1-27-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education:

How Come Florida Legislators Aren’t Talking About VAM and Merit Pay

Miami-Dade superintendent Alberto Carvalho made  the pitch to the state board of education last week that Florida must pause its multiple accountability systems: Carvalho said the proposal would make it clear which schools and districts were performing well and which were not. “There is a way of creating a transitional accountability system,” he said, “that includes a direct, legible and easily-un

by Bob Sikes / 2h 

 

1-26-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education: The “Reguatory Creep” and “Bureaucratization” of Florida’s Education SystemWhile Education Commissioner Pam Stewart is trying to save Jeb Bush’s school grade system with plaintive wails like “it’s not good for students,” she won’t have the final word if the legislature c

by mike simpson / 8h 

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog 1-27-14

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog:

Anti-Protest Laws Scrapped

On Monday, Ukraine's president agreed to scrap anti-protest laws that set off riots between protesters and police. The anti-regime demonstrators that occupied the Justice Ministry left but continue to blockade the building resulting in multiple clashes over the past weekend with three protesters dead. Read more here.

by austinwu1 . / 49min 

Call of Duty

Mohamed Morsi named General Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi defense minister and pledged to keep the military seperate from politics. A year later General Sisi dethroned Morsi to answer the people's call for their revolution. Field Marshal Sisi took his first step to becoming Egypt's next president insisting he was yielding to "The free choice of the masses" and "The call of duty".Read mo

by austinwu1 . / 1h 

Finding Noah's Ark

A team of evangelical Christian explorers believe they've found the remains of Noah's Ark cover in deep beneath snow and volcanic debris on Turkey's Mount Ararat (map). The team claim to have found in 2007 and 2008 seven large wooden compartments buried at 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) above sea level, near the peak of Mount Ararat. They return to the site on 2009 with a film crew. Some archaeologist

by Lee Thao / 1h 

Supreme Court Goes Against Workers

           Why wear protective gear iff you are not getting payed to? The Supreme Court hat recently ruled that steelworkers do not have to be payed for the time it tales to put on and take off protective gear on the job.      Today the court ruled in favor of the U.S. Steel Corps over workers claims that they should be payed under federal labor laws for the time it takes to put on the gear.      

by Loni Pooi / 2h 

Sexual Harassment At San Jose State University

Have you applied to San Jose State University for the Fall semester of 2014? Are you a female? Read this article on the most updated news about what's been happening on campus at San Jose State University, ladies and gents. Lately, there's been two reports about being sexually harassed at San Jose State University. Two females have claimed that a white male, between the age of 20 and 30 with a mus

by Michelle Thao / 2min hide  //  save

Noth Korea's Kim Jong Un Strikes A Plague

Kim Jong Un has decided to take his dictatorship to the next level. He's become a psychopath. Killing his relatives, aunts, uncles, cousins, and children, is all of what he's done lately; they were those who were his actual family members. People say that his brutality has exceeded his father and grandfather's. Kim Jong Un has had troops drag his family members out and shot repeatedly. What do you

by Michelle Thao / 17min 

Another Shooting...Yet Again

There was a mall shooting this past weekend in Maryland.Surprised? I surely do hope because I hope this doesn't become a norm in our society.Here is a link to a video on NBC's website: Maryland mall shooting witness.Apparently a 19-year old had a legal possession of a a gun and walked into a Maryland mall. He shot down two people working at a Zumiez and injured others before turning the gun to him

by Esther Kuang / 1h

1 in 5 Women Assaulted at College

One in five women are sexually assaulted at college and ONLY 12% report any sort of incident.This disturbing new report was found here , a video on NBC's website.As a young woman going to college, I am afraid for all women everywhere, even myself, when I hear this new statistic. Apparently, it has now turned to such an issue that Obama had to address this problem himself. He promises that there wi

by Esther Kuang / 3min 

Ukrainian Protesters

Thousands of protesters in Kiev mourned over the death of one of their former friends and protesters, Mikhail Zhiznevsky. They crowded the streets shouting "Hero" as his open coffin was carried through the streets of the capital. Protesters are demanding a free trade agreement with the European Union and they will not back down until their wish is granted.

by Jane Wagner / 0min 

Public shootings are now trending

Another public shooting has occurred. This is not the first time in the past year where a shooting has been in the news. This time it was at a mall and the shooter had no motives other than dissatisfaction with life. This raises the question of why are people shooting up random locations for no particular reason. The amount of press that these shootings get may be the reason for the increase of th

by Thomas Bates / 43min

Problems with Sochi Winter Olympics

As the UK reports that a terrorist attack in the winter olympics is  " very likely", the world is unsurprized as it is just another problem addded to an already growing list. With so many  problems arising one may be beging to ask him/her self  why Sochi was choosen in the  first place. With the torch Relay being composed of laps around the stadium, its seems to be that this olympics wil

by Carlos Cruz / 2min 

Top 6 Scams

The top 6 scams create a lot of inconvenience and it all scams people's money. Some of the scams do not seem as harsh but it is so unnoticed and the person who scams makes it sound like it is a fair trade. Most of these scams are done over the phone.Click here to check out the top 6 scams and how they work.

by Vincent Chan / 43min 

McDonald's is Going Down.

