Examining Higher Education Approaches to Advancing Teacher Diversity | Cloaking Inequity

Examining Higher Education Approaches to Advancing Teacher Diversity | Cloaking Inequity

EXAMINING HIGHER EDUCATION APPROACHES TO ADVANCING TEACHER DIVERSITY

I’m looking forward to the conversation today entitled “Examining Higher Education Approaches to Advancing Teacher Diversity” on zoom sponsored by Education Deans for Justice. Education Deans for Justice and Equity (EDJE) is a nationwide alliance of education deans that advances equity and justice in education.

The panelists have promised to not to prepare a lot of slides – though there might be 1 or 2. The goal of the panel is for it to be conversational and encourage better practice and more action nationally. 

The panelists include: 
– Jennifer Robinson, Executive Director of the Center for Pedagogy, Montclair State University
– Andrew Daire, Dean of the School of Education, Virginia Commonwealth University
– Kathy Schultz, Dean of the School of Education, University of Colorado-Boulder
– Gilda Martinez-Alba, Assistant Dean, College of Education, Towson University
– Julian Vasquez Helig, Dean, College of Education, University of Kentucky

The panel will be moderated by Marvin Lynn, Dean, College of Education, Portland State University

These leaders will discuss the work they are doing in their states to diversify the teacher workforce. They will also discuss their roles as leaders, share their experiences with the challenges associated with doing this work, discuss lessons learned, and offer critical insights for others who are attempting to do this important work.

There will be an opportunity for you to ask questions and share your own ideas and will be the first of a couple of different conversations given the number of individuals in this community with expertise and experience in this area.

You can join the conversation by clicking here at noon EST today.

Please Facebook Like, Tweet, etc below and/or reblog to share this discussion with others.

Check out and follow my YouTube channel here.

Twitter: @ProfessorJVH

Click here for Vitae.

Examining Higher Education Approaches to Advancing Teacher Diversity | Cloaking Inequity

NYC Educator: How Many People Have to Die Here?

NYC Educator: How Many People Have to Die Here?

How Many People Have to Die Here?

In Israel, the reopened the school buildings. A 64-year-old teacher died of Coronavirus after having reported that parents failed to quarantine students with the virus. Could that happen in a country where a President generally pretends the virus doesn't exist? Could someone be unfamiliar with the symptoms and assume it's something else? Could someone decide to wear a MAGA hat and ignore it altogether?

If NYC and other districts get to open public schools. it seems like people are going to die. It could very well be that parents send infected kids to school. In the highly unlikely event that the DOE manages to take every precaution, and screen the temperature of every student, what about those who are asymptomatic? Even if teachers somehow manage to socially distance, they could spread the virus to other students, who can spread it to their older family members.

Hey, how clean is your school building? In mine, every time a custodial worker leaves, no replacement is sent. Mayor de Blasio's policy appears to be to get staffing as low as possible and hope the Keebler elves come in an finish the job. Ordinarily, a policy like that would result in dirty school buildings. These days, we'll have to trust that somehow schools are deep-cleaned, or whatever exactly the de Blasio deep cleaning entails.

Do you think your school buildings will be sufficiently disinfected to preclude bringing a surprise virus home? If they are, do you think young children and teenagers will socially distance sufficiently to avoid infection? After that happens,

The DOE, in its infinite wisdom, is now denying schools an all remote option. It doesn't matter if the faculty, students and CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: How Many People Have to Die Here?

Teacher Tom: Who's With Us?

Teacher Tom: Who's With Us?

Who's With Us?

These past two weeks have been a whirlwind. Today is the final day of the free part of The Play First Summit, a project that my friend Sally Haughey from Fairy Dust Teaching proposed to my wife Jennifer and me a mere three months ago. Three months. That's hardly enough time to plan a decent dinner party, let alone an international gathering of early childhood educators and parents. This is the sort of thing that typically takes a year or more to pull together, but we were feeling a rising sense of dismay about the state of the world and what it means, and could mean, for young children. As Lisa Murphy said in the kick off session of the summit, we are the guardians of childhood, all of us. If we don't speak for them, who will? It was a sentiment echoed throughout, from conversation to conversation, and not just from the presenters.

It's heartwarmingly, mind blowingly clear that we aren't alone. Nearly 75,000 people joined us at this urgently called summit this week, representing 97 nations. Ninety-seven nations. Depending on how you count, that's about half the countries on earth. That is truly a global gathering beyond our wildest expectations. About a third of those participants have been participating in our Facebook community group. Going in, I figured I would need to serve as a good host, initiating dialog and spurring conversation, but for weeks now, the page has been abuzz in a way that I've not seen even at live conferences. Instead of "managing" the group, I've spent this past week scrambling just to keep up with it all. I can't wait for things to die down a bit so that I can methodically go through every one of those discussion threads because there is, using Sally's word, a lot of "gold" there.

