Sam Wineburg on Teaching History | Diane Ravitch's blog

Sam Wineburg on Teaching History | Diane Ravitch's blog

Sam Wineburg on Teaching History

The Silence of the Ellipses: 

Or Why History Can’t Be About Telling Our Children Lies

Sam Wineburg is the Margaret Jacks Professor of Education & (by courtesy) History at Stanford University. His most recent book is Why Learn History (When It is Already on Your Phone), University of Chicago Press, 2018. He tweets at @samwineburg.

Aware his days were numbered, a tuberculosis-stricken George Orwell raced to finish the book that would make his name an adjective. Holed away in a remote cottage on the Isle of Jura off the Scottish coast, he left the island for the last time in 1949, the same year his novel appeared. He died a year later.

I read 1984 in my 11^th-grade English class in the weary rustbelt town of Utica, New York, at a time when Russia was still the USSR and the “focus of evil in the modern world.” With Cliff Notes at my side, I decodedthe book’s more obscure allusions (2 + 2 = 5, I learned, conjured up Stalin’s claim that his five-year plan had been completed in four). But you didn’t need a study aid to get the main point. We lived in a free society; they in a tyrannical one. We respected truth; they disfigured it. Russian-speaking Winston CONTINUE READING: Sam Wineburg on Teaching History | Diane Ravitch's blog

The Impossible Job of a Parent Navigating Zoom School - The Atlantic

A Mother of Five Navigates Remote Learning - The Atlantic

The Impossible Job of a Parent Navigating Zoom School

When Donald Trump took the oath of office on a gray January morning in 2017, he laid out his vision for the United States under his leadership. “We stand at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of space, to free the Earth from the miseries of disease,” he said. “A new national pride will stir our souls, lift our sights, and heal our divisions.” Nearly four years later, the divide in how we view the consequences of his first term remains large. But the nation is undeniably changed. From family separation, to nation-wide protests and economic volatility, to a pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans, Trump will leave behind a legacy—whether he’s reelected or not. We are telling the stories of seven individuals living with the consequences of Trump’s first term. You can read the rest of the stories here.

By 9:30 a.m. on August 31, the first day of school, Rebeka Dominguez was already exhausted. Her 13-year-old daughter, Eleanna, couldn’t log into Zoom. Across the kitchen table, Elijah, 17, muted his football coach and distracted his girlfriend, Kyleen, who sat beside him, trying to concentrate on her coursework. Easton, 7, propped himself up on the floor between the two teenagers as his teacher tried to help a classroom of second-graders access BrainPOP, an educational website. Everett, 4, ran out of the room with Elijah’s cellphone. The wifi kept cutting out, and there weren’t enough headphones to go around, so five virtual classrooms stuttered on at once. Eva, 10 months old, cried in her playpen. Like millions of other households across the U.S., the Dominguez family is learning remotely this fall.

In March, the schools in Weslaco, Texas, where the family lives, shut down in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Overnight, all classes moved online. “That whole first week was really chaotic,” Rebeka said. She worked to establish some semblance of a classroom, centered around the kitchen table. “I would be going around, making sure they’re each on their lesson—that Elijah’s not on Facebook, that Eleanna was understanding whatever they were going through,” said Rebeka.

Supervising the education of her school-age children felt like a full-time job.

Easton’s teacher would reach out to Rebeka every day, reminding her to help him log on. “I was like, I have four kids in school right now,” she said. “I can do Easton two days a week, or a day a week, or whatever I can get to, but I can’t do it whenever you want me to.” She negotiated with teachers on assignment due dates and began to divide her weeks. On Mondays and Tuesdays, she concentrated on Easton; on Wednesdays and Thursdays, Rebeka helped Eleanna. Elijah often supervised his younger siblings while in class. When he needed help on his chemistry assignments, he’d have to wait until his dad, Joseph, a nurse, came home from the ER where he worked.

[Read: These 8 basic steps will let us reopen schools]

Frantic scenes like this played out across the country, as 50 million kids were abruptly thrust out of the classroom. Families scrambled to adjust to unclear, CONTINUE READING: A Mother of Five Navigates Remote Learning - The Atlantic

When it Comes to Cameras in Virtual Classrooms, Compromise Over Compliance - Philly's 7th Ward

When it Comes to Cameras in Virtual Classrooms, Compromise Over Compliance - Philly's 7th Ward

WHEN IT COMES TO CAMERAS IN VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS, COMPROMISE OVER COMPLIANCE

For me, my home is a sacred place; not only because I am a person of faith but also because my home is an intimate and safe space where my relationships, culture and humanity is nurtured, affirmed and celebrated. I like to believe that my wife and children think the same thing.

Generally speaking, I never invite strangers into my home, but there are times when doing so was necessary. Usually, those times involved a broken appliance that needed to either be repaired or delivered. What is important to note is that I had to invite them to my home; they couldn’t come in without my permission. However, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, my children’s classmates and teachers are guests in my home each day via classroom zoom meetings… and I didn’t invite them.

The pandemic has pushed educators and families to innovate and adapt; this includes turning homes into educational spaces for remote or hybrid synchronous learning. Whether teachers are using zoom or google classroom, video conferencing is the new classroom and many districts require that students keep their cameras on. This means that classmates and teachers have a window into your home.

As I said earlier, I don’t invite everyone into my home. Yet my wife and I have agreed to the reality of uninvited guest for the sake of our children’s safety. Their cameras are on; it is the policy of the school district that they’re CONTINUE READING: When it Comes to Cameras in Virtual Classrooms, Compromise Over Compliance - Philly's 7th Ward

How do you measure a child's worth? - SF PUBLIC SCHOOL MOM

How do you measure a child's worth? - SF PUBLIC SCHOOL MOM

How do you measure a child’s worth?

Over the past few weeks, the community members have been witnessing that conversations about Lowell’s selective admissions policy are once again stirring up anti-Black/Latinx sentiment in online spaces and within the Lowell High School community. #HereWeGoAgain

While folks may choose to believe otherwise, the admissions changes currently being considered were prompted by procedural, rather than political concerns. (Although to be fair, many of the Board’s feelings about this policy have not really been a secret.)

This spring, COVOD-19 rendered standardized testing and regular grading impossible statewide. With tests canceled and students receiving “pass/fail” grades, SFUSD staff will be unable to administer regular policies around Lowell’s selective enrollment process. So, over the past several weeks, the Board has been discussing a proposal by staff to temporarily discontinue the traditional enrollment policy and place Lowell in “the Lottery” with all other comprehensive high schools. (Cue pearl-clutching!)

As expected, anytime the topic of Lowell admissions comes up, so does race. While we have the discussion of what to do during this “not-normal” year in SFUSD, please be aware — What we say has impacts on Black and Brown children going to school at Lowell and across the city.

I am hearing from Black student leaders and Black alumni of Lowell that many of the comments folks have been making are toxic and hurtful. (Read their letter to the Board.) As these conversations reverberate across parent email groups and in the media, many of the things folks are saying are also creating secondary trauma for Black and Brown children, parents, and educators across our city who have been, or currently are, targets of racial microaggressions and outright aggression in our educational systems. This is true for charters, and private school settings as well.

Recently we saw this expressed in Board meetings when parents shouted down a student representative to the Board and targeted her and her colleague (a Latina) on Twitter, saying they were not valid representatives of their peers. Just recently my colleague Commissioner Gabriela Lopez, and I CONTINUE READING: How do you measure a child's worth? - SF PUBLIC SCHOOL MOM

Who Voted In Davos? How Data-Driven Government and the Internet of Bodies Are Poised To Transform Smart Sustainable Cities Into Social Impact Prisons – Wrench in the Gears

Who Voted In Davos? How Data-Driven Government and the Internet of Bodies Are Poised To Transform Smart Sustainable Cities Into Social Impact Prisons – Wrench in the Gears

Who Voted In Davos? How Data-Driven Government and the Internet of Bodies Are Poised To Transform Smart Sustainable Cities Into Social Impact Prisons

What follows is a transcript of the remarks I made as part of an online forum, Politics In And Out Of Europe, hosted by Rutgers University’s Center for European Studies on Monday October 26, 2020. There were two panels followed by an hour of discussion. I was the second presenter. Framing remarks and response was provided by Naomi Klein. Video of my portion of the event here. All combined, it’s about a half hour. I reference two blog posts. One on solutions journalism and impact media and another on Omidyar Network and digital education as well as the resolution against blockchain identity passed by the NAACP last year (search for “blockchain”).

