Monday, January 18, 2021

THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Monday, January 18, 2021 #REDFORED #tbats #REOPENSCHOOLSSAFELY #COVIDVACCINE #Inauguration #BIDEN #HARRIS #MLKDAY #MLK #MARTINLUTHERKINGJR

THE TOP BANANA
TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES

Biden weighs options for education secretary who would face early political pressure in school reopening bid - CNNPolitics - https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/19/politics/joe-biden-education-secretary-decision/index.html

Six Important New Resources For Learning About Martin Luther King, Jr. | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - https://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/?p=114916 on @Larryferlazzo

Inauguration in Troubled Times: Looking Back and Looking Forward: Lincoln, FDR and Biden | Ed In The Apple - https://wp.me/p2zCG-2Q3 via @edintheapple

Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELL | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - https://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/?p=114899 on @Larryferlazzo

Access to college admissions tests — and lucrative scholarships — imperiled by the pandemic https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/18/sat-act-requirements-coronavirus-459797

Giving kids no autonomy at all has become a parenting norm — and the pandemic is worsening the trend https://www.salon.com/2021/01/17/giving-kids-no-autonomy-at-all-has-become-a-parenting-norm--and-the-pandemic-is-worsening-the-trend/

'I've Tried Everything': Pandemic Worsens Child Mental Health Crisis https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/01/18/953581851/ive-tried-everything-pandemic-has-cut-options-for-kids-with-mental-illness

¿Qué significa para las escuelas la nueva variante del coronavirus? https://www.nytimes.com/es/2021/01/18/espanol/que-significa-para-las-escuelas-la-nueva-variante-del-coronavirus.html

OPINION: HBCUs build women and men who are ready to lead the nation - https://hechingerreport.org/?p=76578 via @hechingerreport

Spring term delays: New wave of coronavirus uncertainty slams higher education https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/colleges-spring-semester-coronavirus/2021/01/16/0be39db6-55d9-11eb-a931-5b162d0d033d_story.html?tid=ss_tw

Climate Crisis Must Be Taught In Schools, U.S. Education Experts Tell Biden https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/climate-crisis-must-be-taught-in-schools-u-s-education-experts-tell-biden/

Wendell Pierce On Parenting, The Pandemic And Reckoning With The Past | NewBlackMan (in Exile) - https://www.newblackmaninexile.net/2021/01/wendell-pierce-on-parenting-pandemic.html

Beutner presses for L.A. schools to become COVID-19 vaccine centers https://news.yahoo.com/beutner-presses-l-schools-become-160012405.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw&tsrc=twtr via @YahooNews

PROOF POINTS: Study of kindergarteners points to technology overuse - https://hechingerreport.org/?p=76567 by @jillbarshay on @hechingerreport

Education Matters: Europe says schools are vectors for spread. DCPS says we are wide open for business. - https://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2021/01/europe-says-schools-are-vectors-for.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+blogspot/iYxgC+(Education+Matters)

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: The Drum Major Instinct | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-tdE via @dianeravitch

Former Flint Mayor Karen Weaver: It’s time for justice for Flint | Eclectablog - https://www.eclectablog.com/?p=72131

Big Education Ape: L.A. schools chief wants to launch California's largest teacher vaccine effort - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/la-schools-chief-wants-to-launch.html

Big Education Ape: Be True to Your School | Teacher in a strange land - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/be-true-to-your-school-teacher-in.html

Big Education Ape: A Word on the Special Session – Tennessee Education Report - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/a-word-on-special-session-tennessee.html

Big Education Ape: Whatever Happened to the National Teacher Corps? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/whatever-happened-to-national-teacher.html

Big Education Ape: MLK warned that colleges could produce ‘close-minded, unscientific, illogical propagandists’ - The Washington Post - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/mlk-warned-that-colleges-could-produce.html

Big Education Ape: Teacher Tom: Chaos or Community? - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/teacher-tom-chaos-or-community.html

Big Education Ape: NYC Educator: MLK and Making America Union Again - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/nyc-educator-mlk-and-making-america.html

Big Education Ape: WSJ: Europe Is Closing Down Schools for Fear of COVID Spread | Diane Ravitch's blog - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/wsj-europe-is-closing-down-schools-for.html

