7-19-14 the becoming radical EMPATHYEDUCATES! | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

THE BECOMING RADICAL

EMPATHYEDUCATES!

the becoming radical 

 A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness 

by 

A Brief Meditation on What Has Failed

What has failed in the U.S.? Democracy? No. We have failed democracy. Public education ? No. We have failed public education. The free press? No. We have failed the free press. Capitalism? No. This is exactly how capitalism works–consuming all and laying waste to democracy, human dignity, and equity. Of all that is the U.S., capitalism is working as it is designed to work. And that is our gre

1 by plthomasedd / 33min 

It’s Not Race, It’s Class…And Other Stories Folks Now Tell

By Black&Smart, AKAdemic | Originally Published at Black&Smart July 10, 2014 I have been studying race, racism and its damaging effects for most of my adult life. And I have witnessed the “racial fatigue” of people who don’t have to consciously deal with race. They tell me […]

by empathy / 2d 

JUL 15

Why Poor Schools Can’t Win at Standardized Testing

ou hear a lot nowadays about the magic of big data. Getting hold of the right numbers can increase revenue, improve decision-making, or help you find a mate—or so the thinking goes. In 2009, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told a crowd of education researchers: “I am […]

by empathy / 3d 

100% Error Rate on Student Transfers – A ‘Miracle?’

State Superintendent John White talks with Chateau Estates Elementary School students in Kenner Wednesday, February 20, 2013. White presented the state’s new plan for reform and accountability for the 2013-14 school year during the visit to the school. (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune) Introductory […]

by empathy / 3d 

Colleges Warned They Will Lose Federal Funding For Botching Campus Rape Cases

Hope Brinn and Mia Ferguson stand in front of a blackboard where they have written their complaints about sexual assaults at Swarthmore College (Credit: Michael Bryant/Philadelphia Inquirer) Years ago, while I do not recall how or why it happened I enrolled in classes. The intent was to […]

by empathy / 4d 

JUL 13

Perspective: Re-envision CPS as a Democratic Community

Students do their homework during a public hearing in April on the proposal to close Dumas Technology Academy and consolidate the school with Wadsworth Elementary. The hearing was held at Chicago Public Schools headquarters. (E. Jason Wambsgans, Chicago Tribune / April 25, 2013) By Eve Rips | […]

by empathy / 5d 

JUL 12

Anger, Frustration as Hundreds of New Orleans Parents Turned Away From Public School Enrollment Center

Hundreds of parents waited in lines at Lake Area School on Paris Avenue Thursday, July 10, 2014, to enroll their children in a Recovery School District school. (Photographs; by Dinah Rogers, NOLA.com / The Times-Picayune) Perhaps today, we have an opportunity to, once again, realize that Charter […]

by empathy / 7d

O, Free Press, Where Art Thou?

As I have noted, a common thread running through my blogs is the carelessness among the media covering education. Case in point, yet another tone-deaf and completely unsupportable piece has appeared in the The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC): Duncan deserves high marks. With just a modicum of effort, almost every claim made in this piece is easily refuted by something the mainstream press seems

11 by plthomasedd / 19h 

JUL 16

GUEST POST: Denny Taylor, Garn Press

  Dear Friends and Colleagues, I am writing to urgently request your help. If you find the political circumstance and the research base for the four propositions that I have outlined in this letter are compelling, and you support the course of action suggested here please send this letter to friends and colleagues. Use your websites, Facebook, and any other means to get the message out. Given tha

6 by plthomasedd / 2d 

JUL 15

“Gravity”: The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Woman

In the film Gravity, Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) fulfills what appears to be a prerequisite for women in films: She undresses alone: Sandra Bullock, Gravity As a science fiction film fan, I immediately thought of Sigourney Weaver in Alien: Sigourney Weaver, Alien At the end of the film, when Ryan Stone crawls out of the water, again in her underwear, I was by then struck as well by Stone’s cropped

9 by plthomasedd / 3d 

JUL 14

Debating Common Core Is Proof that Educators Have Lost

Recently, many within and among the AFT and NEA communities have been applauding that summer conventions have devoted time to debating the Common Core, some going as far as hailing that debate as proof of democracy in action. The key problem with those claims is that the Common Core debate has been decided for educators, and not by educators. And thus, debating the Common Core is proof that educat

100+ by plthomasedd / 4d 

JUL 13

ESPN, Mansplaining, and the U.S. Media

What do NPR, conservative talk radio/media, and ESPN radio have in common? Upon first blush, likely nothing. And that proves both what they have in common as well as how that unrecognized is the problem. Let’s start with NPR, as Tracie Powell reports: Anya Kamenetz, NPR’s education team lead blogger, used one of the network’s official Twitter accounts to tweet that she reaches out to diverse sourc

21 by plthomasedd / 5d 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 7-19-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:

4LAKIDS - SOME OF THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT

  

Because right-wing talk-radio hosts have all the answers: MAKE THE BORDER KIDS AMERICANS + smf’s 2¢

By HUGH HEWITT, from Politico Magazine | http://politi.co/1mYCd0a July 17, 2014  ::  Approximately 90,000 minors have entered the country in the two years since President Obama, whether out of the best of intentions, cynical political calculation or as another of his serial expressions of incompetence, allowed the idea to take hold abroad that kids who were brought to the country would be

by smf / 13h 

JUL 17

Before Buying Technology, Asking ‘Why?’

