Teacher Tom: Education Has Nothing to Do With Right and Wrong Answers

Teacher Tom: Education Has Nothing to Do With Right and Wrong Answers

Education Has Nothing to Do With Right and Wrong Answers

My wife Jennifer and I recently met a man named Leon. I found him to be thoughtful, sophisticated, and witty. Yesterday, I overheard Jennifer describing our new friend to someone else, "He's loud, inappropriate, and wildly hilarious." Surely, she wasn't talking about Leon, but she was. How can two people share an experience, yet come away with such different impressions?

Of course, it happens all the time. We both tasted the horse radish, but only I found it yummy. I experienced the roller coaster as terrifying while you want to ride it again and again. As a toddler, our daughter insisted that a waiter at our regular local restaurant was "a very tall guy" even though he was shorter than either of her parents. Indeed, we can never assume that the meaning we derive from any experience will have the same meaning for someone else.

The problem is that education as we know it in this country starts from the false premise that children can and should all derive the same meaning from the same experiences, and the degree to which they don't is the degree to which they have CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Education Has Nothing to Do With Right and Wrong Answers

Top-Down Reform in Chinese Schools and Classroom Practices | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Top-Down Reform in Chinese Schools and Classroom Practices | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Top-Down Reform in Chinese Schools and Classroom Practices

While I do read a lot of articles and books on the history of Chinese education and once spent a month lecturing at Beijing universities in 1987, I am no expert on how children and youth are schooled in the People’s Republic of China. But journalist Lenora Chu who wrote about Chinese schooling from the perspective of a mother of a kindergartner, Rainey–see previous post–and her deep interest in grasping the complexities of the planet’s largest state system of schooling also may not be an expert but she surely has more data than I ever had.

Chu’s family experienced seven years of Chinese primary school and she wrote engagingly of the intersection of state-driven curriculum, culture and classroom teaching. She reached for that elusive policy-to-practice continuum that marks every national system of schooling on the globe: from the PRC’s Ministry of Education policy mandates to Teachers Chen and Wang hovering over the 28 children in Rainey’s kindergarten. No easy task.

I had a glimpse of that policy-to-practice journey in my brief experience as a lecturer over three decades ago. I was there during Premier Deng Xiaoping years as leader of the nation (1978-1997) when he pushed modernizing the country CONTINUE READING: Top-Down Reform in Chinese Schools and Classroom Practices | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Control Your Destiny, Schedule the Vaccination Yourself - SOUTH BRONX SCHOOL BLOG southbronxschool com

http://www.southbronxschool.com

Control Your Destiny, Schedule the Vaccination Yourself

I am appreciative of the UFT, NYSUT, and whatever other groups expedited teachers and educators into group 1B so we can get vaccinated. 

What I am not crazy about are the strings attached and what it appears to be that the only way
we can get vaccinated is through the DOE and/or the UFT. Why? Basically to control who gets it. 

Mulgrew and Chancellor Carranza said the same things differently. 

Mulgrew wrote...        

UFT members working in the schools right now will receive priority in our matching process, but we plan to move quickly to match all UFT members who wish to receive the vaccine with a provider.

Carranza wrote...

If you are working remotely right now, please wait for further guidance on when to schedule your vaccination. This will help to ensure that New Yorkers on the front line serving fellow New Yorkers in person in our school buildings will better be able to access the vaccine. 

Though I am not enthralled but what Mulgrew wrote, Carranza is coming across like he hopes plenty of CONTINUE READING: http://www.southbronxschool.com

NYC Educator: UFT Executive Board January 11, 2021--The Elusive Vaccine

NYC Educator: UFT Executive Board January 11, 2021--The Elusive Vaccine

UFT Executive Board January 11, 2021--The Elusive Vaccine

Joined in progress 6:05--Mulgrew--Will have more .possibilities for funding with new Senate.

Very sad week for US this week, lost clout internationally

Positivitity rate inside schools very low. There is usually a small bump after holiday. We are still closing schools under emergency provision. Today 190 schools closed. Monday always worst day because that's when we get results, but this is how we keep people safe. We will continue to do that. 

1B has officially opened up. Vaccine had been being wasted, not going where it needed. We have been working with providers and will get doses. Getting calls all day, and many orgs already running out of vaccine. This will happen for next two weeks. Biden will release all reserve vaccine day one, will use defense act to ramp up production. 

Whether or not you want to take it, we need 70% of population to take vaccine. Some people don't want to take it, and it's not mandated. This is a state issue. 1B pool is over 4 million people. This means you need 8 million doses and state only gets 300K a month. We matched 6,000 members today. 

Recommend you take either vaccine. Doctors say no difference in terms of quality or side effects. Governor said union could set up own process, and we are now the only ones who've done it. Scarcity will be an issue. City seems to have issue getting out what they have. Of 400K they got, they still have 90K sitting in refrigerators.

We've prioritized people working in buildings. Those who would be, middle and high schools, are priority two, and then the rest. 

Our school nurses were the first to get vaccines. They have been on CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: UFT Executive Board January 11, 2021--The Elusive Vaccine

CURMUDGUCATION: Donors Choose Monday: Ukuleles

CURMUDGUCATION: Donors Choose Monday: Ukuleles

Donors Choose Monday: Ukuleles

 Okay, this has turned out to be more sporadic than I originally planned. Bt I'm still committed to making regular attempts to supporting public school teachers in small ways (beyond just yapping about policy issues). Yes, Donors Choose sometimes includes requests for funding that absolutely should be coming from the local district, and no, I don't have any way of checking to see if the teacher is an admirable professional and not a putz. That's all right-- I'm still going to keep doing it, and encouraging you to join me. 