Big Education Ape: Education Matters: Last week there were 172 student cases, 88 staff cases and nothing but crickets from the district. - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/education-matters-last-week-there-were.html

Big Education Ape: On This Holiday Honoring Dr. King, Consider the Plight of Children Today in Pennsylvania’s Chester Upland School District | janresseger - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/on-this-holiday-honoring-dr-king.html

Big Education Ape: Letter from a Teacher to the Incoming Secretary of Education | Real Learning CT - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/letter-from-teacher-to-incoming.html

CURMUDGUCATION: A Really Bad Anti-Public School Analogy

by Mike Simpson / 15min

A Really Bad Anti-Public School Analogy You know I love a good analogy. I spent four decades trying to help people understand one thing by connecting it to some other thing. So I love a good analogy. This is not a good analogy. Nick Freitas is an army vet and Virginia politician, who served in the house of delegates before making a couple of unsuccessful runs for the US Congress (both House and

Student: “I Appreciate You Disciplining Me.” | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

by Mike Simpson / 15min

Student: “I Appreciate You Disciplining Me.” I expect my students to wear a school uniform shirt and an ID. It is my habit to check for these, and my students know so. Of course, that doesn’t mean they always comply. Last week, in one of my classes, I hit on a noncompliance bonanza of sorts. One had no school shirt. A second had no ID. A third had neither school shirt nor ID. So, out come the de

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

by Mike Simpson / 15min

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/2021/01/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos_16.html Must-Read NY Times Column On Miguel Cardona’s Experience As An ELL by Lar

YESTERDAY

CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION + ICYMI: Well, Nothing Blew Up This Week Edition (1/17)

by Mike Simpson / 20h

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Well, Nothing Blew Up This Week Edition (1/17) Well, Nothing Blew Up This Week Edition Did we just get through a whole week without anything more than whingings based on the willful misunderstanding of the First Amendment and admittedly horrifying details from last week's insurrection? I feel like maybe we're having the equivalent of when someone screams in your ears and th

THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Sunday, January 17, 2021 #REDFORED #tbats #REOPENSCHOOLSSAFELY #COVIDVACCINE #IMPEACHED #TWICE

by Mike Simpson / 20h

Big Education Ape THE TOP BANANA TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Children’s Screen Time Has Soared in the Pandemic, Alarming Parents and Researchers - The New York Times -

Big Education Ape

L.A. schools chief wants to launch California's largest teacher vaccine effort

L.A. schools chief wants to launch California's largest teacher vaccine effort

SACRAMENTO — Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Austin Beutner is calling on state and local health officials to immediately allow the district to turn its more than 1,400 schools into Covid-19 vaccination sites, focusing on shots for teachers and school staff in what would become California's biggest education vaccine push.

California has prioritized teachers among vaccine recipients but left distribution up to counties, and there is no large-scale effort yet to inoculate school employees in the state. Gov. Gavin Newsom altered the state's vaccine course Wednesday when he announced residents 65 years and older could receive shots in a bid to accelerate vaccinations and protect a high-risk population.

It's unclear, however, when the bulk of the state's 300,000-plus teachers will have access. After Newsom paved the way for seniors, vaccinators began making appointments for older residents, but most have not yet allowed teachers or other non-health essential workers to get in line.

Beutner asked in a Monday letter to California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly and Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer to immediately authorize his school system — the second largest in the U.S. — to vaccinate its teachers and school staff.

"This will not only protect the health and safety of our essential employees but will provide enormous benefit to children and their families, leading to a faster reopening of schools and of the economy more broadly by enabling the working families we serve to go back to work," Beutner said in the letter.

California's 6 million schoolchildren have remained in distance learning for nearly a year, and it is becoming increasingly likely that teachers unions will demand CONTINUE READING: L.A. schools chief wants to launch California's largest teacher vaccine effort

Be True to Your School | Teacher in a strange land

Be True to Your School

It’s an early Saturday morning coffee-meeting on Zoom. All of us are teacher leaders—what we have in common is awards for our good teaching. What brings us together is a mutual commitment to supporting both public education in our state and the teachers who hold this threatened enterprise together.

