Why questioning has become necessary, and how this will transform education « Cooperative Catalyst

Why questioning has become necessary, and how this will transform education « Cooperative Catalyst:

Why questioning has become necessary, and how this will transform education

by caseykcaronna

Why questioning has become necessary, and how this will transform education

Over the past several decades…within the education sector, and American society as a whole, the question of why, (the critical, analyzing, specifically engaging question) of “why,” has not only diminished but has basically vanished, not only from conversation but from everyday action in citizens life.

A certain level of comfort and safety, along with miscellaneous distractions and numbness sensations had replaced what before used to be the idea that we question, not only our government and business sectors, but also ourselves. This critical engagement, of asking the question “why?” had no longer become relevant to our everyday lives. Yes, it is true that we saw war, plague, famine, starvation, injustice and inequality. It is true that some individuals did see these terrible and awful things and felt empathy and questioned their existence, but there was still a disconnect, or invisible wall if you will, that separated them from us.

In September of 2009, this wall came crashing down, with the financial collapse of Wall Street and several large

Next Steps for LAUSD Teacher Evaluations: You, Me, and AGT « InterACT

Next Steps for LAUSD Teacher Evaluations: You, Me, and AGT « InterACT:

Next Steps for LAUSD Teacher Evaluations: You, Me, and AGT

by ACT Guest Blog Posts

Lisa Alva Wood

Today’s InterACT guest blogger is Lisa Alva Wood, a National Board Certified high school English teacher from Los Angeles. Her prior guest blog posts include Is the Mayor Listening? and Education Nation – “Job One” Panel Reviewed.

An interesting thing happened at a Teach Plus event in Los Angeles last month. LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy engaged in a “conversation” with about 100 public and charter school teachers and teacher-leaders on the district’s new Teacher Evaluation System (TES). After Deasy’s opening remarks, moderator Celine Coggins, CEO of Teach Plus, asked the assembly how we felt about evaluation and what constituted an “effective

#OccupyOakland Ratifies General Strike for Nov. 2 « occupy california #ows

#OccupyOakland Ratifies General Strike for Nov. 2 « occupy california:

#OccupyOakland Ratifies General Strike for Nov. 2

by *

OAKLAND, California – The recently renewed #OccupyOakland General Assembly has ratified a city-wide General Strike for November 2nd.

#OccupyOakland Ratifies General Strike for Nov. 2 « occupy california #ows

#OccupyOakland Ratifies General Strike for Nov. 2 « occupy california:

#OccupyOakland Ratifies General Strike for Nov. 2

by *

OAKLAND, California – The recently renewed #OccupyOakland General Assembly has ratified a city-wide General Strike for November 2nd.

Jersey Jazzman: It's Not "Tenure" If You Can Lose It

Jersey Jazzman: It's Not "Tenure" If You Can Lose It:

It's Not "Tenure" If You Can Lose It

by Duke

So the NJEA is offering its vision of a tenure plan. Fine - great! But understand that we haven't really explained to folks what exactly tenure is; if we had, they wouldn't say stuff like this:

Frank Belluscio, a spokesman for the school boards association, said the proposed tenure change would be a first for the union but did not see it as a concession.

"This is the first time they’ve proposed a change in the length of time needed" to be granted tenure, he said.

Belluscio called the residency plan an "interesting concept," but said it "still doesn’t

A primer on corporate school reform - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

A primer on corporate school reform - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:

A primer on corporate school reform

This is an edited version of a commentary given by Stan Karp , a teacher of English and journalism in Paterson, N.J., for 30 years. Karp spoke on Oct. 1 at the fourth annual Northwest Teachers for Justice conference in Seattle. He is now the director of the Secondary Reform Project for New Jersey’s Education Law Center and an editor of the 25-year-old Rethinking Schools magazine. A video and fuller version of the commentary can be found here.
Read full article >>

Why standardized tests for 2nd graders are nonsensical

by Valerie Strauss

There is a wacky integrity to a move by D.C. public schools officials to keep their promise to expand standardized testing, now down to second grade. The problem is that the promise didn’t make sense to begin with, education-wise or child development-wise, and still doesn’t.
My college Bill Turque reported that D.C. public school second-graders will start taking the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System this spring. Here’s why: The D.C. school system is committed to evaluating teachers in large part on the standardized test scores of its students, so therefore, students have to take standardized tests, joining their compatriots in grades 3 through 8.
The fact that young children are known to be unreliable test takers doesn’t seem to matter.

