail.com

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[i] Colorado Department of Education, Unified Improvement Planning, http://www.cde.state.co.us/uip.

[ii] Colorado Charter School Institute, http://resources.csi.state.co.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/EA_-UIP-and-SAC.pdf.

AV#232 - Teaching Anne Frank's Diary in 2021-22

 

                                                                                                                      

Connections: 1942-44, The Secret Annex – 2020-21, In Quarantine

Reading Anne Frank – a way to help our students reflect on a difficult year

“…later on, when everything has returned to normal…” The Diary of a Young Girl, May 2, 1943

In the fall of 2020 I recommended students read George Orwell (“Debate and democracy: How Animal Farm presents a uniquely teachable moment,” The Colorado Sun[i]). 

Here's another classic book for grades 7-9, well-matched, I believe, for this coming school year. There are risks, I realize that. If it only recalls the worst moments of quarantine for our 13- and 14-year-olds, if it reads like a nightmare they are desperate to wake up from, it will not meet the moment. However, my guess is that many students will identify with the main character. She is isolated, frustrated, cut off from “normal life.” She struggles to keep her spirits up – “in spite of everything.”[ii]

I am also aware that, in a million ways, The Diary of a Young Girl* is unlike anything young people experienced this past year. Teachers can make it clear the similarities only go so far; much of a year “maintaining social distance” due to a world-wide pandemic should not be equated with Anne’s ordeal. In hiding to avoid capture by the Third Reich. To avoid death in a concentration camp.

And yet, where literature allows us to see connections, where there is so much that an 8^th grader in the United States will relate to in a journal written by a girl from her 13^th birthday to her 15^th, let’s not miss this opportunity. Here is a text against which students can reflect on their own trying year, now behind them.

 This former English teacher can imagine an abundance of writing prompts built upon a close reading of Anne’s Diary.

·        How was your 2020 like, or not like, Anne’s experience?

·        How did your spirits bounce up and down? What helped?

·        What did you learn about yourselves?

·        As you look back, can you see—through Anne’s reflections—some of your own struggles?

·        Are there passages from her Diary that help you explore what you just endured?

Teachers who know their students well will, of course, come up with better prompts. They know best how to create writing assignments that will engage their students’ emotions. All of us who believe in the value of finding the words to capture a difficult experience, who realize many young people are dealing with some degree of post-traumatic stress after a year cut-off from “normal life,” see the potential.  To provide teachers with a place to start, I present several moments in Anne’s journal that might resonate with an 8^th grader next fall, after surviving the 2020-21 school year. 

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CREDIT LINE: Excerpts from THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL: THE DEFINITIVE EDITION by Anne Frank, edited by Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler, translated by Susan Massotty, translation copyright © 1995 by Penguin Random House LLC. Used by permission of Doubleday, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

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I use a terrific piece by Andre Peterson in The Wall Street Journal as my other text. It opened this way: 

   When Victoria Vial’s Miami middle school shut down last spring and her classes went online, it felt like the beginning of an adventure. “I was in my pajamas, sitting in my comfy chair,” the 13-year-old recalled. “I was texting my friends during class.”

   Then she received her academic progress report. An A and B student before the pandemic, she was failing three classes. The academic slide left her mother, Carola Mengolini, in tears. She insisted her daughter create to-do lists and moved the girl’s workspace into the guest bedroom to pull up her grades.

