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

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

Video: “Self Control: Dan Ariely at TEDxDuke”

I’m a big fan of Duke professor, author and researcher Dan Ariely, and have written a lot about his work. Here’s a video of a talk he gave on self-control (you can find the transcript here). It’s really quite good. Unfortunately, I think most of the examples and stories he uses — which are great — would just be too hard for high school students to connect with, and apply to, their own situation. N

by Larry Ferlazzo / 4min 

Video & Useful Tweets From #TeachDoNow Panel On Teachers & Social Media

Vicki Davis, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, Tina Barseghian Matt Williams and I participated in a #TeachDoNow Google+ panel discussion on teachers and social media. Here is the video and some useful tweets sent during the hour event. You can learn more about KQED’s #TeachDoNow online course here. [View the story "Useful Tweets From #TeachDoNow Panel On Teachers & Social Media" on Storify]

by Larry Ferlazzo / 35min

Video: ‘World Cup Chemistry: The Science Behind the Brazuca Ball”

© 2013 Calcio Streaming, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Here are some new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The 2014 World Cup In Brazil, in including a video: The New York Times has collected all their World Cup interactives in one place. Your World Cup Ethical Questions, Answered is from The New York Times.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 32min 

“The Leftovers” Shared A Key To Motivation & Perseverance In The First 30 Seconds Of Last Night’s Episode

“The Leftovers” is an intriguing, though depressing, new show on HBO, and last night was its second episode. The first thirty seconds of the show demonstrated a key to motivation and grit (perseverance) — I wish the clip could be found online, but no such luck. Two FBI agents were sitting in an office, and one told the other that his kid wanted to quit soccer and wanted to know if he should let h

by Larry Ferlazzo / 15min 

Our National Union Has A New President!

Lily Eskelsen García was just elected President of the National Education Association. You can read more about her at: Eskelsen García: We Are Fearless and We Will Not Be Silent at NEA Today. Doug Robinson: Former lunch lady Lily Garcia goes to Washington to run for the NEA from Deseret News. Check out her blog, Lily’s Blackboard. Next NEA leader’s first task: Win back public is from Politico an

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11min hide  //  save

Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELL

© 2014 Charles Seo, Flickr | CC-BY-ND | via Wylio   I’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: The Disabled Access Friendly Site is for teachers of English Language Learners and “provides teachers with free teaching material that can be used in class, for projects or

by Larry Ferlazzo / 6h 

7-6-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL, & EF

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: More Sites For Learning About Different Cultures© 2009 Nina Matthews, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Here are some new additions to one of my most popular lists, The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Different Cultures: What Beauty Looks Like, From Argentina to Vietnam is from The Atlantic. MAP: The most popular sport i

by mike simpson / 8h 

7-7-14 Curmudgucation Week

CURMUDGUCATION:

Hitting the Road

In a few hours my wife and  I will get on a plane and head off for Seattle, where I will learn about PLCs (yay) and stay with my daughter and son-in-law. From there, it's off to LA, where we will stay with my son and future daughter-in-law. Consequently, things will be quieter than usual here. Were I a blogger of Diane Ravitch's stature and stamina, I would keep up my regular output while strapped

10 by Peter Greene / 4h 

7-6-14 Curmudgucation Week

CURMUDGUCATION: All Minority SchoolsLast Tuesday the Atlantic became the gazillionth news outlet to report that this coming fall, the student population of the US will be less than 50% white.There's remarkably little comment on or discussion of this, even in the Atlantic's article. I can think of several reasons for this to go unremarked.1) It's not exactly news because it's been coming for quite

by mike simpson / 8h 

7-7-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Cuomo Says He Won't Intervene In LIRR Strike

You know it's an election year and Governor Cuomo needs union support when you hear him make statements like this: Gov. Cuomo isn't planning to intervene to stop a strike on the Long Island Rail Road. That's a job for Congress, he said. Cuomo said the labor strife at the LIRR is different from other state union disputes because it is covered by federal transportation law. “The LIRR is a little dif

by reality-based edu... / 8min 

Randi Weingarten Stands With Arne Duncan

From Politico:Education Secretary Arne Duncan has brushed off a call for his resignation from the National Education Association.The NEA adopted the resolution last week at its representative assembly in Denver, where the air was charged with anger and members buzzed with frustration at Duncan and other education reformers — especially their emphasis on high-stakes testing.The resolution blamed Du

