How Innovative Educators Are Engaging Students Online - NEA Today

How Innovative Educators Are Engaging Students Online - NEA Today

How Innovative Educators Are Engaging Students Online

When governors and state superintendents closed schools because of the coronavirus, it took teachers and faculty a matter of days—and in many cases a few hours—to move their classes online. Despite the differences between online learning and face-to-face learning, the level of commitment and creativity from educators is stronger than ever.

Cecily Corcoran, a middle school art teacher from Arlington Public Schools in Virginia, was ahead of the online learning game because she made it her personal goal earlier in school year to update her materials and transition them onto Canvas, an online learning management platform.

“I wanted students to access what I had taught in case they had missed a lesson,” says Corcoran.

Once her school closed, she went into overdrive and created 60 video tutorials of under 10 minutes in length. Additionally, before her students went home, she supplied them with basic art supplies: pencils, sharpeners, erasers, and paper to make sure learning was “equitable from the beginning.” CONTINUE READING: How Innovative Educators Are Engaging Students Online - NEA Today

YONG ZHAO: Tofu is not Cheese: Reimagine Education without Schools During Covid19 (1) Education in the Age of Globalization

Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » Tofu is not Cheese: Reimagine Education without Schools During Covid19 (1)

Tofu is not Cheese: Reimagine Education without Schools During Covid19 (1)

Introduction

“Tofu is not cheese” is what I said to a group of educators of ESF Quarry Bay Primary School (QBS), a school in Hong Kong that is determined to turn the Covid-19 crisis into an opportunity for reimagining education. Tofu is not cheese so we should not expect it to smell or taste like cheese nor should we need to pretend it is or make it taste and smell like cheese. The message I was trying to convey is that we should accept the fact that schools are closed and we don’t need to pretend we can make online education the same as face-to-face schools. Instead, we should make the best out of the new situation. In my last blog post, I expanded the idea: Online education cannot replace all functions schools play in our society but it can do a lot more than being a lesser version of face-to-face schooling.

During the last few weeks, I have engaged in conversations with educators and education policy makers in many different countries around the world. I have been deeply touched by the universal commitment and dedication to giving our children the best education experience possible during the pandemic. I have been equally inspired and encouraged by the actions of many individuals and organizations to rethink what education can be and should be in the future.

Not to return to the same education after we return to the same school seems to be a widely shared desire among the innovative. But unfortunately the dominant desire outside the small group of innovative educators is to return to the same school and the same education. The majority of governments and education leaders are managing the crisis instead of taking advantage of the opportunities within the crisis. I plan to write a series of blog posts to discuss the opportunities and suggest some possibilities for taking advantage of the opportunities. I start with rethinking the curriculum, the what of education.

Stop and Rethink What’s Worth Teaching and Learning

We have a rare opportunity to examine what we have always been teaching (or trying to) for a number of reasons. First, Covid19 has forced the cancellation of many high stakes examinations students have been CONTINUE READING: Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » Tofu is not Cheese: Reimagine Education without Schools During Covid19 (1)

CURMUDGUCATION: Coronavirus Triggers Ed Tech Free Sample-Palooza. Be careful.

CURMUDGUCATION: Coronavirus Triggers Ed Tech Free Sample-Palooza. Be careful.

Coronavirus Triggers Ed Tech Free Sample-Palooza. Be careful.

Imagine that you have a great new food product to sell, and you suddenly catch wind of a neighborhood where all the restaurants and grocery stores have been shut down. How quickly could you get on a street corner there with a big tray of free samples?

As schools are shut down across the country, ed tech companies, from old faithfuls to fresh young startups, are rushing to help fill the gap and/or take advantage of the situation.

Broadband providers like Spectrum and Comcast are offering free internet hookups to households with students. Most are offering sixty days free, but those who take advantage should note that in many cases “regular pricing will take effect at the end of the 60-day period if a customer doesn’t cancel or change the service.”

Look! Free cheese sample!

Websites like kidsactivitiesblog.com are running lists of the many websites that are offering free samples to help out with this difficult time. The resource is popular enough that over the last twenty-four hours, it has not always been possible to load the page due to heavy traffic. Other versions of this kind of list are out there.

