Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, June 5, 2020

In a Big News Week, Updated Schools and Communities First Quietly Qualifies for the November Ballot – Los Angeles Education Examiner

In a Big News Week, Updated Schools and Communities First Quietly Qualifies for the November Ballot – Los Angeles Education Examiner

In a Big News Week, Updated Schools and Communities First Quietly Qualifies for the November Ballot



Back in April, backers of Schools and Communities First submitted a record-breaking 1.7 million signatures to the Secretary of State to qualify the funding measure for the fall ballot. While the state had to verify the signatures, less than 1 million were needed so it was all-but-certain the measure would earn its ballot spot.
And over the weekend, the state made it official. Schools and Communities First will be on the ballot.
“With the steep cuts in our county budget we’ll be faced with really difficult decisions that will jeopardize people’s access to these critically needed services,” writes Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheilia Kuehl.
“I was supportive very early on of Schools & Communities First before the COVID-19 pandemic, but now this initiative is needed more than ever, because we simply can’t afford these corporate tax loopholes that have gone on for decades.”
The State of California estimates that Schools and Communities First would raise an estimated $8-$12.5 billion a year for education, public health and other local infrastructure by changing the state constitution and raising property taxes on California’s largest businesses.
If passed, the measure would raise money by repealing a portion of the CONTINUE READING: In a Big News Week, Updated Schools and Communities First Quietly Qualifies for the November Ballot – Los Angeles Education Examiner
Goldberg and former UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl during her re-election campaign this winter.

Teacher Tom: "Where Love Rules There is Not a Will to Power"

Teacher Tom: "Where Love Rules There is Not a Will to Power"

"Where Love Rules There is Not a Will to Power"



Psychologist Carl Jung wrote, "Where love rules there is not a will to power; and where power predominates, there love is lacking." This, I think, is an important thing upon which modern educators in general, and early childhood educators in particular, could stand to meditate.

I strive to place love at the center of my practice, as I know is true of most of my colleagues. We genuinely love the children we teach and they love us. I've witnessed this to be widely true wherever I've visited. It's perhaps our greatest reward (because it sure isn't financial). When it goes as it should, we spend our days loving and being loved, swimming in it, breathing it. Our job is to keep them safe and to otherwise simply be there, loving them and helping them as they figure out how to connect with, to love, more people. This is the foundation of not just all learning, but all living in the fullest sense of the word.





When I look at our habitual idea of schooling, I see a lot of loving individual teachers working in a system in which love has been pushed to the side, and where power therefore predominates. From our earliest years, we are judged by our educational system, one that pretends to know what is normal and to then act to enforce it. The French philosopher Michel Foucault sees this as an exercise in power, a form he calls "normalization," in which our souls are imprisoned by expectations and standards and this has characterized our schools right up to our current era of high stakes CONTINUE READING: 
Teacher Tom: "Where Love Rules There is Not a Will to Power"

Helping Students Heal + Tuesdays, Twice a Month | Live Long and Prosper

Helping Students Heal | Live Long and Prosper

Helping Students Heal


The education blogosphere, as well as the general media, is full of articles dealing with opening schools in the fall, keeping students safe, social distancing by lowering class size, doubling the number of buses, and other, expensive fixes. Additionally, schools will have to take into consideration the mental and emotional health of students and deal with the multiple traumas they will carry with them.
As of this writing (June 3, 2020), the death toll from COVID-19 in the US is over 105,000 which has left hundreds of thousands of Americans grieving for their lost loved ones. Many have had to postpone or forego funerals and memorials in order to stay safe themselves. Among those who have lost family members are thousands of children who, already traumatized by the fear of illness or the loss of contact with their friends and teachers, are further hurt by the very real loss of parents, grandparents, relatives, teachers, or friends.
The coronavirus pandemic has caused economic trauma, too…and with economic trauma comes social upheaval as families living from paycheck to paycheck start to panic when the food runs out…when the rent or mortgage is due…when the insurance coverage ends.
And we can’t talk about social upheaval without acknowledging the excessive number of deaths of Black Americans and the damage to communities of color by the racism present in Amerian society…racism which is exacerbated by economic trauma and political cowardice. The current political upheaval around the country will also traumatize students before they return to school in the fall, no matter how much their parents try to protect them from it.
Public schools have always been a stable force in students’ lives and when the CONTINUE READING: Helping Students Heal | Live Long and Prosper
Tuesdays, Twice a Month | Live Long and Prosper - https://wp.me/pUgLi-1uJ
Together Tuesdays

SPECIAL EDITION PROTEST AND EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007



SPECIAL EDITION PROTEST AND EDUCATION
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... 
The latest news and resources in education since 2007


TODAY

CBS News Video: “Authors Robin DiAngelo and Ibram X. Kendi on how to become aware of privilege”
I’m adding this new video to New & Revised: Resources To Help Us Predominantly White Teachers To Reflect On How Race Influences Our Work :
I’m Not Convinced That Student Learning Losses This Year Are Traumatic, But They Will Be Bad If We’re Online Next Year
Research Shows Students Falling Months Behind During Virus Disruptions is a new article by Dana Goldstein in The New York Times. The article cites various studies warning of dire learning losses this year from school closures. One of the studies is from McKinsey & Company, which has a truly awful track record when it comes to education studies. One of the others is based on an online learning pro
“Six Truths About Racism That White Teachers Must Know”
Six Truths About Racism That White Teachers Must Know is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Two educators challenge White teachers to confront “hard truths,” including recognizing the role of White privilege and acknowledging their own biases. Here are some excerpts:

YESTERDAY

The Best Resources Demonstrating The Wealth Gap Between African-Americans & Whites
aitoff / Pixabay There are many inequities between Blacks and Whites in the United States. One of them is the “wealth gap.” Here are some resources describing what it looks like (you might also be interested in The Best Resources About Wealth & Income Inequality): US black-white inequality in 6 stark charts is from CNN. The black-white economic divide is as wide as it was in 1968 is from The Wash
New TED-Ed Video & Lesson: “A day in the life of an ancient Peruvian shaman”
LoggaWiggler / Pixabay I’m adding this latest TED-Ed lesson and video to the section on our World History class blog where we cover the Aztecs and Incas :
Powerful PBS NewsHour Video: “How the coronavirus crisis offers a glimpse of what poor, black communities ‘feel every day’”
You’ll want to watch this video from tonight’s PBS NewsHour – especially if you’re White. You can see the transcript here .
New NPR Video: “How The Pandemic Will Affect This Year’s Election”
AnnaliseArt / Pixabay I’m adding this new video from NPR to THE BEST RESOURCES FOR TEACHING ABOUT THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION :
The Tiananmen Square Protests Were Put Down On This Day In 1989 – Here Are Related Resources
Chinese Army troops put down the Tiananmen Square protest on this day in 1989. You can find related resources at The Best Sites For Learning About Protests In History . Chinese army troops storm Tiananmen Square, this day in 1989. https://t.co/hDlRLbm6Ft pic.twitter.com/V3k43OyqhP — NYT Archives (@NYTArchives) June 4, 2017
‘Educators Must Realize That There Is No Neutral Position on Issues of Racial Justice’
is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Three educators offer lessons teachers can learn from the death of George Floyd, such as neutrality has no place in the struggle for racial justice and White educators must stop expecting their colleagues of color to do the “heavy lifting.” Here are some excerpts:

JUN 03



Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007