THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES #REDFORED #tbats #COVID-19 #REOPENSCHOOLSSAFELY #COVIDOUTBREAK #BIDENWINS #46

 Big Education Ape

THE TOP BANANA

TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES

Connecticut teachers unions call for all schools to move online-only after Thanksgiving unless coronavirus safety, transparency criteria are met - Hartford Courant - https://www.courant.com/coronavirus/hc-news-coronavirus-teacher-unions-call-for-remote-learning-20201123-zs5b5osjr5dt3ilp6bugvpwsyu-story.html#new_tab via @hartfordcourant

Mayors blame "dysfunctional" board for Denver Public Schools superintendent's resignation - https://dpo.st/3nRx6S8 on @denverpost

'Close the bars' and open schools, Fauci says - https://news.yahoo.com/close-the-bars-and-open-schools-dr-fauci-says-203451597.html#new_tab on @YahooNews

Lawsuit filed for Manchester HS student over ‘I hope I don’t get killed for being black today’ T-shirt https://www.wane.com/news/local-news/lawsuit-filed-for-manchester-hs-student-who-refused-to-remove-i-hope-i-dont-get-killed-for-being-black-today-t-shirt/

Special Ed Students Denied Crucial Services During COVID Remote Learning, Suit Alleges - THE CITY - https://www.thecity.nyc/education/2020/11/23/21612194/special-ed-students-denied-crucial-services-during-covid#new_tab on THECITYNY

Parents demand open schools, greater voice during COVID-19 pandemic - https://oklahoman.com/article/5676929/parents-demand-open-schools-greater-voice-during-covid-19-pandemic#new_tab by @theoklahoman_ on @theoklahoman_

Across the U.S., fewer students are being identified as homeless - Chalkbeat - https://www.chalkbeat.org/2020/11/23/21611900/fewer-students-identified-as-homeless-during-pandemic#new_tab on chalkbeat

Judge orders Kanawha to immediately replace South Charleston High principal with applicant it rejected | Education | wvgazettemail.com - https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/education/judge-orders-kanawha-to-immediately-replace-south-charleston-high-principal-with-applicant-it-rejected/article_fa2bcef0-8301-5931-ac08-f0278953cd90.html#new_tab on @wvgazettemail

Teacher colleges work to teach future teachers how to teach virtually - https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/education/2020/11/24/teacher-colleges-work-teach-future-teachers-how-teach-virtually/6315779002/#new_tab via @DispatchAlerts

Parents drop lawsuit against West Ada Education Association - https://idahoednews.org/ND3w0 via @idahoednews

Fairfax County Public Schools reports more students failing - The Washington Post - https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/fairfax-schools-more-failing-grades/2020/11/24/1ac2412e-2e34-11eb-96c2-aac3f162215d_story.html#new_tab

Change in law expands private school voucher program - https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/change-in-law-expands-private-school-voucher-program/LMG3MMICUZF2PCMYOSGCB73PCI/#new_tab on @dayton-daily-news

Ten Things I Used to Think | Teacher in a strange land

by Mike Simpson / 23h

Ten Things I Used to Think I Used to Think was a writing and thinking prompt developed for students, part of the work done by Project Zero . Lately, we haven’t been all that interested in what students think , or how their thinking might change, given more information, dialogue and cogitation. Instead, we’ve been interested in raising their test scores by asking them to simply reproduce knowledg

Being White Is a Handout – radical eyes for equity

by Mike Simpson / 23h

Being White Is a Handout My 4.5 year journey as an undergraduate and the first five years teaching high school English were spent mostly in the Reagan era. While this was many decades before terminology such as “fake news” or “post-truth,” I literally lived during those years a painful and now embarrassing conversion from white denial and ignorance (believing in reverse discrimination, for examp

Schools bring mindfulness to the classroom to help kids right now

by Mike Simpson / 23h

Schools bring mindfulness to the classroom to help kids in the Covid-19 crisis Mindfulness in schools is increasingly being used to help students with mental health and academic performance, but research on its effectiveness is not yet conclusive Doug Worthen guided his small class of ninth graders at Middlesex School through an exercise designed to focus their attention. On his screen, he saw t

Two School Districts Had Different Mask Policies. Only One Had a Teacher on a Ventilator. — ProPublica

by Mike Simpson / 23h

Two School Districts Had Different Mask Policies. Only One Had a Teacher on a Ventilator. Eleven states let school districts decide whether students and staff must wear masks. One Georgia middle school where masks were optional became the center of an outbreak. On a balmy August morning in Emanuel County in eastern Georgia, hundreds of children bounded off freshly cleaned school buses and out of

What American teachers are telling their students about what Trump is doing – Raw Story

by Mike Simpson / 23h

What American teachers are telling their students about what Trump is doing Civics is a fundamental part of every American primary school curriculum. Yet there is no living American who has experienced a political moment as polarized as this one, where even teachers cannot speak of Trump or Biden without accusations of impartiality from either direction. Particularly now, as America’s democracy

A New Narrative About The Secretary of Education, Too [Medium] | The Jose Vilson

by Mike Simpson / 23h

A NEW NARRATIVE ABOUT THE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION, TOO [MEDIUM] For EduColor’s Medium blog, I wrote a bit more about the Secretary of Education using some inspiration from Vanessa Siddle Walker’s The Lost Education of Horace Tate , a must read: “I’ve witnessed how the narrative of public schooling and education writ large has forced parents to run towards alternatives, even when those alternative

Schools and the Economy–Not Yet a Faddish Idea | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

by Mike Simpson / 23h

Schools and the Economy–Not Yet a Faddish Idea Fashions in ideas, like clothes, change with the times. But when they are in fashion, they become the wisdom of the moment. Supply-side economics, embraced by the Republicans during the Reagan presidency, cut taxes and ran up unparalleled deficits. It was group-think wisdom. Sure there were critics but GOP champions called them nail-biting nay-sayer

CURMUDGUCATION: What Is The Actual Purpose of Social and Emotional Learning

by Mike Simpson / 23h

What Is The Actual Purpose of Social and Emotional Learning I'm increasingly convinced that one of the reasons social and emotional learning (SEL) is such a matter of contention in education (and it has been, every time it has been it has been brought up under one guise or another) is that it requires us to look at the places where education bumps up against the really big questions-- what is th

Will President Joseph Biden Lead Us Toward Equity and Opportunity in the Public Schools? | janresseger

by Mike Simpson / 23h

Will President Joseph Biden Lead Us Toward Equity and Opportunity in the Public Schools? Betsy DeVos, the outgoing U.S. Secretary of Education, has been complaining about the public schools again. The public schools are, of course, the schools she is supposed to be supporting through the operation of her federal department. But as a lifelong promoter of vouchers for private and religious schools

Teacher Tom: The Skills That Will Make Tomorrow

by Mike Simpson / 23h

The Skills That Will Make Tomorrow "Let's play Tiger Babies." "I want to be a polar bear baby." "You can't because tiger babies would eat polar bear babies." "That's not true! Polar bear babies eat tiger babies!" "That's not true!" I stepped closer because it was the sort of argument that could escalate, which is always the case when "truth" is at stake. And truth is always at stake when childre

NYC Educator: A Lesson for Those Who'd Vilify Teachers

by Mike Simpson / 23h

A Lesson for Those Who'd Vilify Teachers It's always edifying to get the libertarian point of view, and it's not at all surprising to find it in the pages of the NY Post . Writer Matt Welch sheds copious crocodile tears over how schools are failing poor children. You know who they are. They're the kids UFT teachers wake up every single day to help and serve. Meanwhile libertarians fight to make

Close Connecticut’s Schools Now | Real Learning CT

by Mike Simpson / 23h

Close Connecticut’s Schools Now Stephen Singer, a teacher, calls on Connecticut to close its schools to save the lives of teachers and to keep students and their families safe. Hundreds of teachers have died from Covid-19. More than 1 million children have been diagnosed with the disease. Yet a bipartisan group of seven state Governors said in a joint statement Thursday that in-person schools ar

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

by Mike Simpson / 23h

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_21.html This Week’s Resources To Support Teachers Coping With School Closures by

TOP BANANA TODAY'S EDUCATION NEWS

by Mike Simpson / 23h

TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES West Ada case dredges up debate over whether teacher strikes are legal in Idaho - https://idahoednews.org/IKXBm via @idahoednews Stuck on Mute: Kids in Juvenile Lockups Can’t Be Seen or 

 Big Education Ape

Ten Things I Used to Think | Teacher in a strange land

Ten Things I Used to Think | Teacher in a strange land

Ten Things I Used to Think

I Used to Think was a writing and thinking prompt developed for students, part of the work done by Project Zero. Lately, we haven’t been all that interested in what students think, or how their thinking might change, given more information, dialogue and cogitation. Instead, we’ve been interested in raising their test scores by asking them to simply reproduce knowledge–or keeping them six feet apart and masked until they’re tested again.