Meanwhile, just out of sight of the general public, professors and teachers report receiving a wave of e-mails following a basic pattern. You’re going to move to online teaching, and in these difficult times, we’d like to help. They may offer free trials, or special  discounts for their CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Coronavirus Triggers Ed Tech Free Sample-Palooza. Be careful.

TogetherApart: Co-location And Collaboration Constrained By Pandemic – Los Angeles Education Examiner

TogetherApart: Co-location And Collaboration Constrained By Pandemic – Los Angeles Education Examiner

TogetherApart: Co-location And Collaboration Constrained By Pandemic

In the wake of pandemic, priorities are rearranged.

Prior to schools’ closing in March, 2020, several LAUSD school sites were facing the prospect of sharing their campus with a charter school next year. These forced “colocations” are directed by the District when a “public charter school” requests public space for its operations under legal mandate from a voter initiative passed in 2000.

Proposition 39 addressed schools facilities issues by lowering the passage threshold for local school bond measures from 67% to 55%. With over $10m of vested interest from ubiquitous charter privateers Ann & John Doerr, John Walton and Reed Hastings, the initiative established a facilities payload for the charter industry.  Along for the ride was the ideological position that charter schools had the right to request of the public District “reasonably equivalent conditions” for operations. The specifics for calculating and granting these conditions were litigated through a series of lawsuits (2007, 2010 and 2012) inordinately taxing on the public purse in contrast with that of the billionaire-funded charter school lobby.

Charter schools are publicly funded, while simultaneously privately operated. Consequently their “public” status is arguably ambiguous and at least contentious, though even Forbes, the “defining voice of CONTINUE READING: TogetherApart: Co-location And Collaboration Constrained By Pandemic – Los Angeles Education Examiner

“Quarantined”: Announcing the release of the new single for the COVID-19 generation—Diary of a Teacher During the Coronavirus Crisis, Entry #5 – I AM AN EDUCATOR

“Quarantined”: Announcing the release of the new single for the COVID-19 generation—Diary of a Teacher During the Coronavirus Crisis, Entry #5 – I AM AN EDUCATOR

“Quarantined”: Announcing the release of the new single for the COVID-19 generation—Diary of a Teacher During the Coronavirus Crisis, Entry #5

The new single “Quarantined” by Triple S is now live. Check it out at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am2KMLGxu1c

Yesterday, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee announced that all of the schools in the state would be closed for in-person learning for the rest of the year and all instruction will be online only.

This announcement was hard on my two elementary school aged kids. My 5th grade son won’t get to participate in the week-long overnight camp that is a rite of passage for all the kids at his school—they have spent their entire elementary years looking forward to participating in this major event.  They really wanted to perform in the spring Multicultural dance that won’t happen. And they are truly shaken by not getting to say goodbye to their teachers and friends.   

And yet the resiliency of my kids in these difficult times has been remarkable. This past week of their education at home has led to an explosion of creativity that has helped us mitigate the challenges of social isolation in the COVID-19 era.

There is so much pressure on parents right now to keep their students on pace with the regular classroom curriculum, but what I have discovered is that engaging my kids in conversations about this unprecedented global pandemic and then allowing my kids plenty of time to play has resulted in an outpouring of insight and originality.  In fact, my older son, whose MC name is now Freeze 32, with his dear friend—who’s moniker is Gucci Grape—that he’s had since his days at Central Branch Preschool, created a hit single for these times. 

Their new magnum opus is titled, “Quarantined.” And it bumps. 

The hook goes, “Quarantined, cause of covid-19,” and Gucci Grape probably CONTINUE READING: “Quarantined”: Announcing the release of the new single for the COVID-19 generation—Diary of a Teacher During the Coronavirus Crisis, Entry #5 – I AM AN EDUCATOR

Important update on Regents exams, state budget, the cancellation of Zoom, and more! | Class Size Matters

Important update on Regents exams, state budget, the cancellation of Zoom, and more! | Class Size Matters

Important update on Regents exams, state budget, the cancellation of Zoom, and more!