 

 

From “Loneliness, Anxiety and Loss: the Covid Pandemic’s Terrible Toll on Kids” A year of school shutdowns and family trauma leads to social isolation, stress and mental-health issues  By Andrea Petersen, The Wall Street Journal, April 9, 2021 https://www.wsj.com/articles/pandemic-toll-children-mental-health-covid-school-11617969003	From The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank (published in 1947)  Translation by Susan Massotty (published 1996)
SMALL PARALLELS
“Academic woes”   [The boys’ mother] worries that her sons’ struggles with remote learning will have serious long-term consequences. “What skills are they lacking now?”   Jonathan, who is in fourth grade, is slated to take a crucial test this fall, the results of which will largely determine whether he will land a spot at the high-performing public middle school where (his brother) Marcus is now…. Marcus, who is in seventh grade, will be applying to high school. The school Ms. G and her husband want him to attend requires excellent grades.     As the months piled up, Victoria found it hard to stay motivated to do her schoolwork. Her grades have started falling again. “Every day is the exact same,” she says. “You kind of feel like, what’s the point?”	Sept. 21, 1942 I’m working hard at French, cramming five irregular verbs into my head every day…. I threw myself into my school work…since I have little desire to be a freshman when I’m fourteen or fifteen.    April 5, 1944 For a long time now I didn’t know why I was bothering to do any schoolwork. The end of the war still seemed so far away... If the war isn’t over by September, I won’t go back to school, since I don’t want to be two years behind.
Overwhelmed, bored, changing hair-styles    [For] Victoria, “the biggest blow came when her 78-year-old grandfather died of Covid-19.   “It was super, super hard,” she says. “I didn’t know how to feel. All of the people I look up to, they are all, like, breaking down.”   She grew anxious about going to school—afraid she would catch the virus and spread it to her parents.    She turned to social media for solace and to stave off boredom. She gave herself makeovers and posted the results on TikTok. She cut her bangs, then added a pink streak to her hair. She added four new ear piercings with a safety pin....    [Victoria] also can point to some high points during her otherwise tough year. Last summer, she and her friends created an arts-and-crafts camp for some younger children in their neighborhood. They named it “Camp Quaranteam” and earned $3,000.	Nov. 28, 1942 In bed at night…I get so confused by the sheer amount of things I have to consider that I either laugh or cry, depending on my mood.  Jan 28, 1944 Whenever I come sailing in with a new hairstyle, I can read the disapproval on their faces, and I can be sure someone will ask which movie star I’m trying to imitate.  March 27, 1943 We’ve finished our shorthand course… Let me tell you more about our “time killers” (this is what I call my courses, because all we ever do is try to make the days go by as quickly as possible so we’re that much closer to the end of our time here).
Cats and Music    [Victoria] snuggles with her kitten, George, a former stray her parents allowed her to keep because they thought a pet would help.         Another escape has been listening to her favorite songs by artists like Drake, Kanye West and Post Malone.	March 27, 1944 [Anne could not bring her own cat into the Secret Annex, but she enjoys Peter’s cat. While listening on radio to a speech] by our beloved Winston Churchill….  Margot and I are united in a sisterly way by the sleeping Mouschi, who has taken possession of both our knees.  April 11, 1944 There was a beautiful Mozart concert on the radio from six to seven-fifteen; I especially enjoyed the Kleine Nachtmusik.
When it ends    And Victoria has big plans for when the pandemic ends.   “I want to go to a concert with my friends so badly,” she says. “I see me and my friends yelling the lyrics at each other and screaming the artist’s name and just jumping up and down.”	July 23, 1943 Most of all I long to have a home of our own, to be able to move around freely… Dec. 24, 1943 I long to ride a bike, dance, whistle, look at the world, feel young and know that I’m free, and yet can’t let it show. Feb. 8, 1944 One minute I’m longing for peace and quiet, and the next for a little fun. We’ve forgotten how to laugh—I mean laughing so hard you can’t stop.
BIGGER PARALLELS