Read full article >>

Will Weatherford’s Monday Morning Quarterback Routine Continues | Scathing Purple Musings

Will Weatherford’s Monday Morning Quarterback Routine Continues | Scathing Purple Musings:

Will Weatherford’s Monday Morning Quarterback Routine Continues

by Bob Sikes

From Gradebook:

Bill Gates would have a hard time getting a job teaching high school in Florida, said the state’s incoming speaker of the house. The bureaucracy is too onerous, and the pay scales too rigid.

“There’s no reason why the best science teacher in Hillsborough County shouldn’t be able to make $100,000 a year or more,” said Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel. “Right now it’s almost like charity work.”

Of course no public school district can afford the founder of Microsoft. And Weatherford, speaking at an education summit in Tampa on Wednesday, said several times that the legislature cannot cure a deficit in students pursuing careers in STEM, which stands for science, technology,

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Late Nite Posts #edreform

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Late Nite Posts #edreform

Rheediculous …a village of idiots and the billionaire bubble club. Education « Continuing Change

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 seconds ago

Rheediculous …a village of idiots and the billionaire bubble club. Education « Continuing Change:Rheediculous …a village of idiots and the billionaire bubble club. Educationby gatorbonbcLMAOMichelle Rhee charges a school $35,000 to speak to 600 people about how great bubble tests and billionaires are for our kids…Really?Hey, I’ll be on stage speaking to at least 600 kids next week at our pep rally. Do you think I can’t get that much

Redefining Teachers as True Professionals | Lefty Parent

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 seconds ago

Redefining Teachers as True Professionals | Lefty Parent:Redefining Teachers as True Professionalsby Cooper ZaleSo why is it that doctors play a key role in running the institutions (hospitals) where they practice their profession and defining what constitutes quality practice, but teachers generally don’t? Aren’t these both considered “professions”, and as such should be given comparable stature? No hospital would think of having a governance structure where doctor’s don’t play a key role, particularly in the delivery of medical care. Shouldn’t ... more »

Schools Matter: 99% Educator Sarah Knopp interviewed at OccupyLAUSD #ows

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 seconds ago

Schools Matter: 99% Educator Sarah Knopp interviewed at OccupyLAUSD:99% Educator Sarah Knopp interviewed at OccupyLAUSDby Robert D. Skeels * rdsatheneTeachers and students and parents are part of the 99% and that we're really one of the groups that has taken the brunt of the economic crises... In reality public employees and our unions are being blamed for a problem that was caused by the banks. Where the banks are getting a 700 billion dollar bail out, whereas the banks, Chase ...more »

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Week 5-7 Focus on Formative Assessment

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 seconds ago

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Week 5-7 Focus on Formative Assessment:Week 5-7 Focus on Formative Assessmentby alicemercerI apologize to my readers, but I’ve been really caught up in working in my new environment. Things are definitely NOT perfect, but I feel that they are headed in the right direction and are under control.I got a book for sending in a question to Larry Ferlazzo’s Ed Week blog, and I chose a title on Formative Assessment, because I’m really ... more »

Robinson Says Charter School Performance Doesn’t Matter in Application Process | Scathing Purple Musings

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 seconds ago

Robinson Says Charter School Performance Doesn’t Matter in Application Process | Scathing Purple Musings:Robinson Says Charter School Performance Doesn’t Matter in Application Processby Bob SikesFrom the Florida Times-Union’s Topher Sanders:Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson said Tuesday the state application for opening charter schools doesn’t need to address performance.The application doesn’t take into account whether a charter organization already has schools open and how those schools are performing.KIPP Jacksonville has applied to open two new elementary schools in...more »

Thousands occupy Illinois Capitol for retirement security. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 seconds ago

