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Friday, September 20, 2013

9-20-13 The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education

The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education:



Consciously Dial Down Reaction
Read the first, second, third, and fourth posts in this series. "Children should be taught to use their emotions and to be aware of them rather than control them." —Mary Helen Immordino-Yang Succeeding "despite the odds" or overcoming adversity has a lot more to do with resource capacity than luck. We may have little control over what happens in our students' lives outside
by Mary Fowler / 6min mark as read  //  save
Observe to Stop “Beliefing”
Read the first, second, and third posts in this series. "The basis of all good human behavior is kindness." —Eleanor Roosevelt It's a curiously human trait to cling to beliefs based on assumptions and preconceived notions. What we tell ourselves about what's going on with a student's behavior matters greatly and sometimes gravely. Negative beliefs and attributions are known drama en
by Mary Fowler / 6min 


Improving Motivation and Achievement Through a Growth Mindset
What turns kids off to learning? Carol Dweck, Stanford researcher and author of the book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, says how students think of themselves as learners creates mental environments that nurture or stifle effort when approaching different tasks. These psychological environments, or mindsets, are shaped by messages students receive from adults, peers, and themselves. Throug
by Laura Varlas / 1d 
Core Stability: What I Didn’t Know About Section 8C
Read the first post in this series. I should tell you now that what happened in the end with Section 8C could be called a success story. That class turned out to be my most defining experience in education. Educators knew so little back then about the brain or stress reactions. I flew by the seat of my pants, followed my gut, and remained determined to reach and teach this group of learners. To
by Mary Fowler / 1d 
Dial Down Reactive Behavior—Theirs and Ours!
You might have heard the old joke about the guy who goes up to a doctor at a party. "Doc," he says as he pokes his stomach, "Whenever I touch this spot it hurts. What should I do?" "Stop touching it," the doctor replies. We laugh at the slapstick humor with its obvious simplistic solution for the suffering man's dilemma. Yet, somehow, when it comes to classroom mana
by Mary Fowler / 1d 
The Power of 3: ATrauma-Informed Approach to Dial Down Reaction
Read the first and second posts in this series. "The more mindful we are, the more choices we have and the less reactive we become." —Ellen Langer In my workshops, I often invite participants to draw a large circle on the back of my handouts. They listen diligently to the instructions. When complete, I ask everyone to hold their papers up so I can "check their circles." Th
by Mary Fowler / 1d mark as read  //  save
ED Pulse Poll Results: What Do You Feel Should Be the Primary Goal of Improving School Climate?
ASCD continually seeks to provide solutions to the challenges that face educators of all levels. Recently the ASCD SmartBrief ED Pulse poll asked about the important topic of school climate. A new report on school climate (PDF) discusses creating a holistic framework for education reform, with school climate as the center. The report states that "[s]chool climate—the totality of factors t
by Kit Harris, ASCD ... / 2d 
Core Stability: What I Didn’t Know About Section 8C
Read the first post in this series. I should tell you now that what happened in the end with Section 8C could be called a success story. That class turned out to be my most defining experience in education. Educators knew so little back then about the brain or stress reactions. I flew by the seat of my pants, followed my gut, and remained determined to reach and teach this group of learners. To
by Mary Fowler / 2d mark as read  //  save

How We Help Students Develop Resiliency
"Resiliency is the ability to overcome challenges of all kinds—trauma, tragedy, personal crises, plain 'ole' life problems—and bounce back stronger, wiser, and more personally powerful" (Henderson, 2012). It is important for kids to develop resiliency so they can cope with the various hardships they will encounter throughout their lives. Searching around for information on this topic, I
by Kristen Pekarek / 3d mark as read  //  save
Dial Down Reactive Behavior—Theirs and Ours!
You might have heard the old joke about the guy who goes up to a doctor at a party. "Doc," he says as he pokes his stomach, "Whenever I touch this spot it hurts. What should I do?" "Stop touching it," the doctor replies. We laugh at the slapstick humor with its obvious simplistic solution for the suffering man's dilemma. Yet, somehow, when it comes to classroom mana
by Mary Fowler / 3d 
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2min2x: Brush kids' teeth for 2 minutes, 2 times a day.

2min2x: Home:


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Mother Crusader: Pitbull Is "Bringing Sexy Back" To Education, And Not Just In The 305

Mother Crusader: Pitbull Is "Bringing Sexy Back" To Education, And Not Just In The 305:

Pitbull Is "Bringing Sexy Back" To Education, And Not Just In The 305

No, I didn't make up that title.  He really said that.
"Sometimes what happens is that education is no longer sexy,” Pitbull said. “It’s no longer cool. I want to tell them or help put together either curriculum or schools where it does entertain them or engage them. One way or another, I want to just make it fun again to learn.
The quality of this video is poor, but it gives the clear sense that the kids attending this school are star struck, and Pitbull is serving as little more than a lure to pull them in and get them amped up. 

