9-18-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

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

Three Skeptical Posts About Ed Tech

© 2011 J Aaron Farr, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Here are few interesting recent skeptical posts on ed tech issues: Why I’m Asking You Not to Use Laptops is from The Chronicle Of Higher Education. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles Highlighting Why We Need To Be Very Careful Around Ed Tech. Why I Just Asked My Students To Put Their Laptops Away is by Clay Shirky. I’m adding it to the sa

8 by Larry Ferlazzo / 28min 

Nice Video Animation: “Scottish independence referendum 2014 explained”

The citizens of Scotland are voting on whether to be their own independent country. In fact, the voting is taking place as I’m writing these words. I’ve previously shared a nice, short video explaining what’s going on, and here’s another good explanation — an animated video from The Guardian:

7 by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 

9-17-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Search For Historical Word Use In Movies With “Bookworm”I’ve previously written about several web tools that let you search for word usage in various places — books, the NY Times, Yelp — and then chart them out over the years. You can read about all of them here. There’s a new addition to that list — Bookworm. Despite its n

1 by mike simpson / 7h 

9-18-14 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.:

The Highland teachers strike. A great editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

- St. Louis Post-Dispatch Striking teachers in Highland aren’t making a lot of friends. Kids suffer when teachers aren’t in the classroom, and parents must scramble to make arrangements for child care for younger students. The Fightin’ Highland Bulldogs, one of the top-ranked small-school football teams in Illinois, already has had to forfeit one game and may have to forfeit again Friday night. F

1 by Fred Klonsky / 1min 

LAUSD 2014 Professional Development.

1 by Fred Klonsky / 19min 

Principal Troy LaRaviere on Chicago school policy. The public loses out and private corporations profit.

Blaine Principal Troy LaRaviere discusses how the scandal around school custodians and Aramark is bigger than rats, roaches and clean classrooms, as if that isn’t enough. He explains how, across the board, CPS and the current administration have created a system where students and the public lose and private corporations profit.

13 by Fred Klonsky / 1h

9-17-14 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.: Hooray for cartoonists.Dykes to Watch Out For cartoonist Alison Bechdel won the MacCarthur Award this morning. Hooray for cartoonists.2 by Fred Klonsky / 1h hide  //  saveLeadership.3 by Fred Klonsky / 2h 9-16-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacherFred Klonsky | Daily posts

1 by mike simpson / 7h 

9-18-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE:

About the radio show

Join Drs. Shaun Johnson and Tim Slekar 

LIVE Sundays at 6PM EST and Wednesdays at 7PM EST 

on Blog Talk Radio for progressive, pro-public education talk radio. 

Call in to speak live with Tim and Shaun during the show, (805) 727-7111. 

You can also listen to our Monday "Sunday-Replay" at 7PM EST, and re-broadcasts of the archives every Tuesday and Thursday at 7PM EST.

Visit the @ the Chalk Face radio main page for more information on the show and syndication.

Not Your Grandparents’ Mathematics: Good Mathematics Education Drives Americans Crazy

  “The proof of Theorem 3-6 is elementary but rather complicated; that is, we have used quite basic results, but we have used them in an involved sequence. You might contrast this proof and the skills you need to follow it with the numerical computations you once considered typical of mathematics. This proof provides a […]

1 by Michael Paul Gold... / 0min 

Are We Ready To Move Beyond Our Reform Wars?

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, the ability to hold opposing opinions in mind is a sign of intelligence. Similarly, we should welcome Patrick Riccards’ call for dialogue, as we also explain why efforts to bridge differences must be pursued as teachers step up our counter-attack against corporate reform. Riccards calls for a practitioner advisory board. […]

2 by John Thompson / 20min 

9-14-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: About the radio showJoin Drs. Shaun Johnson and Tim Slekar LIVE Sundays at 6PM EST and Wednesdays at 7PM EST on Blog Talk Radio for progressive, pro-public education talk radio. Call in to speak live with Tim and Shaun during the show, (805) 727-7111. You can also listen to our Monday "Sunday-Replay" at 7PM EST, and re-broadcasts of the archives every Tuesday and Thursd

by mike simpson / 16min

9-18-14 the becoming radical | Market Ethics No Ethics at All

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University):