From the beginning, our hope has been that this isn't a one-off, that this summit could be a spark to ignite a worldwide movement on behalf of our youngest citizens. Whether that happens or not will be up to all of us. I've not yet had the CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Who's With Us?

New CDC guidelines come down hard in favor of opening schools | CDC

The Importance of Reopening America’s Schools this Fall | CDC

The Importance of Reopening America’s Schools this Fall

As families and policymakers make decisions about their children returning to school, it is important to consider the full spectrum of benefits and risks of both in-person and virtual learning options.  Parents are understandably concerned about the safety of their children at school in the wake of COVID-19.  The best available evidence indicates if children become infected, they are far less likely to suffer severe symptoms.[1],[2],[3] Death rates among school-aged children are much lower than among adults.  At the same time, the harms attributed to closed schools on the social, emotional, and behavioral health, economic well-being, and academic achievement of children, in both the short- and long-term, are well-known and significant.  Further, the lack of in-person educational options disproportionately harms low-income and minority children and those living with disabilities.  These students are far less likely to have access to private instruction and care and far more likely to rely on key school-supported resources like food programs, special education services, counseling, and after-school programs to meet basic developmental needs.[4]

Aside from a child’s home, no other setting has more influence on a child’s health and well-being than their school.  The in-person school environment does the following:

• provides educational instruction;
• supports the development of social and emotional skills;
• creates a safe environment for learning;
• addresses nutritional needs; and
• facilitates physical activity.

This paper discusses each of these critical functions, following a brief summary of current studies regarding COVID-19 and children.

COVID-19 and Children

The best available evidence indicates that COVID-19 poses relatively low risks to school-aged children.  Children appear to be at lower risk for contracting COVID-19 compared to adults.  To put this in perspective, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of July 17, 2020, the United States reported that children and adolescents under 18 years old account for under 7 percent of COVID-19 cases and less than 0.1 percent of COVID-19-related deaths.[5]  Although relatively rare, flu-related deaths in children occur every year. From 2004-2005 to 2018-2019, flu-related deaths in children reported to CDC during regular flu seasons ranged from 37 to 187 deaths.  During the H1N1pandemic (April 15, 2009 to October 2, 2010), 358 pediatric deaths were reported to CDC. So far in this pandemic, deaths of children are less than in each of the last five flu seasons, with only 64.† Additionally, some children with certain underlying medical conditions, however, are at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19.*

Scientific studies suggest that COVID-19 transmission among children in schools may be low.  International studies that have assessed how readily COVID-19 spreads in schools also reveal low rates of transmission when community transmission is low.  Based on current data, the rate of infection among younger school children, and from students to teachers, has been low, especially if proper precautions are followed.  There have also been few reports of children being the primary source of COVID-19 transmission among family members.[6],[7],[8]  This is consistent with data from both virus and antibody testing, suggesting that children are not the primary drivers of COVID-19 spread in schools or in the community.[9],[10],[11]  No studies are conclusive, but the available evidence provides reason to believe that in-person schooling is in the best interest of students, particularly in the context of appropriate mitigation measures similar to those implemented at essential workplaces.

Educational Instruction

Extended school closure is harmful to children.  It can lead to severe learning loss, and the need for in-person instruction is particularly important for students with heightened behavioral needs.[12],[13]  Following the wave of school closures in March 2020 due to COVID-19, academic learning slowed for most children and stopped for some.  A survey of 477 school districts by the University of Washington’s Center on Reinventing Public Education found that, “far too many schools are leaving CONTINUE READING: The Importance of Reopening America’s Schools this Fall | CDC

glen brown: Perhaps a Paradigm for the Entire Country: Washington Education Association demands safety first in any plans to return to school this fall

glen brown: Perhaps a Paradigm for the Entire Country: Washington Education Association demands safety first in any plans to return to school this fall

Perhaps a Paradigm for the Entire Country: Washington Education Association demands safety first in any plans to return to school this fall

As the number of new COVID-19 cases continues to grow across Washington [and elsewhere], we are sadly faced with a choice between two bad options – either return to schools and put our educators, students, and community at risk or return to a distance learning and virtual instruction model. 

We know that in-person teaching and learning is best for both students and educators, and educators want nothing more than to get back into schools with our students. The reality is that, with very few exceptions, we are nowhere close to containing the spread of this virus and nowhere close to being able to guarantee the health and safety of our students, educators, families, and communities.  Therefore, we cannot responsibly support a return to school buildings for in-person learning this fall.  We call on Governor Inslee to continue leading with science and safety and declare that schools will open remotely this fall. 

Coronavirus puts our whole school community at risk. 

Statewide, more than 120,000 public educators are in school buildings each day.  They are our teachers, bus drivers, librarians, office staff, para educators, food service workers, nurses, counselors, therapists, and countless other professionals who support and serve our students. We know that nearly one out of five are over 60 years old, and many have underlying health conditions. 

We also know that more students than ever live in multi-generational homes, and many themselves also have underlying health conditions. If we proceed with opening schools for in-person learning while the number of cases continues to grow, CONTINUE READING: glen brown: Perhaps a Paradigm for the Entire Country: Washington Education Association demands safety first in any plans to return to school this fall

Our Children Need Us to Bring the Pandemic Under Control: Only Then Can Public Schools Fully Reopen | janresseger

Our Children Need Us to Bring the Pandemic Under Control: Only Then Can Public Schools Fully Reopen | janresseger

Our Children Need Us to Bring the Pandemic Under Control: Only Then Can Public Schools Fully Reopen

This blog will take a one week break.  Look for a new post on Monday, August 3.

Widespread disarray as schools struggle to figure out how to reopen is a catastrophe we have permitted to occur this summer as we all watched. Most of us failed to pay enough attention. On some level, I have begun to worry that, in the midst of all the current partisan political upheaval and the stress of the pandemic, America has forgotten to care enough about our children.

State budgets, which are a primary funder of U.S. public education, collapsed last spring due to a COVID-19 recession. On May 15, to shore up state budgets and public education, the U.S. House passed the HEROES Act, but the U.S. Senate is only now taking up the bill. President Donald Trump has denied the seriousness of the pandemic and failed to coordinate a plan to bring infection levels under control. School leaders have been left scrambling just weeks before school is supposed to start.  Will students be in school full time, or will they learn online as they did last spring, or will schools be forced to create hybrid in-person/online schedules to ensure social distancing in classrooms and on school buses?

Do we in America value our children?  Do we need a reminder of the vision the American philosopher John Dewey described in 1899: “What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all of its children.  Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy.  All that society has accomplished for itself is put, through the agency of the school, at the disposal of its future members… Only by being true to the full growth of all the individuals who make it up, can society by any chance be true to itself.” (The School and Society, p. 1)

Suddenly in the past couple of weeks, the reopening of public schools this fall has become a CONTINUE READING: Our Children Need Us to Bring the Pandemic Under Control: Only Then Can Public Schools Fully Reopen | janresseger

Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: DCPS gives "SOME" i.e poor families an impossible choice while telling OTHER i.e. well off families to opt for safety.

Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: DCPS gives "SOME" i.e poor families an impossible choice while telling OTHER i.e. well off families to opt for safety.

DCPS gives "SOME" i.e poor families an impossible choice while telling OTHER i.e. well off families to opt for safety.

DCPS gives "SOME" i.e poor families an impossible choice while telling OTHER i.e. well off families to opt for safety, they exacerbate the inequalities between groups and further harm the families they think they are helping. In short with fronds like superintendent Greene and the five members of the board who voted to go back to brick and mortar schools who needs any enemies.

When Superintendent Greene and Vice-Chair Andersen beg people to put their children into Duval Homeroom, they exacerbate the massive inequalities that already exist in Duval. They gave their tacit approval to the fact some people will be able to keep their children safe, and others will have to choose between putting food on the table or risking their children's lives.

Why else would they be telling people to sign their children up for Duval homeroom? They and we all know that having a live in-person teacher is better. They are doing so because they know our schools will be dangerous. They know our schools will not be safe, and there is a likelihood that people will get sick or worse. THEY ADMIT THIS!!!

DCPS cannot control if some family's parents have to work, but they could control if their children were safe or not. Schools should control what schools can control, and in this instance, it was if children and families were safe or not.

My heart breaks for the families put in this terrible position, but how are things going to change for the better if DCPS gives them an option to risk their and their families' lives? How is a business going to realize they have CONTINUE READING: Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: DCPS gives "SOME" i.e poor families an impossible choice while telling OTHER i.e. well off families to opt for safety.

Will the Tech Industry’s Obsession for Disruption End my Blogging | Crazy Normal - the Classroom Exposé

Will the Tech Industry’s Obsession for Disruption End my Blogging | Crazy Normal - the Classroom Exposé

Will the Tech Industry’s Obsession for Disruption End my Blogging

Last Saturday, July 18, 2020, my blogging was disrupted by WordPress, and my temper, calm for months, exploded.  Before the COVID-19 pandemic, I had lunch with friends every week and joined others in group meetups. Thanks to the virus, I have lived alone since March 13. No one has visited me, and I have visited no one. Zoom, e-mails, phone calls, and WebEx help but cannot replace face-to-face visits.

Back to July 18 when I logged onto my iLookChina.net blog to schedule three new posts for August, my first thought when I saw the new editing page for WordPress was, “What the FUCK!”

I complained to WordPress and the little help they offered did nothing to end the stress from the disruption they caused.

I learned that WordPress was changing the Classic Editor I had been using for a decade to a Block Editor (whatever that is).  From what I saw, I did not like the Block Editor and that feeling has not changed.

I was comfortable using the Classic Editor. I have better things to do than being forced to learn something new that stresses me out.

On Sunday, July 19, I wrote an angry letter expressing my frustration to Matthew Charles Mullenweg, the Founder, and CEO of WordPress.  When I write an angry letter, I never mail the rough draft. I wait a few days and then revise to filter out the worst of my anger. But that rough draft will never be revised and mailed to Mr. Mullenweg. Instead, that letter has been added to this post.

Matthew Charles Mullenweg, Founder, and CEO of WordPress

WordPress Corporate Office Headquarters Automatic, Inc.
60 29th Street #343
San Francisco, California 94110-4929

Dear Mr. Mullenweg:

This morning I attempted to start scheduling the August 2020 posts for my https://ilookchina.com/ blog [806,254 hits/visits], and ran into an “alleged” improvement to the page where bloggers like me create their posts and  CONTINUE READING: Will the Tech Industry’s Obsession for Disruption End my Blogging | Crazy Normal - the Classroom Exposé

Review of Governor's updated COVID-19 guidance for schools Webinar (CA Dept of Education)

Review of Updated School Guidance Webinar July 20 - Health Services & School Nursing (CA Dept of Education)

Review of Governor's updated COVID-19 guidance for schools Webinar

Recorded webinar on the Review of Updated School Guidance from the California Department of Education on July 20, 2020. During this webinar, officials from CDE and the California Department of Public Health will provide local educational agencies (LEAs), county offices of education (COEs), and all educational stakeholders a detailed overview of the Governor's updated COVID-19 guidance for schools and answer questions as districts and educators navigate implementation.

This video is 1 hour and 20 minutes in length.

Additional Information

• State Superintendent Thurmond Issues Statement on Governor's School Guidance
• Coronavirus Response and School Reopening Guidance

Providence Journal Blasts Governor Raimondo for Acting Like Trump | Diane Ravitch's blog

Providence Journal Blasts Governor Raimondo for Acting Like Trump | Diane Ravitch's blog

Providence Journal Blasts Governor Raimondo for Acting Like Trump

The Providence Journal published a scathing editorial about Governor Gina Raimondo’s dereliction of duty in demanding the full opening of schools next month while failing to provide sensible plans to do so.

It is titled “Rhode Island’s Education System Goes from Mediocre to Just Plain Chaotic.”

Raimondo is a former venture capitalist who redesigned the state’s pension system by cutting them. She is also a “reformer” who welcomes charter schools and is a favorite of DFER. And she is chair of the Democratic Governors Association.

The editorial begins:

On June 10, Governor Gina Raimondo asserted that all students would be back in the classroom on August 31.
This was after her confusing narrative that Rhode Island was “#1 in online learning,” a claim that sends chills through frustrated parents, educators, and students who knew another reality this spring.

Raimondo nearly every day proclaims Rhode Island is #1 CONTINUE READING: Providence Journal Blasts Governor Raimondo for Acting Like Trump | Diane Ravitch's blog

2020 Medley #15 | Live Long and Prosper

2020 Medley #15 | Live Long and Prosper

HOW TO MOTIVATE A READER? MAKE THEM FEEL GOOD

The First Question to Ask of a Vulnerable Reader

In this recent blog post, Russ Walsh provides us with seven things teachers can do to foster a desire to learn to read in their students. Unfortunately, if students come to school without the desire to learn to read, it just makes it that much harder for teachers to convert them into avid readers. The suggestions in Walsh’s post will help, of course, and with many students (and with perseverance) it will succeed. However, it would be much easier for students if their development of a desire to learn to read began at home.

The easiest motivational tool, and number two on Walsh’s list, is read aloud.

Reading aloud makes the reading process a pleasurable experience before they even get to school, because, as Jim Trelease wrote, “Human beings will voluntarily do over and over that which brings them pleasure…When we read to a child, we’re sending pleasure messages to the child’s brain.” In other words, it feels good.

This “feel-good” quality is the reason that reading aloud is the most important activity for building the knowledge required for success in reading, especially CONTINUE READING: 2020 Medley #15 | Live Long and Prosper

A VERY BUSY DAY Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

A VERY BUSY DAY

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

The latest news and resources in education since 2007

You Won’t Want To Miss This NY Times Podcast On School Segregation: “Nice White Parents”

23by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

mohamed_hassan / Pixabay The New York Times just announced that they are unveiling a new podcast next week called “Nice White Parents.” : “Nice White Parents” is a new podcast from Serial Productions, brought to you by The New York Times, about the 60-year relationship between white parents and the public school down the block. We know that American public schools do not guarantee each child an e

Friday’s Three Must-Read Articles On School Reopening Plans

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

christels / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : Reopening Schools Is Way Harder Than It Should Be is from The NY Times. Schools may soon apply for waivers to reopen — but only with union support is from The L.A. Times. Remote Learning? No Thanks. is from The NY Times.

Trump Gets CDC To Modify School Reopening Guidance – This Certainly Will Strengthen Everyone’s Confidence In It

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

geralt / Pixabay President Trump was successful today in getting the CDC to modify it’s school reopening guidelines. Surprisingly, though it does appear that the changes weren’t as much as many of us feared. Nevertheless, with public confidence in the CDC getting lower by the day , agreeing to any changes that appear to further Trump’s political agenda are likely to result in those perceptions ge

The Distance Learning Chapter Of Our New Book Will Be Available For Free On Saturday

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

DavidRockDesign / Pixabay As I wrote last week , the publisher of the second edition of The ESL/ELL Teacher’s Survival Guide , has agreed to release our distance learning chapter early and free-of-charge – and no registration will be required! It’s ready, and will be available first at the VirtuEL website on Saturday morning, where you’ll be able to check out lots of workshops (and a keynote by m

Federal Eviction Expires Today; California’s Expires In September – How Will Schools Cope With Big Increase Of Homeless Students?

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

The federal moratorium on eviction expires today (see A federal eviction moratorium ends this week, putting 12 million tenants at risk ). California’s state moratorium ends in September (see Coronavirus CA: Gov. Newsom extends state eviction moratorium through September ). The number of homeless students in the United States last year was estimated to be 1.5 million . Even if “only” five-to-ten p

Here Are Detailed – & Tentative – Distance Learning Plans For All My Fall Classes

by Larry Ferlazzo / 16h

Wokandapix / Pixabay This week, in an attempt to alleviate some of my many worries about the fall , I wrote up very tentative plans for each of my upcoming fall classes. I want to emphasize the word “tentative.” In fact, I’ve already made changes to them since they were originally published. I still have to write one more post to complete this series but, based on the feedback I’ve received so fa

Next: Here’s A Distance-Learning Plan For My Theory Of Knowledge Classes

by Larry Ferlazzo / 16h

geralt / Pixabay Two days ago, I posted Okay, Now, Here’s My Tentative Remote Teaching Plan For U.S. History . Yesterday, I shared Updated Distance Learning Plan For My Newcomer/Intermediate ELL Class . Now, it’s time for my last scheduled class: three periods of the International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge course. Yesterday was the last day of a four-week class preparing educators for all

Not-Surprising Statistic Of The Day: A Lot Of Our Students Don’t Have Devices Or High-Speed Internet

by Larry Ferlazzo / 22h

California is short 1 million laptops and hot spots for kids as it prepares online school is from today’s Sacramento Bee, and is not good news. 16.9 million children remain logged out because they don’t have internet at home is a new report released by FutureReady, and is also not good news. It’s going to be a hell of a fall…

Slideshow: Sketchnotes From Books About Teaching ELLs

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

Katie Toppel is the founder and coordinator of a fabulous online book study group for teachers of English Language Learners. She makes “sketchnotes” about the different books, and she agreed to let me share a sampling. Enjoy!

Google Unveils “It’s A Wonderful World” For Traveling – Virtually

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

Today, Google unveiled “It’s A Wonderful World, ” a Google Arts and Culture selection of the most iconic places to visit around the world. You can read more about it here . In addition, they provide video instructions about how to create a video travelogue showing your own virtual travels throughout the 

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007