Nite Cap UPDATE
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CORPORATE ED REFORM
Speak Out Against Common Core Survey for Teachers/Administrators
Are you a teacher or administrator who would like to speak out against Common Core but fear backlash from your state agency, school or the union?
Here is a way for your opinion to be heard in Missouri. Take this survey here. Your identity will not be disclosed, unless you specifically allow it. We do request you inform us in which county you live so we can forward comments to legislators in that county. They pay very close attention to their own constituents. The legislators are only hearing from those who drank the koolaid on Common Core and have the impression that it is only a faction from outside of teaching who think CC is a bad idea. They need to hear from you!
“Performance Tasks” and the Common Core’s Big Lie
I’m busting out my old grad school textbooks for this one…
Performance Task: As complex challenges that mirror the issues and problems faced by adults, they are authentic. Ranging in length from short-term tasks to long-term, multistaged projects, they require a product or performance (Wiggins & McTighe, 14f)
Even at my high-performing, relatively affluent school, we still feel obliged to purchase test prep materials. Check out this page from the 5th grade math prep book. Could somebody please explain to me why it is considered a “performance task” rather than a mere word problem?
Measuring ants based on their proportions to blades of grass: that’s some useful, real-world application of math skills right there.
I’m not even being snarky and rhetorical here: please, somebody explain how “Common Core Performance Tasks” like this one are in any way authentic or complex?
It frequently seems to me like the writers of these tasks think that wording problems in a confusing way makes them “complex.” Many of my kids were completely thrown by the use of the word “diagram.” We talk all the time about representations, models, arrays, number lines, fraction bars, and so on, but somehow the term “diagram” hadn’t entered the lexicon of class 5-322. I get it: the Common Core expects students to be flexible and apply
The Sharing of Student Data Creates Concern in NYC
From nbcnewyork.com and Parents Blast New State Database of Private Student Info:
Parents and privacy experts are blasting a new national database that compiles personal student information for educational companies that contract with public schools.New York State officials, working with the city, have already uploaded students' names, addresses, test scores, learning disabilities, attendance and disciplinary records into the inBloom
Chicago Public Schools Protect Students from Dangers of Reading
After the Chicago Public Schools wisely called for schools to round up the graphic novel Persepolis from its libraries and classrooms for presumed future burning, it was immediately criticized by the Chicago Teachers Union and Liberal Mouthpiece Kristine Mayle who said, "We are surprised ‘Persepolis: A Story of Childhood’ would be banned by the Chicago Public School (CPS) system. The only place we’ve heard of this book being banned is in Iran. We understand why the district would be afraid of a book like this-- at a time when they are closing schools--because it’s about questioning authority, class structures, racism and gender issues. There’s even a part in the book where they are talking about blocking access to education. So we can see why the school district would be alarmed about students learning about these principles."
I'm sorry, but looking in the page above, I just don't see any similarities to CPS at all.
Digital, Yes! Native, No! :The Myth About Digital Natives!
"Mom, can I borrow your camcorder?" His next question, "Mom,do you have a flash drive?" A what? :) My son's Senior Project was due in three days. My son hates letting me see his work because I automatically shift into teacher mode. My expectations for him are higher than what is expected of him in school. Therefore, he doesn't let me see anything that is required. So, I was thrilled when
Kismet For Hizmet
In non-Persepolis related news, this has to be called what it is, a victory for the Hizmet Movement.
I've done an election or two, and there's really only one reason to postpone the vote: you don't have the numbers. You know it, I know it, and the American people know it.
My people at the school indicate that many of the original organizing teachers are gone, and that there are more Turkish employees here on visas and part timers now. Part of the vision of the corporate charter chain is short-
Copies Available
Persepolis is flying off the shelves everywhere.
But just to be clear, you can definitely still find copies here.
They've even got it in French.
People say it's good. And you totally don't need special training unless you're a CPS teacher working under Rahm.
3 groups weigh in against vouchers
Updated 4:56 pm, Friday, March 15, 2013
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Three organizations opposed to Louisiana's private school tuition voucher program are weighing in on the issue ahead of state Supreme Court arguments next week.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, The Interfaith Alliance Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union said Friday they filed a friend of the court brief against the program, which uses government money to make private school tuition available for some students in poorly performing public schools.
The state is appealing a district judge's ruling that the program unconstitutionally takes money from an education funding program meant for public schools. Americans United and the other groups argue that the program also unconstitutionally uses public money for