7-4-14 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.:

NEA RA. Delegates to Arne: Leave.

A New Business Item critical of Arne Duncan has been brought to the RA for a number of years. In 2010 we passed a New Business Item, 13 Things We Hate About Arne Duncan. At the 2011 and 2012 no confidence in Arne NBIs failed by narrow margins. Today the RA passed by a similarly narrow margin. It calls for Arne to leave the Department of Education. It was so close that there were calls for a roll-

by Fred Klonsky / 30min 

NEA RA. The largest union in the United States has elected three women of color to lead it.

NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia, Vice President Becky Pringle and Secretary-Treasurer Princess Moss. Put aside a moment all the debate (actually too little debate) about Common Core and high-stake testing. Or the other 100 New Business Items that will be considered before the NEA Representative Assembly wraps up on Sunday. The 9,000 delegates did something quite remarkable this morning. The el

by Fred Klonsky / 5min 

The courts pension decision and the governor’s race.

Yesterday’s Illinois Supreme Court decision is cause for celebration. Six of the seven judges agreed that the pension protection clause of the state’s constitution meant what it said. Contractual pension benefits between the state and all government bodies in the state cannot be diminished or impaired. And AG Attorney Genera Lisa Madigan’s claim of police powers that trump the pension protection

by Fred Klonsky / 30min 

7-3-14 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.: NEA RA. NBI on Common Core.This NBI from the NEA Board of Directors will be voted on at the RA later this week. NEW BUSINESS ITEM C In recognition of supporting quality teaching, as well as learning over testing, NEA will work with state affiliates in states that have adopted the Common Core State Sta

by mike simpson / 8h 

7-4-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

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

The Best Resources For Learning About The Children Refugee Crisis At The U.S. Southern Border

© 2007 Jake Prendez, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio I’ve previously shared articles on the children refugee crisis (and, make no mistake — it is a refugee crisis, not an immigrant problem), but thought it would be useful for me to collect them all in one list. Feel free to offer additional suggestions in the comments section: RT @LydiaGuzman: Change the language: they are not immigrants, they are REFU

by Larry Ferlazzo / 22min 

In Addition To Being The U.S. Independence Day, Today Is Also Rwanda’s 20th “Liberation Day” — When The Genocide Ended

© 2011 Voyages Lambert, Flickr | CC-BY-ND | via Wylio As we here in the United States mark July 4th as our Independence Day, Rwanda also “marks its Liberation Day, the anniversary of the Rwandan Patriotic Front’s defeat of government forces which effectively ended the 1994 genocide.” You might be interested in The Best Sites To Learn About Genocide In Rwanda.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 45min 

“‘There Are So Many Inspirational Teachers Out There’: An Interview With Meenoo Rami”

‘There Are So Many Inspirational Teachers Out There’: An Interview With Meenoo Rami is my latest post over at Education Week Teacher. This summer, I’ll be alternating between publishing thematic compilations of past posts and sharing interviews with authors of recent books I consider important and useful for us educators. Meenoo Rami, a teacher at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia an

by Larry Ferlazzo / 58min hide  //  save

A Few More Good July Fourth Resources

© 2013 Kevin Dooley, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Here are some final additions to The Best Websites For Learning About The Fourth Of July: MAP: How every country in the world celebrates its version of July 4th is from Vox. The Night Before the Fourth is from The Atlantic. Here’s a good NY Times video:

by Larry Ferlazzo / 7h 

7-3-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: TED-Ed Video: “What you might not know about the Declaration of Independence”Here’s a nice TED-Ed video and lesson I’m adding to The Best Websites For Learning About The Fourth Of July:by Larry Ferlazzo / 8h 7-2-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFLLarry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

by mike simpson / 8h 

7-4-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter:

David Brooks: In Praise of Segregation

It's not often that NYTimes conservative columnist, David Brooks, finds any way to use science try to justify the lifestyles of the rich and separate, but someone sent him news of a study that he obviously felt he could manipulate to rationalize the continuing resegregation of America and its schools. Good fences make good neighbors. When ethnic groups clash, we usually try to encourage peace

2 by Jim Horn / 40min 

7-3-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter: Picket, Boycott, Shut Down Weingarten's Common Core ConventionFrom Inside AFT: The AFT convention, set for July 11-14 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, will focus on fighting back and fighting forward on key domestic issues to reclaim the promise of America, including the Common Core State Standards . . .2 by Jim Horn / 51min 7-2-14 Schools Matter All WeekSchools Matter: Join M

by mike simpson / 13h 

7-4-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE:

Is the Tea Party a new Know Nothing Party?