Introduction: Alison McDowell is a mother and an independent researcher based in Philadelphia, PA. She blogs at the intersection of race, finance, nature, and technology at wrenchinthegears.com. Her activism began fighting to slow the privatization of public education in her city. These efforts eventually led her to an CONTINUE READING: Who Voted In Davos? How Data-Driven Government and the Internet of Bodies Are Poised To Transform Smart Sustainable Cities Into Social Impact Prisons – Wrench in the Gears

Teacher Tom: There Has Never Been a Better Time to Try

Teacher Tom: There Has Never Been a Better Time to Try

There Has Never Been a Better Time to Try

Even before the pandemic, child care in the US was an "industry" already in the midst of a slow motion crisis. Care takers and teachers were already leaving the low paying, low prestige profession. Child care centers and preschools where already being shuttered, unable to make ends meet. Tuition costs were already as high or higher than many middle class families could afford. Two thirds of the nation's children already lived in "child care deserts," regions that simply didn't have enough spots to meet demand. Between 2005 and 2017 the number of licensed, home-based child care businesses dropped 44 percent. All of this has been happening over the course of decades. 

The advent of Covid on our shores simply accelerated everything. Costs of running centers during the pandemic have jumped an average of 47 percent, while enrollment has plummeted, making it impossible to make ends meet. Estimates are that one in three child care centers have closed since March of this year with most of them unlikely to re-open given that they were already teetering. Many of those teachers and care takers who were laid off are never coming back because they've found jobs that pay more than the $24,000 annual poverty wages the average child care worker earns, and most of those jobs came without paid time off or health care.

Covid has not decimated the sector, it has just added grease CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: There Has Never Been a Better Time to Try

Betsy DeVos Tells Kentucky That Now is the Time for Charters and Vouchers | Diane Ravitch's blog

Betsy DeVos Tells Kentucky That Now is the Time for Charters and Vouchers | Diane Ravitch's blog

Betsy DeVos Tells Kentucky That Now is the Time for Charters and Vouchers

Betsy DeVos traveled to Kentucky to sell her used goods (schmattes is the Yiddish term): charter schools and vouchers.

For DeVos, a pandemic is the perfect time to push school privatization. Day in, day out, for 30 years or so, DeVos has been promoting charters and vouchers.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – School choice supporters should “insist” that state and federal policymakers back measures like public charter schools and scholarship tax credits amid the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Monday…

“I know in all of the years that I have advocated for state-level policy empower parents, never before have we had an environment like we have today, and so I believe that now is the time to raise voices more loudly than ever before and to insist on policy changes that need to take place….”

David Patterson, communications director for the CONTINUE READING: Betsy DeVos Tells Kentucky That Now is the Time for Charters and Vouchers | Diane Ravitch's blog

Ed Tech Spending Rampaging through North Carolina Public Schools | tultican

Ed Tech Spending Rampaging through North Carolina Public Schools | tultican

Ed Tech Spending Rampaging through North Carolina Public Schools

By Thomas Ultican 10/27/2020

A North Carolina cabal of school superintendents, republican politicians, consultants and technology companies has gone wild over the past seven years. In Chapel Hill, Education Elements obtained an illegitimate $767,000 contract. Chapel Hill-Carborro City Hills Schools (CHCCS) Assistant Superintendent of Business and Finance, Jennifer Bennett, supposedly ignored school board policy and agreed to the contract in secret. It seems that when the state and local schools are spending on education technology, policies and law are being ignored.

After the Education Elements negotiations, Bennett sent a message to their Managing Partner, Jason Bedford, saying, “Need to get you guys to modify the [contract] if you can since if we include the whole potential payment value, then we have to take this to the Board since over our $90K threshold ….” This seems very damning, however, local citizens think they are being gas lighted. In the comments section on the school boards web site, several parents expressed the same opinion as parent Jeff Safir who wrote,

“I find it hard to believe that Jennifer Bennett acted alone and was the only person aware of the money being spent on the Education Elements engagement and I don’t understand why she is able to serve out the rest of her contract in an alternate capacity when the position is at-will ….”

