Sunday, November 27, 2011

Looking for a few good mentors | Ideas and Thoughts:Looking for a few good mentorsby Dean ShareskiFrom January to April I'll be teaching a course called ECMP 455. It's an advanced course on using technology in education. Whatever that means. Actually what it means is I want my students to dig deep into what teaching and learning looks like in 2012 as great teachers and great ideas come together to make learning better and richer and even transformative. I've taught ... more »

Fact Sheet: Multiple Measures: A Definition and Examples from the U.S. and Other Nations | FairTest

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

Fact Sheet: Multiple Measures: A Definition and Examples from the U.S. and Other Nations | FairTest:Fact Sheet: Multiple Measures: A Definition and Examples from the U.S. and Other NationsSubmitted by fairtest on July 28, 2010 - 12:51pm fact sheets k-12 whats newMultiple Measures: A Definition and Examples from the U.S. and Other NationsSummaryDefinition. Multiple measures: the use of multiple indicators and sources of evidence of student learning, of varying kinds, gathered at multiple points in time, within and across subject ... more »

SOUTH BRONX SCHOOL: Little Evan Stone And Princess Sydney Morris Are Do-Gooders (Thank God!)

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SOUTH BRONX SCHOOL: Little Evan Stone And Princess Sydney Morris Are Do-Gooders (Thank God!):Little Evan Stone And Princess Sydney Morris Are Do-Gooders (Thank God!)by noreply@blogger.com (Bronx Teacher)Let's try this. Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat (sound of teletype)rat-tat-tat-tat....From the newsroom of Educators4Excllence, breaking news!!!!E4E, Little Evan Stone, and Princess Sydney Morris have been featured onthedogooder.com as a couple of gosh diddly darn do gooders! Yes, in an article entitled, "Educators 4 Excellence: An Independent Voice for Teachers" (notice the major typo when you ... more »

Schooling in the Ownership Society: For-profit teacher certification is booming

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Schooling in the Ownership Society: For-profit teacher certification is booming:For-profit teacher certification is boomingby Mike KlonskyThis, according to a Nov. 26 New York Times report.As you might expect, Texas leads the way in for-profit teacher certifications. More than 110 alternative certification programs — including iteachTexas, and nonprofits like Teach for America — produce 40 percent of all new teachers in Texas, according to an analysis of Texas Education Agency data by Ed Fuller, a Penn State University education professor and ... more »

Many Lenses, But Little Focus. « My Island View

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Many Lenses, But Little Focus. « My Island View:Many Lenses, But Little Focus.by tomwhitbyTo understand why certain decisions are made, we need to understand the decision maker and the pressures under which certain decisions are made. This is sometimes referred to as looking through the lens of the decision maker. It takes into view many of the factors pushing and pulling on an individual responsible for making a decision. Sometimes decisions of some magnitude may require a number of individuals ... more »

Truth Values: One Girl’s Romp Through M.I.T.’s Male Math Maze will be at the University of Washington | Seattle Education

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Truth Values: One Girl’s Romp Through M.I.T.’s Male Math Maze will be at the University of Washington | Seattle Education:Truth Values: One Girl’s Romp Through M.I.T.’s Male Math Maze will be at the University of Washingtonby seattleducation2011From the Truth Values website:Created as a response to former Harvard President Lawrence Summers’ now infamous suggestion that women are less represented than men in the sciences because of innate gender differences,Truth Values: One Girl’s Romp Through M.I.T.’s Male Math Maze is a true-life ... more »

Occupy Philly Facing Eviction TODAY | OccupyWallSt.org #ows

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Occupy Philly Facing Eviction TODAY | OccupyWallSt.org:Occupy Philly Facing Eviction TODAYby OccupyWallStOccupy Philadelphia has announced they are facing imminent eviction:[Mayor] Nutter has joined the chorus of Mayors nationwide to silence and render invisible this movement against Wall Street greed. The City told us to leave City Hall with all of our belongings by 5pm today. At 5pm let's show them how much support this movement has. Come to City Hall and stand with the 99%! Chances are police will not ... more »

NYT: Policy-Making Billionaires – Their policy is to make billions off our kids. Shut the school house gates on Gates. « Continuing Change

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NYT: Policy-Making Billionaires – Their policy is to make billions off our kids. Shut the school house gates on Gates. « Continuing Change:NYT: Policy-Making Billionaires – Their policy is to make billions off our kids. Shut the school house gates on Gates.by gatorbonbcPolicy Making Billionaires Boys Club making education their pet project.Wanna bet their policy is to make sure they make billions…