Dear Friends,

1.First, some good news to report! The Board of Regents announced yesterday that the Regents exams due to take place this spring are cancelled. Today they put out guidance that any student who would have needed to pass any Regents exams to graduate in June can be issued a diploma without taking them. More details in this FAQ. Thanks to those of you who sent one of the 400 plus letters to the Regents and Commissioner about this; a Regents member mentioned receiving your letters at their meeting yesterday.

2.There also bad news.  The state budget passed last week froze school spending at this year’s level, without raising taxes on the ultra-wealthy; given rising costs and salaries this will be experienced by many districts, including NYC, as cuts. The Governor was also given the authority to slash education spending further over the course of the year, depending on state revenue– though the Legislature will be able block his proposed cuts if they vote to do so within ten days.

If you’d like to see how your legislators voted on the budget, you can check out the Senate votes here and the Assembly here, where it was especially close. More on what this budget means for education compared to the outcomes that many advocates and parents had hoped for is outlined in this helpful chart from AQE .

We will all have to work hard to see that the city doesn’t follow the state’s lead by drastically cutting back on its own support for education. School services and especially class sizes have STILL not yet CONTINUE READING: Important update on Regents exams, state budget, the cancellation of Zoom, and more! | Class Size Matters

A complete list of what to do — and not do — for everyone teaching kids at home during the coronavirus crisis - The Washington Post

A complete list of what to do — and not do — for everyone teaching kids at home during the coronavirus crisis - The Washington Post

A complete list of what to do — and not do — for everyone teaching kids at home during the coronavirus crisis

With most of the world’s schools shut because of the coronavirus crisis, you can now find a lot of advice on the Internet about the best ways to carry out distance learning at home, where more than 1.5 billion students are now supposed to be getting their lessons. I’ve even published some, from a teacher and former home-schooler, which you can see here.

But if you want a thorough rundown of what to do and not to do, read the following 19 strategies from renowned master educator Andy Hargreaves.

Hargreaves, a research professor at Boston College and visiting professor at the University of Ottawa, has been working for decades to improve school effectiveness. He has been awarded visiting professorships in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Sweden, Spain, Japan, Norway and Singapore. And he is past president of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement.

Hargreaves founded and serves as co-president of the Atlantic Rim Collaboratory, or ARC, a group of nine nations committed to broadly defined excellence, equity, well-being, inclusion, democracy and human rights. He has consulted with numerous governments, the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, universities and professional associations. He has written more than 30 books — and received numerous awards for them — and he was the founding editor in chief of the Journal of Educational Change.

A different version of this piece was published in the London Times Supplement.

By Andy Hargreaves

Educators are doing extraordinary things in the face of the coronavirus crisis. They are our invisible heroes, supporting health services and reinventing the way they provide education. They are achieving CONTINUE READING: A complete list of what to do — and not do — for everyone teaching kids at home during the coronavirus crisis - The Washington Post

Story Time Success – Parenting for Liberation

Story Time Success – Parenting for Liberation

Story Time Success

P4L-storytime-deckDOWNLOAD

We are filled with joy at all the families who joined us from across the globe for our virtual Story Time with Jamia Wilson!  Thanks for reading both “Young, Gifted and Black”  & “Big Ideas for Young Thinkers,” and for  chanting, dancing, and visioning a new world with us! It warms our hearts to bear witness to your imaginations!

For those who couldn’t join us, here is the link to the PDF of the slides. Also embedded are printable coloring pages  created by illustrator Andrea Pipkins for you to continue coloring a beautiful world filled with young, gifted, and Black children.

If you decide to color and post, please share with us via email (info@parentingforliberation.org), Instagram (@parentingforliberation), and/or Facebook. We will also be sharing our collective and individual selfies, in hopes that they will inspire other young people to be big thinkers!

Much love, 
-P4L Team

CONTINUE READING: Story Time Success – Parenting for Liberation

A Crisis In Education: Schools Can't Reach Thousands Of Children | HuffPost

A Crisis In Education: Schools Can't Reach Thousands Of Children | HuffPost

A Crisis In Education: Schools Can’t Reach Thousands Of Children
Some school districts have tried to reach out since closing, but thousands of families have not responded, leaving leaders to wonder if they’re hungry or safe.