Thousands occupy Illinois Capitol for retirement security. « Fred Klonsky's blog:Thousands occupy Illinois Capitol for retirement security.by Fred KlonskyThousands of state employees and their families occupied the Illinois Capitol Building in Springfield at noon today. The action was sponsored by the labor coalition, We Are One.The message: Don’t mess with our promised pensions.The target: The Illinois General Assembly meeting in a six-day veto session.The concern: A stealth pension killing bill it is rumored will be proposed and passed in the ... more »

Schools Matter: Dana Goldstein "Hearts" Yellow Unions and Company Crafted Contracts

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Schools Matter: Dana Goldstein "Hearts" Yellow Unions and Company Crafted Contracts:Dana Goldstein "Hearts" Yellow Unions and Company Crafted Contractsby Robert D. Skeels * rdsatheneDana Goldstein is a widely read journalist and a fellow of the right-of-center New America Foundation think tank. Her education writings are occasionally mildly skeptical of the corporate reform clique's claims of miracles, but at the same time she has no problem casting vile villains like Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee, Eva Moskowitz, and Joe Williams as individuals ... more »

Bloomberg Knows What’s Best for Us, too | The G Bitch Spot

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 6 seconds ago

Bloomberg Knows What’s Best for Us, too | The G Bitch Spot:Bloomberg Knows What’s Best for Us, tooby G BitchTimes-Pic/nola.com: New York’s Mayor Bloomberg joins fray over control of state school boardNew York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who kicked off his own controversial reform effort in New York City schools almost a decade ago,…signed a $5,000 check this month to help get Kira Orange Jones get [sic] elected to the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.…Bloomberg also contributed $100,000 to ... more »

#OccupyOakland Returns to Oscar Grant Plaza « occupy california #ows

#OccupyOakland Returns to Oscar Grant Plaza « occupy california:

#OccupyOakland Returns to Oscar Grant Plaza

by *

OAKLAND, California – On Tuesday, the City of Oakland befouled both occupations thriving in downtown. At 4:30am, Oakland police along side other police from all over Alameda County and beyond, in excess of 500 officers, ransacked the occupations at Oscar Grant Plaza, followed by Snowpark. Yesterday at 4pm, occupiers gathered themselves and reconvened in front of one of Oakland’s public libraries, also suffering from austerity, to respond to the show of force earlier that day which resulted in over 100 arrests. They vowed to return the next day, and every day at 6pm until the occupations were reborn. Through the rest of the evening several thousand joined the marchers as they sought to restore their encampment. However, police still swarmed the area and refused the occupiers return to Oscar Grant Plaza. As the night wore on, police continue to show their brutality, launching dozens of attacks on peaceful marchers with rubber bullets, tear gas, and the blunt edge of the billy

Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: No, KC Elections Did NOT Give Out Your Phone Number

Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: No, KC Elections Did NOT Give Out Your Phone Number:

No, KC Elections Did NOT Give Out Your Phone Number

by Melissa Westbrook

I called KC Elections about Stand for Children's rep telling me last night that they got my phone number from them. I was told, they never give out phone numbers or e-mail addresses.

I called Stand and talked to a couple of people I know there. I was pretty clear on my unhappiness. I was told that they DID get it from the voter registration rolls. I told them KC Elections said no so how could this be?

I was told that Stand had used a group - Win Win - and got the list from them and they "probably" got it from the voter registration. I was also told that robo calls are legal because it's a political message being delivered but, of

Mr. Teachbad | Where Teachers Laugh and Complain

Mr. Teachbad | Where Teachers Laugh and Complain:

The “Do Now”

teachbad at Mr. Teachbad - 7 minutes ago

It is referred to variously as a Do Now or a Warm-up or, if you are a hard-core edu-dork, an Activator. There may be other regional variants. And if you are a vice principal who is really intent on showing how out of touch you are, you can require teachers to engage in these at [...]

Teachbad Sings: “Watch You Drown”

teachbad at Mr. Teachbad - 7 minutes ago

Hi, Folks- Mr. Teachbad has written a new song. I am aware that the bulk of my talent allotment has not been delivered in the form of singing, guitar-playing or song-writing abilities. So, once again, I have decided to combine all three into a one-stop wonder of mediocrity. Just for you. Watch You Drown Every [...]