Is the Job of a Teacher 24/7 | Connected Principals

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Is the Job of a Teacher 24/7 | Connected Principals:Is the Job of a Teacher 24/7by Akevy GreenblattPicture from: nysut.orgI haven’t blogged for a while and have been thinking about what to blog about. I am jealous of all of those in my PLN that blog daily and sometimes more than once a day. After thinking about this for a while I decided to put my thoughts down on “paper”.Today we talk about child centered learning and the teacher as ... more »

Library group denounces book destruction at Occupy Wall Street - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post #ows

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Library group denounces book destruction at Occupy Wall Street - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:Library group denounces book destruction at Occupy Wall Streetby Valerie StraussThe American Library Association has denounced the destruction of books at a library set up by Occupy Wall Street when New York police raided a park where protesters were staying earlier this month.The ALA, the oldest and largest library association in the world, issued a release that said some of its members who had ... more »

Kitzhaber backs Richard Lariviere ouster while University of Oregon community rallies in support | OregonLive.com

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Kitzhaber backs Richard Lariviere ouster while University of Oregon community rallies in support | OregonLive.com:Kitzhaber backs Richard Lariviere ouster while University of Oregon community rallies in supportPublished: Saturday, November 26, 2011, 7:31 PM Updated: Saturday, November 26, 2011, 8:44 PM By Kelly House, The Oregonian View full sizeThomas Boyd/The OregonianUniversity of Oregon President Richard Lariviere greets head football coach Chip Kelly before the Ducks game against Oregon State University Saturday at Autzen Stadium. The popular university president received an ou... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Early Evening Posts #ows #edreform

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Occupy LA: “Oh No! We Won’t Go!” Mayor Says “11/28 at 12:01am Park Will Be Shut Down” | La Figa #owsBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-17 minutes agoOccupy LA: “Oh No! We Won’t Go!” Mayor Says “11/28 at 12:01am Park Will Be Shut Down” | La Figa:Occupy LA: “Oh No! We Won’t Go!” Mayor Says “11/28 at 12:01am Park Will Be Shut Down”Lisa Derrick Friday November 25, 2011 5:24 pm Tweet3 In their official statement below, Occupy Los Angeles ... more »

UCD readies for strike; regents’ presence unsettled | Davis Enterprise #ows

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UCD readies for strike; regents’ presence unsettled | Davis Enterprise:UCD readies for strike; regents’ presence unsettledby Cory GoldenOn Monday, the University of California regents are likely to get an earful about the pepper-spraying of nonviolent protesters, but no appointed regents may be on the Davis campus to listen.Meeting by teleconference, the UC Board of Regents will take public comment from four campuses between 9 and 10 a.m. At UCD, public comment will be taken in the Activities and Recreation Center ... more »

Kansas HS Student Won't Apologize to Governor for Tweet | MyFDL

Kansas HS Student Won't Apologize to Governor for Tweet | MyFDL:

Kansas HS Student Won’t Apologize to Governor for Tweet

by Teddy Partridge

High school tweeter Emma Sullivan

High school tweeter Emma Sullivan, citing free speech and Gandhi, will defy her high school principal and not apologize to Governor Sam Brownback for the supposedly hurtful things she twittered to her (then-60) Twitter followers, implying she spoke back harshly to the governor, called him out publicly for his views, and suggested he blows — a lot.

None of which, we suppose, is true. Or (until the governor’s director of communications demanded an apology)

First Amendment hijacked by moneyed interests #ows

First Amendment hijacked by moneyed interests:

First Amendment hijacked by moneyed interests

Robert Reich

Sunday, November 27, 2011

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A UC Davis police officer uses pepper spray on protesters during an Occupy rally Nov. 18.

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Grossman rallies Washington past Seattle 23-17 11.27.11
Early Walt Disney drawing up for auction in Reno 11.27.11
UN conference to deal with carbon reductions 11.27.11

A funny thing happened to the First Amendment on its way to the public forum: It was hijacked.

According to the Supreme Court, money is now speech, and corporations are now people.

Yet when real people without money assemble to express their dissatisfaction with the political

On school reform, concensus grows around three principles | NJ.com

On school reform, concensus grows around three principles | NJ.com:

On school reform, concensus grows around three principles

Published: Sunday, November 27, 2011, 12:04 PM

By Star-Ledger Guest Columnist By Mike Lilley and Tim Melton

From President Obama to Gov. Chris Christie to the New Jersey Education Association to Michelle Rhee, a national consensus is emerging that significant changes must come to public education.