Some of us have left the classroom after long careers and moved on to new challenges, but we know that our observations matter little on this day, as the American republic itself seems to be on shaky ground. What we want to know is: What are the kids saying? How are the kids doing? Are they OK?

Of course, they’re not.

Our colleagues working in the classroom talk of their utter mental and physical exhaustion—every week like the first week of school, instructional mastery honed over years now replaced by calling students at home to ask: Are you still in my class? Is anyone in your family sick? Do you have enough to eat?

All I can think is ‘Thank God students have teachers like these.’ Teachers who understand students’ context. Teachers who care. Teachers who are a bulwark against isolation and fear.

One of the teachers mentions talking with her students—cautiously, but necessarily— CONTINUE READING: Be True to Your School | Teacher in a strange land

CURMUDGUCATION: Donors Choose Monday: Small Things

Donors Choose Monday: Small Things

I have been trying to make a regular weekly attempt to give some small support to teachers on Donors Choose, a platform that allows teachers to solicit support for projects in their classroom. Not all schools allow their teachers to participate, and I wish there was a better way to find teachers who deserve a hand, but we work with what we've got.

Sometimes the asks are really small, simple things. The kinds of things that you'd hope school districts would fund themselves, but you already know how that goes. But I'm a big believer that small differences are what really move the needle in this world, especially from the perspective of the students who are getting the help.

So I have some small things for your consideration this week.

In Mount Airy, NC, Mrs. Fletcher is looking for bookmarks for her littles at Franklin Elementary School. It's not a big ask, but it struck a chord-- I remember how much I liked a really cool bookmark to stick in a book I was reading (it is possible that I have not outgrown this).

In Friendswood, TX, Ms. Gardner is looking for some help funding her cache of classroom treats and prizes for good work. As with many Donors Choose asks, you may be thinking, "Well, hell, all the teachers in the world self-fund their classroom prize store, and I agree. So let Ms. Gardner be a reminder and an inspiration, and help provide some teacher you know with some classroom rewards. And if you don't know a teacher who could use that, then help Ms. Gardner.

Also, I am shocked--okay, not shocked exactly, but disturbed--to see how many teachers are on Donors Choose asking for hand sanitizer, masks, basic PPE. I'm not going to put any of them up, but I am going to suggest that you could easily grab some extra of these items the next time you're shopping, and drop them off at a school near you. Should the school already be providing such things? Absolutely. But the need is still there. My old district stopped buying facial tissue a few decades ago, and many parents got in the habit of just sending a box into school with their child every so often. An absolute godsend.

CURMUDGUCATION: Donors Choose Monday: Small Things

A Word on the Special Session – Tennessee Education Report

A WORD ON THE SPECIAL SESSION

Gov. Bill Lee’s “Not So Special Session” on education starts tomorrow at the Tennessee General Assembly. Former Nashville School Board member Amy Frogge offers some insight into what to expect this week.

Here are her thoughts:

The Governor has called a special legislative session this week to address three administration bills. Heads up to educators, parents and friends- we need your help to reach out to legislators who will be voting on these bills!

1. Senate Bill 7001: This testing waiver/hold harmless bill would require school districts to test 80% of students in-person (with pen and paper) in exchange for exemption from the A-F district grading system, placing districts into the Achievement School District, and placing schools on the state priority list (bottom 5%). This bill would require districts to return to in-person instruction. It is unclear how this bill will effect teacher evaluations. The question to ask here is why we are even testing at all this year, during a pandemic and so much chaos. (Hint: follow the money.)

2. Senate Bill 7002 addresses “learning loss” during the pandemic. (This, by the way, is a political- not an education- term.) It would require districts to create in-person, summer mini-camps to help children who are struggling this year. While these camps could be helpful to students, the state is creating another unfunded mandate, because CONTINUE READING: A Word on the Special Session – Tennessee Education Report

Whatever Happened to the National Teacher Corps? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Whatever Happened to the National Teacher Corps?

What was the NTC and when did it begin?

In the mid-1960s, I taught in and later directed a federally-funded teacher training program located in Grimke elementary school, Banneker and Garnet-Patterson Junior High Schools, and Cardozo High School in Washington, D. C. The Cardozo Project in Urban Teaching, as it was then called, prepared returned Peace Corps Volunteers to teach in urban schools. The paid “interns,” as they were called, taught for half-days under the supervision of master teachers, took university seminars on-site after-school, and in evenings and late-afternoons developed curriculum materials and worked in the community. At the end of the year the “interns” were certified to teach in the District of Columbia and were on their way to earning a master’s degree in their field through two local universities (see here and here). Three-quarters of the intern teachers we trained became full-time teachers in the District of Columbia schools and other districts.

Within a few years, this district-based model of training new teachers became the poster-child for a federal initiative to put teachers into high-poverty urban and rural schools. Amid President Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty,” education figured large–Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965) remains a mainstay of funding schools enrolling poor children in 2021. The belief that minority and low-income students needed committed, smart, and well-trained teachers led Senator Gaylord Nelson from Idaho (his administrative aide’s wife taught at Cardozo High School) and Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy to seize the Cardozo Project’s way of training teachers and expand it CONTINUE READING: Whatever Happened to the National Teacher Corps? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

MLK warned that colleges could produce ‘close-minded, unscientific, illogical propagandists’ - The Washington Post

MLK: ‘If we are not careful, our colleges will produce … close-minded, unscientific, illogical propagandists’

Here, as I have published in recent years to mark the federal holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., are some of his prophetic writings related to the purpose of education and the U.S. government’s efforts toward educating its citizens.

Just read these excerpts:

— King attended Morehouse College, and this is an excerpt from “The Purpose of Education,” a piece he wrote in the February 1947 edition of the college’s student newspaper, the Maroon Tiger:

As I engage in the so-called “bull sessions” around and about the school, I too often find that most college men have a misconception of the purpose of education. Most of the “brethren” think that education should equip them with the proper instruments of exploitation so that they can forever trample over the masses. Still others think that education should furnish them with noble ends rather than means to an end.
It seems to me that education has a two-fold function to perform in the life of man and in society: the one is utility and the other is culture. Education must enable a man to become more efficient, to achieve with increasing facility the ligitimate goals of his life.
Education must also train one for quick, resolute and effective thinking. To think incisively and to think for one’s self is very difficult. We are prone to let our mental life become invaded by legions of half truths, prejudices, and propaganda.
At this point, I often wonder whether or not education is fulfilling its purpose. A great majority of the so-called educated people do not think logically and scientifically. Even the press, the classroom, the platform, and the pulpit in many instances do not give us objective and unbiased truths. To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.
The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.
The late Eugene Talmadge, in my opinion, possessed one of the better minds of Georgia, or even America. Moreover, he CONTINUE READING:
MLK warned that colleges could produce ‘close-minded, unscientific, illogical propagandists’ - The Washington Post

Teacher Tom: Chaos or Community?

Chaos or Community?

And one day we must ask the question, "Why are there forty million poor people in America?" And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising questions about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy. ~MLK

What I'm saying to you this morning is that Communism forgets that life is individual. Capitalism forgets that life is social, and the Kingdom of Brotherhood is found neither in the thesis of Communism nor the antithesis of capitalism but in a higher synthesis. It is found in a higher synthesis that combines the truths of both. Now, when I say question the whole society, it means ultimately coming to see that the problem of racism, the problem of economic exploitation, and the problem of war are all tied together. These are the triple evils that are interrelated. ~MLK

And I say to you, I have also decided to stick to love. For I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind's problems. And I'm going to talk about it everywhere I go. I know it isn't popular to talk about it in some circles today. I'm not talking about emotional bosh when I talk about love, I'm talking about a strong, demanding love. ~MLK

On this Martin Luther King Day many of us will listen to snippets, perhaps all, of his great "I Have A Dream" speech, and we should, but civil rights was not the only cause this CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Chaos or Community?

NYC Educator: MLK and Making America Union Again

MLK and Making America Union Again

MLK is famous for his life and work, and words of insincere reverence regularly escape the lips of people who'd have opposed him absolutely when he was alive. One thing a lot of people seem to forget about him was that he was passionately pro-union and pro-labor. In fact, at the time of his assassination in Memphis, he happened to be there to support a sanitation workers' strike.