By Ross Brenneman, Education Week Teacher |  http://bit.ly/1mZsR3D —Ross Brenneman Published Online: June 18, 2014 /Includes correction(s): July 15, 2014  ::  District leaders and other advocates of personalized learning frequently say that the approach isn't about technology. But that’s easy for an administrator to say when every child in his or her district has a school-provided computer.

1 by smf / 1d 

JUL 16

How Music Ed Powers The Steam Movement

By Richard Naithram, NEA Today Online | http://bit.ly/Wb0zcQ July 16, 2014 ::   With many of the nation’s education leaders focused on the importance of STEM education, the movement to add music to the equation is getting more attention. Recently, a panel of experts gathered on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC to discuss ways to elevate music education– and the arts in general – and turn STEM (

4 by smf / 2d 

Arne Duncan Flubbed On Common Core …And Then He Made It Worse

Opinion by Karin Klein, member of the L.A. Times editorial board,  in the Times | http://lat.ms/1jy0yKh Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, speaks at its convention over the weekend in Los Angeles. (Los Angeles Times) July 14, 2014  ::  The scaffolding of support for the Common Core curriculum standards continues, right and left, to lose a beam here, a platform

2 by smf / 2d 

Better Educated Public School Kids – For A Price

By The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board | http://lat.ms/1oHUdbq   Peninsula High School students listen as biology teacher Julie Maemoto explains how to do an upcoming experiment in her summer biology class. (Los Angeles Times)   July 16, 2014  ::  Children in the United States get unequal educations; that's unfair but unlikely to change in the near future. Some school districts have more

6 by smf / 2d 

La Schools: California ‘English Learner’ Tests Incorrectly Label Bilingual Kids

by Annie Gilbertson | 89.3 KPCC |  http://bit.ly/1mhhkrZ   Benjamin Brayfield/KPCC | Arianna Anderson, 9, looks at a book at the Torrance Public Library. Her parents, Hilda and Brent, worry she is losing her love of reading, because the school is not providing services tailored to her needs. Benjamin Brayfield/KPCC | Brent Anderson looks at books with his daughter, Arianna, at the

2 by smf / 2d 

JUL 15

Pope Calls For Protection Of Unaccompanied Child Migrants

from the Archive of Vatican Radio News | http://bit.ly/W8XXw4 Below please find a Vatican Radio translation of Pope Francis’ Message Mexico City, 14 July 2014  ::  I would like to extend my greetings to the organizers, speakers, and participants in the "Mexico Holy See colloquium on human migration and development". Globalization is a phenomenon that challenges us, especially in one of i

1 by smf / 3d 

JUL 14

When Teachers Romanticize Their Students Poverty

A TFA volunteer, enchanted by the words of William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams, learns that there's nothing glamorous about everyday struggles in the Mississippi Delta. April Bo Wang, The Atlantic | http://theatln.tc/1n2Yafi A rundown shack in the Mississippi Delta ( Jim Denham/Flickr ) IJul 12 2014, 8:00 AM ET  ::  t’s one of those summer afternoons in Helena, Arkansas, where the

by smf / 4d 

American Federation of Teachers: “REMEDIATING” DUNCAN AND RETAINING THE “CORRUPTED” COMMON CORE + smf’s 2¢

by Mercedes Schneider | New post on deutsch29 blog /http://bit.ly/1mOAPwc July 14, 2014  ::  I'm wondering what of substance was accomplished thus far at the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) national convention in Los Angeles July 11-14, 2014. On July 13, 2014, AFT was supposed to consider asking for U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's resignation. The National Education Association

by smf / 4d 

JUL 13

Saturday @ The Aft Convention

The American Federation of Teachers Convention continues at the L.A. Convention  through Monday.  If you can’t go you can watch at http://aft.org/convention/live.cfm Here’s the schedule: Sunday, July 13 8:30 AM | Nominating session 10 AM | General session  2 PM | General session Monday, July 14 9 AM | General session   on Saturday LA Times education reporter@

4 by smf / 5d 

JUL 12

GOV. BROWN HIGHLIGHTS STATE’S APPROACH TO EDUCATION, says “No!” to testing every child, every year.

By Virginia Myers reporting from the AFT Convention Floor /photo by Russ Curtis, from the AFT website |http://bit.ly/1m5iSVV 12 July 2014  ::  California Gov. Jerry Brown made education news when his state passed Proposition 30 to increase school funding, and established a Local Control Funding Formula that puts education decisions closer to where the students are actually being taught—the

2 by smf / 6d