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| If I have to take one more of these frigging standardize test, I think my head will explode GO TO |
Teachers Cannot Be Bystanders to Walker’s Bullying
I have had my share of regretful experiences in my life. One of my high school era regrets was an incident where I stood as a petrified bystander while a bully punched my unsuspecting, younger brother in the head from behind. My guilt still festers deep inside.
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| Anti-Bullying Efforts in Wisconsin |
Over a year ago, Governor Walker and his Republican/Tea/Libertarian Party cronies coldcocked unsuspecting Wisconsin teachers and public workers from behind with his union-busting initiatives. This blow to the heads, hearts, and pocketbooks of tens of thousands of public servants admittedly knocked us to the grass. From the grassroots, however, a million of ushave pulled ourselves up to stand against Walker’s divisive ways and petition for his recall.
I am proud that I have not been a bystander in response to this attack. I
‘Metrosexual Black Abe Lincoln’
is how this Saturday column by Charles Blow is titled.
As is always the case with Blow, very worth reading.
it is his dissection of the plan to attack Obama presented to billionaire Joe Ricketts, attempting to resurrect Rev. Jeremiah Wright as an issue with which to smear President Obama. Of course, one problem is, as was noted inthis New York Times story on the plan,
As is always the case with Blow, very worth reading.
it is his dissection of the plan to attack Obama presented to billionaire Joe Ricketts, attempting to resurrect Rev. Jeremiah Wright as an issue with which to smear President Obama. Of course, one problem is, as was noted inthis New York Times story on the plan,
voters “still aren’t ready to hate this president,”which means they have to first turn people against a President that most Americans seem to like as a person,
Weighed, Measured, and Found Wanting
I've received a nice email from my state representative, Kelly Cassidy, responding to my highly public ululations about the pensions. I'm not going to quote from it, but I will just say that she goes a hell of a lot further than some of these representatives who fall back on "I haven't seen a bill." She even gave me her analysis of Madiar, which means she's done more research than 90% of her colleagues who will vote on the issue.
Shame on those people.
Anyway, from what Kelly has said to me, I would anticipate that if some proposal gets rammed through, and the unions haven't agreed to it, then she would not vote for it. I'm putting words into her mouth there -- she didn't actually say this-- but I think I'm right. I don't think many of her colleagues feel this way, though.
The questions still remain about just exactly how much has already been given away, who's entitled to represent whom, and what pension system members are getting in return other than another empty promise to pay what's
Shame on those people.
Anyway, from what Kelly has said to me, I would anticipate that if some proposal gets rammed through, and the unions haven't agreed to it, then she would not vote for it. I'm putting words into her mouth there -- she didn't actually say this-- but I think I'm right. I don't think many of her colleagues feel this way, though.
The questions still remain about just exactly how much has already been given away, who's entitled to represent whom, and what pension system members are getting in return other than another empty promise to pay what's
Lessons Learned
As I complete my thirteenth year as an educator, I would like to share thirteen lessons learned throughout my time as a teacher and/or principal.
1. I’ve come to realize great educators take responsibility for their own learning rather than waiting for the school district to tell them when and what to learn.
2. Great educators take responsibility for student learning and believe wholeheartedly that failure to reach mastery is not an option. By the same token, they understand that failure is a success in learning.
3. Great educators continuously rethink the way in which they learn and are comfortable with being uncomfortable. They work to remain intellectually curious inside and outside the classroom.
4. Great teachers never fail to plan and understand that 90% of differentiation happens before the students ever
IT’S AN E-BOOK!!! Check it out!
To Teach: The Journey, in ComicsWilliam Ayers› Ryan Alexander-Tanner›Jonathan Kozol› |
There Are Some Dangerous People Out There
These are people who want our country to be shaped the way THEY want it. They are either so full of money that it doesn't occur to them that they live in a democracy or they just wish to control the system from within.
At lot of this in-fighting within parties might be ended if we didn't have a two-party system. I wish we had several more parties so that coalitions could be made. I think most of us would feel part of something we truly believe in rather than lukewarm support we sometimes feel (and could not fathom supporting the other side).
But we don't. We are allowing our country to devolve into one where someone like Romney can honestly say he will run a clean campaign (but he's fine if others can do the dirty work during it). Meaning, we have some PACS, some groups that are just going to grind everyone else into the ground, either through death by a thousand paper cuts (see: the teachers unions) or by the might of their money (see: candidates who need dough to run for office).
To whit; ALEC. Yes, I know many of you have spoken of this group and I've been listening and reading all
At lot of this in-fighting within parties might be ended if we didn't have a two-party system. I wish we had several more parties so that coalitions could be made. I think most of us would feel part of something we truly believe in rather than lukewarm support we sometimes feel (and could not fathom supporting the other side).
But we don't. We are allowing our country to devolve into one where someone like Romney can honestly say he will run a clean campaign (but he's fine if others can do the dirty work during it). Meaning, we have some PACS, some groups that are just going to grind everyone else into the ground, either through death by a thousand paper cuts (see: the teachers unions) or by the might of their money (see: candidates who need dough to run for office).
To whit; ALEC. Yes, I know many of you have spoken of this group and I've been listening and reading all
The Cubberley Tradition Continues at Stanford and Pearson
One of the classics in the history of American education is Raymond Callahan's 1962 EDUCATION AND THE CULT OF EFFICIENCY. In the free Chapter 5 available here, you can read about the various strategies and tactics that were devised a hundred years by the social control and social efficiency zealots who were attempting to take over American schools and run them like Henry Ford's assembly lines. That's right--they largely succeeded.
If you have not read the history of American education, anyone could end up believing there is something new or reformy in the endless stream of corporate edu-solutions and testing insanity--when,
If you have not read the history of American education, anyone could end up believing there is something new or reformy in the endless stream of corporate edu-solutions and testing insanity--when,
Child care cuts and kindergarten readiness
Friday, May 18th, 2012 at 6:14 pm in
photo by Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News GroupReaders, how I’ve neglected you this week… I blame the impossibly complex nature of California’s child care system, which faces a 20 percent cut for the upcoming fiscal year.
I’ve spent the last 48 hours trying to figure out what the governor’s May budget revision would mean for working families (mostly single parents and their kids) and the system as a whole, how it differs from the original budget
Big Education Ape Nite Cap 5-18-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2
A Big Education Ape Nite Cap
Big Education Ape Nite Cap UPDATE 5-17-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2
*UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE* [image: DFER Fake Democrats for Education Privatization (click on Picture)] Teachers Teach the Test When the Test Tests Teachers by Duke This morning, the Star-Ledger gave me a gift: the perfect reformy op-ed. I say "perfect" because this piece brings together pretty much every ill-informed and poorly conceived argument for using standardized tests as part of a teacher's evaluation into one place. It's like a Rosetta Stone of reforminess. The author, Marcus Winters, is a think-tanky type, but he has some serious credentials. That says to me that this i... more »