Loneliness and friendships   Mary Alvord, a psychologist in Chevy Chase, Md., says she is seeing two main issues in her practices: anxiety about school work and sadness over not being able to see friends.   [Victoria] thinks about all the other kids in the world who are living through this time, too. It helps her feel less alone. “Social anxieties”   Mihika Deshmukh, 13, says she feels that “it’s been a lot harder to make friends and talk to new people.” The eighth-grader…has been attending school remotely since March 2020. During the entire pandemic school year, she has met up with a friend in person just once.   She and her friends had been connecting via FaceTime and Zoom regularly, but in recent months those calls have dwindled. “I feel like a lot of us have drifted apart,” she says. “It has set in that I’m alone.”   She feels sad and lonely at times. When she does connect with friends online now, they prefer to share their Spotify lists and listen to music…   Children 12 and younger who had at least some in-person time with peers—in a Covid-pod, for example—also did better. The same wasn’t true for teens, however.	Nov. 19, 1942 I feel wicked sleeping in a warm bed, while somewhere out there my dearest friends are dropping from exhaustion or being knocked to the ground.   Nov. 27, 1943 [From a painful dream of her good friend Hanneli, who is presumed to be in a concentration camp.]                             “Oh Anne, why have you deserted me? Help me, help me, rescue me from this hell?”                                            And I can’t help her. I can only stand by and watch while other people suffer and die. Jan. 6, 1944 Much of the last six months of her Diary is about the hope for a real friendship with Peter.                                                        My longing for someone to talk to has become so unbearable…  March 16, 1944 Anne gave a name to her Diary, “Kitty,” creating “a friend” to whom she can confide.                                                          The nicest part is being able to write down all my thoughts and feelings; otherwise, I’d absolutely suffocate.
“Mental toll”   In studies on the aftermaths of other disasters—hurricanes, fires, the 9/11 terrorist attacks—from 30% to half of children have some initial negative reaction, including symptoms of anxiety, depression and overall distress, but bounce back. Another third are just fine from the start. The remaining 15% to 30% have persistent problems. They have physical symptoms like headaches and fatigue, as well as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress symptoms.     Scientists say they expect the pandemic to cause deeper and more chronic suffering for more children than most natural disasters. “What makes the pandemic different is how long it has been going on and how many people are affected,” says Betty S. Lai, an assistant professor of counseling psychology at Boston College.	May 2, 1943 Mr. Van Daan predicts we’ll have to stay here until the end of ’43. That’s a very long time… But who can assure us that this war, which has caused nothing but pain and sorrow, will then be over?  Feb. 3, 1944 I’ve reached the point where I hardly care whether I live or die. The world will keep on turning without me, and I can’t do anything to change events anyway.  March 11, 1944 When will I untangle my jumbled thoughts? When will I find inner peace again?  April 14, 1944 Every day you hear, “If only it were over!”
“Multiple blows” Rarely have America’s children suffered so many blows, and all at once, as during the pandemic’s lost year.   The crisis has hit children on multiple fronts. Many have experienced social isolation during lockdowns, family stress, a breakdown of routines, and anxiety about the virus.   It is unusual to have so any challenges at once, and for so long. …the looming question for this generation is: What will the long-term effects of the lost year be?     Harvard University researchers who have been following 224 children ages 7 to 15 found that about two-thirds of them had clinically significant symptoms of anxiety and depression… That is a huge jump from the 30% with anxiety and depression symptoms… before the pandemic.   The biggest driver of child well-being during Covid is how parents are functioning, according to a survey of nearly 500 parents with children ages 8 to 17…   Particularly delicate are the years from 8 to 14…. It is when children begin to form their identities and start to separate from their parents. It is also when mental-health issues such as depression and eating disorders can emerge.     The good news is that in children this age, troubling trajectories can be relatively easily reversed with positive experiences and by supporting kids through challenges, says Dr. Ronald E. Dahl. These kids also are generally more receptive to guidance from caring adults compared with older adolescents. Psychologists and pediatricians say the majority of children will likely bounce back from the pandemic’s challenges, but some might struggle for years.	