Education Elements was created with funding from NewSchools Venture fund and a few other venture capital groups that invest in education startups. As noted in a previous article, “There are few districts in America that do not have CONTINUE READING: Ed Tech Spending Rampaging through North Carolina Public Schools | tultican

CURMUDGUCATION: Is It Time For The Internet To Be A School-Managed Public Utility?

CURMUDGUCATION: Is It Time For The Internet To Be A School-Managed Public Utility?

Is It Time For The Internet To Be A School-Managed Public Utility?

School has opened across the country, but in many districts that means class via internet—if those students are among those fortunate enough to have access to fast, large-capacity internet connections.

How many aren’t connected? The answer is that nobody’s exactly sure. One study says that 33 million citizens live without the net. The FCC says that 19 million Americans lack access to broadband at threshold speeds; they also say that 99.99% of the US population has access to some kind of internet. None of the surveys really capture the picture on the ground. Here’s a house that has a good internet connect—except when it rains. Here’s a home where the connection is good—unless five people have to connect their devices at the same time.


So as schools shift to online education, we have more tales of students sitting in parking lots to grab the wi-fi. Schools (and other sponsors) invest in hot spots, even deploying hot spot school buses. But a hot spot device only works in places where there’s a signal available. In my mostly-rural county, there are many places where neither the internet nor wireless phone signals reliably reach.

We are well past the point of pretending that some sort of market solution will bring the US close to 100% real connectivity. There are some corners of the country where it simply does not pay to build and maintain the infrastructure or provide the internet service itself. Getting service to all Americans is a huge challenge, but we’ve met similar challenges before when it came to telephone and electric service. If we can agree that an internet connection is as much a necessity of modern CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Is It Time For The Internet To Be A School-Managed Public Utility?

NYC Educator: UFT Executive Board October 26, 2020---DOE Unilaterally Issues Grading Policy

NYC Educator: UFT Executive Board October 26, 2020---DOE Unilaterally Issues Grading Policy

UFT Executive Board October 26, 2020---DOE Unilaterally Issues Grading Policy

Roll Call--5:50

Minutes--approved

UFT President Michael Mulgrew--City put out a grading policy. Not discussed with us. Should've come up with something more flexible. We will look at it and decide what to do. DOE hasn't done much work because it's very similar to last year's.

There are supposed to be four opt in periods for parents. We wanted parents to see how things were going. While in schools we have procedures, but they unilaterally announced people had to make decisions right now. Doesn't follow what's in state plan, and may lead to a fight. Newark just went into complete lockdown. Country had largest 7 day average ever. Not smart to force a choice now. Will be conversations. 

Operational side--complaints are moving and being resolved. Still have issues with superintendents unfamiliar with concept of work. Grievance dept. getting involved. DRs are pushing. Some districts have no issues, but others have many. 

Election will take up a lot of energy, hopefully for no longer than two weeks. Our retirees and volunteers are working very hard. We understand what everyone's facing so we're CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: UFT Executive Board October 26, 2020---DOE Unilaterally Issues Grading Policy

CURMUDGUCATION: Segregation, Privatization, and Taxation

CURMUDGUCATION: Segregation, Privatization, and Taxation

Segregation, Privatization, and Taxation

he New York Times ran a piece yesterday about a school board voting mess in Sumter County, Georgia (that's the county of Plains, home of Jimmy Carter's peanut farm). The story itself is an instructional look at how yet another white minority is trying to keep their hands on the levers of power, resulting in a district that is 70% Black run by a board that is 70% white. But Nicholas Casey has down a great job with that story, and you should go read it. 

At one point in the story, Casey talks about the creation of Southland Academy in 1966, yet another segregation academy opened in response to integration requirements:

Among Southland’s biggest boosters were the county school board and city officials, who transferred a public school building to the private upstart, then sold buses and furniture to it at a discount, according to Bobby L. Fuse, a local community leader. Officials lowered rates on taxes — which were used to fund the public schools — so white residents could more easily pay for private tuition, he said.

We often forget that segregation academies and their ilk were not just about separating white children from Black children; they were also about separating white money from Black schools. Set up a separate private school system, leave Those People's Children in the public school, and then chop the taxes that are going to the public system. 

As Steve Suitts points out in his book Overturning Brown, while the modern school choice movement may not be driven by racists, they still use some of the old racist tricks. 

Let's consider, in particular, Betsy DeVos's beloved tax credit scholarships-- the Education Freedom plan. It's not just that this is a voucher plan that avoids using the unpopular never-been-chosen-by-voters V word. It has other features.

Because every contribution to a private school "scholarship" counts against tax liability-- put $50K CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Segregation, Privatization, and Taxation

DOING THE RIGHT THING THE WRONG WAY – Dad Gone Wild

DOING THE RIGHT THING THE WRONG WAY – Dad Gone Wild

DOING THE RIGHT THING THE WRONG WAY

“The American political system has lost the ability for large-scale compromise, and it has lost the ability to accept some pain now for much gain later on.”

― Fareed Zakaria, The Post-American World

Last Friday, the Metro Nashville Public School Board held an emergency work session in order to revisit the district’s re-entry plan. Notice I refer to it as a re-entry plan and not a resumption of school plan? That’s intentional, and we’ll talk more about that in a bit.

After Fall Break, MNPS began phasing students back into schools starting with the youngest. Parents were given the option to send their kids virtual or in-person. The numbers were pretty evenly split with a slight nod to in-person.

Fifth and sixth graders were slated to return this week. But, as COVID-19 cases continue to climb and questions mount over the ability to keep teachers and students safe, it was time to re-visit the plan going forth.

Unfortunately, instead of taking charge and providing needed leadership, the board and Director Adrienne Battle once again demonstrated their ability to get it wrong even when they were getting it right. The ultimate decision to pause the re-entry plan is ultimately the right one, but the process to arrive at that conclusion could have been conducted better.

Over the last several years, from the school level to the district level, there has been an increased focus on starting every meeting with a listing of norms and expectations. This board meeting could CONTINUE READING: DOING THE RIGHT THING THE WRONG WAY – Dad Gone Wild

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

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/2020/10/saturday-october-17-2020-this-week-in.html

October’s (2020) Useful Parent Engagement Resources – Part Two | Engaging Parents In School… - https://engagingparentsinschool.edublogs.org/?p=6384

Everything You Wanted To Know About Reading Instruction But Were Afraid To Ask

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

Victoria_Borodinova / Pixabay I have over 2,100 frequently revised and updated “Best” lists on just about every subject imaginable, and you can find them listed three different ways in three different places (see Three Accessible Ways To Search For & Find My “Best” Lists ). I’m starting to publish a series where each day I will highlight the “Best” lists in a separate category. Today, it’s on Rea

New TED-Ed Video & Lesson: “Can you outsmart the fallacy that started a witch hunt?”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

geralt / Pixabay Can you outsmart the fallacy that started a witch hunt? is the latest TED-Ed lesson and video. I’m adding it to The Best Multimedia Resources For Learning About Fallacies — Help Me Find More .

“Nine Mistakes Educators Make When Teaching ELLs”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

Nine Mistakes Educators Make When Teaching ELLs is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Confusing lack of English proficiency with lack of intelligence and believing students understand academic English because they’ve mastered social English are among those mistakes five educators cite. Here are some excerpts:

Tuesday’s Must-Read Articles On School Reopenings

20by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

kaboompics / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : Why education technology can’t save remote learning is from Axios. The dangerous instability of school re-openings is also from Axios. “Some of My Kids Are Slipping Through the Cracks”: Four teachers on the challenges and failures of the school year so far is from Slate. For students

The Best Resources On Instruction In 2020 – Part Two

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

I’m continuing with my end-of-the-year “Best” list posts… I’m adding this one to ALL END-OF-YEAR “BEST” LISTS FOR 2020 IN ONE PLACE! Seven years ago I began publishing a regular Classroom Instruction Resources Of The Week post. You can see all my “Best” lists on instructional strategies here. Here are my choices from the past few months: IB has created something called a Webliography, which are b

My Latest BAM! Radio Show Is On Culturally Responsive Teaching In Math Class

by Larry Ferlazzo / 17h

Culturally Responsive Teaching: More Important Now Than Ever is the title of my latest BAM! Radio Show, which talks in general about culturally responsive teaching, but also gives math class specifics. I’m joined in the discussion by Chiquita Jenkins, Autumn Kelley, and James Ewing, who ha

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