UPDATE: Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top AM Posts #ows #edreform

INEFFICIENT USE OF A TEACHER’S TIME « Teachers Fight Back

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INEFFICIENT USE OF A TEACHER’S TIME « Teachers Fight Back:INEFFICIENT USE OF A TEACHER’S TIMEby alkleenI would like to see education reformers insist that school districts make efficient use of a teacher’s time. There are way too many times that teachers are doing jobs that are nothing more than glorified babysitting.Teachers often have what is known as “bus duty”. They supervise students on the school grounds as they arrive at school and when they leave school. The “bus duty” can ... more »

Three Years of Lefty Parent | Lefty Parent

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Three Years of Lefty Parent | Lefty Parent:Three Years of Lefty Parentby Cooper ZaleI’m three years into my writing under the banner of “Lefty Parent”. It has been the key outward expression of my effort to move beyond the mid-life crisis of my early fifties. In that time period I have written about 325 pieces, had over 120,000 views of those pieces on my ownwww.leftyparent.com blog, and thousands of additional views and comments on the Daily KOS version of my ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Early Evening Posts #ows #edreform

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Looking for a few good mentors | Ideas and ThoughtsBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-6 minutes agoLooking for a few good mentors | Ideas and Thoughts:Looking for a few good mentorsby Dean ShareskiFrom January to April I'll be teaching a course called ECMP 455. It's an advanced course on using technology in education. Whatever that means. Actually what it means is I want my students to dig deep into what teaching and learning looks like in 2012 as great ... more »

Kansas HS Student Won't Apologize to Governor for Tweet | MyFDL

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Kansas HS Student Won't Apologize to Governor for Tweet | MyFDL:Kansas HS Student Won’t Apologize to Governor for Tweetby Teddy PartridgeHigh school tweeter Emma SullivanHigh school tweeter Emma Sullivan, citing free speech and Gandhi, will defy her high school principal and not apologize to Governor Sam Brownback for the supposedly hurtful things she twittered to her (then-60) Twitter followers, implying she spoke back harshly to the governor, called him out publicly for his views, and suggested he blows — a ... more »

First Amendment hijacked by moneyed interests #ows

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First Amendment hijacked by moneyed interests:First Amendment hijacked by moneyed interestsRobert ReichSunday, November 27, 2011PrintE-mailShareComments (65)Font | Size: 405Thomas K. Fowler / APA UC Davis police officer uses pepper spray on protesters during an Occupy rally Nov. 18. View Larger ImageMORE BUSINESSGrossman rallies Washington past Seattle 23-17 11.27.11Early Walt Disney drawing up for auction in Reno 11.27.11UN conference to deal with carbon reductions 11.27.11A funny thing happened to the First Amendment on its way to the public forum: It was ... more »

On school reform, concensus grows around three principles | NJ.com

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On school reform, concensus grows around three principles | NJ.com:On school reform, concensus grows around three principlesPublished: Sunday, November 27, 2011, 12:04 PM By Star-Ledger Guest Columnist By Mike Lilley and Tim MeltonFrom President Obama to Gov. Chris Christie to the New Jersey Education Association to Michelle Rhee, a national consensus is emerging that significant changes must come to public education.It would have been unthinkable as recently as a year ago, but today the issue isn’t whether the political will ... more »

Students lose individual attention as class sizes swell across the metro area | OregonLive.com

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Students lose individual attention as class sizes swell across the metro area | OregonLive.com:Students lose individual attention as class sizes swell across the metro areaby Nicole Dungca, The OregonianHAPPY VALLEY -- After walking into Carl Sander's algebra class with a late pass in hand, Alex Gonzales, 13, found himself alone at a side table. It wasn't punishment. The Happy Valley Middle School classroom simply doesn't have enough desks for 47 students. In many school districts across Oregon, this year's classes ... more »

NYC Public School Parents: A message from Parents to Improve School Transportation: Relax about bus strike but not about safety

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 7 hours ago

NYC Public School Parents: A message from Parents to Improve School Transportation: Relax about bus strike but not about safety:A message from Parents to Improve School Transportation: Relax about bus strike but not about safetyby Leonie HaimsonPIST was an invited guest at the monthly membership meeting of school bus drivers’, escorts’, and mechanics’ Local 1181 ATU on November 22. This was clearly NOT a meeting to hold a strike vote. The president went over the union’s position on Employee Protection ... more »