I Hope You Are Settling In

teachbad at Mr. Teachbad - 7 minutes ago

By now everybody is back to work. Some have been at it for a long time already. I hope you are all settling in alright. Many of you are probably still stinging, sore and swollen from the many days of indoctrination and team-building to which you have recently been subjected. It takes time to heal. [...]

Respect Individuality (No, Silly, Not Yours)

teachbad at Mr. Teachbad - 7 minutes ago

What would happen if you told Dracula that you really needed him to stumble around a shopping mall all day long and eat human brains? He’d tell you to stick it up your ass, that’s what. I sleep all day, yo. I get up a little after dusk. Shower. Read the paper. I clean up [...]

A Day in the Life of Teachbad

teachbad at Mr. Teachbad - 7 minutes ago

Teachbad and Jay Mathews: Part 2

teachbad at Mr. Teachbad - 7 minutes ago

To fully appreciate this post, you should probably take a quick look at the last post if you have not already. This is the continuation of a dialogue between myself and Jay Mathews, education writer at the Washington Post, about the school where I formerly taught, Columbia Heights Education Campus(CHEC). (I promise the next post [...]

Teachbad and Jay Mathews: Part I

teachbad at Mr. Teachbad - 7 minutes ago

Happy Back to School time to everybody. I’m sorry. Do you know what you need? A good read and some magnets. Last week Jay Mathews at the Washington Post ran a piece, not exactly about me, but using me as an example in order to propose an argument. It was called Maybe Schools Shouldn’t Work [...]

Out of a Job; In the News

teachbad at Mr. Teachbad - 7 minutes ago

The jig is up The news is out They finally found me The Renegade who had it made Retrieved for the bounty Nevermore to go astray This’ll be the end today Of the wanted man That’s how Mr. Teachbad feels today. But tomorrow is a new day. And in about two weeks, teachers will be [...]

Against Outrage « occupy california #ows

Against Outrage « occupy california:

Against Outrage

by *

The news didn’t come in the middle of the night as we expected, but in the morning, at a reasonable hour EST. Hundreds of riot cops had raided the encampment at Oscar Grant Plaza, wildly swinging their batons and firing tear gas and beanbag rounds into a crowd made up of our friends, comrades, and allies who had for the last two weeks taken over and transformed dead space into the Oakland commune.

Our initial reaction was outrage, an intense hatred of the police and all those who look away, who justify their actions, who volunteer platitudes like, “They’re just doing their job.” Anger rose up inside of us. How could they—we growled indignantly, clenching our teeth—shoot teargas at innocent protesters? What could possibly justify this show of militarized force? Is this really what democracy looks like?

And then we took a step back and started to think about outrage.

To feel outrage, we must hold that there are appropriate channels through which social conflict can be mediated

Rheediculous …a village of idiots and the billionaire bubble club. Education « Continuing Change

Rheediculous …a village of idiots and the billionaire bubble club. Education « Continuing Change:

Rheediculous …a village of idiots and the billionaire bubble club. Education

by gatorbonbc

LMAO

Michelle Rhee charges a school $35,000 to speak to 600 people about how great bubble tests and billionaires are for our kids…

Really?

Hey, I’ll be on stage speaking to at least 600 kids next week at our pep rally. Do you think I can’t get that much

Redefining Teachers as True Professionals | Lefty Parent

Redefining Teachers as True Professionals | Lefty Parent:

Redefining Teachers as True Professionals

by Cooper Zale

So why is it that doctors play a key role in running the institutions (hospitals) where they practice their profession and defining what constitutes quality practice, but teachers generally don’t? Aren’t these both considered “professions”, and as such should be given comparable stature? No hospital would think of having a governance structure where doctor’s don’t play a key role, particularly in the delivery of medical care. Shouldn’t teachers play a comparably critical role in running their schools and defining what constitutes educational practice?

Perhaps as a parent, and not a professional educator, I am not in the ideal position to pose these questions, but I don’t find the teachers I know posing them. The teachers I know personally generally define themselves as