Last Minute Xmas Shopping: Your Race to the Top Toys Aligned with Common Core!
Please check out this shopping catalogue of toys, fully aligned with the Common Core! It might easily be confused with the real thing, so I feel impelled to tell you it is a spoof written by two New York City teachers. My favorite: the plane built in mid-air while it is flying. Watch out below! By next year, there might really be a catalogue just like this one, and it won’t be a joke.
Here is a Good Xmas Gift: Advice from an Experienced Teacher
David Greene has published a new book about teaching called Do the Right Thing. David Greene taught social studies and coached in NYC, Woodlands HS, Scarsdale HS, and Ardsley HS for 38 years. He was a field supervisor for Fordham University, mentored Teach For America Corps members in the Bronx, was a staff member of WISE Services and treasurer of Save Our Schools March Committee. He has appeared
Larry Cuban on the Los Angeles iPad Fiasco
Larry Cuban, experienced educator and historian emeritus of education at Stanford University, reviews the iPad mess in Los Angeles and wonders: What were they thinking? Why so little forethought to the cost and utility of the iPads? Why is Los Angeles paying Apple more than the retail cost of similar devices? What does research show about the relationship between such devices and test scores? Why
Indiana: Tony Bennett’s Favorite Charter Falls from A to F
Remember that Tony Bennett, after being beaten by Glenda Ritz in an election last fall, was hired to be Commissioner of Education in Florida? Remember that he resigned his position in Florida after the Associated Press released emails showing that Bennett had changed the grading system to lift the grade of a charter school founded by a big campaign contributor (both to his campaign and to the stat
Add This Great New Blog to Your Reading List!
Two New York City public school teachers have launched a terrific blog. Jennifer Hogue and Adam Bergstein have a great sense of humor and irony. Right on the face of it is a countdown clock showing how many weeks (1), days, hours, minutes, and seconds left until King Bloomie departs the office of mayor. In the latest, written on December 16, Adam confesses: My name is Adam C Bergstein; I’m 43 an
Teachers: Common Core in Kindergarten Class
These comments were posted by a kindergarten teacher in response to a post about the Common Core English language arts standards: I teach kindergarden. The five-year olds have an incredibly tight schedule to keep in our county: an hour of math, hour of science, 2 hours of language arts, half hour of social studies. We kindergarten teachers have had to sneak in rest time and social centers (such a
Reader: Exxon Mobil and the Devaluing of AP Courses
Reader Christine Langhoff writes in response to a post wondering about Exxon Mobil’s fervent advocacy for the Common Core standards: “Exxon Mobile came into the Boston Public Schools in about 2003, trying to destroy our contract by inserting merit pay through a project called the Massachusetts Math and Science Initiative (MMSI), a branch of the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI). And sur
Vicki Cobb: The Ultimate Handcrafted Item is a Child
Vicki Cobb, a prolific and successful writer of books for children, writes here about the replacement of handcrafted items by machine-made items. And yet, even with all that is easily available made by machine, more than half of the population, she says, like to make things by hand. She writes: Unfortunately the factory mentality has invaded our educational system with the goal of mass producing c
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 12-21-13 #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2
Diane Ravitch's blogLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONGDIANE RAVITCH'S BLOGWhy a D.C. Charter School Teacher ResignedCaleb Rossiter resigned as a math teacher at Friendship Public Charter School in D.C. He wrote an open letter to the Board of Trustees of the school explaining why. Here is a selection from his brutally frank letter. “I recently resigned from a position as a ninth grade Algebra 1