Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, January 28, 2012

January’s Best Posts | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

January’s Best Posts | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…:

January’s Best Posts

I regularly highlight my picks for the most useful posts for each month — not including “The Best…” lists. I also use some of them in a more extensive monthly newsletter I send-out. You can see my previous Best Posts of the Month at Websites Of The Month.

These posts are different from the ones I list under the monthly “Most Popular Blog Posts.” Those are the posts the largest numbers of readers “clicked-on” to read. I have to admit, I’ve been a bit lax about writing those posts, though.

Here are some of the posts I personally think are the best, and most helpful, ones I’ve written during this past month (not in any order of preference):

Free Email Newsletter Sent-Out This Week

I sent out my free monthly email newsletter this week to about 2,000 subscribers.

If you’re interested, you can subscribe to it here.


Research Studies Of The Week

I often write about research studies from various field and how they can be applied to the classroom. I write individual posts about ones that I think are especially significant, and will continue to do so. However, so many studies are published that it’s hard to keep up. So I’ve started writing a “round-up” of some of them each week or every other week as a regular feature:

Physicists Seek To Lose The Lecture As Teaching Tool is an NPR Report about the successes of a professor who has stopped lecturing and, and instead, has begun using small groups. American Radio Works has a more extensive feature on the results. I’m adding this to The Best Sites For Cooperative Learning Ideas.

Changing our Minds discusses a study and other ideas that suggest “fiction helps us understand ourselves and others.” I’m adding it to The Best Resources On “Becoming What We Read.”

Learning From Brilliant Mistakes and Finding Opportunity in Failures are both articles and videos related to Paul J.H. Schoemaker’s book, ‘Brilliant Mistakes.’ I’m adding them to The Best Posts, Articles & Videos About Learning From Mistakes & Failures.

V is for Visualization at Scott Thornbury’s blog is a discussion of research, and teacher’s experiences, of using

Tweeting Teachers

Tweeting Teachers:

Tweeting Teachers



Credit: Schoology Blog

Gone are the boring, one-size-fits-all professional development seminars for teachers. And the forever-long staff meetings that take up more time than necessary.

Well, maybe they’re not “gone,” exactly, but they’re being replaced.

Pinterest.com is an online pinboard of sorts, where members can organize and share things and ideas. While helpful for general topics, like recipes and home improvement tips, educators have also taken a liking to it,

Modern School: SF Chron’s Mindless Cheerleading For Oakland’s Attack on Seniority

Modern School: SF Chron’s Mindless Cheerleading For Oakland’s Attack on Seniority:

SF Chron’s Mindless Cheerleading For Oakland’s Attack on Seniority


The following is an extended version of the letter I sent to the SF Chronicle this week:

Jill Tucker’s story on Oakland Unified’s attempt to get rid of seniority contains several false statements that inflame the public’s mistrust of teachers and their unions. She says that in education “seniority is what counts, not the perfect fit,” as if unions and their selfish resistance to the dismantling of seniority were causing schools to be filled with bad teachers. However, teachers apply to schools, not districts, and get hired by school administrators based almost entirely on “fit,” experience and skill. Seniority is irrelevant since applicants are new to the district and have no seniority. Furthermore, teachers aren’t even represented by unions until after they have been hired.

She also suggests that when schools are closed or districts downsized due to budget cuts “the teacher with

Minister in ‘rent-a-protester’ flap offers to open his books - Chicago Sun-Times

Minister in ‘rent-a-protester’ flap offers to open his books - Chicago Sun-Times:

Minister in ‘rent-a-protester’ flap offers to open his books

Story Image

Rev. Roosevelt Watkins of Bethlehem Star Church. File Photo | Brian Jackson~Sun-Times

Updated: January 28, 2012 2:12AM



A minister in the eye of the “rent-a-protester” storm has offered to open the books of his non-profit agency to prove it spent taxpayer money appropriately — and not on packing school closing hearings with paid protesters.

“Small stipends” offered to school protesters did not come from after-school and safe-passage grants the HOPE Organization received from Chicago Public Schools, the group’s CEO, Rev. Roosevelt Watkins III, told the Chicago Sun-Times in an email.

“I have called CPS and invited them to review the organization’s accounting and verify the grant has been spent appropriately,’’ Watkins, pastor of Bethlehem Star Church, wrote the Sun-Times Thursday evening.











The Rev. Roosevelt Watkins III’s Full Statement

Updated: January 27, 2012 8:45PM



Statement of Roosevelt Watkins, III in response to recent media reports regarding the involvement of other faith leaders, parents, and community residents fighting to ensure every Chicago child has a quality education

“Recent news coverage regarding my involvement and the involvement of other faith leaders, parents, and community residents fighting to ensure every Chicago child has a quality education have been misleading.

“Like every other neighborhood, members of the faith community engage residents, parishioners and activists on how to affect change, including participating in community meetings on issues of significant importance – like education. Often, for their time and involvement in training programs and activities, we provide a small stipend to help offset expenses such as transportation, food and childcare. When community meetings occur from 6-8 PM on a Friday evening, it is not unreasonable to provide someone with a ride or money to pay for the dinner they are missing at home.

“None of these activities were funded by CPS Safe Haven and Safe Passage grants to the

Feed-up, Feedback, Feed Forward: Making Formative Assessment Come Alive « The Whole Child Blog « Whole Child Education

Feed-up, Feedback, Feed Forward: Making Formative Assessment Come Alive « The Whole Child Blog « Whole Child Education:

Feed-up, Feedback, Feed Forward: Making Formative Assessment Come Alive

A comprehensive formative assessment (FA) system should fit seamlessly within the daily flow of the classroom. But in many places, FA requirements signal an end to instruction so that students can be tested. In a recent webinar, Nancy Frey discussed an ongoing approach to FA that enhances the give-and-take relationship between teachers and students to promote learning and will share examples from elementary and secondary classrooms.

Watch the archived presentation below, download the handouts, and listen to Frey

Response to Indiana DOE Scare Tactics | United Opt Out National

Response to Indiana DOE Scare Tactics | United Opt Out National:

Response to Indiana DOE Scare Tactics

School Tech Connect: A Great Post By Anthony Cody

School Tech Connect: A Great Post By Anthony Cody:

A Great Post By Anthony Cody

The great Anthony Cody has published a deadly accurate column over at Edweek, and Valerie Strauss haspicked it up, too. It's really quite devastating but you should go read it. There's this:
I do not think teachers in many states quite understand how the profession is being transformed. And our unions are, in some cases, negotiating these agreements into place.
He's right. There's a good chance that if you're an educator, you probably belong to an association that started out as a union but now exists to promote the idea that the people in your profession (ie, you) aren't good enough at what they do.

American Public School Teacher
I've worked in one school that was eventually rubbed out because of AYP failure, and I've been paying attention to what's going on here in Chicago, so I feel like I have a bit of an idea about the great undoing of

“Eggxasperating Acronyms Rule My School!” « Diary of a Public School Teacher!

“Eggxasperating Acronyms Rule My School!” « Diary of a Public School Teacher!:

“Eggxasperating Acronyms Rule My School!”

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Davos: We don't want your millions, mister

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Davos: We don't want your millions, mister:

Davos: We don't want your millions, mister

I don't want your millions, Mister,
I don't want your diamond ring.
All I want is the right to live, Mister,
Give me back my job again.

-- 1930s union song by Jim Garland

The world's poor are not begging for charity from the rich, writes the Guardian's Robert Newman, – they're asking for justice and fairness.

As the world's one-percenters gather for this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, they can feel

Jersey Jazzman: Charter Segregation, Hoboken Style!

Jersey Jazzman: Charter Segregation, Hoboken Style!:

Charter Segregation, Hoboken Style!

Yesterday, I responded to Laura Waters's piece at NJ Spotlight, where she described the fainting spells she gets when communities dare to stand up and demand that the State of New Jersey stop shoving unaccountable charter schools down their throats.

The piece has quite a comments thread going: one of the longest I've ever seen at Spotlight. And while most of the comments neatly dismantle Waters's arguments, there have been some visits from charter cheerleaders:
Dear ACClark: I’ll take you up on your challenge to make a choice: since it’s doubtful that the fair solution of the money following the child will happen, we are happy to continue to do more with less at our charter school. At Elysian Charter School we will continue to educate our children for much less than the