But what will they actually be taught when they get there?



Jersey Jazzman and I wrote quite a bit about Pitbull's foray into the charter school movement back in June when he was a Keynote speaker at the National Association of Charter School Authorizers 
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Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Chicago Republicrats

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Chicago Republicrats:

Chicago Republicrats


There are no real Democrats or Republicans in Chicago. The only symbol saluted here is neither the donkey nor the elephant, but the dollar sign. They've even abandoned the two-party system, for electing the mayor. And statewide, now you have two former Obama chiefs of staff and his former Secretary of State, seemingly cutting a deal to help a Republican venture capitalist candidate for governor defeat an incumbent Democrat.

Sneed reports that Bill Daley, the man from J.P. Morgan and former White House Chief of Staff, upon pulling out of the gubernatorial race — called incumbent Quinn "a loser" and pumped Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner as "the strongest contender". Rauner is also a long-time pal and patron of the mayor -- himself a former Obama COS -- who has been telling insiders he wants Quinn out. Then into the fray jumps Hillary Clinton, to fire a barb at Quinn ("He's the luckiest politician...").
Daley drops out of race.

I haven't seen anything like this since 1983 when the entire Democratic Party machine turned Republican overnight, following the primary election victory of Harold Washington,who would become the city's first African-American mayor. 
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Superintendent: State’s reform strategy is to throw darts and see what sticks

Superintendent: State’s reform strategy is to throw darts and see what sticks:

Superintendent: State’s reform strategy is to throw darts and see what sticks

By Valerie Strauss, Published: September 20 at 9:41 amE-mail the writer
Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman (www.tn.gov)
Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman (www.tn.gov)
On more than a few occasions, I have found myself trying to explain a policy change which in my view is not best for students, teachers, or the district I have been hired to serve. Worse, many of these changes were implemented with little or no input, independent of unique circumstances in which school districts operate, causing an erosion of local control of community schools.
That’s the way Mike Loomey, director of Williamson County Schools in Tennessee, described school reforms in the state. This description was in a letter he wrote it to explain why he signed on to an earlier letter sent to Gov. Bill Haslam (R) by about 40 percent of the state’s school chiefs protesting state education Commissioner Kevin Huffman’s reform strategy and his refusal to listen to them.
Huffman is a former Teach For America official (and the former husband of school reformer Michelle Rhee) who has instituted a number of controversial reforms since he became education commissioner of Tennessee in April 2011. Among them is the linkage of student standardized-test scores to teacher evaluations and to teachers’ licensing.
Here’s Loomey’s letter:
In recent days, I have received many calls and notes of gratitude regarding my 
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Banning an American classic in a NC district: "Invisible Man"... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com

Banning an American classic in a NC district: "Invisible Man"... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com:

Banning an American classic in a NC district: "Invisible Man" disappears from school libraries  

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Invisible Man

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By Maureen Downey
This is why many people have concerns about school boards. They ban books, important books because they personally don't "find any literary value" in them.
In this case, the banned book is an American classic, “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison. The 1952 book about racial oppression and identity won the National Book Award for fiction.
In response to a parent's complaint, the Randolph County, N.C., school board voted to vanquish it from all Randolph County Schools libraries. The book was on the reading list for high school juniors, which means teens who are 16 and 17.
I am not sure why people believe that high school juniors cannot handle mature themes; certainly, they see more sex and violence on weekends at their local movie multiplex than they will find in this book. 
By a 5-2 margin, the Randolph County Board of Education voted Monday night, at its regular meeting held at Eastern Randolph High School, to remove all copies of the book from school libraries.
The action stems from a Randleman High School parent’s 
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9-20-13 Wait What?

Wait What?:




Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee’s “missing” campaign finance report
As required by law, in the days leading up to Bridgeport’s recent Democratic Primary for Board of Education, all the various campaign committees filed their campaign finance reports. That is all the committee filed their required reports except for one… The Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee, the committee chaired  by Democratic Town Chairman Mario Testa, failed […]The post Bridgeport Democratic
4 by jonpelto / 14min


Democratic Congressman who tweeted Ravitch is “evil” goes on to compare her to Koch brothers
The Attacks Begin (click picture)



 Jared Polis, a Democratic member of Congress from Colorado, who tweeted yesterday that America’s leading public education advocate, Diane Ravitch, was an “evil woman” went on to tweet, “Can’t think of anybody else who has caused more harm to public schools, except maybe Koch brothers.”
The Wait, What? (WTF) moment is brought to us by the three-term, multi-millionaire who is apparently a huge supporter of charter schools, having created at least one charter school himself through his personal foundation that he calls the Jared Polis Foundation.
One can only assume that Polis doesn’t like the fact that Ravitch (and many other pro-education advocates) have revealed the fact that charter schools traditionally “increase” their standardized test scores by “creaming” off the best students, discriminating against non-English speaking students and refusing to take their fair share of students who need special education services.  The fast majority of charter schools also have policies that are overly dependent on disciplinary procedures and directly work to undermine teachers, their unions and the teaching profession.
Most incredible about Polis’ outrageous tweets that the he imagines himself as an up and coming “progressive” figure in the Democratic Party.
According to an article 