Teachers should have support and assistance, and Donors Choose remains a not-bad way to do that. So.

This week I've picked a school in the Waynesboro, VA system. Wenonah Elementary is a Title I school and Ms. Gilmer is a first year music teacher who is trying to round up a set of ukuleles. I am a sucker for ukes, though I can't play myself, and for programs that give students a chance to become musicians, a skill that can enrich the entire rest of their lives. Don't care if it raises test scores, and I don't care if it's not on employers' list of in-demand skills. Being able to make music is a life-altering existence-improving activity, and ukes are a great tool for elementary kids.

So you can go to this page and chip in. Doesn't have to be a lot, but it's an easy way to support a new teacher and her students.

CURMUDGUCATION: Donors Choose Monday: Ukuleles

WHAT COMES FIRST, UNITY OR JUSTICE? – Dad Gone Wild

WHAT COMES FIRST, UNITY OR JUSTICE? – Dad Gone Wild

WHAT COMES FIRST, UNITY OR JUSTICE?

“Upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all.”
― Alexander the Great

 

I tell you, I could go a long time without another week like last week. Unfortunately, early indicators are that more of the same with increased peril lies ahead.

This morning I scrolled through my Twitter feed with a deepening horror, recoiling from visages of last week and reactions from both sides. What finally stopped me dead in my tracks was the following tweet, “Unity comes after there are accountability and justice.” Words that chilled me to my bone and also filled me with great sadness.

I’m not going to give the Tweet attribution to anyone, because I want the focus to be on the words and not on the author. Suffice it to say, the source ain’t your crazy uncle who lives in your basement. But rather someone I have a deep respect for, which makes it more alarming.

The words serve as a revelation of priorities. Priorities are established based on individual CONTINUE READING: WHAT COMES FIRST, UNITY OR JUSTICE? – Dad Gone Wild

NYS Board of Regents selects Lester Young as Chancellor | Ed In The Apple

NYS Board of Regents selects Lester Young as Chancellor | Ed In The Apple

NYS Board of Regents selects Lester Young as Chancellor

Over the last few years when an education leader was selected, i. e., head of NYC schools, or, US Secretary of Education I had to scramble to check them out.

The selection of Lester Young as chancellor of the Board of Regents culminates a lengthy career serving the children of the city and state of New York.

Back in the days of decentralization Dr. Young was the superintendent of District 13, a Brooklyn school district, mostly Afro-American with a corner in Brooklyn Heights. My colleague, Frank Lupo, was the union district rep. Frank and Dr. Young, in the roiling days of decentralization, when superintendents came and went, where school venality was all too common, District 13, lead by Dr. Young was a shining light.

When decentralization moved to mayoral control Lester led a new “experiment,” the city was divided into ten meg-districts, and, a range of services, guidance, attendance, community organizations, etc. worked with, not under, the regional superintendents, a leadership model that required enormous skills. I was CONTINUE READING: NYS Board of Regents selects Lester Young as Chancellor | Ed In The Apple

A VERY BUSY DAY Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007

 Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

A VERY BUSY DAY

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos_9.html

New Resources On Race & Racism

by Larry Ferlazzo / 4h

I’m adding these new resources to various “Best” lists. You can find links to all of those many lists that relate to race and racism at “Best” Lists Of The Week: Resources For Teaching & Learning About Race & Racism: “ Mapping Marronage is an interactive visualization of the trans-Atlantic networks of intellectual, creative and political exchange created by enslaved people in the 18th and 19th ce

Tuesday’s Must-Read Articles On School Reopenings

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

Clker-Free-Vector-Images / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : L.A. students must get COVID-19 vaccine to return to campus, Beutner says is from The L.A. Times. Teachers And Parents Express Concern Over Chicago Children’s Return To Schools is from NPR. Chicago schools reopening news: 678 teachers did not swipe in on Monday is from

I Think This Is A Brilliant Idea For An Opening Class Ritual – Here’s How I’m Modifying It For Distance Learning

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

Earlier today, I read an Edutopia piece headlined A Daily Ritual That Builds Trust and Community Among Students . It was written by teacher Henry Seton. In it, he describes a daily ritual he has in his class where students take turns dedicating that day of learning to someone who has inspired him. It’s worth reading the whole piece. I think it’s a great idea, and am introducing a version tomorrow

I’ve Been Having Students Complete Weekly “Check-Ins” & I Can’t Believe I Didn’t Think To Ask This Question Until Now!

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

GDJ / Pixabay As regular readers know, I have my students complete weekly “check-ins” (see Here Are Student Responses To Surveys I Used One-Month Into Full-Time Virtual Learning ) that focus on SEL and technology issues. The results have always been very useful, and have helped me reach out and connect with students facing challenges on a variety of levels. This week, though, I added a new questi

No Surprise – Survey Finds We Teachers Are Spending A Lot Of Money On Our Classes This Year

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

Teachers generally spend a fair amount of personal money on their classes (see The Best Data On How Much Money Teachers Pay Out Of Their Own Pocket – What Do You Spend? ). And, no surprise, we’re spending even more usual this year. You can check out the new EdSurge article, Surveys Find Districts Are Using More Edtech Tools — and Teachers Are Bearing the Costs for details. The “money quote” (pun

Monday’s Must-Read Articles On School Reopenings

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

llorcraft / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : Scores of nurses with Chicago Public Schools say reopening buildings is still unsafe is from The Washington Post. As Chicago Schools Reopen, Teacher Scrambles To Keep Kids Safe is from NPR. Two new studies point to virus thresholds for in-person school is from The Hechinger Report. So

“Using Data to Support Students”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

Using Data to Support Students is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Three educators write about how they use data to improve their instruction. Here are some excerpts:

 Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007