MLK was calling "right to work" a false slogan as early as 1961. What people like Donald Trump call right to work is nothing more than the right to shirk union dues, thereby weakening union in favor of bosses. No one needs a right to work enforced. Our union keeps no one from working and never has. We don't select people for UFT. We simply support and protect everyone who joins.

That's something in union concept and practice that's missing from the tapestry of modern American life. What Dr. King fought for now comes up as Black Lives Matter. Some people answer that with that American flag with a blue stripe, calling it Blue Lives Matter. What that says, to me at least, is Black Lives Don't Matter, the clarion call of racism in this country since its inception.

In union, we don't discriminate. I get health care, you get health care, and we all get health care. I get retirement benefits and so do all of us. Who you are doesn't enter into it. Our retirement benefits are now better than those of most Americans. Those same politicians who support the white supremacists would take them away from us (and them) in a heartbeat. Mitch McConnell opposed the HEROES act saying states should go bankrupt. He said some states wasted their money on things like, yes, retirement CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: MLK and Making America Union Again

WSJ: Europe Is Closing Down Schools for Fear of COVID Spread | Diane Ravitch's blog

WSJ: Europe Is Closing Down Schools for Fear of COVID Spread

Last spring and summer, we read many articles about Europe’s success in keeping its schools open, based on the belief that young children are less likely to get sick with COVID-19 and less likely to spread it.

Ruth Bender reports in The Wall Street Journal that European nations are closing their schools because new studies show that children do get the disease and are likely to spread it.

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—and more countries are shutting schools for the first time since the spring.

Closures have been announced recently in the U.K., Germany, Ireland, Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands on concerns about a more infectious variant of the virus first detected in the U.K. and rising case counts despite lockdowns.

While the debate continues, recent studies and outbreaks show that schoolchildren, even younger ones, can play a significant role in spreading infections.

“In the second wave we acquired much more CONTINUE READING: WSJ: Europe Is Closing Down Schools for Fear of COVID Spread | Diane Ravitch's blog

Education Matters: Last week there were 172 student cases, 88 staff cases and nothing but crickets from the district.

Last week there were 172 student cases, 88 staff cases and nothing but crickets from the district.

Those numbers are beyond scary, and they beg the question, how can effective contact tracing occur? The answer is it can't, and that means more people will get sick and worse. So what is the district doing to improve it? If you guessed nothing you would be correct.

When I got COVID, I notified my school on Sunday. The health department got in touch with me on Wednesday and promptly did nothing, even though I had been within six feet of everybody in my class every day, including days when there was no doubt I was infected.

I got this note last night,

Still, no word from DOH, and now the whole family has it, so he’s out another week. Another 5th grader has it in one of my switch classes! We were told to send packets home, but no concern for our safety or the other children who have been exposed!

Unfortunately, I get CONTINUE READING: Education Matters: Last week there were 172 student cases, 88 staff cases and nothing but crickets from the district.

On This Holiday Honoring Dr. King, Consider the Plight of Children Today in Pennsylvania’s Chester Upland School District | janresseger

On This Holiday Honoring Dr. King, Consider the Plight of Children Today in Pennsylvania’s Chester Upland School District

Posted on January 18, 2021 by janresseger

Today is the holiday set aside for reflection on the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. Peter Greene’s new history of the ruination of Pennsylvania’s Chester Upland Public Schools, published last week in Forbes, ought to be required reading on this holiday to remind us how badly our society has stumbled along the journey for justice for America’s poorest African American children.

On Wednesday, Joseph R. Biden will be inaugurated as U.S. President. Look for a new post on Friday, January 22.

Greene explains: “As the new year begins, one Pennsylvania public school district faces the prospect of being completely dismantled and handed over to charter operators. Chester Upland School District is poised to become an example of what can happen to a public school district that needs assistance, and gets nothing but trouble instead. CUSD has weathered every sort of challenge a district can face, but may now be on its last legs, about to make history as the first Pennsylvania district to be completely privatized.”

I have known about the tragedy in Chester Upland since the mid-1990s, but Greene explains how its segregated history goes back to the years before Brown, when the district educated Black and white children separately as a matter of policy. Greene reports that only after 1964 was Chester Upland ordered to desegregate, but middle class white flight followed, and “the 1960s saw an exodus of major employers like Ford Motor and Baldwin Locomotive. People CONTINUE READING: On This Holiday Honoring Dr. King, Consider the Plight of Children Today in Pennsylvania’s Chester Upland School District | janresseger

CURMUDGUCATION: A Really Bad Anti-Public School Analogy

A Really Bad Anti-Public School Analogy

You know I love a good analogy. I spent four decades trying to help people understand one thing by connecting it to some other thing. So I love a good analogy.

This is not a good analogy.

Nick Freitas is an army vet and Virginia politician, who served in the house of delegates before making a couple of unsuccessful runs for the US Congress (both House and Senate). In his bid for national office, he was backed by folks Rand Paul and Mike Lee, the Club for Growth, and Freedomworks. He has been writing for the ultra-right Daily Wire, where he usually sticks to war and the evils of communism. But this week, he decided to stick his oar into education waters with "We Wouldn't Let Government Control Our Grocery Stores. Why Do We Let Them Control Our Schools?" Transparency requires that I link to the article so you can check my work if you're so inclined, but I'm going to ask you to resist giving this thing any more clicks than you can help. So here's the link.

There are so many things wrong here. But it's worth poking through this pile because it's representative of how the anti-gummint school crowd views the issues.

Freitas opens by reducing the many debates about school to two sides--one side all for "choice and freedom" and the other side "insists that improved education can only be achieved through strict government control of schools." Well, no, not really. It's not clear what exactly he means by "government control" or "strict," but a lot of straw is going to fly before he's done. We have locally elected school boards, which is government, but their control is not particularly strict in most case. We have oversight on the state and federal level, which is where most of the rules and regulations that he might be upset about come from, but if we were going to have strict control from that level, we'd have lefties CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: A Really Bad Anti-Public School Analogy

Student: “I Appreciate You Disciplining Me.” | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

Student: “I Appreciate You Disciplining Me.”

I expect my students to wear a school uniform shirt and an ID. It is my habit to check for these, and my students know so.

Of course, that doesn’t mean they always comply.

Last week, in one of my classes, I hit on a noncompliance bonanza of sorts. One had no school shirt. A second had no ID. A third had neither school shirt nor ID.

So, out come the detentions.

During the course of handling these incidents, I had an unusual response from one of these unfortunate three:

He thanked me for disciplining him:

His exact words: “Ms. Schneider, I appreciate you taking the time to discipline me.”

Now, my first thought was that he was being sarcastic, but he was not. He was serious.

As I was writing his detention, I congratulated him on his maturity and told him that the willingness to subject oneself to authority and to own one’s self-induced negative consequences are indispensable for living a peaceful, private life and for becoming a productive member of our greater society.

Then, I told him this story:

In my second year of teaching, 1992-93, I had a student (I named him in my telling but will CONTINUE READING: Student: “I Appreciate You Disciplining Me.” | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

Letter from a Teacher to the Incoming Secretary of Education | Real Learning CT

Letter from a Teacher to the Incoming Secretary of Education

A highly respected Connecticut teacher has written an open letter to Miquel Cardona, President-elect Biden’s choice for Secretary of Education, and hopes that the letter is the beginning of a state-wide effort to send a petition to Dr. Cardona about improving the teaching and learning in the nation’s schools. Here is that letter:

Dear Commissioner Cardona:

Connecticut is proud that you, our Commissioner of Eduction, was chosen as the Biden/Harris administration’s Secretary of Education.

Educators support your dedication to: increasing graduation rates, closing the achievement gap, and ensuring equity for all students. All educators should be committed to making these goals a reality. America’s children need and deserve this.

However, educators also know that the regime of profit-driven standardized testing will not improve teaching and learning. They never have.

If educators are forced to teach to a test in order to increase graduation CONTINUE READING: Letter from a Teacher to the Incoming Secretary of Education | Real Learning CT

Latest News and Comment from Education

Monday, January 18, 2021