The world famous restaurant franchise is going down due to many reasons that all relate to the money earned and spent. Also, when it comes to food, McDonald's is become the least of people's choice to eat at. Other franchises such as Burger King and Wendy's are offering better and cheaper products in their menu which makes McDonald's lose its costomers. McDonald's had also gone through a new manag

by Vincent Chan / 1h 

Happy Cows Come from California... When Its Not In a Drought

Around this time you can see cows freely roaming green pastures from the freeway, however, lack of rain has caused these pastures to die out. Ranchers are selling their cattle and an increasingly fast rate in California. With California being in it's third dry year, the cattle industry has suffered. All of our happy California cows are being sent to Texas where they may be not so happy. To read mo

by Thomas Bates / 5h hide  //  save

Grammys promote homosexual equality and acceptance

The music industry is stepping up and promoting same sex marriage and equality. The Gammys hosted a performance by Macklemore of his popular song "Same Love", a song addressing the need for homosexual acceptance. During the performance 34 couple of different races, ethnicities, and sexual preferences were married by Queen Latifah. This is huge because of the huge influence music has on p

by Thomas Bates / 5h 

YESTERDAY

Children Suffer in Syria :(

We are truly fortunate to live in America today. As violent protests remain strong in Syria, there seems to be no end of chaos and dying people all around. I recently saw this video on NBC's website. Syria's Children Continue to Suffer in the CrossfireIt is disheartening to watch because at least one third of the children in Syria are under 15. As these innocent young human beings are living and g

by Esther Kuang / 7h 

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog 1-26-14

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog: The Sound of MusicIn this generation, everyone has very easy access to their favorite songs but maybe the quality of the sound is not very satisfying. Today the vinyl long-playing records is being re-introduced since the 1930's and apparently it has the best sound quality. Its big and old-fashioned and not portable; it is worth a fortune. Also, if you decide to buy the

by mike simpson / 4h 

1-27-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL:

Updates On California Case Attacking Teachers

The Vergara vs. California court case began today. Here are new additions to The Best Resources On California Court Case Attacking Teacher’s Rights: California teacher tenure, dismissal challenged in lawsuit is from The San Jose Mercury News. RT @Joy_Resmovits: #Vergaratrial defendent, repping Cali: VAM is "purely theory," plaintiffs cannot prove teachers are "grossly ineffective&q

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 

My Latest NY Times Post For ELLs: Learn The Progressive Tense & Create A Future Family Tree

My latest New York Times post for English Language Learners helps students learn the progressive tense and family vocabulary. It also includes a teaching idea about creating “future” family trees. A student interactive is included. You can see all my NY Times posts here.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 

1-26-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELLI’ve started a somewhat regular feature where I share a few posts and resources from around the Web related to ESL/EFL or to language in general that have caught my attention: Teaching English at The British Council has greatly expanded the number of bloggers who are writing monthly posts on dif

by mike simpson / 8h 

1-27-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:

John Dillon, retired teacher, pension activist and writer.

Ten minute drawing. Common Core and cheesecake.

  H/T to my bro.

3 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

Ten minute drawing. Special interest groups.

by Fred Klonsky / 12min 

Grammys and teachers.

  Yoko Ono greets my granddaughter at anti-war protest in NY, 2004. Photo: Grandpa Fred. I don’t want to make to much in the way broad social generalizations from watching the Grammy Awards last night. I am 65 and it clearly wasn’t for me, as my kids used to say when they were teenagers because I was shaking my head at the decline in pop music. That was before you could text that as SMH. I have g

1 by Fred Klonsky / 21min 

John Dillon. Now we know that SB1 is not enough to cover the crime.

  John Dillon, retired teacher and pension activist and writer. John Dillon’s Pension Vocabulary: Prescience: Looking for answers in Illinois. Had the real purpose of SB1 been to show how disconnected forced diminishment of workers’ compensation was to Illinois’s fiscal problems, it couldn’t have been more successful. A week-old report by the Fiscal Futures Project at the University of Illinois

by Fred Klonsky / 1h hide  //  save

Special Education. The Paul Vallas baggage and current ISBE practices.

From Jonathan Pelto’s What Wait? Paul Vallas hasn’t even left Bridgeport…In fact; the taxpayers of Connecticut and Bridgeport are picking up his salary and benefits for another month… But his legacy is already becoming clear. Late last week, the Connecticut State Department of Education released a report blasting the Paul Vallas’ leadership and the Bridgeport School System because, among other vi

1 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

1-26-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Sunday reads.Corporate school reformers are wringing their hands over the Common Core and testing push-back. NY teachers have no confidence in Commissioner John King. The school nobody wanted except the community. “Clearly, all we need is a candidate because I have not heard anyone defend Rahm or his

by mike simpson / 6h