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Monday, November 30, 2020

CURMUDGUCATION: The 2020 Edubook Christmas List

CURMUDGUCATION: The 2020 Edubook Christmas List
The 2020 Edubook Christmas List



Time to go hunting for books for the people on your Christmas list, and I have some recommendations for you if there are people on your list who care about public education (and really, everybody should). 

Before we start shopping, let me also direct your attention to Bookshop.org, an online vendor set up to benefit local independent booksellers instead of, say, giving Jeff Mezos his next gazillion dollars. You can also use it to locate a local bookstore and then shop even more directly. 

Now, here's my handful or recommendations for this year.

Black Lives Matter In School

This book does not actually ship for another week, but based on the fact that it's edited by Jesse Hagopian and Denisha Jones, my copy is already on order. 

Know Your Price  

Andre Perry brings a really unique collection of hats to this work, from Brookings scholar to education journalist, and this work is an impressive distillation of it all. At some points, it's a powerful personal reflection on his own experience, and at others, a scholarly look at how Blacks in the US have had value systematically stripped from them in ways that have lasting financial and social consequences. This book is huge help in understanding the how of racism in not just abstract or social ways, but in concrete, practical financial ways. 

Schoolhouse Burning & The Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door

Schoolhouse Burning by Derek Black and A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door by Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider are two entirely separate books, but they make a perfect pairing. It enhances both to read them back to back.

Black is a legal scholar whose book traces the importance of education in this country as reflected CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: The 2020 Edubook Christmas List

In a twist, de Blasio’s latest screw-up is not his worst | JD2718

In a twist, de Blasio’s latest screw-up is not his worst | JD2718
In a twist, de Blasio’s latest screw-up is not his worst




Over the last nine months Bill de Blasio has gotten a lot wrong. Almost every announcement has been late, off-base, and off kilter. He kept schools open when they should have been closed, he canceled break when students and teachers needed it, he announced policies without consulting teachers, families, principals, he came up with half-assed “models,” he insisted schools were opening on time, he announced without notice that opening was delayed a few weeks… His pattern – late, without consultation, lacking details, winging it, and – for the most part – wrong, without careful consideration, without real planning, without forethought.

That makes today’s announcement at least a little different. There were a couple of elements that were not completely wrong.

  • Elementary schools come back 12/7. D75 comes back 12/10.

So, those dates are arbitrary. And maybe 3% was a low trigger, maybe not, but all the precents are higher today, and rising. My neighborhood, middle of the pack, is at 4.5%. My school’s neighborhood is over 6%. Announcing return dates now is – I don’t know. Really dumb? But it’s political. He got scolded by the governor and the Times’ education writer, and he’s showing them – full stop. Instead of making the best decisions for our schools, families, teachers, students, he’s showing them. Really dumb.

  • High schools and middle schools are not coming back for now.

Ok, so that is more interesting. Treating different grades differently is something that needed to be CONTINUE READING: In a twist, de Blasio’s latest screw-up is not his worst | JD2718

NYC Educator: The Chancellor Reveals His Re-opening Plan

NYC Educator: The Chancellor Reveals His Re-opening Plan
The Chancellor Reveals His Re-opening Plan




 Dear Colleagues,
 
I hope you had a restful Thanksgiving holiday this year. You’ll need it, because I’m about to arbitrarily and capriciously change my reopening plan, again, with no consultation whatsoever with your union.
 
This has been an eventful and challenging year on many levels. We’ve managed to double the infection rate in the city. Worse, parents are practically burning us in effigy for honoring our agreement to close at 3%. Safety is one thing, but bad publicity is another, and I’m gonna need a new gig once Blaz is term limited next year. I don’t suppose he can just buy another term like Bloomberg did.

Please know that we pay you valuable lip service for the tireless work you have done, and please disregard our efforts to pick your pockets to the tune of a billion dollars we’ve owed you for over a decade now. We’ve given you half, right? That’s better than nothing.
 
Working in partnership, the City and the State, we are releasing plans today to re-open school buildings with enhanced weekly testing for COVID-19 in place for students and staff. To re-open our schools successfully and with sufficient testing support, we’ve decided to ignore the 3% rate we just closed with, because we hate it when we are criticized, and therefore we’re gonna use the state program. That way, hopefully, everyone will just blame Cuomo.
 
·         Students in 3-K, Pre-K and grades K through  5 will return to in-person learning beginning CONTINUE READING: 
NYC Educator: The Chancellor Reveals His Re-opening Plan


A VERY BUSY DAY 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

“This Is Not Sustainable”: Important NY Times Article About Teachers’ Struggles
Teaching In The Pandemic: ‘This is Not Sustainable is an excellent article that teachers everywhere will say, “Yes, that’s how I’m feeling.” The question is, of course, “Will district and public officials listen?”
Dec. 12th Is The Day Of The Virgin Of Guadalupe – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources
OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay December 12th is a Mexican National Holiday, and an important day for many Mexican-Americans — The Day Of The Virgin Of Guadalupe. You might be interested in The Best Sites For Learning & Teaching About The Day Of The Virgin Of Guadalupe .
Monday’s Must-Read Articles & Must-Watch Videos On School Reopenings
geralt / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : New York City Will Reopen Elementary Schools and Phase Out Hybrid Learning is from The NY Times. New York City Schools Will Reopen With New COVID-19 Testing Protocol is from NPR.
My Most Popular Tweets Of The Month
PhotoMIX-Company / Pixabay I used to post weekly collections of my best tweets, and used Storify to bring them together. Unfortunately, Storify went under. Fortunately, however, Wakelet was a new tool that was able to import all of a person’s Storifys. So you can see all those previous Twitter “Best” lists here . You might also be interested in MY MOST POPULAR TWEETS IN 2019 – PART TWO and NEW &
A Look Back: “English Language Learners and the Power of Personal Stories”
I thought that new – and veteran – readers might find it interesting if I began sharing my best posts from over the years. You can see the entire collection here . Today, I’ve decided to share an article I wrote for The New York Times Learning Network a several years ago called English Language Learners and the Power of Personal Stories . Here’s an excerpt:
“Teachers Share What They Want Central Offices & Public Officials to Hear”
Teachers Share What They Want Central Offices & Public Officials to Hear is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Those who make the policy decisions and control the resources often don’t ask educators what they need. Three teachers suggest ways they can be most helpful to the people in the trenches. Here are some excerpts:
This Week’s Resources To Support Teachers Coping With School Closures
Wokandapix / Pixabay I have a number of regular weekly features (see HERE IS A LIST (WITH LINKS) OF ALL MY REGULAR WEEKLY FEATURES ). This is a relatively new addition to that list. Some of these resources will be added to The Best Advice On Teaching K-12 Online (If We Have To Because Of The Coronavirus) – Please Make More Suggestions ! and the best will go to The “Best Of The Best” Resources To
Sunday’s Must-Read Articles On School Reopenings
kaboompics / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : Plastic Dividers and Masks All Day: What Teaching in a Pandemic Looks Like is from The NY Times. This state is shutting bars and gyms as the coronavirus surges — but not schools is from The Washington Post. ‘Unprecedented learning loss’: U.S. students rack up failures as grading retu
Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Is On December 7th – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources
WikiImages / Pixabay Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day is on December 7th here in the United States. You might be interested in The Best Sites For Learning About Pearl Harbor (I’ve just update and revised it).