July 26, 1943 [German planes are bombing the city of Amsterdam]                                Meanwhile, there was another air-raid alarm this morning… I’ve had it up to here with alarms. I’ve hardly slept… Sept. 16, 1943 I’ve been taking valerian every day to fight the anxiety and depression, but it doesn’t stop me from being more miserable the next day…. The others here aren’t doing any better. Everyone here is dreading the great terror known as winter. Oct. 29, 1943 She writes of the fights between Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan.                                            All the bickering, tears and nervous tension have become such a stress and strain that I fall into my bed at night crying and thanking my lucky stars that I have half an hour to myself.                  I’m doing fine, except I’ve got no appetite. November 8, 1943 It annoys me to be so dependent on the moods here in the Annex, but I’m not the only one: we’re all subject to them.… As you can see, I’m currently in the middle of a depression. I simply can’t imagine the world will ever be normal again for us.
CONTRASTS
Connections matter. So do differences. In the spring and summer of 1944, before the Gestapo discovers the eight Jews hiding out in the Secret Annex, Anne–now turning 15–expresses her hopes and fears. Many passages are haunting. Depending on the context (e.g. age of the readers), teachers might want to be sure their students have some sense of the contrast between Anne’s experience in hiding—and their own trials this past year. Having taught 8th and 9th graders The Diary of a Young Girl, I know passages such as these (below) can be difficult to bear. But such passages might be studied and discussed—again, I also believe they lend themselves to writing exercises—to be certain we do not leave the Diary without reflecting on critical differences between Anne’s story and our own.
April 11, 1944    We’ve been strongly reminded of the fact that we’re Jews in chains, chained to one spot, without any rights, but with a thousand obligations. We must put our feelings aside; we must be brave and strong, bear discomfort without complaint, do whatever is in our power and trust in God. One day this terrible war will be over.
April 18, 1944    Father just got through saying he definitely expects large-scale operations in Russia and Italy, as well as in the West, before May 20; the longer the war lasts, the harder it is to imagine being liberated from this place.
May 3, 1944    Every day I feel myself maturing, I feel liberation drawing near, I feel the beauty of nature and the goodness of people around me. Every day I think what a fascinating and amusing adventure this is! With all that, why should I despair?
May 9, 1944    Oh, Kit, it’s such lovely weather. If only I could go outside!
May 26, 1944    How much longer will this increasingly oppressive, unbearable weight press down on us?    What will we do if we’re ever…no, I mustn’t write that down. But the question won’t let itself be pushed to the back of my mind today; on the contrary, all the fear I’ve ever felt is looming before me in all its horror.    Let something happen soon, even an air raid. Nothing can be more crushing than this anxiety. Let the end come, however cruel; at least then we’ll know whether we are to be the victors or the vanquished.
June 6, 1944  [D-Day]    Is this really the beginning of the long-awaited liberation? The liberation we’ve all talked about so much… Will this year, 1944, bring us victory? ... Oh, Kitty, the best part about the invasion is that I have the feeling that friends are on the way.
July 15, 1944    …for the longest time I’ve felt extremely lonely, left out, neglected and misunderstood.    “Deep down, the young are lonelier than the old.” I read this in a book somewhere and it stuck in my head. As far as I can tell, it’s true.
July 21, 1944  [Next-to-last entry. After several paragraphs on Hitler, Germans, and the war, she writes:]    …Were you able to follow that, or have I been skipping from one subject to another again? I can’t help it, the prospect of going back to school in October is making me too happy to be logical!

 

CREDIT LINE: Excerpts from THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL: THE DEFINITIVE EDITION by Anne Frank, edited by Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler, translated by Susan Massotty, translation copyright © 1995 by Penguin Random House LLC. Used by permission of Doubleday, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. 

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[i] “Debate and democracy: How Animal Farm presents a uniquely teachable moment,” The Colorado Sun, by Peter Huidekoper, Jr., Sept.  27, 2020, https://coloradosun.com/2020/09/27/debate-and-democracy-peter-huidekoper-jr/.

[ii] I borrow that phrase from perhaps the most well-known passage in her Diary, written shortly before the Nazis discover Anne and the others in the Secret Annex—and send them off to Westerbook, the closest transit camp for Jews.

“… I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.” (July 15, 1944)