Nite Cap UPDATE
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
CORPORATE ED REFORM
CPS book banning.
Photo: CPS Chatter.
Is there a freee speech storm brewing at Lane Tech?
Here is what I am hearing.
CPS suits apparently sent a directive to Lane (and how many other high schools?) on March 13th, 2013 to
I have the best job
Cross posted on The DEN blogs
The other day I having one of my regular google hangouts with my teammates and my wife happened to be home over hearing the conversation. “I hate you”, she said in jest. “All your calls include lots of laughing, lots of encouragement and new cool things you’re doing.” Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.
Fast forward to today where I’m in Surrey, BC, a suburb of Vancouver where I’ve spent the day working in various capacities with staff and students. This morning I was able to spend an hour at Fraser Heights Secondary School where I’ve been before. Sheila Morrisette, the principal invited me to share an hour during lunch so I had the chance to work with 25+ staff exploring the notion of creativity and how we can begin to work our creative muscle using tools like the Daily Create and PechaFlickr. Nothing earth shattering but hopefully some useful ideas for folks to add some opportunities for students to think about and do more creative things. It’s always fun to spend a few minutes with folks doing actually doing stuff instead of just listening to me blather on, which I can do if need be. 
Looks like I’m blathering
I drove over to Bear Creek Elementary to work in Diana Williams classroom. Diana has been a rising star on my
Oregon to get two new doctoral programs in education, at Concordia and University of Portland
Both new programs offer flexible schedules so that educators can keep their jobs while working toward their Ed.D.
Easily Create Your Own Hitler “Downfall” Video
Many people have seen some of the hundreds, if not thousands, of satirical versions of the “Downfall” movie scene where Hitler rants in German and people come up with their own English subtitles. Here’s one about standardized testing that you can find on my A Collection Of The Best “Laugh While You Cry” Videos — Contribute More!:
Now, there’s a site that will create the video for you — it shows you the scenes, you come up with the subtitles, and, walla, you’ve got your own version.
It could be used for engaging language practice, as I’ve done with Bombay TV and Artistifier. However, I also
Why we need to bring creativity and technology back together across the curriculum
After two months of public forums and much handwringing and debate among members of the the school board, Denver Public Schools board President Mary Seawell alone will pick the next person to represent Northeast Denver on the board.
The board at a special meeting Thursday failed to come to consensus around three finalists for the board seat vacated in January when Nate Easley resigned. The finalists are urban teacher educator Antwan Jefferson, lawyer Taggart Hansen and head of the Denver Urban League Landri Taylor.
“It’s a disappointment,” Seawell told her colleagues. “I really did want our board to get there. I believe everyone who participated tonight tried very hard.”
Board members Andrea Merida and Jeannie Kaplan put their support behind Jefferson, while Anne Rowe
Glenn Beck Outs the Common Core
Glenn Beck yesterday highlighted the Common Core on his show on The Blaze TV. His guests were Emmett McGroarty of American Principles Project, Sherena Arrington, a political consultant from Georgia, and two teachers from Utah, David Cox and Christel Swasey.
Beck in his opening remarks gave a wake-up call for those who may be apathetic about the Common Core.
Here is a segment where they discuss data collection, and that is something that every parent should be
Happy π Day (3.14): The Music of Pi
Dunno how accurate this is because I’m not a musician, but pretty cool
Popout
The discovery and refinement of pi was a result of a collaboration over centuries from the Babylonians, to Archimedes, to Tsu Chung-Chi, to Leonardo … on through today
Why do you need pi? You can use pi to find the area of a circle … π r ² … 3.14 times the radius squared.
7 Numbers That Are Just as Cool as Pi. From the number one, to Euler’s Number, to Tau, and Phi (the golden ratio)
Labor Union Asks Wis. College To Stop Training
MILWAUKEE — A labor union has accused Caterpillar Inc. of training nonunion workers as replacements in case next month’s labor negotiations stall.
United Steelworkers Local 1343 said Caterpillar placed about 25 nonunion employees in Milwaukee Area Technical College’s welder-training program, and union officials asked the college to stop the program and return any training materials to the company, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported ( http://bit.ly/Z652tE).
“Please don’t allow MATC to be used as a pawn in Caterpillar’s union-busting games,” the Steelworkers wrote to the college’s president, Michael Burke on Wednesday.
Milwaukee Area Technical College said it received the Steelworkers’ request but added that it has a contract
Common Core Educational Standards an International Plot to Dumb Down America?
The upcoming election for the State Superintendent of Public Instruction is about be one of the most surreal campaigns yet, thanks to Rep. Don Pridemore's teabilly sensibilities.
Sup. Tony Evers either has to do everything he can not laugh, or he'll have to maintain his cool knowing that there's still a remote possibility that Pridemore could take charge of education in Wisconsin.