Is the Tea Party a new Know Nothing Party?.

by David Greene / 9min 

My Independence Day Post Featuring Kate Smith and God Bless America

For my July Fourth post, I would like to feature what is now a well-known American anthem as performed by the iconic Kate Smith, God Bless America. Written by Irvin Berlin and made famous by Smith, the song premiered in 1938. As noted in Parade magazine in August 2013: …When Irving Berlin rediscovered his old song[originally written in 1918 yet unused] […]

2 by deutsch29 / 50min 

Expect a regular series on saving a school

As some of you may know, I walked away from a position in higher education to return to the elementary classroom. With roughly 13 years of experience in education, and two advanced degrees, even rather late in the hiring cycle, I had my pick of teaching positions in Washington, DC. I immediately chose, without hesitation, […]

2 by Shaun Johnson / 55min hide  //  save

This #TFA village is hilariously, sadly NOT a joke

Holy hell, I could have sworn this was a joke. It isn’t. A mixed residential/commercial real estate venture in Philly called “Oxford Mills” just opened that caters to the “education community.” Read this article to believe it. Paul Kihn, deputy superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia, told the guests, “Oxford will be a great […]

5 by Shaun Johnson / 1h 

7-3-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: Said it before and we’ll say it again: #edreform is cheap @rocketshipedRocketship Education sputters. I guess they didn’t build that play too well as they flew it. An editorial from the WI Journal Sentinel pretty much sums it up. Rocketship relies on inexperienced teachers, almost one-third of whom quit last year. It saves money by having students as young as kindergarten spend o

by mike simpson / 8h  

7-4-14 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION:

Hess: Free Press Charter Stories "Unhelpful"

The Detroit Free Press recently ran a huge, extensively researched and reported story on Michigan's charter schools. They concluded, among other things, that charters hoover up a billion dollars with little transparency, that many charters are simply an ATM for family and friends of operators, that even really bad charters have stayed open for decade, and that charters don't do any better at educa

10 by Peter Greene / 1h hide  //  save

Van Roekel, Fordham and Defending the Brand

What a difference a year can make.A year ago, Dennis van Roekel's message to NEA members was, "Well, if not Common Core, then what in its place?" This year, his message was, "Common who? Hey, look at this toxic testing badness!"With all the tight aim of a finely-crafted focus-group-tested PR campaign, DVR used the NEARA convention as a launching pad for a campaign to push back

20 by Peter Greene / 2h 

7-3-14 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION: Who Would Replace Arne DuncanThis question turned up on twitter again yesterday, and it represents one more popular daydream-- the end of Arne Duncan's tenure as Secretary of Education.I understand the appeal. Duncan has become the poster boy for reformsters, the face of everything teachers hate about this administration's education policy. When the administration has something ann

by mike simpson / 8h 

7-4-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

The Hubris, Arrogance And Authoritarianism Of Common Core Proponents

Some of the comments on Jay Greene's Common Core Political Naivete and the Enemies List post get at this:"The main problem has not been intention, I think, but strategy. I have no doubt many Core supporters really think national standards are educationally important. The problem is, to get what they thought was good, they adopted a strategy that was — and is — highly destructive: Drive adopti

by reality-based edu... / 1h  

7-3-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: But Isn't The College/Career Readiness Metric All About Test Prep, Chancellor?Eliza Shapiro at Capital NY got an interview with Carmen Farina in which the NYCDOE chancellor gives more details on her plans to improve the school system.Farina says she plans to focus on the 2nd, 7th and 10th grades as benchmarks for how children are progressing academically, socially and emotio

by mike simpson / 8h

"This July 4, governing in the spirit of revenge"

"This July 4, governing in the spirit of revenge":

"This July 4, governing in the spirit of revenge"

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As we celebrate the Fourth of July, who can argue that our democracy is working the way the Founders intended? And who can deny that most of the blame for dysfunction must fall to the Republican Party?

So begins Eugene Robinson's column in today's Washington Post, whose title I have borrowed for this posting.

To be appropriate for the day, Robinson reminds us that the man commanding the forces already battling the British Army for our independence at the time the Declaration was issued, George Washington, would in his Farewell Address after serving two terms as our first President, express his distrust of political parties, because

as they alternated power, parties would act in “the spirit of revenge” — rather than, presumably, in the best interests of the nation. The “disorders and miseries” that resulted, Washington feared, would inevitably threaten democracy.

 Robinson does not mention that Washington was already seeing this during his second term, with the development of what would eventually become the Democrats and the Federalists, led respectively by Jefferson and Madison.  It is perhaps worth remembering that when the former, while serving as Vice President, defeated the latter, who had succeeded Washington after serving as his Vice President, the outgoing Federalists tried to stack the government by creating and filling multiple positions for Magistrates for the District of Columbia, an action that could have lead to the wholesale impeachment of the so-called "Midnight Judges" but instead lead to the seminal Supreme Court case of Marbury v Madison.

Please keep reading.

Robinson writes that for most of our history the major parties, despite severe differences, "have acted in a spirit of shared enterprise" with some exceptions of which the most notable is the "This July 4, governing in the spirit of revenge":

NYC Educator: Could Educational Extortion Work?

NYC Educator: Could Educational Extortion Work?:

Could Educational Extortion Work?

Imagine the Crime of the Century:

With all the money that Bill Gates has poured into the Common Core, pawning it off on states in return for large grants, seeming to buy the loyalty of organizations like the National PTA and AFT, it may come as a surprise that his Common Core has been kidnapped.  There has been much speculation as to the identity of the perpetrators of this heinous offense.  Apparently, no fingerprints were found on the message above, just a fancy seal.

In other news, the federal government seems hopeful that the U.S. may one day pay off its enormous debt.  "All the news that's fit to print"--or fit to cut from newsprint!NYC Educator: Could Educational Extortion Work?:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Eric Holder turned into a political hack for Rahm

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Eric Holder turned into a political hack for Rahm:

Eric Holder turned into a political hack for Rahm

Shame on Attorney General Eric Holder for allowing himself and his office to be used to kickstart Rahm Emanuel's re-election campaign. Holder was in town Wednesday to hail the “amazing” turnaround in school safety since the 2009 beating death of Fenger Academy student Derrion Albert — even after 50 school closings.

“There are a lot of great things going on in Chicago. There is an organized, a galvanized community led by a great mayor that has led to reductions in all the viable statistics — really amazing reductions,” Holder said during a roundtable at police headquarters.

What a bunch of horsebleep! Remember, Rahm is the same guy who, as Obama's chief of staff, told Holder to "STFU' when it came to drafting any gun-control legislation. It may be borderline legal for a cabinet guy to campaign for politicians, but it's shady, as Holder well knows. Especially when an administration like Rahm's is so notorious for corruption and with Holder's Justice Dept. possibly having to carry out investigations an prosecutions.

Yes, "galvanized community" indeed. It's galvanized alright, galvanized against the mayor's school closings and against his failure to control the growing gun violence epidemic. I'm certain Holder has seen Rahm's single-digit approval ratings on the south and west sides.

Emanuel and Holder both claimed that the just-ended school year was the "safest on record" in the seven years since the Chicago Public Schools started tracking safety.

What Holder failed to mention or worse, failed to notice was, thousands of black and Latino children having to navigate through cordons of "safe passage" guards just to get to theirreceiving schools an the psychological impact that has on students and families. Holder might have pointed out that there was never many in-school shootings. Even Albert wasn't killed in Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Eric Holder turned into a political hack for Rahm:

Day 2: NEA Rep Assembly BAT Blog #NEARA14 #NEABAT (With pictures) | Continuing Change

Day 2: NEA Rep Assembly BAT Blog #NEARA14 #NEABAT (With pictures) | Continuing Change:

Day 2: NEA Rep Assembly BAT Blog #NEARA14 #NEABAT (With pictures)

July 4, 2014EducationNEA

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On yet another beautiful Colorado day, thousands upon thousands of teachers and support personnel poured into the Denver Convention Center.

Today, our National Education Association kicked off our 2014 Representative Assembly with a fan fare of music, lights, and even remote control video cameras.

As, I entered the main assembly seating area, I quickly realized I had underestimated the amount of coffee that I would need that day.

Most of the morning seemed to be a tribute to Dennis Van Roekel, our retiring President. I have never met him, but I am pretty sure we have been in a few articles together, so I was curious as to his personality. On stage, he was lighthearted and funny during the tribute. His mother came up and spoke on his behalf. It was a precious moment.

During afternoon debate, DVR tightened up a little bit on the personality. Debate went fast and he rules a pretty strict parlimentary procedure. I must admit, as a first time delegate, I was a bit intimidated.

I never did find the needed coffee, but I did find Fred Klonsky, retired teacher, blogger, and one of my personal heroes. #EvenBetter

I did eventually get up and go to the microphone to speak on a new business item which involved art and core standards. My “comical” moment made EdWeek Blog:

“In one of the more comical moments of the convention so far, Bonnie Margolin, a self-proclaimed Badass Teacher, took the microphone to respond to that proposal. “I stood up in opposition initially because it says core standards, but I can see that it was written by teachers and educators so I’m rescinding my opposition,” she said. The BATs, as they call Day 2: NEA Rep Assembly BAT Blog #NEARA14 #NEABAT (With pictures) | Continuing Change: