A MELDING OF HOLIDAY CLASSICS “War is fought in mystery. The truth can take days to travel, and ahead of truth flies rumor, and it is ever hard to know what is really happening, and the art of it is to pluck the clean bone of fact from the rotting flesh of fear and lies.” ― Bernard Cornwell, The Last Kingdom ‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house. Not a creature was stirrin
John Thompson in Oklahoma: Grifters Gonna Keep Grifting John Thompson, historian and retired teacher, writes often about what is happening in Oklahoma. It is often not good for public schools and teachers because of the state’s awful legislature, controlled by oil-and-gas billionaire Harold Hamm, and its Republican Governor Kevin Stitt. The best education leader in the state is state Commissione
Biden Picks Former President of Broad Foundation as Deputy Chief of Staff President-Elect announced that Bruce Reed will be his Deputy Chief of Staff. This is alarming news, though not surprising. Reed previously served as Biden’s chief of staff when he was vice president. The toxic Broad Foundation gave grants to some of Betsy DeVos’s favorite causes. This report from TYT (The Young Turks) desc
Education’s “Better Angels of Our Nature” During a Pandemic Education’s “Better Angels of Our Nature” During a Pandemic We are not enemies but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. ~President Abraham Lincoln f
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/12/this-week-in-
Fred Smith: ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas We have a pride of poets on this blog. The following was written by testing expert Fred Smith, who advised the New York City Board of Education back in the days before Testmania. Fred now advises opt out parent groups. ‘Twas the night before Christmas and in the Snow House Sat a duck-assed old fat man with botoxic spouse. This may be my last chance to
After the Toughest Year Ever, We Get a Break This has been the most stressful year in my memory for all of us working in schools. We've been through all sorts of indignities and inconvenience, but there's been nothing like 2020. Let's hope there's nothing like it ever again. We're on a roller coaster of opening and closing. As Broadway went dark, as Long Island schools closed, pig-headed Bill de
This Cursed and Blessed Year Just before Christmas last year, we discovered that the company from whom we rent a storage locker had lost all of our stuff. The good news is that most of it probably should have been thrown out years ago, but among the things we'll never see again were all of our holiday decorations, including ornaments I'd been collecting since I was a little boy. So, for the firs
Cartoons for a Pandemic Winter For the Covid-19 winter holidays, I have gathered some cartoons that poke fun at what transpires in homes, schools, and Santa’s place. Enjoy! MORE CARTOONS: Cartoons for a Pandemic Winter | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
AI, Language, and the Uncanny Valley We experience vertigo in the uncanny valley because we’ve spent hundreds of thousands of years fine-tuning our nervous systems to read and respond to the subtlest cues in real faces. We perceive when someone’s eyes squint into a smile, or how their face flushes from the cheeks to the forehead, and we also — at least subconsciously — perceive the absence of th
You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone… GOT KIDS? GOT GRANDKIDS? Have you tried schooling them at home during the pandemic? For most people, it hasn’t been as easy as they thought it would be. Never mind the fact that the only people who are helping their kids at home are those who can afford to stay home, or who can work from home, or who have been laid off so they’re home anyway. Many p
Diane Ravitch: Biden’s Pick for Education Secretary Must Overturn DeVos’s Attack on Public Schools President-elect Joe Biden has nominated Connecticut public schools commissioner Miguel Cardona for secretary of education, tapping a third Latinx person to join his Cabinet. Cardona is a former teacher who represents a sharp break from outgoing Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who urged career empl
The Dark History of School Choice | by Diane Ravitch | The New York Review of Books The Dark History of School Choice How an argument for segregated schools became a rallying cry for privatizing public education. During her tenure as secretary of education, Betsy DeVos repeatedly asked Congress to allocate billions of dollars for vouchers for religious and private schools. She was repeatedly rebu
Big Education Ape THE TOP BANANA TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Biden's Education secretary pick acknowledges ‘ongoing crisis’ in schools https://politi.co/2LZMdet via @politico Biden To Pick Connecticut Schools