After three weeks of remote learning, Atlanta special education teacher Patrick Hawkins still has not heard from two of his elementary students. He’s texted their families, he’s emailed and called. 

“I’ve done anything you can do to get in contact with a parent, and still no response,” said Hawkins, who works at a district charter school, noting that he’s not supposed to make home visits for safety purposes.

Since March, over 120,000 school districts have closed in an effort to combat the spread of the coronavirus. Many districts transitioned to online learning and have been working to get computers and Wi-Fi hotspots in the hands of families who need them. Other schools that haven’t provided needy families with devices are sending homework via paper packets. Communities and schools have also been setting up free lunch distribution centers to keep families fed. 

But now that the initial scramble has settled and learning has recommenced, schools are facing a new stark reality: There are thousands of families they simply cannot get in touch with ― let alone teach. 

HuffPost contacted a dozen of the largest school districts in the country to see if they were tracking how many students they’ve been able to reach via phone calls and emails, and if these students have been participating in schoolwork.

Districts have not yet reached tens of thousands of students, at the very least, as their CONTINUE READING: A Crisis In Education: Schools Can't Reach Thousands Of Children | HuffPost

Coronavirus school closures grow online learning in L.A. - Los Angeles Times

Coronavirus school closures grow online learning in L.A. - Los Angeles Times

Launching online learning at L.A. schools during coronavirus is ‘akin to landing on the moon’

In a sign that the digital divide may be narrowing among Los Angeles public high school students who have lacked computer or internet access, teachers have connected with 96% of their pupils, leaving about 5,000 still unaccounted for, L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner said Monday.

The school district also has provided computers to middle and elementary school students, and has been so focused on swiftly distributing the devices that it does not yet have a firm count of how many have been given out, the superintendent said.

A week ago, about 15,000 high school students were missing online or had not connected with their teachers since the school district closed campuses on March 16 and began the challenging move to online learning.

“Even in the best of times, launching a comprehensive online learning program in the nation’s second-largest school district would be a monumental task, akin to landing on the moon,” said Beutner in a video update. “It would take years of careful planning, investment, training and engagement with the entire school community. During extended school closures due to the coronavirus, Los Angeles Unified is doing it in a matter of weeks, because students most in need are counting on us.”

The online sign-in numbers have been particularly low among elementary school students with just 59% logging into the district’s learning management system by Friday, the last day before spring break. But the number is difficult to interpret and does not necessarily indicate that children were not attempting schoolwork, Beutner said. Many were sent home with books and thick packets of assignments.

“Merely logging in does not tell us anything more than the student turned on their computer,” Beutner said. “The absence of a log-in, when a student is reading a book or working on a writing assignment, can leave a misleading digital footprint.”

The little ones “will miss the classroom setting the most,” he said, adding that so much of their day at a campus involved working together to solve math problems and CONTINUE READING: Coronavirus school closures grow online learning in L.A. - Los Angeles Times

Epistemic Trespassing in Real Time: Peter Navarro, Economist – radical eyes for equity

Epistemic Trespassing in Real Time: Peter Navarro, Economist – radical eyes for equity

Epistemic Trespassing in Real Time: Peter Navarro, Economist

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has an impressive academic background:

Navarro went to Tufts University on a full academic scholarship,^[9] graduating in 1972 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He then spent three years in the U.S. Peace Corps, serving in Thailand.^[7][13] He earned a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University‘s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1979, and a PhD in Economics from Harvard under the supervision of Richard E. Caves in 1986.^[13]

His political and academic careers as well as his primary areas of expertise include economics and public policy.

Recently, however, Navarro has drawn criticism for clashing with Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, about Covid-19. Navarro has justified his disagreements as follows:

“I have a Ph.D,” Navarro said. “And I understand how to read statistical studies, whether it’s in medicine, the law, economics or whatever.” He added, “Doctors disagree about things all the time. My qualifications in terms of looking at the science is that I’m a social scientist.”

Navarro is demonstrating in real time both the existence and dangers of CONTINUE READING: Epistemic Trespassing in Real Time: Peter Navarro, Economist – radical eyes for equity

Russ on Reading: Fluency Practice: Poems for Repeated Reading

Russ on Reading: Fluency Practice: Poems for Repeated Reading

Fluency Practice: Poems for Repeated Reading

Over the years, I have written quite often about fluency instruction in reading. Fluency, the smooth, rapid processing of print when reading, is central to skilled reading. It is often what keeps young readers from advancing in their reading and it is often noticeably missing from many struggling readers efforts. Here are some of the posts I have written about fluency instruction in the past.

Fluency Instruction: Building Bridges

When Readers Struggle: Fluency

The Power of Rereading

That Thing You Do: When Readers Plateau, Try Pushing Fluency

I have always used poetry to support young and struggling readers developing fluency. With April being Poetry Month it seems to be a good time to revisit these strategies, which can be readily adapted for online or at home work. The lesson structure is as follows:

            Pre-reading Activities: Before reading the poem, activate background knowledge and interest through discussion. Using the title, illustration or an appropriate question as a stimulus, have the children make predictions about what they will read in the poem. Some possible discussion starters are included on the Teacher’s Guide page for each poem. These pre-reading discussions will help the children anticipate what they will read and CONTINUE READING: Russ on Reading: Fluency Practice: Poems for Repeated Reading

Wendy Lecker: What We Learned About Public Schools During the Pandemic | Diane Ravitch's blog

Wendy Lecker: What We Learned About Public Schools During the Pandemic | Diane Ravitch's blog

Wendy Lecker: What We Learned About Public Schools During the Pandemic

Civil rights attorney Wendy Lecker writes a regular column in the Stamford (CT) Advocate.

In this post, she points out that the pandemic has demonstrated how important public schools are in their communities.

As states closed public school systems, the nation at large saw the wide range of necessary services schools provide to students in addition to instruction. Public schools, serving 50 million students, also provide meals, health and social support essential to child welfare and development. School districts are now attempting to deliver instruction from a distance, but also to maintain the vital personal connection teachers and other staff provide, especially to their most vulnerable students. Teachers read bedtime stories online, tutor students from outside the students’ front doors and drive by students’ homes to check in. Counselors make themselves available through any electronic means possible.

That schools play a central role in the lives of children, families and communities should not be a revelation. In a country with a porous safety net, schools are often the CONTINUE READING: Wendy Lecker: What We Learned About Public Schools During the Pandemic | Diane Ravitch's blog

With A Brooklyn Accent: Proud to Be a New Yorker

With A Brooklyn Accent: Proud to Be a New Yorker

Proud to Be a New Yorker

As I woke up this morning, at a time when New York is experiencing the worst tragedy of the 21st Century, I want to express my gratitude to all the people risking their lives and safety to get us through this crisis; our doctors, nurses, and lab technicians; our EMT's and ambulance drivers, our police officers and fire fighters; our MTA workers who keep the buses and subways running, our teachers and principals who provide an educational lifeline to 1.1 million children; our grocery pharmacy and restaurant workers, truck drivers delivering food and supplies to homes,stores and hospitals; those running shelters and food banks; custodians and building service workers in apartment houses, office buildings, schools and universities. While the rest of us quarantine ourselves and shelter in place, they make sure the sick and dying are cared for and vital services continue.

As the majority of New Yorkers stay home to flatten the curve, we cannot forget those who go to work every day at great risk to themselves.

They represent the unconquerable spirit of this great city, a spirit which we saw after 9/11 and which we are seeing now. Because of them, because of all of us, New York will be back.

Feisty as ever. Arrogant as ever. Often hated. Never duplicated

With A Brooklyn Accent: Proud to Be a New Yorker

Plans | JD2718

Plans | JD2718

Plans

Over the last four weeks, New York City teachers have been asked to plan a lot.

Extraordinary Planning I

March 17 – 19 we were supposed to plan for “remote learning” or “remote teaching.” Moving our existing curricula onto remote platforms really made this curriculum replanning. And most of us had to learn something about the software as well. Even those who had some knowledge were going to be using the software in new ways. At least we, in theory, had time to plan.

