Teacher Tom: "We're Not Digging to China"

Teacher Tom: "We're Not Digging to China"

"We're Not Digging to China"

The two boys were digging a hole in the sand pit. It was a large hole, wide and deep. I made a comment about digging to China, a destination to which my own playmates and I had aspired lo those many years ago.

"Teacher Tom, we're not digging to China."

"Oh, where are you digging?"

"We're not digging anywhere! This is a trap!"

"No, it's not a trap. It's a hole!"

The boys bickered for several minutes, finally agreeing that it was a "very deep hole-trap."

"We're going to dig it all the way to the molten core."

"We can't dig to the molten core! It's full of lava!"

"No, it's full of magma."

"Well, it'll be too hot. We'll get dead."

They resumed digging in silence for a time, before one of CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: "We're Not Digging to China"

Board Has Wall Street Wolves Guarding LAUSD Henhouse – Los Angeles Education Examiner

Board Has Wall Street Wolves Guarding LAUSD Henhouse – Los Angeles Education Examiner

Board Has Wall Street Wolves Guarding LAUSD Henhouse

It’s high time to be paying closer attention to the $14.7b (p. 31) of taxpayer’s money that Covid19 has left in essentially the sole charge of our LAUSD Superintendent, Austin Beutner.

On March 10, 2020 under Covid19, the LAUSD’s publicly elected school board signed over sweeping authority for fiscal and management decisions to Superintendent Beutner, a former investment banker who remarks that the “guiding principle in my career, … is to put myself in uncomfortable positions and take risks.”

The emergency powers relinquished the board’s fiduciary responsibility to stakeholders regarding oversight and regulation, policy and budget, with no sunset date attached. The breathtaking subrogation was to a Superintendent appointed by a former board, chaired at the time by a member charged with and subsequently convicted of felony campaign misconduct, indebted to a different, neoliberal and privatizing ideology of public education.

At next Tuesday’s LAUSD board meeting some more fallout from this power shift will become evident. To date a tremendous amount of emergency spending has been brought to the board as simply courtesy, for ratification rather than actual approval. And the circumstances of this spending is fraught; criticism – even questioning – is awkward at best, difficult in practice. Feeding the hungry during this health and economic emergency is crucial; keeping our community safe is vital. But what happens in the long CONTINUE READING: Board Has Wall Street Wolves Guarding LAUSD Henhouse – Los Angeles Education Examiner

CCFP Roundtable Virtual Conference 2020–21 - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education)

CCFP Roundtable Virtual Conference 2020–21 - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education)

CCFP Roundtable Virtual Conference 2020–21

Are you aware of the upcoming annual Child Care Food Program (CCFP) Roundtable Conference being held virtually on November 16–18, 2020? The CCFP Roundtable is offering 20 sessions to provide you with the training and inspiration you need during these unprecedented COVID-19 times. It doesn't matter what part of the Child and Adult Food Program (CACFP) you work within, including At-risk afterschool programs, child care centers or family day care homes, they have thoughtfully curated content for you.

Sessions

The session categories are:

• Policy and Advocacy
• The Pandemic and the CACFP
• Racial and Social Justice
• Business Management and Technology

Don’t miss the California Department of Education (CDE) Nutrition Service Division’s (NSD) session regarding updated meal record policies, procedures, and resources! Did you know that as of October 1, 2020, menu production records (MPR) are no longer required to be maintained by child and adult day care centers. Instead of maintaining MPRs, these agencies are only required to maintain menus with serving sizes. The NSD will provide an overview of this new policy and direct you to resources and information for compliance. This session will also help you prepare for an upcoming review in the 2020–21 program year.

Computer Set Up

You will not need special computer equipment to attend the CCFP Roundtable Conference. The platform is available on computers with an internet connection, and a webcam is suggested (for networking sessions) but not required. However, attendees must use the Google Chrome browser on a computer. Please ensure that Google Chrome is installed on your computer in advance of the event.

Registration

To register, visit the CCFP Roundtable 2020 Conference web page. To learn about becoming an active member of the CCFP Roundtable, visit the CCFP Roundtable Membership web page.

Program Year 2020–21 CACFP Mandatory Training

The preconference 2020–21 CACFP Mandatory Training will not be offered this year as part of the CCFP Roundtable Conference. Instead, the 2020–21 CACFP Mandatory Training will only be available through the CDE website beginning mid-November 2020. Stay tuned for more details.

Contact Information

If you have any questions regarding the conference, please contact Elyse Homel Vitale, CCFP Roundtable Conference Executive Director, by phone at 858-449-3597, or by email at coordinator@ccfproundtable.org.

Questions:   Nutrition Services Division | 800-952-5609

CCFP Roundtable Virtual Conference 2020–21 - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education)

CURMUDGUCATION: Donors Choose Mondays At The Institute

CURMUDGUCATION: Donors Choose Mondays At The Institute

Donors Choose Mondays At The Institute

It sucks that Donors Choose exists. For those unfamiliar, it's basically a Go Fund Me for classrooms instead of medical problems.

Like all such charities, it occasionally pops up in the news because some celebrity and/or business decides to sponsor a bunch of projects (like that time with Katy Perry and Staples) and we get a bunch of warm fuzzy stories and I just hate that stuff, because we shouldn't be celebrating the fact that schools are so underfunded that teachers have to depend on charity to help get the job done. 

But here's the thing. We are where we are. I think the custom of tipping food servers is stupid and terrible and should be done away with yesterday. But if I refuse to tip my server because I disagree with the system, I'm just being a jerk. I don't like enabling a system that's failing classroom teachers, but we are where we are, and especially now that I'm comfortably retired, I'm okay involving the institute in small time philanthropy. Donors Choose makes it easy for someone like me who is out in rural small town America to help. And what we've been through in the last month or four years or so has sort of reminded me that it's important to take active steps to make the world marginally better.

And yes, some of what turns up on Donors Choose makes me scratch my head and ask, "Really??" But then, I can still choose.

So here's what I'm going to do. Mondays, I'll be looking at Donors Choose to find a cause that speaks to me, and I will share a link here. I invite you to join me in helping somebody's modest classroom CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Donors Choose Mondays At The Institute

Now the Work Begins. Support NPE. - Network For Public Education

Now the Work Begins. Support NPE. - Network For Public Education

Now the Work Begins. Support NPE.

American voters just gave Betsy DeVos the pink slip. As new leadership enters the U.S. Department of Education, the Network for Public Education will work to ensure a pro-public education agenda going forward. 

We can’t do that alone. We need your help. As giving Tuesday approaches, give to NPE and help us get the work done.

In this piece in The Washington Post Answer Sheet, Diane and I describe the priorities we hope the new Secretary holds.

Now is the time to end high-stake testing and the privatization of our schools. It is time to increase funding to public schools and provide the resources schools need to re-open safely. And it is time to protect and further the civil rights of our students by fully funding IDEA and creating more equitable schools.

You support that work when you support NPE.

DONATE NOW

Now the Work Begins. Support NPE. - Network For Public Education

Be sure to register here for Diane’s next great conversation this Thursday with Kevin Welner, the Executive Director of the National Education Policy Center. Kevin and Diane will talk about the days of DeVos and the better days ahead.

ENABLERS AND EXPLOITERS – Dad Gone Wild

ENABLERS AND EXPLOITERS – Dad Gone Wild

ENABLERS AND EXPLOITERS

“When people make a contract with the devil and give him an air-conditioned office to work in, he doesn’t go back home easily.”

― James Lee Burke, In the Electric Mist With Confederate Dead

It took almost 24 hours longer than I predicted, but Saturday morning brought news that former Vice-President Joe Biden had secured the necessary votes to win Pennsylvania. With that win, he secured the Presidency via the electoral college.

A Biden presidency is a reason to cheer on many levels, not the least is that it means the imminent departure of current Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. There is bipartisan recognition of her reign as an unmitigated failure. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that a Biden presidency will be a vast improvement. After all, the Obama years were nearly as misguided as the DeVos years.

There is a reason for hope though. As president, Biden promises a much larger investment in education. He’s promising to triple funding for Title 1 schools, as well as double the number of psychologists, counselors, nurses, and social workers in schools. Increased spending on school infrastructure is on his radar, as is a dramatic increase in special education funding. All very needed investments.

However, I hope we don’t fall into the trap of thinking it’s just money schools need. In order to see improved outcomes, it’s imperative that teachers be given more freedom in addressing student needs and that some of the additional responsibilities that have fallen on their plates are alleviated. Fully fund our schools, has become such a familiar meme, yet nobody ever defines what that CONTINUE READING: ENABLERS AND EXPLOITERS – Dad Gone Wild

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

A VERY BUSY DAY
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...
The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/11/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos.html

“Teacher-Recommended Tools for Online Learning”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 3h

Teacher-Recommended Tools for Online Learning is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Four teachers offer several suggestions for online tools to promote interactive learning, and many others offer readers’ comments about their favorites. Here are some excerpts:

Everything You Wanted To Know About Web 2.0 Tools For Education But Were Afraid To Ask

by Larry Ferlazzo / 3h

LoboStudioHamburg / Pixabay I have over 2,100 frequently revised and updated “Best” lists on just about every subject imaginable, and you can find them listed three different ways in three different places (see Three Accessible Ways To Search For & Find My “Best” Lists ). I’m starting to publish a series where each day I will highlight the “Best” lists in a separate category. Today, it’s on Web 2

My Best Posts On The Presidential Election & What Comes Next

by Larry Ferlazzo / 3h

geralt / Pixabay I’ve been posting a lot about the Presidential election and its aftermath, and I’ve been updating them regularly. Here are they all are: THE BEST RESOURCES FOR TEACHING ABOUT THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION How Will Probable Biden/Harris Administration Immigration Policies Affect The Number Of ELLs in Schools? WHAT EDUCATION POLICIES CAN WE EXPECT FROM THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION? JO

Diwali Takes Place On Saturday – Here Are Related Teaching & Learning Resources

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

bhuwanpurohit / Pixabay Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, will start on November 14th this year. . You might be interested in The Best Sites For Learning About Diwali.

“Gamilab” Looks Like A Decent Site For Creating Online Learning Games

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

There is no shortage of easy and free sites where teachers can create or find learning games for students to play (see The Best Websites For Creating Online Learning Games ). Gamilab is another to add to that list. The game choices are limited to three kinds, but it might be worth a try….

Four Ways To Support ELLs Who Were Absent From Class

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

422737 / Pixabay I’m preparing a workshop for teachers (along with co-presenter Melanie Bean) at our school on teaching English Language Learners. Much of it will be similar to other trainings I’ve done and have shared here. You can see information about them at: Could This Be A Go

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