Market Ethics No Ethics at All

In the wake of this country’s premier professional sports league fumbling several cases of domestic violence by its players, one high-profile player has become the focus of equally disturbing cases of child abuse. While the league and teams struggled with concerns about due process—deactivating, reactivating, and then deactivating again the player in the child abuse scandal—women and children brui

5 by plthomasedd / 1h 

9-16-14 the becoming radical | Spare the Rod, Respect the Child: Abuse Is Not Discipline

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): Spare the Rod, Respect the Child: Abuse Is Not DisciplineAs a teenager and then a young adult, I witnessed in two different contexts a powerful and publicly praised adult who was not what he appeared. Particularly when I was a young adult, early in my career, I was able

by mike simpson / 14min 

9-18-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Steve Forbes Loves Governor Cuomo

Want to know why Rob Astorino can't win in November?Because business people like Steve Forbes love them some Andrew Cuomo:BOLTON LANDING—Publishing titan and two-time Republican presidential aspirant Steve Forbes praised Andrew Cuomo before a speech Wednesday, but said it'll be a while before the governor can boast of a welcoming business climate in New York.“He's made some changes on the tax side

by reality-based edu... / 2min 

SUNY Chancellor To Promote Business Role In Education

From State of Politics:Also at 10 a.m., SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher and IBM Foundation president Stanley Litow discuss the role that business should play in education during the Business Council’s conference, The Sagamore, 110 Sagamore Rd., Bolton Landing.Because Bill Gates, Eli Broad, Michael Bloomberg and a host of edu-entrepreneurs, hedge fundies, and tech and textbook companies don't have en

by reality-based edu... / 9min hide  //  save

Class Sizes Rise Again In NYCDOE Schools

From the Wall Street Journal:Average class sizes in grades 1-3 in New York City public schools rose to 25 or 26 children in the last school year—an addition of three students a class from five years earlier, according to the Mayor's Management Report released Wednesday. Average classes in grades 4-8 also rose but at a slower pace, and averaged 26 to 28 students.The report noted the city aims to br

by reality-based edu... / 2h 

9-17-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Cuomo Wants To "Bridge The Broadband Divide" At Same Time He Can't Pay For The Tappan Zee Bridge ProjectIt is becoming increasingly clear that Governor Andrew M. Cuomo is building a $3.9 billion dollar replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge that has no funding source.Cuomo tried to get half a billion in loans from the EPA clean water fund for the bridge, but that at

1 by mike simpson / 8h 

The White Fit | EduShyster

The White Fit | EduShyster:

The White Fit

 Recruiting more minority teachers is essential—after we drive out all of those who are already teaching…

Today’s high-stakes question involves the demographics of our nation’s teaching force. When and where is it appropriate to discuss the urgent need to diversify the nation’s teaching force whilst failing to acknowledge what’s happening to the ranks of minority teachers who are already teaching? The answer: in whatever city Arne Duncan’s *bigger rigor* bus tour happens to have landed. You see, even as a much-needed conversation about the vital importance of having teachers of color in front of an increasingly diverse student body is taking place, a bouquet of reform policies is effectively pushing out existing teachers of color. Bundle up reader, because we’re headed to Boston where the nip of fall is in the air and minority teachers are being *reformed* right out of the city’s public schools.

Needs improvement
Our destination today is Boston Latin Academy, one of the city’s exam schools, and home to the latest installment in our series: The Incredible Shrinking Veteran Minority Teaching Force. If you’re only just now tuning in, let me bring you up to speed. Two years ago, the Boston Public School rolled out a new evaluation system to provide *more rigorous oversight of teachers and administrators.* And there was great news—for administrators, who received rigorously robust ratings. As for the city’s minority teachers? Not so much. A rigorous review of school department data found that black and Hispanic teachers, along with older teachers, were more likely to score poorly than their *brighter,* *whiter* and *lighter* experienced colleagues.

Assessment assessment
Following so far? Good—or rather, bad—because here’s where an already troubling tale takes an even more troubling turn. At Boston Latin Academy, minority teachers (who were a decided minority), appear to have been singled out for an especially rigorous evaluation process at the hands of white administrators. [Note: if you have your assessment assessment rubric handy, check off *stepped up* classroom observations, *nuanced* The White Fit | EduShyster:

David Boies helped California gay couples win the right to marry. Now he’s attacking teacher tenure - The Washington Post

David Boies helped California gay couples win the right to marry. Now he’s attacking teacher tenure - The Washington Post:



David Boies helped California gay couples win the right to marry. Now he’s attacking teacher tenure

David Boies is an accomplished civil rights attorney who is probably best known for his Supreme Court cases, in which he has represented Al Gore and Californian gay couples seeking to marry. Now he is working on behalf of kids in urban schools, but his approach is a controversial one. He argues that teacher tenure denies students their right to an equal education, guaranteed in Brown v. Board of Education and many state constitutions.