The last four years have radically changed a lot of what I think. For example:

I used to think that choosing the right Secretary of Education was the first critical key to strengthening public education across the nation. I really enjoyed the game of proposing/comparing people who, from various perspectives, would be great Education Secretaries. My standard of excellence was always Richard Riley. Riley was Governor of South Carolina, where he did a great deal to recruit teachers of color and address poverty in public education, before being tapped by Bill Clinton as EdSec. He was not, however, an educator, and he presided over a time when education reform was considered a good thing.  But now—I am uninterested in digging up years-old board memberships and former jobs of prospective candidates for EdSec. I am not convinced that being a long-time educator is a prerequisite for success on the job. Experience in the political and policy realm really matters. I’m not even interested in CONTINUE READING: Ten Things I Used to Think | Teacher in a strange land

Being White Is a Handout – radical eyes for equity

Being White Is a Handout – radical eyes for equity

Being White Is a Handout

My 4.5 year journey as an undergraduate and the first five years teaching high school English were spent mostly in the Reagan era.

While this was many decades before terminology such as “fake news” or “post-truth,” I literally lived during those years a painful and now embarrassing conversion from white denial and ignorance (believing in reverse discrimination, for example) to racial awareness and seeking a life dedicated to racial equity grounded in my own awareness of white privilege.

I had been raised in racism and white denial that pervaded my home and community so when I returned to my hometown high school to teach, I felt compelled to help my students make a similar conversion as mine but not have to endure the stress of experiencing that growth as late as I did.

Reagan in part depended on bogus American Myths (such as bootstrapping and a rising tide lifting all boats) and thinly veiled racist stereotypes, such as the infamous welfare queen myth evoked by Reagan and Republicans with great effect.

No one called this fake news then, but I invited my students to investigate and interrogate these overstated and unfounded claims as we examined race CONTINUE READING: Being White Is a Handout – radical eyes for equity

Schools bring mindfulness to the classroom to help kids right now

Schools bring mindfulness to the classroom to help kids right now

Schools bring mindfulness to the classroom to help kids in the Covid-19 crisis

Mindfulness in schools is increasingly being used to help students with mental health and academic performance, but research on its effectiveness is not yet conclusive

Doug Worthen guided his small class of ninth graders at Middlesex School through an exercise designed to focus their attention. On his screen, he saw the students sitting outside or at desks and lounging across their beds as they joined their weekly mindfulness class online. One by one the students clicked off their cameras, each square became a white and gray icon and Worthen began the meditation.

“Notice where your attention is,” he said, prompting them to guide their attention back to their “home base” — the sounds around them or body sensations — when it drifted.

At the end of the meditation, the students were guided to open their eyes. They turned their screens back on and Worthen posed a question to the group. “I learned that my attention isn’t very stable,” a student said. She estimated that her attention was focused on her home base 14 percent of the time.

In this required 12-week “Introduction to Mindfulness” course taught by Worthen, a full-time mindfulness instructor, students at the private boarding school in Concord, Massachusetts, will learn how to develop awareness of their thoughts and body sensations, sit with difficult CONTINUE READING: Schools bring mindfulness to the classroom to help kids right now

Two School Districts Had Different Mask Policies. Only One Had a Teacher on a Ventilator. — ProPublica

Two School Districts Had Different Mask Policies. Only One Had a Teacher on a Ventilator. — ProPublica

Two School Districts Had Different Mask Policies. Only One Had a Teacher on a Ventilator.

Eleven states let school districts decide whether students and staff must wear masks. One Georgia middle school where masks were optional became the center of an outbreak.

On a balmy August morning in Emanuel County in eastern Georgia, hundreds of children bounded off freshly cleaned school buses and out of their parents’ cars. They were greeted by the principal, teachers and staff at Swainsboro Middle School who hadn’t seen them in four months. Before allowing the children to enter, a longtime receptionist beamed a temperature gun at their foreheads and checked for violations of the public school’s strict dress code: mostly neutral colors, nothing tight and no shoulders exposed.

Masks were optional, and about half of the children wore them. So did the receptionist, but only sporadically, according to several teachers.

Within a couple of days, the receptionist was out sick. Another receptionist called in sick as well. Both had caught the coronavirus, according to social media posts. In the ensuing weeks, a wave of cases would rush through the building — an outbreak for which district leaders blamed the community rather than the lack of a mask mandate in the schools. At least nine middle school teachers would be infected, including four along a single hallway; one would spend four weeks on a ventilator, fighting for her life. More than 100 students were quarantined because of positive cases or exposure. Within the first two months of school, the county would have one of the highest proportions of school-age COVID-19 cases in the state.

“Not everything that could have been done or should have been done was being done in the school system to stop the spread,” said Dr. Cedric Porter, a local CONTINUE READING: Two School Districts Had Different Mask Policies. Only One Had a Teacher on a Ventilator. — ProPublica