On the other hand, buildings where people tested positive were not being closed and cleaned. And we did not necessarily know which buildings they were. And we didn’t know who had the virus, but no symptoms. Kind of like planning on a paint ball course, but instead of dodging paint balls, we may or may not have been dodging a deadly virus. Doesn’t help focus.

People actually got sick over those days. I think, when this is done, there should be an inquiry into de Blasio’s behavior, including this decision. It may be criminal. People died as a result. I’m also disappointed that the UFT did not stop us from going in. It would have been a Taylor Law violation, maybe? probably?, but lives were literally at stake.

Many people sensibly stayed home for all or some of those days. Separate issue:  they should not have to use their CAR days to protect themselves from the Corona Virus when our employer intentionally put us at risk. We should get those back.

Extraordinary Planning II

March 23 – 27 (and onward). Turned out that during the planning the previous week, some principals CONTINUE READING: Plans | JD2718

Schools Ditch Zoom Amid Concerns Over Online Learning Security | 89.3 KPCC

Schools Ditch Zoom Amid Concerns Over Online Learning Security | 89.3 KPCC

Schools Ditch Zoom Amid Concerns Over Online Learning Security

School leaders in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Las Vegas have announced they're discontinuing their use of the Zoom videoconferencing service for distance learning because of security, privacy, harassment and other concerns. And individual schools in Los Angeles and elsewhere are also switching to alternatives, like Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts and WebEx.

As NPR reported last week, the FBI issued a warning about incidents of school Zoom meetings being disrupted. There have been reports of racist and pornographic imagery being shown to young children. Some intrusions may originate with students pranking their classmates, but Gizmodo reported there are also organized "Zoombombing" campaigns online.

Zoom has soared in popularity as people around the world shelter in place to protect from the spreading coronavirus. Partly this is because Zoom meetings can be set up to be accessed from anywhere by anyone with just a web link — no account or software download required. But this ease of use also makes it easier for intruders to show up.

While not designed as an education technology product, the company had CONTINUE READING: Schools Ditch Zoom Amid Concerns Over Online Learning Security | 89.3 KPCC

Tell Congress Charters Should Not Line Their Pockets During the COVID Crisis - Network For Public Education

Tell Congress Charters Should Not Line Their Pockets During the COVID Crisis - Network For Public Education

Tell Congress Charters Should Not Line Their Pockets During the COVID Crisis

Small businesses that employ our students' parents are devastated by COVID-19. And we are glad that the Small Business Administration is giving those businesses low-interest loans to keep their employees on the payroll. It is shocking, therefore, that the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools is actively encouraging its members to take advantage of those taxpayer funds, although charter schools' income streams have not been interrupted at all.

Tell Congress that publicly funded charter schools should not be eligible for funds to save small businesses. They are still amply funded by taxpayers. Federal funding should be reserved for businesses in need. Send your letter today.

Tell Congress Charters Should Not Line Their Pockets During the COVID Crisis - Network For Public Education

CURMUDGUCATION: More Pandemic Prompted Reformster Baloney

CURMUDGUCATION: More Pandemic Prompted Reformster Baloney

More Pandemic Prompted Reformster Baloney

I had put off reading Kevin Huffman's slice of baloney in the Washington Post because I knew it would tax my blood pressure medications. But as disruptors and refornsters and privatizers rush to adjust their various sales pitches and policy arguments to fit the new realities, we have to pay attention.

Huffman's disruptor credentials are solid. He ran Tennessee's education system based on his couple of years in a classroom via Teach for America (motto: "Just because you don't know what you're talking about, that doesn't mean you can't be an education expert"). Huffman pioneered the Achievement School District, a failed model in which the state took over schools with the lowest test scores. Since then he's become part of the City Fund, a group devoted to that wants to use the portfolio model to privatize education.

Huffman doesn't get everything wrong. He notes, for instance, that online education has been largely a failure, a failure notable enough that even the bricks-and-mortar charter crowd have turned on them. Huffman even manages a non-baloney quote from professional economist and education amateur Eric Hanushek, who notes that if companies investing tons of money in online education can't make it work, “it seems unlikely that parents and teachers Googling resources will” do any better.

So while some homeschooling and cyber-schooling fans are declaring that, despite all those CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: More Pandemic Prompted Reformster Baloney