Boies is chairman of the Partnership for Educational Justice, the group started by former news anchor Campbell Brown that has organized a lawsuit to eliminate tenure in New York. The group is planning more cases in other states. A similar effort succeeded in California earlier this year, and Gov. Jerry Brown is appealing that case.

Last week, Wonkblog talked about teacher tenure with Jesse Rothstein, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley who supports teacher tenure. Rothstein's research has shown that without teacher tenure, recruiting and retaining talented teachers would be even more difficult than it already is. On Monday, Wonkblog met with Boies to talk about teacher tenure -- specifically what it means for education to be a civil right and whether state and federal governments should provide equal funding to districts in wealthy and poor cities.

The debate over tenure, Boies said, might be a distraction from other, larger issues in the public schools where progress might be possible. "Everybody needs to step back and understand that this is part of a broader problem," Boies said. "I think both sides can probably find areas of agreement."

An edited transcript of the interview is below.

~~~

I wanted to start with Brown v. Board of Education. It's been 60 years. What do you see as the legacy of Brown vs. Board?

We are continuing to segregate our schools. While people now will say that segregation is based on economics, the history of this country has deprived many African American families of the same economic opportunities that other people have enjoyed. We segregate our schools in a way that is not only undesirable, but fundamentally at odds with the basic principles of our country.

Our basic principles in this country are that everybody deserves an opening shot. If you don't have an equal education, if you don't have equal home environment, you can't have that. You have many inner-city schools that are serving students whose lives are already severely challenged because of the economic and social circumstances of their families. Not only are they not getting the extra help that they need and deserve, they're not getting help that is remotely comparable to the educational opportunities that are given to children in upper income suburbs.

Teacher tenure is an important issue, but it's only one part of a much, much larger problem. Because teacher tenure is such a flash point, people are focusing on that issue, separate from the broader issue of how we provide educational equality to our students. Everybody needs to step back and understand that this is part of a broader problem. It would be desirable if both sides could get together on the issues that they agree on. I think both sides can probably find areas of agreement.

So what are some of those areas of agreement?

I think one of the areas of agreement is the need to increase educational budgets. I think another area is the need to move towards fiscal equality. Really just for historical reasons, we've evolved a funding mechanism for schools that was neighborhood based. As our neighborhoods have become increasingly unbalanced in terms of economic and social characteristics, that method of funding is increasingly untenable.

What the federal government can do is to help in terms of equalizing funding. There is a national obligation and a national imperative to improve our education system.

States can do that as well. There are state constitutions that compel that. The state constitutions in various places including California, including Florida, talk about the right to an education. They don't talk about the right to an education provided by Miami-Dade or Los Angeles. It is an obligation of the state of Florida, the state of California.

The issue of equal funding for schools across a state -- that might be another case.

Absolutely.

We're talking about not just tenure, we're talking about financing of the education system -- what else? Are there are other areas where you think people who are looking to improve the education system in this country could use the courts and the precedent of Brown vs. Board?

If you had fiscal equality, and you had promotion and retention on the merits, and you had some family choice, those three things would go a very long ways toward radically improving our education system. I believe we will have initiatives in other states before the New York case is over with. The decision has not been made.

I talked to Jesse Rothstein of Berkeley last week. He made two arguments about tenure that I'm hoping you can respond to. He David Boies helped California gay couples win the right to marry. Now he’s attacking teacher tenure - The Washington Post:

Why I Just Asked My Students To Put Their Laptops Away (Clay Shirky) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Why I Just Asked My Students To Put Their Laptops Away (Clay Shirky) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Why I Just Asked My Students To Put Their Laptops Away (Clay Shirky)

Clay Shirky is a professor of media studies at New York University, consultant on the Internet, and writer. He is writing here about teaching his University courses and a recent decision that he made. The post appeared September 9, 2014.

I teach theory and practice of social media at NYU, and am an advocate and activist for the free culture movement, so I’m a pretty unlikely candidate for internet censor, but I have just asked the students in my fall seminar to refrain from using laptops, tablets, and phones in class.