Special Master Steven Adamowski’s wild spending spree with Connecticut’s tax dollars
Since the Malloy administration gave Steven Adamowski his no-bid contract to serve as “Special Master” for Windham and New London, Adamowski has collected a salary of about $450,000 for himself and another $168,000 for his staff.  Add in over $140,000 more for health and insurance benefits, $17,000 for travel and $29,000 for equipment and it […]The post Special Master Steven Adamowski’s wild spend
5 by jonpelto / 5min  
9-19-13 Wait What?
Wait What?: CT Post Editorial says; Come on Malloy/Jepsen – Give State’s students their day in court”The lawsuit is called CCFEF v. Rell. As we know, it is the most important school funding lawsuit in more than 40 years.  Despite their previous support for the lawsuit, Governor Malloy and Attorney General George Jepsen are now working overtime to try and prevent he case from even being heard. And
by mike simpson / 8h
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The Educated Reporter: High-Stakes Testing Errors Nationwide Revealed in New Atlanta Journal-Constitution Series

The Educated Reporter: High-Stakes Testing Errors Nationwide Revealed in New Atlanta Journal-Constitution Series:

High-Stakes Testing Errors Nationwide Revealed in New Atlanta Journal-Constitution Series



We spend quite a bit of time talking about cheating on standardized tests (even though incidences represent a minute fraction of the number of assessments given in public schools every year). What we don't talk much about are the errors that occur before a student is ever handed a bubble sheet - and after they turn them in.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Heather Vogell has spent the past year examining testing errors nationally, and looking at the impact on students, teachers, schools and districts. The problems revealed in the reporting range from poorly worded assessments to wide-scale errors by testing companies. In some cases, students were wrongly denied high school diplomas based on faulty scores.

The new series is a followup to the newspaper's award-winning "Cheating Our Children" project, which found suspicious test scores both in Atlanta and in districts nationwide. The team's dogged reporting lead to the early retirement of Beverly Hall as Atlanta's schools superintendent. Since then 36 people -- Hall included -- have been indicted on criminal charges.

I asked Vogell if she was prepared for her work to be used as ammunition by opponents of standardized testing, a fight which has been heating up in recent months. She told me that she "knew people who oppose these tests would use this as more evidence of their flaws." However, many of the people she met during the course of her work "don’t say they never want their kids tested. They’re concerned about the quality and implementation. That makes me think there’s some common ground that can be reached on the use of measurement in schools."

There are plenty of lessons to be learned from the series, including how even a 
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All in For Profit | EduShyster

All in For Profit | EduShyster:

All in For Profit

Posted on 
A Wall Streeter explains why he’s bullish on for-profit education company K12
By Mazinger Z
As president Coolidge once said, the business of American business is rent seeking. No surprise then that the efficiency, resources and ingenuity of our profit-seekers are increasingly being enlisted in the fight to turn around our failed and failing public schools. Of course, this process inevitably involves siphoning off a few tens of billions from the generous teat of the US taxpayers. But only carpers or whiners could object to the risk-bearing shareholders extracting proper compensation for the hard work of following their stocks on Yahoo and opening their monthly brokerage statements.
LRN 2 Earn
Perhaps the most notorious of these profit seekers is K12, Inc, which aims to replace lazy good-for-nothing teachers and their pensions with the magic of online learning. K12 went public in 2007, and trades under the clever ticker LRN in the New York Stock Exchange. Since then, it has grown phenomenally, riding the education reform wave onwards and 
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Should I Stop Assigning Homework? - Jessica Lahey - The Atlantic

Should I Stop Assigning Homework? - Jessica Lahey - The Atlantic:

Should I Stop Assigning Homework?



What if my students think my class is too easy? And how will we ever get through A Tale of Two Cities?


 [IMAGE DESCRIPTION]
Easa Shamih/flickr
I have written in the past about my hatred of homework from the perspective of both a teacher and a parent, so when I heard about a teacher who had ditched the practice of assigning homework altogether, I was intrigued and skeptical. Former teacher Mark Barnes wrote in a post called “Homework: It fails our students and undermines American education”:
Students often ask me why I don’t assign homework. “I don’t believe in it,” I quickly respond. “It doesn’t tell me what you’re learning.” They forge ahead with furrowed eyebrows. “Then why do all of our other teachers assign homework?” Although I typically leave that one alone, my experience tells me that the answer isn’t at all elusive. The average educator was taught in her pre-service days that homework is a part of every teacher’s 
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