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Sunday, January 17, 2021

Traitors or Heroes: Ben Franklin | Live Long and Prosper

Traitors or Heroes: Ben Franklin | Live Long and Prosper
Traitors or Heroes: Ben Franklin




Traitors or Heroes: Ben Franklin

Today is birthday number 315 for Benjamin Franklin. He was born in Boston on January 17, 1706.

Franklin is the only founding father to have signed all four of the key documents establishing the U.S.: the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Treaty of Alliance with France (1778), the Treaty of Paris establishing peace with Great Britain (1783) and the U.S. Constitution (1787).

Most people know about Franklin, the statesman and philosopher. Here are some relevant Franklin quotes for today…

THE NEWS MEDIA

Apology for Printers

If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.

ON COMPROMISE

Queries and Remarks Respecting Alterations in the Constitution of Pennsylvania

Has not the famous political Fable of the Snake, with two Heads and one CONTINUE READING: Traitors or Heroes: Ben Franklin | Live Long and Prosper

The Teacher Trauma of Repeatedly Justifying Your Right To Life During Covid | gadflyonthewallblog

The Teacher Trauma of Repeatedly Justifying Your Right To Life During Covid | gadflyonthewallblog
The Teacher Trauma of Repeatedly Justifying Your Right To Life During Covid




I am a public school teacher and my life has value.

That shouldn’t be controversial.

But every few weeks in 2020-21 as the global Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread unabated, I have to go to a staff meeting and justify my right to continue breathing.

Administration and the school board want to stop distance learning and reopen the school for in-person classes.

Yet the Pennsylvania Department of Health recommends all schools be fully remote in any county with a substantial level of community transmission of Covid-19. As of today, that’s every county in the whole state.

Allegheny County – the area near Pittsburgh where I live – has averaged about 600 new cases a day since the beginning of December. More than 1,100 people have died – 149 just in January, alone.

Meanwhile, teachers and other frontline workers have to wait to get vaccinated CONTINUE READING: The Teacher Trauma of Repeatedly Justifying Your Right To Life During Covid | gadflyonthewallblog

Education with the Biden Team | tultican

Education with the Biden Team | tultican
Education with the Biden Team



By Thomas Ultican 1/16/2021

Joe Biden has garnered wide spread praise for his choice of Miguel Cardona as Secretary of Education; maybe too wide. The co-founder of Bellwether Education, Andrew Rotherham says Cardona is “a Goldilocks on charter schools.”  However, Goldilocks was a fairy tale and Rotherham is a well known neoliberal who campaigns for “school choice.”

At the Democratic convention in 2008, the largest groups of delegates cheering the loudest for their new standard bearers were teachers. They saw in Barack Obama and Joe Biden leaders who would end the destructive nightmare, No Child Left Behind. Linda Darling-Hammond the progressive education scholar advising Obama was viewed as someone who would bring professional sanity to national education policy and end the unjustifiable attacks on public schools and their teachers.

They were not aware of a pre-convention seminar billed “Ed Challenge for Change.” This seminar sponsored by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and real estate mogul Eli Broad included a new group of young wealthy hedge fund managers named Democrats for Education Reform (DFER). They had previously established a relationship with Senator Barak Obama. He seemed to share their ideas on education issues like charter schools, performance pay, and accountability. DFER, Gates and Broad viewed Darling-Hammond as a touchy-feely anti-accountability figure and believed she would destroy any chance that Obama would follow through on any of their education reform initiatives.

The seminar group began subjecting Darling-Hammond to withering criticism. They championed the non-traditional (meaning no education background) leader of the Chicago school system, Arne Duncan, to be the next Secretary of Education. Darling-Hammond was berated as favoring the status quo in CONTINUE READING: Education with the Biden Team | tultican

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


Muhammad Ali Was Born On This Day In 1942 – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources
GregReese / Pixabay Muhammad Ali was born on this day in 1942. You might be interested in Muhammad Ali, R.I.P. – Useful Resources To Teach About His Life . On this day in 1942, the great Muhammad Ali was born. Shook up the world pic.twitter.com/zIUR2jWP8l — Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 17, 2021
President-Elect Biden Says The Minimum Wage Should Be Increased To $15 – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources
geralt / Pixabay President-Elect Biden wants Congress to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour. In addition to lifting millions out of poverty, this effort offers an excellent learning opportunity for English, social studies, math and economics classes. You might be interested in The Best Resources On Why Raising The Minimum Wage Is Important .
Video: “World Population – History & Projection (1820-2100)”
OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay I’m adding this new video to The Best Resources For Learning About Our World’s Population Of 7 Billion :
Classroom Instruction Resources Of The Week
Each week, I publish a post or two containing three or four particularly useful resources on classroom instruction, and you can see them all here. Of course, this is a crazy time for “classroom” instruction…. You might also be interested in THE BEST RESOURCES ON INSTRUCTION IN 2020 – PART TWO . Here are this week’s picks: Ineffective ‘learning styles’ theory persists in education is from Science
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 : "As U.S. authorities debate whether to keep schools open, a consensus is emerging in Europe that children are a considerable factor in the spread of Covid-19…" https://t.co/16Da88a5IJ — Margaret Thornton (@MaggieEThornton) January 16, 2021 Everything We Know Now About Schools, Kids,
SEL Weekly Update
I’ve recently begun this weekly post where I’ll be sharing resources I’m adding to The Best Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Resources or other related “Best” lists. You might also be interested in THE BEST SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING RESOURCES OF 2020 – PART TWO. Finally, check out “Best” Lists Of The Week: Social Emotional Learning Resources . Here are this week’s picks: Want to Stop Procrastinati
This Could Be Useful Video To Show In Class: “The history of Charles Curtis, the first Vice President of color”
CBS This Morning just published this video, which would likely be surprising and interesting to students:
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

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