I came late and reluctantly to this decision — I have been teaching classes about the internet since 1998, and I’ve generally had a laissez-faire attitude towards technology use in the classroom. This was partly because the subject of my classes made technology use feel organic, and when device use went well, it was great. Then there was the competitive aspect — it’s my job to be more interesting than the possible distractions, so a ban felt like cheating. And finally, there’s not wanting to infantilize my students, who are adults, even if young ones — time management is their job, not mine.

Despite these rationales, the practical effects of my decision to allow technology use in class grew worse over time. The level of distraction in my classes seemed to grow, even though it was the same professor and largely the same set of topics, taught to a group of students selected using roughly the same criteria every year. The change seemed to correlate more with the rising ubiquity and utility of the devices themselves, rather than any change in me, the students, or the rest of the classroom encounter.

Over the years, I’ve noticed that when I do have a specific reason to ask everyone to set aside their devices (‘Lids down’, in the parlance of my department), it’s as if someone has let fresh air into the room. The conversation brightens, and more recently, there is a sense of relief from many of the students. Multi-tasking is cognitively exhausting — when we do it by choice, being asked to stop can come as a welcome change.

So this year, I moved from recommending setting aside laptops and phones to requiring it, adding this to the class rules: “Stay focused. (No devices in class, Why I Just Asked My Students To Put Their Laptops Away (Clay Shirky) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

NYC Educator: How About a UFT Cut-the-Strings, Free-the-Puppets Caucus?

NYC Educator: How About a UFT Cut-the-Strings, Free-the-Puppets Caucus?:

How About a UFT Cut-the-Strings, Free-the-Puppets Caucus?

I didn't start out criticizing our Union.  I started out with a sincere concern for the current state of affairs in education and the loss of respect among "reformers" for my profession.  This will always be my bottom line.  I thought my Union would always be with me, but I soon learned this was not the case.  I learned that my Union silences its own members who might differ in opinion.  I learned that something as simple as questioning the Core might be dangerous to one's career in Unity and it might even get you punched in the face and pushed in the dirt.  I learned Unity strikes deals and accepts grants that ultimately seem to put it at odds with so much that I hold dear.  And, I learned that a UFT Unity loyalty oath makes a mockery of the fact that teachers teach people to think.

The question naturally arises:  What kind of person gladly obeys a UFT Unity loyalty oath and unquestioningly votes as told?

1.  People who don't have time to think?
2.  People who don't trust their judgment?
3.  People who like to follow orders?
4.  People who just don't want to know?
5.  People with no time or desire to query constituents?
6.  People who believe Unity is infallible?
7.  People who believe this is the best we can do?
8.  People who primarily want to collect union paychecks and double pensions?
9.  People who want to hang with a prestigious in-crowd and attend conferences in spiffy settings via the union dues of the people they don't really represent?
10.  People who are afraid of being punched in the face and pushed in the dirt?

If there are any people who fit the bill for one to five above, I'm guessing they hope the fact is never publicized.

If there are those who believe that Unity is infallible, then they follow a dogma of blind obedience.  It must be awhile since they've looked around.  If NYC Educator: How About a UFT Cut-the-Strings, Free-the-Puppets Caucus?:

Rethinking A Fall Classic: The Parent-Teacher Conference : NPR Ed : NPR

Rethinking A Fall Classic: The Parent-Teacher Conference : NPR Ed : NPR:



Rethinking A Fall Classic: The Parent-Teacher Conference

by PATRICIA WILLENS

September 18, 2014 7:47 AM ET

 

So now that students have settled in to the routine of the school year, yet another fall education ritual looms: the parent-teacher conference.

And while there's universal agreement that parent involvement is a good thing, these all-too-short meetings are often frustrating on both sides.

Teachers, and parents, often find them too short and too shallow, too likely to focus on problems, with little time to really get beyond test scores and a few bullet points about the curriculum or homework. And, as children get older, fewer parents tend to show up.

In New York City this fall, the schools are trying to make these meetings richer and more productive. The first step is increasing the number of conferences each year from two to four.

School officials are tinkering around with the format and the timing: The first conferences are happening this week — earlier than ever in the school year.

"This is crucial so that parents understand from the beginning of the year what's expected of their children," the city's schools chancellor, Carmen Farina, said this week on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show. "This is an opportunity for teachers to set out their agenda and for parents to ask the relevant questions."