by reality-based edu... / 21min 

New York Republicans Create "Stop Common Core" Ballot Line

From Liz Benjamin at State of Politics:According to a Facebook post last night by GOP consultant Vince Casale, there’s an effort underway to create a statewide “StopCommonCore” ballot line for the November elections.To create an independent line, state law requires the collection of a minimum of 15,000 signatures on an official designating petition. “Once created, you will have the opportunity to

by reality-based edu... / 32min 

Salon Covers Bill Gates' Common Core Obsession

Michael P. Mazenko on Bill Gates and the Common Core at Salon:It’s hard to envision Bill Gates not getting exactly what he wants, or backing down from anything. However, that was before he became the sugar daddy and primary backer of the Common Core State Standards, which have raised the ire of parents, students and educators in the past year. As Common Core critics began pushing back against adop

by reality-based edu... / 33min hide  //  save

Andrew Cuomo's Tea Party Pick For Lieutenant Governor Kept Under Wraps By The Cuomo Campaign

Fred Dicker in the NY Post:Where in the world is former US Rep. Kathy Hochul? The one-time Buffalo-area congresswoman known for her strong support of gun ownership rights and her fervid opposition to giving state privileges to illegal aliens has all but disappeared from public view since Gov. Cuomo picked her in May as his running mate for lieutenant governor. Key state Democrats told The Post tha

by reality-based edu... / 3h 

7-6-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Best Present NY State Could Get - Losing Its Race To The Top MoneyIn mid-June, the bureaucrats at the USDOE warned any changes to teacher evaluations in NY State would result in NY losing its Race to the Top money:New York state could lose nearly $300 million in Race to the Top funds if the state follows through on a proposal to put off incorporating test scores from common-

by mike simpson / 8h 

Shanker Blog » The Importance Of Relationships In Educational Reform

Shanker Blog » The Importance Of Relationships In Educational Reform:

The Importance Of Relationships In Educational Reform

Posted by Kara S. Finnegan and Alan J. Daly on July 7, 2014

Our guest authors today are Kara S. Finnigan, Associate Professor at the Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester, and Alan J. Daly, Professor and Chair of Education Studies at the University of California San Diego. Finnigan and Daly have published articles on network analysis in education in academic and practitioner journals, and recently co-edited Using Research Evidence in Education:  From the Schoolhouse Door to Capitol Hill(Springer, 2014), which explores the use and diffusion of different types of evidence across levels of the educational system.

There are many reforms out there; what if these ideas are not working as well as they could because educators are simply not communicating or building meaningful relationships with each other or maybe the conditions in which they do their work do not support productive interactions?  These are important issues to understand and our research, some of which we highlight in this post, underscores the importance of the relational element in reform.  To further explore the social side of the change equation, we draw on social network research as a way to highlight the importance of relationships as conduits through which valued resources flow and can bring about system-wide change.

A few years ago Arne Duncan noted that “[NCLB] has created a thousand ways for schools to fail and very few ways to help them succeed.”  We think that may have to do with the over reliance on technical fixes, prescriptive approaches and the scant attention to the context — particularly the social context — in which reforms are implemented.  But what would things look like if we took a more relational approach to educational improvement?

Imagine for a moment that you are the head of a large organization that is failing on whatever performance measures are deemed important.  You push “knowledge” into the system through meetings and informational resources.  You set aside time for meetings to share this knowledge and/or require that employees work together to make sure everyone is on the “same page.” After doing this, as many reforms suggest you should, you find your organization Shanker Blog » The Importance Of Relationships In Educational Reform:

UPDATE: Musings and Mental Meanderings

Musings and Mental Meanderings:

Musings and Mental Meanderings

byteacherkenFollow

 
 
• 2 Comments / 2 New

A few perhaps random thoughts rattling around inside my cranium.

There has been much commentary on the fact that the persistent conservative majority on SCOTUS seen in things like the recent Hobby Lobby case consists of 5 Catholic men, four of whom apparently have connections with Opus Dei.  Yet their decisions are empowering the more extreme evangelicals and fundamentalist "Christians" (more about the use of "Christians" anon) who do not consider Catholic to be Christians, with some of the those evangelicals and fundamentalists viewing Rome as the "whore of Babylon."   They also show a remarkable lack of historical understanding because one reason for the development of a Catholic school system was the imposition of Protestant Christianity through public schools.  That Opus Dei Catholics agree with extreme fundamentalists and evangelicals on abortion and birth control and homosexuality shows how out of touch they are with many of the rank and file congregants in Catholic churches, particularly younger people.  Worth noting that the one non Opus Dei among the 5, Anthony Kennedy, is a consistent supporter of gay rights.

