his is a fictionalized memoir style piece

It is 7:30am in the city of Boston; two males enter a well lit room. There is a whiff of the bleach in the air. A table sits in the middle of the room with a large bowl filled with cereal. Near the large bowl is a stack of 15 smaller bowls, a bucket of plastic spoons, and a large pitcher of milk. With serious looks on their faces, the two males pass the cereal table and approach a table covered with papers. Three females are sitting there. The taller male says “you are going to jail!”He is not dressed like police, but his voice, posture, and mannerisms would be familiar to anyone who has ever interacted with a police officer. At the table, a female who has been writing at a furious speed stops, looks up, and says “ I don’t wanna play that game today...

Abstract

Lesley University’s Ben Mardell and Michael Hanna collaborated to create the Democracy Empowerment Rubric (DER) which is a tool to evaluate group discussions in early education settings. This study was designed to get feedback about the DER from early educators. Eight early educators from the Boston area were interviewed about the DER in total. A majority of the participants expressed interest in using the rubric and felt like it would help them reflect on their practice. In addition, they reporter that they would like to receive coaching and training on the DER before using the rubric.