Schools Matter: A Look at Finnish Schools and Teacher Preparation

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Schools Matter: A Look at Finnish Schools and Teacher Preparation:A Look at Finnish Schools and Teacher Preparationby Jim HornThe Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has an excellent piece on the Finnish system, including the video that you see below. As you watch the short video, listen for how the special education teacher in the poor Finnish school talks about the basic skills that all their children get--it's a very different conception of what is "basic" when compared to endless test-prep worksheets that non-privileged ... more »

Oklahoma Gazette News: Shaping social studies group that includes an influential nonacademic religious adviser

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Oklahoma Gazette News: Shaping social studies:Shaping social studiesCurriculum for an interdisciplinary field gets revised by a group that includes an influential nonacademic religious adviser.Clifton AdcockNovember 16th, 2011 The state Department of Education is beginning the process of formulating new curriculum for public social studies classes.Sixty-five individuals are tasked with reviewing and rewriting the curriculum. At least one name on the list has drawn fire in the past for controversial statements: David Barton, the founder of WallBuilders, a group that bills ... more »

INTERACTIVE: The Privatization of Education | The Nation

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INTERACTIVE: The Privatization of Education | The Nation:INTERACTIVE: The Privatization of EducationThe Nation November 17, 2011 Legislative changes to: Online coursework Charter schools Online schools Both charter schools and online schools Online coursework, charter schools and online schoolsFor years, privatizing education has been a hobby horse for conservatives of all stripes. But they met with little success until very recently. What accounts for the sudden change in fortune? As Lee Fang reports in this week's issue, under the banner of ... more »

Coordinated West Coast Port Shutdown « occupy california #ows

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Coordinated West Coast Port Shutdown « occupy california:Coordinated West Coast Port Shutdownby *CALIFORNIA, OREGON, WASHINGTON – A Coordinated US West Coast port shutdown for Monday, December 12th has been called for by the occupation movement in solidarity with longshoreman, particularly in Longview, WA. RSVP here.A Call from Occupy Oakland:Greetings and Solidarity from Occupy Oakland!We present this call to you because we believe it is time the occupation movement begins to work together to carry through coordinated, pinpointed actions. We want ... more »

Modern School: The Not So Shocking Truth About the Crackdown on Occupy Wall Street #ows

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 7 hours ago

Modern School: The Not So Shocking Truth About the Crackdown on Occupy Wall Street:The Not So Shocking Truth About the Crackdown on Occupy Wall Streetby Michael DunnImage from Flickr, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.comNaomi Wolf’s expose on the federal role in the crackdown on the Occupy Wall Street movement, “The shocking truth about the crackdown on Occupy,” has been making the rounds in the liberal blogosphere, getting replayed here and here, for example. In her piece, Wolf calls the violent crackdown on ... more »

URGENT: Occupy LA Prepares for Eviction | OccupyWallSt.org #ows

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URGENT: Occupy LA Prepares for Eviction | OccupyWallSt.org:URGENT: Occupy LA Prepares for Evictionby OccupyWallStPopoutThe mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, has ordered Occupy LA to pack up and leave Solidarity Park (formerly City Hall Park) by 12:01AM tonight or face arrest. Villaraigosa – who initially claimed to support the Occupation and has lauded OWS for "awakening the country's conscience" – is now citing "public health and safety" as justification to evict the encampment, even as LA police chief Charlie Beck ... more »

Education Petition: Open Letter: Defend CA Public Education | Change.org #ows #edreform

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Education Petition: Open Letter: Defend CA Public Education | Change.org:Open Letter: Defend CA Public EducationWhy This Is ImportantThis Open Letter is an indispensable tool to reverse the attacks on public education in California. It gives the authorities an ultimatum: either cede to our demands or we will begin a massive wave of actions beginning on February 1, 2012.Please help us gather hundreds of thousands of signatures, including from all major labor, student, and community organizations, by forwarding this out widely. ... more »

Schools need to have a voice | EdNewsColorado

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Schools need to have a voice | EdNewsColorado:Schools need to have a voiceby Guest ColumnistEditor’s note: This article was submitted by teacher Mark Thorsen from Ponderosa High School in Douglas County.Our school now enters a critical period, and a recent conversation with a well-respected colleague helped to keep some of my angst in perspective. He mentioned that he felt like we were in a period of mourning; we were dealing with a loss. It is a process, and we enter ...more »