The first meeting is meant to be a group experience with classroom teachers and other parents. One-on-one talks will come later in the year. (Here are some tips on how to make the most of that one-on-one time.)

"I am really excited about a parent-teacher conference that's mandated at the beginning of the year," says Nick Lawrence, who teaches social studies at East Bronx Academy for the Future, a school for grades 6-12.

"It's less about progress and more about getting to know the parents," he adds. "I see it as a time to have real conversations with the adults that we are going to be working with."

Many parents of his students work more than 80 hours a week, holding down multiple jobs, but that doesn't mean they can't be involved parents, he says.

As an example, he recalls one mother he spoke with on the phone several times a week.

"She could pick up anytime, but she couldn't come in," he explains. "Knowing that allowed me to reach her to talk about her daughter. Those are the kind of things we can figure out at this meeting."

Chancellor Farina says the notion that many parents don't care enough to come is a false one.

"I don't think we've done as good a job at letting parents know we're there to help them," she says. "I refuse to accept the premise that parents won't show up. There are lots of ways to make parents feel welcome."

Patricia Willens is the education editor at WNYC News in New York.

How To Make The Most Of Your 10 Minutes With Teacher

Like a good Boy Scout, parents should be prepared: Educators agree that doing your homework can make a big difference. Here's expert advice on how to ace your next parent-teacher conference.» E-Mail This

27 by Elissa Nadworny / 1h

Newark’s Local School Board Flexes Newfound Fiscal Muscles - NJ Spotlight

Newark’s Local School Board Flexes Newfound Fiscal Muscles - NJ Spotlight:

NEWARK’S LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD FLEXES NEWFOUND FISCAL MUSCLES

JOHN MOONEY | SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

Board wants to sign off on Superintendent Anderson’s contract for outside evaluation team

Iliana Melendez, left, a senior at Barringer High School, speaks at press conference with members of the local school advisory board.

Two weeks in, the new school year isn’t getting any easier for Newark Superintendent Cami Anderson, with a majority of her local school board yesterday ratcheting up the criticism of her One Newark reorganization plan.

But the board’s pushback may have a bit more muscle behind it this time, since it has been granted new fiscal powers in the state-appointed district and is starting to question some of the embattled superintendent’s initiatives.

RELATED LINKS

Request for Proposals for Evaluation of Anderson’s Programs

Back to School Means First-Day Jitters for Anderson, One Newark Plan

The latest is a move by Anderson to hire an outside firm to evaluate her reforms, starting with landmark teachers contract settled in 2012 that includes the state’s first large-scale performance bonuses.

The request for proposals (RFP) went out in the spring, according to district documents, but the board now is seeking a signoff on awarding the contract, which could be up to $1 million.

The evaluation is slated to come up at the board’s next meeting on Tuesday. The teachers contract itself runs through this school year, with negotiations for a new contract with the Newark Teachers Union yet to start.

“Supposedly we have fiscal controls, and that’s why we are asking for the information,” said Antoinette Baskerville-Richardson, a board member who has pressed hardest for the local authority. “We haven’t voted on it yet.”

After 20 years of full state oversight of the district, the board regained fiscal controls last year in a court-imposed settlement to a legal challenge of the state takeover.

Baskerville-Richardson said she was told by the district that the evaluation would be paid for by outside donors, and she said the board was only seeking the agreements reached with those funders. She said one possibility was the Foundation for Newark’s Future, the fund bankrolled by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, but she had yet to confirm that.

“We’re asking that any fiscal transaction, be it a grant, a donation, see complete transparency and come to the board to be voted on,” she said. “All we are being told is it is coming from a donor or a funder. We are asking what it is, and for how much.”

The RFP for the evaluation sought specific research and data as to whether Anderson’s teacher-quality measures, including the teacher contract and its incentives and disincentives, led to greater student achievement.

Baskerville-Richardson’s comments came yesterday after a press event outside Newark City Hall, where she and three other board members proclaimed their continued opposition to Anderson and her controversial reorganization of the district. This followed high-profile protests of the reorganization plan last week, including a boycott by some families and sit-in by students.

Board vice president Ariagna Perello also read statements of support for the event from two other board members. A notable absence was board president Rashon Newark’s Local School Board Flexes Newfound Fiscal Muscles - NJ Spotlight: