One generation… | GoingPublic

One generation… | GoingPublic:

One generation…

I began my teaching career in 1964, in the same school from which I graduated. I left for several years to design and manufacture children’s clothes. I worked with Filmmakers in the School (does anyone remember Nixon and CETA dollars?) teaching teachers to use 8mm and 16mm hardware. I coached girls basketball and field hockey. Wrote a book. Designed quilts. My experience was varied, because I was always looking for the big picture, the way all things fit together. The way that art and music and movement contribute to a vibrant culture. And why issues of social justice trump everything else in a democracy.

I left the classroom in 1988 and began consulting with teachers, administrators, and school boards. I’ve worked everywhere from Australia, Kuala Lumpur and Nairobi… to the South Bronx. (People get more excited when I tell them about working in Canberra than about the progress I see in the Bronx.)

New York City teachers, in fact, most inner city teachers I’ve worked with are better trained than most. Piles of money are focused on professional development, lots of time is spent out of the classroom, thousands of students are subjected to the instructional strategy du jour. I think schools are more

Who is the liar? « Fred Klonsky's blog

Who is the liar? « Fred Klonsky's blog:

Who is the liar?

by Fred Klonsky

When it was reported that four Chicago schools had voted to bend to the Mayor’s pressure and accept the longer day, you would have thought from the news reports that a cure for cancer had been discovered.

Four schools! One school was reported to have 15 teachers. That meant as few as 8 may have voted for the extra 90 minutes at that one school.

The Chicago media are the biggest Rahm sucks you can imagine. No claim by the Mayor is too stupid not to be

Private ownership of the educational means of production | Dailycensored.com

Private ownership of the educational means of production | Dailycensored.com:

Private ownership of the educational means of production

Written by Danny WeilEducationSep 11, 2011

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The language of double speak invented by those who own the means of educational production has now become the commercialized language of the masses.

As technology in education progresses faster than the moral development of the social relations of educational production, we can expect that language will also change to reflect the commercialized interests of the private owners of the educational means of production and their assembly line ‘capos’ who use the lash to keep their crowd control managers in line.

Seems that we are becoming the subjects of our rulers and the

Still Committed to Us and No Them | Lefty Parent

Still Committed to Us and No Them | Lefty Parent:

Still Committed to Us and No Them

by Cooper Zale

With the remembrances today of the events of 9/11 a decade ago, I want to call out something that I think is an important part of the continued processing of that event and the path forward from it into a new century of human development. In my previous piece, “Moving Beyond Us and Them to Only Us”, I wrote about what I see as the key transition we humans are going through…

That transition is what I often describe as from “patriarchy to partnership”, or alternatively from “hierarchy to a circle of equals”. If those terms don’t resonate with much meaning for you, maybe our human societal evolution could be described at its most basic as moving from “us and them”

The "Shock Doctrine" Comes to Your Neighborhood Classroom | Common Dreams

The "Shock Doctrine" Comes to Your Neighborhood Classroom | Common Dreams:

The "Shock Doctrine" Comes to Your Neighborhood Classroom

Corporate reformers use the fiscal crisis and campaign contributions to hype an unproven school agenda

by David Sirota

"Let's hope the fiscal crisis doesn't get better too soon. It'll slow down reform." -- Tom Watkins, a consultant, summarizes the corporate education reform movement's current strategy to the Sunday New York Times.(Monkey Business Images via Shutterstock)

The Shock Doctrine, as articulated by journalist Naomi Klein, describes the process by which corporate interests use catastrophes as instruments to maximize their profit. Sometimes the events they use are natural (earthquakes), sometimes they are human-created (the 9/11 attacks) and sometimes they are a bit of both (hurricanes made stronger by human-intensified global climate change). Regardless of the particular cataclysm, though, the Shock Doctrine suggests that in the aftermath of a calamity, there is always corporate method in the smoldering madness - a method based in Disaster

Rick Perry's "Ultimate Justice" or Why Words Matter |

Rick Perry's "Ultimate Justice" or Why Words Matter |:

Rick Perry’s “Ultimate Justice” or Why Words Matter

by Appleton Wonk

There’s been a lot of talk about Rick Perry’s stance on the death penalty. He expressed his opinions on it during the recent presidential debate. The entire transcript of the debate can be found here. Some people were appalled that the audience applauded when the moderator mentioned that Rick Perry put 234 people to death. Other people noticed Rick Perry never lost sleep over putting that many people to death. Mind you, both of these points are valid. Rick Perry should be losing some sleep over some of the people that have been put to death on his watch. Cameron Todd Williamson was put to death in 2004 despite strong evidence that proved his innocence. This execution and Rick Perry’s role in it are still under investigation. It’s inhumane to applaud

Last Stand for Children First: The New Target for Greedy Teachers? Baseball

Last Stand for Children First: The New Target for Greedy Teachers? Baseball:

The New Target for Greedy Teachers? Baseball

by Last Stand for Children

The teachers of Chicago have it pretty easy. They have those luxurious Summers off for their European vacations, they're done with work by 3:00, and they have the relatively easy job of educating and monitoring 35 children at a time. Unfortunately, in Chicago this year, it is going down as the year of the greedy teacher.

With a new go get 'em mayor in office who isn't going to waste his time in office getting along with people, the Chicago Teachers Union has been up in arms. Recently, the President of the Teachers Union was so rude

Jersey Jazzman: OK, Smart Guy - What Would YOU Do?

Jersey Jazzman: OK, Smart Guy - What Would YOU Do?:

OK, Smart Guy - What Would YOU Do?

by Duke

Over at Blue Jersey, I recently spent a week demolishing the corporate "reform" argument. Well, no, that's not quite right; I'd spent the last week bringing together a bunch of research and writing that did all the demolishing for me. Folks like Bruce Baker, Matt DiCarlo, Valerie Strauss, Leonie Haimson, and Diane Ravitch are among the many who have done the legwork that makes it so easy to build a case against these rash, uniformed, and just plain silly proposals.

But all of this leads to a question: what should we do instead?

It's a fair question. Even though this notion of an education "crisis" has been blown way out of proportion, I do believe that we could make things better. And I do believe

American Jobs Act Will Create Jobs Today and In the Future | ED.gov Blog

American Jobs Act Will Create Jobs Today and In the Future | ED.gov Blog:

American Jobs Act Will Create Jobs Today and In the Future

Posted on September 11, 2011 by Dave Hoff

Secretary Duncan and White House advisor Melody Barnes visit a classroom in Milwaukee (Official Department of Education Photo by Leslie Williams)

President Obama’s American Jobs Act will make immediate investments that will help today’s students compete in tomorrow’s economy.

The Jobs Act will provide $30 billion to support teachers’ jobs and another $30 billion to modernize and renovate schools. Both are essential ingredients to the President’s plan to create and preserve jobs to move the economy forward. But they also will ensure children get the preparation needed to compete for jobs in the knowledge economy of the 21st Century.

When the Education and the Economy bus tour stopped in Milwaukee on Friday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Director of the Domestic Policy Council Melody Barnes emphasized the critical role that the Jobs Act will play in creating jobs today and in the future.

In a town hall at the School of Career and Technical Education, Barnes pointed out that the average Milwaukee public school was built 70 years ago. The Jobs Act will provide $169 million for Milwaukee to modernize and renovate their buildings, ensuring they have thefacilities to prepare students to compete for careers tomorrow.

“We can teach students about science and technology, but if they can’t put their hands on, it doesn’t make sense to them,” Barnes said.

Secretary Duncan watches the President's speech aboard the back-to-school tour bus.

The funding for teachers will support 280,000 jobs across the country and 7,400 in Wisconsin alone. Without it, schools will have to make tough choices to increase class sizes or cut programs in the arts and other subjects essential to a well-rounded curriculum.

“None of that is good for our children across the country,” Secretary Duncan said at the event.

The President outlined the American Jobs Act in a speech to Congress on Thursday night.

“There should be nothing controversial about this piece of legislation,” the President said. “Everything in here is the kind of proposal that’s been supported by both Democrats and Republicans. And everything in this bill will be paid for.”

Jersey Jazzman: More Charter Awesomeness

Jersey Jazzman: More Charter Awesomeness:

More Charter Awesomeness

by Duke

Totally awesome:

A top Winslow School District official who moonlights at three South Jersey charter schools misled state investigators assigned to look into her nearly $300,000 annual income, according to the New Jersey Department of Education.

Ann F. Garcia came under investigation early this year after state officials noted that she had worked the equivalent of almost three full-time jobs simultaneously since 2009, an "unusually high" number, authorities said in a report by the department's Office of Fiscal

God Bless America

by Duke

God bless America.

Hi I'm the Bill Gates Foundation and have I got deal for you Sacramento and Los Angeles, Denver, Baltimore, Nashville, New York City, New Orleans, an

Sacramento’s High-Performing Schools Compact:

Sacramento’s High-Performing Schools Compact

A New Year Begins Again « Cooperative Catalyst

A New Year Begins Again « Cooperative Catalyst:

A New Year Begins Again

by Paula White

Tomorrow will be our 13th day of school and some routines and patterns of behaving are beginning to appear. My job is somewhat different this year in that I have been given responsibility for a fifth grade math group and other fifth grade support in addition to my job as Gifted Resource Teacher. (Our county provides a full time gifted position in schools with over 300 kids, but our school this year doesn’t quite meet that mark, so additional duties have been assigned.)

Bottom line though, is that I am on the fifth grade team officially–not as a specialist, but as a third fifth grade teacher. And, being a member of that team has been an eye-opener to the time crunch I already knew we had, but hadn’t realized it as quite as bad as it really is. In having discussions about schedules, assessment, how to group for getting to know the kids, shared community building activities, etc., I’m missing having more time to talk about the kids as human beings–their likes, dislikes, friends, learning needs/styles/interests, etc. Part of that, I know, is letting the teachers new to these kids get to know them. We’ve begun it, as the school year settles into a routine, but I’m impatient, as those of you who know me are well aware.

It’s funny how each school year brings new hope for new beginnings and a belief that this year will be different,