More beneath the fold

"Christians" -   man ascribe to themselves that term, and exclude its application to those who disagree with them on a variety of issues.  At the most extreme, I can remember an occasion on my first visit to Mount Athos in 1981.  Athos is a monastic republic more than 1,000 years 

The loss of hope?

Perhaps because it helps explain why I teach, and in some ways helps fill out more completely the thoughts from my diary earlier today, I am reposting this piece from April 10, 2005.  Thus some of the material - the specific preceding event, my age - are somewhat dated.  The rest of the thoughts are not:  they still speak my mind, and help explain why I remain a teacher. Today the sun is shining.

by rss@dailykos.com ... / 10min 

Common Core Dissent: You Have No Right to Disagree if You Aren’t an ‘Expert’ | Missouri Education Watchdog

Common Core Dissent: You Have No Right to Disagree if You Aren’t an ‘Expert’ | Missouri Education Watchdog:

Common Core Dissent: You Have No Right to Disagree if You Aren’t an ‘Expert’

inShare

The underlying assumption of CCSS supporters is that CCSS opponents do not possess a certain baseline of competence and cannot decide what constitutes “evidence”.   (Link below)                  ~~from  “The Death of Expertise”

The exchange of ideas and opinions make for a lively debate.  Imperative in a debate is the use of factual information and evidence to support your argument.  That’s the primary reason authentic debate cannot happen with many CCSS supporters.   They rely on talking points since they don’t have research/data to back up their claims.  It is difficult to debate them as they make the underlying assumption that they have the authority to set national standards for all American citizens.  When asked where that authority is granted legally, you never receive an answer.  The argument then moves to the ‘tell me why they aren’t academically appropriate’.

It is useless and pointless to argue if they are academically superior since they were adopted and implemented without a legislative or taxpayer vote.  That’s the main issue to determine before any serious debate can occur about CCSS.   The CCSS are mandates.  In Missouri, the standards are not Common Core Dissent: You Have No Right to Disagree if You Aren’t an ‘Expert’ | Missouri Education Watchdog:

New Obama Initiative Stresses Equal Access To Good Teachers:

New Obama Initiative Stresses Equal Access To Good Teachers

The Obama administration will announce plans on Monday to enforce a long-ignored federal mandate: a decade-old requirement that states give students of all ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds equal access to good teachers.

The new initiative, called "Excellent Educators for All," aims to bring states into compliance with a teacher equity mandate in the No Child Left Behind Act, the George W. Bush-era law that requires states to reward and punish schools based on standardized test scores.

There are three parts to the effort: By April 2015, states must submit "comprehensive educator equity plans" that detail how they plan to put "effective educators" in front of poor and minority kids. To help states write the plans, the Education Department will create a $4.2 million "Education Equity Support Network." And this fall, the Education Department will publish "Educator Equity profiles" that highlight which states and districts fare well or poorly on teacher equity.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will announce the changes Monday at a roundtable with teachers and President Barack Obama. The White House is framing the initiative as the latest of Obama's executive actions to circumvent congressional gridlock.

It's not yet clear, though, exactly how the department will hold states accountable for all this planning -- and ultimately produce changes in classrooms. The department's initial press release on the effort also did not specify how it will define "effective" teachers.

The No Child Left Behind Act includes language requiring states to "ensure that poor and minority students are not taught at higher rates than other children by inexperienced, unqualified, or out-of-field teachers."

But this mandate has never been consistently enforced. In 2006, the Bush New Obama Initiative Stresses Equal Access To Good Teachers:

Teachers Should Just Say No to Cheap Talk & Lip Service :: Frederick M. Hess

Teachers Should Just Say No to Cheap Talk & Lip Service :: Frederick M. Hess:

Teachers Should Just Say No to Cheap Talk & Lip Service

by Frederick M. Hess  •  Jul 7, 2014 at 8:38 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

 Teachers get lots of lip service, misty-eyed declarations of admiration, and cloying tributes. These blanket hugs are ritually offered up to three million plus teachers, without qualifiers or challenges. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has insisted, "I believe that [teachers] are absolutely the unsung heroes of our society." Actor Matt Damon told a Save Our Schools rally, "I flew overnight...and came down here because I really had to tell you all in person that I think you all are awesome." Or, as Michelle Collay put it in Everyday Teacher Leadership, "Teaching is not just another job. Choosing to work with children and youth on a daily basis is something elevated to superhuman status."

These platitudes are the junk food of speechmaking. They seem insincere, like the empty words of car salesmen (even when they're not). But there's a bigger problem. This isn't how we talk to professionals. It's how we talk to Cub Scouts or T-ball players, because we think they're cute and too fragile for tougher stuff.

You don't lard buckets of mushy sentiment on people you really respect. This verbal tic is the opposite of respect.  In fact, it infantilizes teachers and crowds out respect. Real respect is earned. It carries an edge. It's not given away freely or casually. It's a conversation between equals. And we usually don't feel obliged to shower banal praise on our equals.

All this happy talk is insincere, anyway. We know this, because nobody honestly believes all of America's three million plus teachers are awesome or heroic.  As one decorated teacher told me, "I am so sick of all this teacher heroism crap, already. I'm a professional, not a hero." Saying this isn't meant as an attack on teachers: after all, nobody thinks that every doctor, lawyer, professor, or cop is good or noble, either. Even the voluble Matt Damon doesn't think that every actor or screenwriter in Hollywood is "awesome." How do I know? Well, a few years ago, Damon slammed screenwriter Tony Gilroy, saying of Gilroy's Bourne Ultimatumscript, "This is a career-ender. I mean, I could put this thing up on eBay and it would be game over for that Teachers Should Just Say No to Cheap Talk & Lip Service :: Frederick M. Hess:

NYC Educator: Summer Reading Suggestion

NYC Educator: Summer Reading Suggestion:

Summer Reading Suggestion

One of my favorite bloggers, José Luis Vilson, actually sat down and wrote a book. A book! I'm pretty impressed by this. First of all, it had hundreds of pages, and each one was filled with words. That in itself was impressive to me. Even better, it kept me turning pages, which many books fail to do nowadays.

More impressive was finally seeing an extended reflection on teaching from a real teacher. I’m not used to that. Over the years I've become increasingly irritated by books from people who’ve given it up, who’ve taught for a year or two and have decided to share with us their insights. My insight is those people are failures. I don’t care what they think, and I have no idea why anyone else does. If anyone should be discussing the system, for better or worse, it should be us.

One of the best things José wrote was that feedback, the only meaningful feedback, is that which you get from the kids in front of you. I was at a book release party at UFT when someone read that, and it was kind of a "eureka" moment for me. I couldn’t agree more, and that’s just one reason all this corporate-produced nonsense about complex junk-science evaluation systems is just that. Maybe there are teachers who have no idea whether or not things are going well on a day to day basis. How they manage to drag themselves to work on a daily basis I have no idea.

If you're tuned in, as José clearly is, you don't need to wait until the principal wanders in to know how well you're doing your job. Teenagers tell you all the time, from the moment they arrive until the moment they leave. If you aren't tuned in, then I suppose you do need adminstrators to come in and explain objective reality. (I can only suppose that's what all the E4E teachers who love junk-science based evaluation systems must need. I just can't figure how on earth they equate anything they do with "excellence.)

The best feedback I ever got from an administrator was from a former principal, before Reformy John King decreed "Ye shall be observed 4-6 times, whether ye need it or not." This principal observed full classes of mine twice, promised to write both up, and never did. But when he NYC Educator: Summer Reading Suggestion:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

"Vergara was the straw that broke the camel's back.The Secretary's response to the Vergara verdict—it was just shameful. And it underscored his lack of understanding." -- CTA Pres. Dean Vogel    

Dennis Van Roekel, outgoing NEA president

"Let's be clear—we as educators are not opposed to tests. Good God, we invented them! But we know that the purpose of testing should be to drive learning, not to label and punish." -- Teacher Beat

New NEA V.P. Becky Pringle

New NEA V.P.-elect Becky Pringle 

"The political landscape has not changed and we expect the threats to our union to continue. The corporate reformers are spinning these complicated webs that we anticipate will continue and pick up." -- EdWeek

Fred Klonsky

 So, for this meeting to choose three women of color to lead the organization and Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

Students Learn by Doing, Not Testing | WagTheDog

Students Learn by Doing, Not Testing | WagTheDog:

Students Learn by Doing, Not Testing

Eliminating weeks of meaningful instructional time (projects, research, learning activities, performances, field trips…) so that tests can be administered to measure student growth and achievement is like an overweight person cancelling membership at the gym for a month in order to get weight and blood pressure checked at the doctor’s office each day.

