THE BECOMING RADICAL
EMPATHYEDUCATES!
the becoming radical
A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness
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Common Core Movement Never about Teaching and Learning, Always about Testing
Illustration; Back To School by Adam Zyglis September 3, 2013 By Paul L. Thomas, Ed.D. | Originally Published at The Becoming Radical. April 24, 2014 As of April 24, 2014, I am tired to the core of writing about the Common Core because I know three things: […]
APR 23
Prominent Ed-Tech Players’ Data-Privacy Policies Attract Scrutiny
Graphic; Prominent Ed-Tech Players’ | Credit AngertAesthetics By Benjamin Herold | Originally Published at Education Week. April 22, 2014 Growing public concern about student-data privacy is prompting fresh scrutiny of the ways technology vendors handle children’s educational information—and opening the gates for a flood of new questions […]
State Lawmakers Ramp Up Attention to Data Privacy
By Andrew Ujifusa | Education Week. April 16, 2014 As the appetite for educational data on students has grown across the K-12 sector, so has the stated desire among many state lawmakers to try to protect the privacy and security of sensitive student information. Spurred by concerns […]
APR 22
Supreme Court Upholds Ban On Affirmative Action
Photograph; Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, July 13, 2009, during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. (AP Photo/Pool, George Bridges) Does race matter? Is discrimination an issue? On April 22, 2014, in a 6-2 decision the […]
APR 20
Republicans See Political Wedge in Common Core
Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida and Gov. Mary Fallin of Oklahoma participated in a discussion with School Leader Tracy McDaniel and students and at KIPP Academy in Oklahoma City in April. | Credit Associated Press By Jonathan Martin | Originally Published The New York. April 19, […]
Do We Protect Our Children?
Introductory Essay By Betsy L. Angert | Originally Published at EmpathyEducates. On this the fifteen anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting it is time to remember what became our nations mission; we must protect our children. For Sam and his fellow survivors, it happens every year; […]
APR 17
Should Schools Introduce Dress Codes for Parents?
Mama Sass, a Miami mother of two, blogs at MomsMiami.com. Introductory Essay By Betsy L. Angert | Originally Published at EmpathyEducates. April 15, 2014 Go to the grocery school. Dine out for dinner. Even at a cocktail party, conversations about our children’s school abound. Everyone you speak […]
Civil Rights Complaint Targets New Orleans Charter Group Collegiate Academies
All Photographs represent aspects within the civil rights complaint. Tuesday, December 17, 2013. (Photo by Ted Jackson, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune) What do we do when an ugly reality comes face-to-face with the pretty picture fame and fortune flaunted? Do we run? Do we hide? Do we […]
What do College Professors Want from Incoming High School Graduates?
The focus of this post was prompted by a thread on the NCTE Connected Community: What do College Comp instructors want from incoming High School Graduates? But the essence of this question has been at the core of my work as a teacher for 31 years—18 years as a high school English teachers, two years as lead instructor for the summer institute of the Spartanburg Writing Project, and my current posi
APR 24
CALL for Chapter Proposals: Adaptation as Investigations: Critically Rethinking Medium, Genre, and Text
Series: Youth Culture and Pedagogy in the 21st Century William Reynolds and Brad Porfilio, editors Lexington Books Proposed volume title: Adaptation as Investigations: Critically Rethinking Medium, Genre, and Text P. L. Thomas, editor [A]s we put into practice an education that critically provokes the learner’s consciousness, we are necessarily working against myths that deform us. As we confront
Common Core Movement Never about Teaching and Learning, Always about Testing
As of April 24, 2014, I am tired to the core of writing about the Common Core because I know three things: I’ve said everything I need to say about Common Core: (a) Arguing about the quality of the CC standards is a distraction from the essential flaw in continuing to chase better standards and tests, (b) because accountability based on standards and tests has never and will never address directl
APR 23
Standards May Achieve Equality, But Not Equity
Michelle Morrissey makes a case for Common Core in By ‘Common,’ We Mean Equity: When the Common Core State Standards emerged, it was both a shock and a revelation — for the first time, the dominant model said that my students, who live in low-income neighborhoods and are predominately Hispanic or African American, would have some guarantee of the same kinds of educational experiences that students
APR 22
No Country for Young Children of Color
While I have argued that we basically do not like children in the U.S., there is considerable evidence that being born a child of color puts those children at a disadvantage relative to white children. Based on the Kids Count report, Race for Results, Smriti Sinha has declared: Black families pondering a move to the Midwest might want to read this, especially if they have young children. According
Is There an Alternative to Accountability-Based, Corporate Education Reform? | Alternet
Is There an Alternative to Accountability-Based, Corporate Education Reform? | Alternet
REVIEW: Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems, James Baldwin
For many, James Baldwin is associated with novels, fiction. But my greatest affinity for Baldwin lies with his nonfiction and his role as a public intellectual. In the volume I co-edited, James Baldwin: Challenging Authors, chapter authors examine Baldwin as a powerful voice across genre and form. Concurrent with that volume is the publication of Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems. Baldwin is rarely ex
APR 21
Legalizing Marijuana Offers Lesson for Changing Course in Education Reform
The role of causality in educational research needs to be questioned on the basis that education is not the same as medicine. As Biesta says: “Being a student is not an illness, just as teaching is not a cure.” (2007, p8) We should never assume that education is a “push and pull” process of simply linear causal relationships. Tait Coles, Take no heroes; only inspiration. “Batman has officially b
APR 19
Two Americas: George W. Bush and Neil deGrasse Tyson
“This country was founded on the idea of concentrating wealth in the hands of a few white men,” Mychal Denzel Smith asserts in “We Built This Country on Inequality,” adding, “That that persists today isn’t a flaw in the design. Everything is working as the founders intended.” Smith’s claim has two parts that challenge the Great American Myth of meritocracy: those two parts being then and now. At t