It would have been unthinkable as recently as a year ago, but today the issue isn’t whether the political will exists in New Jersey to disrupt the status quo but how quickly change will come and how far-reaching will it be.

Better Education for Kids’ vision for reform is based on four common-sense tenets. First, the interests of students must be the first priority. Second, there must be an effective teacher in every classroom. Third, teachers must be given the necessary training and resources to be effective. And fourth, all public policy — and all administrative and personnel policies — must support these goals.

Students lose individual attention as class sizes swell across the metro area | OregonLive.com

Students lose individual attention as class sizes swell across the metro area | OregonLive.com:

Students lose individual attention as class sizes swell across the metro area

by Nicole Dungca, The Oregonian

HAPPY VALLEY -- After walking into Carl Sander's algebra class with a late pass in hand, Alex Gonzales, 13, found himself alone at a side table. It wasn't punishment. The Happy Valley Middle School classroom simply doesn't have enough desks for 47 students.

In many school districts across Oregon, this year's classes represent the largest yet, and students are feeling the effects. "We just learn better in smaller classes," said eighth-grader Hannah Pasco, 13, from the back of Sander's first-period algebra class. "We'd get a better education."

Every day, Sander's six math classes, four with more than 40 students, exemplify the problems with bigger classes -- claustrophobic desk arrangements, more noise, more distractions, student questions that go unasked or unanswered.

"When you're increasing class sizes, you're creating a system in which we are preordaining that a certain percentage are going to fail," said Leonie Haimson, the executive director of the Class Size Matters, a New York-based organization that advocates for small classes. "For the high-need

NYC Public School Parents: A message from Parents to Improve School Transportation: Relax about bus strike but not about safety

NYC Public School Parents: A message from Parents to Improve School Transportation: Relax about bus strike but not about safety:

A message from Parents to Improve School Transportation: Relax about bus strike but not about safety

by Leonie Haimson

PIST was an invited guest at the monthly membership meeting of school bus drivers’, escorts’, and mechanics’ Local 1181 ATU on November 22. This was clearly NOT a meeting to hold a strike vote. The president went over the union’s position on Employee Protection Provisions but no date was set for a strike vote, let alone a strike.

PIST described how parents were made to worry all weekend by media reports--traceable to Mayor Bloomberg—that a school bus strike could or would happen on the 21^st. On Monday, some students came home with forms requested updated emergency contacts specifically in case of a sudden strike. President Michael Cordiello replied that never in the history of the local would they strike in the middle of the day and leave children stranded.

Leaders of PIST and of the Community Education Council 31 in Staten Island are some of

Schools Matter: A Look at Finnish Schools and Teacher Preparation

Schools Matter: A Look at Finnish Schools and Teacher Preparation:

A Look at Finnish Schools and Teacher Preparation

by Jim Horn

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has an excellent piece on the Finnish system, including the video that you see below. As you watch the short video, listen for how the special education teacher in the poor Finnish school talks about the basic skills that all their children get--it's a very different conception of what is "basic" when compared to endless test-prep worksheets that non-privileged American children get:

Below is a chunk of the article by Erin Richards. Do go the Journal-Sentinel and have a look at the charts and searchable database:

. . . .Wisconsin's government and demographics differ from Finland in some important respects, but there are still lessons to be learned from the steps this northern European nation has taken to better serve all students and educators, including:

Improving teacher recruitment and training at colleges of education.

Offering a high-quality curriculum with pathways to high-quality vocational training at younger

Oklahoma Gazette News: Shaping social studies group that includes an influential nonacademic religious adviser

Oklahoma Gazette News: Shaping social studies:

Shaping social studies

Curriculum for an interdisciplinary field gets revised by a group that includes an influential nonacademic religious adviser.

Clifton AdcockNovember 16th, 2011

The state Department of Education is beginning the process of formulating new curriculum for public social studies classes.

Sixty-five individuals are tasked with reviewing and rewriting the curriculum. At least one name on the list has drawn fire in the past for controversial statements: David Barton, the founder of WallBuilders, a group that bills itself as “an organization dedicated to presenting America’s forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on the moral, religious and constitutional foundation on which America was built — a foundation which, in recent years, has been seriously attacked and undermined.”

Most of those comprising the curriculum review committee are school teachers and principals

INTERACTIVE: The Privatization of Education | The Nation

INTERACTIVE: The Privatization of Education | The Nation:

INTERACTIVE: The Privatization of Education

The Nation

November 17, 2011

Legislative changes to:

Online coursework

Charter schools

Online schools

Both charter schools and online schools

Online coursework, charter schools and online schools

For years, privatizing education has been a hobby horse for conservatives of all stripes. But they met with little success until very recently. What accounts for the sudden change in fortune? As Lee Fang reports in this week's issue, under the banner of high-tech innovations and cost-cutting efficiency, privatization warriors have scored a number of significant victories in the past year, pushing over a dozen reforms through state legislatures. In the interactive map above, click on the highlighted states to see which bills reforming online coursework, charter schools and online schools made it into law in 2010 and 2011.

Coordinated West Coast Port Shutdown « occupy california #ows

Coordinated West Coast Port Shutdown « occupy california:

Coordinated West Coast Port Shutdown

by *

CALIFORNIA, OREGON, WASHINGTON – A Coordinated US West Coast port shutdown for Monday, December 12th has been called for by the occupation movement in solidarity with longshoreman, particularly in Longview, WA. RSVP here.

A Call from Occupy Oakland:

Greetings and Solidarity from Occupy Oakland!

We present this call to you because we believe it is time the occupation movement begins to work together to carry through coordinated, pinpointed actions. We want to disrupt the profits of the 1% and show solidarity with those in the 99% who are under direct attack by corporate tyranny.

Occupations throughout the US have been evicted through nationally coordinated police raids. It is time for us to respond with our own coordinated actions. Our aim is to shutdown the West Coast ports:

On December 12, the occupy movements in different cities will stage mass mobilizations to march on the ports, create community pickets, and effectively shutdown the hubs of commerce, in the same fashion that Occupy Oakland shut down the Port of Oakland on November 2nd, the day of our general strike. The Oakland Port Shutdown was a historic and effective action, and the memory of that night on the port lives in the hearts of people across Oakland and around the country.
The message to you from Occupy Oakland in the face of police raids and continued disruptions of workers lives by the 1% is the following: The Occupy movement will strike back and rise again! We will blockade all of the West Coast Ports on December 12th in solidarity with longshoremen, port workers and truckers in their struggle against the 1%! Together we are unstoppable! Strike while the iron is hot!

The following is the call for a coordinated West Coast Port Blockade to be carried out by the Occupy movement. It is this call which we wish for other Occupies to endorse and carry out. West Coast Occupations will have full political and material support for each other in whatever ways are necessary before, during, and after the port blockades. This call was passed unanimously at our Occupy Oakland General Assembly on Friday, November 18th.

Proposal for a Coordinated West Coast Port Blockade Passed Unanimously at the Occupy Oakland General Assembly 11/18/2011:

In response to coordinated attacks on the occupations and attacks on workers across the nation:
Occupy Oakland calls for the blockade and disruption of the economic apparatus of the 1% with a coordinated shutdown of ports on the entire West Coast on December 12th. The 1% has disrupted the lives of longshoremen and port truckers and the workers who create their wealth, just as coordinated nationwide police attacks have turned our cities into battlegrounds in an effort to disrupt our Occupy movement.
We call on each West Coast occupation to organize a mass mobilization to shut down its local port. Our eyes are on the continued union-busting and attacks on organized labor, in particular the rupture of Longshoremen jurisdiction in Longview Washington by the EGT. Already, Occupy Los Angeles has passed a resolution to carry out a port action on the Port Of Los Angeles on December 12th, to shut down SSA terminals, which are owned by Goldman Sachs.
Occupy Oakland expands this call to the entire West Coast, and calls for continuing solidarity with the Longshoremen in Longview Washington in their ongoing struggle against the EGT. The EGT is an international grain exporter led by Bunge LTD, a company constituted of 1% bankers whose practices have ruined the lives of the working class all over the world, from Argentina to the West Coast of the US. During the November 2nd General Strike, tens of thousands shutdown the Port Of Oakland as a warning shot to EGT to stop its attacks on Longview. Since the EGT has disregarded this message, and continues to attack the Longshoremen at Longview, we will now shut down ports along the entire West Coast.
Participating occupations are asked to ensure that during the port shutdowns the local arbitrator rules in favor of longshoremen not crossing community picket lines in order to avoid recriminations against them.
Should there be any retaliation against any workers as a result of their honoring pickets or supporting our port actions, additional solidarity actions should be prepared.
In the event of police repression of any of the mobilizations, shutdown actions may be extended to multiple days.
We ask that you bring our proposal to your next General Assembly, as it is urgent that each Occupy begins to organize and mobilize for this major offensive ASAP. Please let us know if you have questions or need help. Most importantly, please copy us on your support resolutions passed at your GA’s.
In Solidarity and Struggle,
Occupy Oakland

Modern School: The Not So Shocking Truth About the Crackdown on Occupy Wall Street #ows

Modern School: The Not So Shocking Truth About the Crackdown on Occupy Wall Street:

The Not So Shocking Truth About the Crackdown on Occupy Wall Street

by Michael Dunn

Image from Flickr, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Naomi Wolf’s expose on the federal role in the crackdown on the Occupy Wall Street movement, “The shocking truth about the crackdown on Occupy,” has been making the rounds in the liberal blogosphere, getting replayed here and here, for example. In her piece, Wolf calls the violent crackdown on OWS protesters a “civil war” by the U.S. government against its own constituents. She believes that Congress is colluding with Obama to suppress the people they are “supposed to represent” and they are doing it because they have “started entering the system as members of the middle class (or upper middle class) – but they are leaving DC privy

URGENT: Occupy LA Prepares for Eviction | OccupyWallSt.org #ows

URGENT: Occupy LA Prepares for Eviction | OccupyWallSt.org:

URGENT: Occupy LA Prepares for Eviction

by OccupyWallSt

Popout

The mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, has ordered Occupy LA to pack up and leave Solidarity Park (formerly City Hall Park) by 12:01AM tonight or face arrest. Villaraigosa – who initially claimed to support the Occupation and has lauded OWS for "awakening the country's conscience" – is now citing "public health and safety" as justification to evict the encampment, even as LA police chief Charlie Beck refused to reject the use of tear gas and rubber bullets against nonviolent protestors.

As Villaraigosa held a press conference announcing the park would be closed indefinitely after eviction, Occupy

Education Petition: Open Letter: Defend CA Public Education | Change.org #ows #edreform

Education Petition: Open Letter: Defend CA Public Education | Change.org:

This Open Letter is an indispensable tool to reverse the attacks on public education in California. It gives the authorities an ultimatum: either cede to our demands or we will begin a massive wave of actions beginning on February 1, 2012.

Please help us gather hundreds of thousands of signatures, including from all major labor, student, and community organizations, by forwarding this out widely. Moreover, please begin organizing on the ground to make February 1, 2012 the start of the largest, most united, and most powerful wave of actions California has yet seen.

(This Open Letter was first adopted by the Nov. 15 General Assembly of Occupy Cal, the largest GA in the history of the U.S. Occupy movement, with more than 5,000 students, faculty, and campus workers. For more information, contact caloccupation@gmail.com )

Schools need to have a voice | EdNewsColorado

Schools need to have a voice | EdNewsColorado:

Schools need to have a voice

by Guest Columnist

Editor’s note: This article was submitted by teacher Mark Thorsen from Ponderosa High School in Douglas County.

Our school now enters a critical period, and a recent conversation with a well-respected colleague helped to keep some of my angst in perspective. He mentioned that he felt like we were in a period of mourning; we were dealing with a loss. It is a process, and we enter stages of sadness, anger and a sundry of other emotions, emerging with a sense of purpose and duty, knowing that our students show up every day hoping for the best from us.

I am in a precarious position, balancing this notion of service and obligation as a public school teacher with the

“Breaking the Cycle of Violence” at the University of California « Student Activism

“Breaking the Cycle of Violence” at the University of California « Student Activism:

“Breaking the Cycle of Violence” at the University of California

by Angus Johnston

Yesterday Catherine Cole, a Berkeley theater professor, published an essay on the current “cycle of violence” at UC Berkeley that I consider an important and valuable contribution to current discussion.

In it, Cole properly declares that the perpetrators (and she uses that word) of the first acts of violence in connection with the current wave of student activism at Berkeley were not students, but police — “heavily armed police who assaulted unarmed bystanders located in a zone of free speech.” That violence, she notes, was the direct result of the Berkeley administration’s dereliction in “fulfilling its foundational duty of ensuring a safe campus,” a dereliction of duty whose consequences the administration “must accept full responsibility for.”

Instead of doing so, Cole writes, the administration has continued to resort to violence on campus, most recently eighteen days ago when “the Berkeley Administration” — not the UCPD, the administration, who directed the police’s actions — “lit in to unarmed student protestors … whacking them full force with truncheons, cracking

Latest News and Comment from Education

Sunday, November 27, 2011

First Amendment hijacked by moneyed interests

MORE BUSINESS

On school reform, concensus grows around three principles

Published: Sunday, November 27, 2011, 12:04 PM

Shaping social studies

Curriculum for an interdisciplinary field gets revised by a group that includes an influential nonacademic religious adviser.

INTERACTIVE: The Privatization of Education

Open Letter: Defend CA Public Education

Why This Is Important

Why People Are Signing