This approach makes CENTS to edupreneurs and data miners because they view education through data-driven and test-centric glasses. From a learning and student-centered perspective, this approach is academically, socially, and emotionally bankrupt.

The Common Core regime of annual high stakes testing will not improve student proficiency but it will certainly increase the profits of those selling CCSS workbooks, test prep materials, and software solutions.

Standardized tests should be administered on a grade-span basis to more accurately identify and measure trends in student learning over a multi-year time period as student cognitive growth may be delayed one year but sprint ahead the next.

The relationship between standardized testing and the Common Core is toxic, and has Students Learn by Doing, Not Testing | WagTheDog:

Schools expanding social media use to reach parents :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet

Schools expanding social media use to reach parents :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:



JULY 07, 2014

Schools expanding social media use to reach parents

by Alisha Kirby

(Calif.) Ninety-five percent of local and state education agencies nationwide are on Facebook and/or Twitter, according to a recent survey by the Reform Support Network.

Eighty percent are or plan to be active on YouTube, and over 50 percent are or intend to start blogging.

The survey is included in a four-part tip sheet released by the U.S. Department of Education urging LEAs and SEAs to continue to embrace social media as a communication tool between them and students, parents and the community as a whole.

“(Social media) is absolutely vital for us as people’s communication habits have changed,” said Trent Allen, a spokesperson for San Juan Unified School District. “You have more and more people using social media to communicate on a daily basis that allows them to do so on their own schedule.”

“It’s also important because it provides a two-way form of communication, which is a great advantage for us,” Allen said. “It’s a great way for a new section of our community to be able to interact with us who haven’t typically interacted with us in some of the more traditional methods.”

With plenty of research suggesting that parental involvement in a child’s education increases academic achievement, states are prioritizing the educator-parent relationship and schools are using every tool at their disposal to engage their local communities, with an emphasis on social media platforms.

“We are seeing higher levels of engagement, especially from some members of our community who haven’t necessarily been involved in the committees or PTAs and those things in the past,” Allen said. “We’re seeing folks who certainly care about education and their student’s education coming forward to interact and talk with us and be part of the conversation.”

With approximately 802 million people actively using Facebook daily, 255 million per month on Schools expanding social media use to reach parents :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:

Bruce Dixon Profiles Paul Vallas as “Neoliberal Chainsaw Man” on Public Education | janresseger

Bruce Dixon Profiles Paul Vallas as “Neoliberal Chainsaw Man” on Public Education | janresseger:

Bruce Dixon Profiles Paul Vallas as “Neoliberal Chainsaw Man” on Public Education

Posted on July 7, 2014 by janresseger

Bruce Dixon, the managing editor of The Black Agenda Report, has been consistently insightful about the danger of the privatization of education.  His reports for The Black Commentatorwere instrumental more than a decade ago in exposing the far-right agenda of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, which funded the astro-turf Black Alliance for Education Options to promote vouchers beyond Cleveland and Milwaukee.

Dixon’s stunning new profile of Paul Vallas is no exception to his tradition of quality reporting.  Dixon follows Vallas from 1995, when Mayor Richard M. Daley appointed Vallas, a non-educator who was then Daley’s chief of staff, CEO of the Chicago Public Schools to implement corporate school “reform.” Dixon tracks Vallas’s work to bring corporate-portfolio style school reform to Philadelphia, then to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, then to Haiti, and finally to Bridgeport, Connecticut, where Vallas was ousted because he had never earned a school administrator’s credential, a state requirement for school superintendents in Connecticut.  Now Vallas is Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn’s choice to run for Lieutenant Governor in the upcoming 2014 November election.

Dixon writes:  “Democrat Paul Vallas has spent the last two decades dismembering and dismantling public schools, lying about deficits, unjustly blaming and firing public school teachers across the country… If neoliberalism is the economic and social doctrine that all Bruce Dixon Profiles Paul Vallas as “Neoliberal Chainsaw Man” on Public Education | janresseger: