All Week 8-10-13 @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER
Testing “Revolution” in Wisconsin: Wrong or Right?
You kill one and two more rise up to take its place! This is what it feels like dealing with education reformers. Their sheer ability to resurrect discussions that have been thoroughly run through with a sword is miraculous. For example, Alan J. Borsuk, writing for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel decided to push more common […]
Thanks for this @stoptesting15: DCPS wellness policy on recess
The reader may or may not know: I walked away from higher education to return to the classroom. I’m now teaching Kindergarten in Washington, DC. After our first week, schedules are continually adjusted to meet this or that requirement. For instance, the District mandates 120 minutes for ELA and 90 minutes for math. That leaves […]
Why I am running for President of the Massachusetts Teachers Association
I became a teacher because I was committed to public education as the soil in which we grow the democratic project. I became a teacher of English Language Arts because it seemed an ideal space in which to develop empathy and imagination; to ask the questions of meaning and purpose that guide our choices; to […]
Death Penalty for Failing Schools?
http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/buffalo-public-schools/coumo-urges-death-penalty-for-failing-schools-20130829 So, then there’s this……….Governor Cuomo calling for a “death penalty” for failing schools. Great…….so school communities get to choose their method of execution. And, honestly, I’ve been wondering where my excitement for the start of the school year has gone? Previously, ‘failing’ a
The Lingering Legacy of Segregation | the becoming radical
The Lingering Legacy of Segregation | the becoming radical.
AUG 29
B.S. On Your Collar (Says Your Argument’s Untrue): Another Common Core Lie Exposed
FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY, STING LIKE AN S.O.B.: First, let me introduce my first post at “Schools Matter at the Chalk Face.” It’s an enormous compliment to have been invited by Tim and Shaun to contribute to the collective blogging efforts of so many bright, insightful, and dedicated people. For the last couple of years, […]
Who Speaks for Whom?
With the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington before us, two moments should inform the education reform debate and the essential issue of who speaks for whom. Gloria Richardson confronted the silencing of women’s voices at the March on Washington in 1963, and Diane Ravitch confronting the tensions between civil rights advocates appearing to […]
Memphis Commercial Appeal Ignores Cuts to Worker Salaries/Benefits to Pay for Charter School Empire and Other CorpEd Priorities
Policy elites of Shelby County are in search for more tax money for corporate welfare education projects. For pre-K, there is a plan to increase the burden on the poor, who now pay almost 10 percent in local and state sales tax, which includes the same tax on food. This fall the ballot will […]
AUG 28
Racial Inequity Undeniable in U.S. | the becoming radical
Racial Inequity Undeniable in U.S. | the becoming radical.
Amanda Ripley, Believe Her or Not!
Since Amanda Ripley was assigned to do the Time story with Michelle Rhee on her broom, she has been the darling of CorpEd. And with no study of education (BA in Government, Cornell) and no schooling in Journalism (BA in Government, Cornell), she is perfectly suited for the task of taking the latest bullshit from […]
AUG 27
Too hot for our babies in Chicago, amateurism in #CPS continues
In just two days of teaching Kindergarteners in 90 degree heat, it would be unimaginable for me, at the very least, to work in the summer without air conditioning, like students and teachers this week did in Chicago. Yes. I get it. I’m sure you trudged five miles in the snow, or ten miles in […]
Obama’s Failed Hope and Change: “Forget the politicians. They are irrelevant” | the becoming radical
About three decades later, I joined the majority of voters in the U.S., electing the first bi-racial (often called simply African American) president in the country’s history. At the time, however, I voted for Barack Obama primarily because I believed his election was an important symbolic moment for the U.S.; I did not buy his […]
AUG 26
The left right awakening!
There have been a few pieces written about the coming together of the left and the right, liberals and conservatives, teapartiers and progressives over the shared disdain for the Common Core. In fact, assuming that I am a progressive, I had my first meeting with some tea-partier libertarians last week. It was great. We met. […]
Gates’s Cannibalistic Culture: Coming to a School Near You! | the becoming radical
Bill Gates has adopted education as a billionaire’s hobby for many years—once supporting small schools projects, but more recently focusing on teacher quality. Little attention, however, has been paid in the mainstream media to Gates’s struggles in business (Microsoft) or his complete lack of expertise, experience, or success as an educational entrepreneur. Until this expose by Vanity Fair address
Misleading the State of Education: Zais Plays Partisan with School Praise
Superintendents of education in states across the U.S. are necessarily political positions, either political appointments or elected offices. Should, then, a superintendent of education visit public school districts to praise excellence—especially in districts and schools struggling under the weight of poverty? Of course. But in the current accountability era that persists in pursuing education po
AUG 25
Michelle Rhee: A Teacher’s Best Friend
What makes a really good friend? The listening? The understanding? Always being there for you? Well, if you are a teacher, Michelle Rhee wants to be your friend. To prove it, she’s personally inviting you to her upcoming Teacher Town Halls, where you and Michelle (and two of her other friends) can have “an open […]
Chomsky’s concept of engineering opinion illustrated by Broad’s Jean-Claude Brizard
“But as long as people are marginalized and distracted and have no way to organize or articulate their sentiments…” — Professor Noam Chomsky Broadyte Jean-Claude Brizard was interviewed by the right-wing Fordham Institute a few days ago, and excerpts appeared in a Chicago publication. Not wasting any opportunities to vilify teachers and demonize organized working class […]
AUG 24
Learning from returning to the classroom: Setup week
College professor back to teaching. Steep curve ahead. What have I learned so far? I can easily spend roughly $800 getting ready for Kindergarten, but saved a good amount building some things like sand and water tables. The Common Core Standards, for Kindergarten at least, offers me absolutely no guidance whatsoever. It is thin soup. […]