THE BECOMING RADICAL
EMPATHYEDUCATES!
the becoming radical
A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness
by
SAT Reboot 2016: “Nonsense It All Is”
Photograph by Angel Franco/The New York Times By Paul L. Thomas, Ed.D. | Originally Published at The Becoming Radical. March 6 , 2014 In the often cited scene near the end of Notting Hill when Anna Scott stands in William Thacker’s shabby book store and asks him […]
MAR 06
Charter School Leader Pushes Kids to Become Her Personal Lobbyists
[Image adapted from Anosmia on flickr] By David Sirota | Originally Published at Pandodaily. March 6, 2014 Charter schools have long been loved by the private sector, and the rich. And for good reason. They are technically public schools, and so they receive lots of public money, […]
The Empire Strikes Back! De Blasio and Operator of Charter School Do Battle
Eva S. Moskowitz, left, founder of Success Academy Charter Schools, led a rally Tuesday in Albany, while Mayor Bill de Blasio, who differs with her, led a separate demonstration. | Credit Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times It is not a battle of the Titans, but […]
Duke Study: Discipline Problems Increase When Students Repeat a Grade
Students at Shamrock Gardens Elementary in Charlotte in 2012. Photo: Nancy Pierce By Jane Stancill jstancill@newsobserver.com | Originally Published at News Observer. February 28, 2014 DURHAM — A new study by researchers at Duke University documented a ripple effect of behavioral problems in middle schools where higher […]
De Blasio, in Radio Interview, Defends His Position on Charter Schools
By Kate Taylor | Originally Published at The New York Times. March 6, 2014 Battered in the press over his position on charter schools, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday took to a friendly news outlet to defend himself and argue that his actions were being distorted. […]
MAR 05
New Survey: Teachers Say Their Voices Aren’t Being Heard
By Emily Richmond | Originally Published at Education Writers Association. February 26, 2014 When it comes to having their voices heard, teachers overwhelmingly say they aren’t being listened to on matters of education policy at the state or national level. At the school level, however, 69 percent […]
MAR 04
Common Core Costs Too High, Failure Guaranteed
By Paul L. Thomas, Ed.D. | Originally Published at The Becoming Radical. March 4, 2014 Teaching literacy has been my career and life for over thirty years now. Having grown up in the South with my own peculiar grasp of so-called standard English, I feel fortunate to […]
MAR 03
Many L.A. Unified School Libraries, Lacking Staff, are Forced to Shut
Hands raised Raising their hands, Alexa Martinez, 7, back row, left; Jennifer Hernandez, 6; Helen Hernandez, 7; and Noe Ortiz, 6, are eager to answer a question from library aide Cindy Ramirez after reading the book “Abe Lincoln’s Hat” at San Pedro Elementary School in Los Angeles. […]
David Coleman’s Latest Khan
Maybe we need a Khan Academy video series to help the public in the U.S. understand the term “free.” When you are driving late at night, and you are in unfamiliar rural America in need of a hotel, you see a relatively rundown hotel with a sign announcing “FREE CABLE!” Well, of course, if you stop and pay for the room, that cable is not “free” (the honest term would be “included”); the cost of that
MAR 06
REVIEW: eleanor & park
children guessed(but only a few and down they forgot as up they grew “[anyone lived in a pretty how town],” e. e. cummings I cried on the first page of eleanor & park by Rainbow Rowell. eleanor & park, Rainbow Rowell But to be perfectly honest, I am a crier, and that may not be my most compelling argument for this disturbingly beautiful novel. I agree, however, with John Green: But I have
SAT Reboot 2016: “Nonsense It All Is”
In the often cited scene near the end of Notting Hill when Anna Scott stands in William Thacker’s shabby book store and asks him to love her, few are likely to recall a key point made by Anna. But let’s imagine for a moment that instead of trying to save her relationship with William, Anna returns to the store to talk to him about the plan to reboot the SAT in 2016, and instead of the “I’m just a
Thomas: Don’t link teacher pay to student test scores
Thomas: Don’t link teacher pay to student test scores
MAR 05
The Conversation: Moving ‘quality’ teachers between schools will not help disadvantaged children
Moving ‘quality’ teachers between schools will not help disadvantaged children
MAR 04
Common Core Costs Too High, Failure Guaranteed
Teaching literacy has been my career and life for over thirty years now. Having grown up in the South with my own peculiar grasp of so-called standard English, I feel fortunate to have rich and lingering struggles with using the language in ways that conform to the ever-shifting conventions of “good English.” As a teacher, I have watched the field of literacy flounder under this failure of logic:
MAR 03
Critical Pedagogy or Core Knowledge?
For those of us committed to critical pedagogy (CP) as scholars and classroom teachers, Tait Coles’s call for CP instead of commitments to core knowledge (CK) is a rare moment in the mainstream press, as Coles concludes: Education has the power to change social inequality by nurturing a generation with an educated mistrust of everything that has been indoctrinated before. This educational stance i