What's Pridemore like? Check out his response to the roll out of the national common core curriculum, something the top rated countries use to outperform the U.S. From WKOW:
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Pridemore: "A lot of these common core standards really started with international standards. Now why should we be beholding to some world wide organization that's only trying to dumb down America."
This stunningly ignorant response that reflects a general paranoia of "the other," pukes nationalism and flag waving American Exceptionalism. It had nothing to do with education.
This Cannot Stand
I'm not going to lie--- I'm sucking air here, people. Between Problem X, Situation Y, and Reality Z, it's situation where I can't decide whether to stop blogging today, tomorrow, or the next day. Somethin's gotta give.
However, when I see shit like this, I realize I can't quit.
As I said in the comments at Fred's, this story just can't be true. It has to be a hoax because this sort of move----- the Chief of Schools ordering a book be pulled off the shelves of a library---- this is something that Nazis would do. Particularly a book that tells an important truth in a compelling, accessible way, with such art and impact. I love this book, Persepolis.
I know you're not supposed to use that particular word -- Nazi--, but I'm at a loss to figure out how it can possibly be wrong in this situation. It's very hard to prevent your country from slouching toward Nazism when you're never allowed to compare anything to Nazism.
It simply must be a hoax, this war on Persepolis. Because nobody who understands what this country is about
Nun: Pope Francis was a ‘little devil’ in school
Decades before he became Pope Francis, Jorge Bergoglio was a “little devil” who jumped up and down the stairs of his century-old Buenos Aires school, the establishment’s mother superior told AFP. The Argentine cardinal memorized his multiplication tables aloud as he skipped steps...
Remainders: Obama’s ex-budget chief backs value-added evals
- Obama’s ex-budget chief says he’s convinced by studies backing “value-added” measures. (Bloomberg)
- A racially segregated gifted program’s graduate sees promise in open-access gifted classes. (Hechinger)
- StudentsFirstNY lashed out on Twitter against Bill Thompson for opposing school closures. (Capital NY)
- High school math courses assumed to be rigorous often are not, research shows. (Curriculum Matters)
- Democracy Prep is one of six city schools to adopt an Olympian-organized fencing program. (FOX NY)
- Across the country, school construction is increasingly taking digital learning into account. (Ed Week)
- The groups creating Common Core-aligned tests lose their federal funding in 2014. (Curriculum Matters)
- Bloomfield: New York State’s teacher evaluations shenanigans should cost people their jobs. (HuffPo)
- A teacher takes down musician John Legend for uncritically parroting ed reform axioms. (Jose Vilson)
Officials join anti-data push, but Sheldon Silver sides with state
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| Class Size Matters’ Leonie Haimson with City Councilwoman Letitia James and mayoral candidate Tom Allon. |
Parents concerned that a new student database could break privacy laws are getting the support from a new high-profile set of allies: elected officials.
Several City Council members joined parents and privacy advocates outside the Department of Education today to protest the state’s involvement with a nonprofit organization called inBloom. The state is pouring detailed student information into inBloom’s database, which grew out of a Gates Foundation-funded project called the Shared Learning Collaborative that was meant to help states use data to improve student achievement without individually underwriting data system.
The state will retain control of the data, but critics of the project say the state is putting students at risk by
(FAKE) Fla. charity figures pumped $1M to (GOP)politicians
Source: [b] Associated Press [/b]
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The key players behind a purported veterans charity accused of setting up illegal gambling rooms pumped more than $1 million into the campaign accounts of politicians who had the power to regulate or put them out of business.
NHU Partners With StraighterLine to Expand Access to Higher Education
The National Hispanic University (NHU) and StraighterLine announced today an articulation agreement that will enable students to transfer StraighterLine’s American Council on Education (ACE)–recommended courses for credit at NHU.
The agreement will increase access to quality higher education for students who are looking to successfully complete their degree program in a multicultural learning environment.
Students taking undergraduate courses through StraighterLine will have access to the advantages of an NHU education including online and campus-based degree programs in a variety of disciplines such as business, child
'Last best offer' school bargaining bill heads to Idaho state Senate
The legislation sought by the Idaho School Board Association gives trustees the power to end contract negotiations June 10 with a final offer.
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Zesty Politics with a Dollop of Louisiana Goodness
Posted on March 14, 2013
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So me and Dianne Ravitch we chillin’ today in Baton Rouge discussing some education stuff. . . . 
I figured I’d start off my post that way since it sounds much cooler than Dianne came to town and gave an awesome speech at a luncheon (and Chas Roemer was also there as the comic relief) and I was fawning over her like an obsessed anti-reform education groupie (do they have those?) But I digress.
Dianne made a very excellent speech summarizing all the ways Louisiana’s education system is dead set and hell-bent on a road to ruin. The counterpoint or rebuttal was made by current BESE
