The United Federation of Teachers Supports #Occupy Wall Street | Seattle Education

The United Federation of Teachers Supports #Occupy Wall Street | Seattle Education:

The United Federation of Teachers Supports #Occupy Wall Street

by seattleducation2011

Watching the live stream of young people getting arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge today protesting the crimes that have happened between Wall Street, the White House and the banks, all I can think is that those protestors are not the ones who should be arrested, it’s a whole lot of folks who represent “Wall Street” who should have been arrested for fraud and probably tax evasion, it’s the shysters who have broken this country financially, just about wiped out the middle class and put many families into poverty who should take the

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Classroom Reflections on Week 4

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Classroom Reflections on Week 4:

Classroom Reflections on Week 4

by alicemercer

My classroom is still a work in work in progress, but many of my practices have started to “gel” and routines are taking shape. I also have some tech stuff to share, but much of the progress will not be visible as it happened offline. This week saw the addition of a lab to science, art in social science, and more structured writing.

Social Science is a trying subject, and the one most students list as their least favorite. First, I went old school and opted to read the lesson aloud myself. This had the advantage because I could convey my interest in the subject through tone and inflection, and I could add interesting tidbits and examples. The students were more engaged. I also had them do an art project, creating a buffalo hide painting (that I got at a Thinkfinity training withGail Delser), which was a way Native Americans of the Plains kept their history and stories. As a result, their writing on the subject was better in terms of content, and quality.

Language Arts involved doing more explicit writing instruction, and having students write paragraphs with topic

In Michigan the union mobilizes. In Illinois, they tell members to sit quietly. « Fred Klonsky's blog

In Michigan the union mobilizes. In Illinois, they tell members to sit quietly. « Fred Klonsky's blog:

In Michigan the union mobilizes. In Illinois, they tell members to sit quietly.

by Fred Klonsky

In Illinois, the IEA leadership tells its members not to mobilize against the pension killing bill.

At the last state convention IEA delegates voted a huge amount of money tarted for a public relations campaign.

Peg with Pen: America's Got Talent? Not Under the Corporate Education Reform Model

Peg with Pen: America's Got Talent? Not Under the Corporate Education Reform Model:

America's Got Talent? Not Under the Corporate Education Reform Model

by Peggy

This past week I watched Education Nation. I continued to support action through our work at United Opt OutNational. I read articles about the supposed benefits of NCLB waivers. I received notices about legislation being written which dictates what public universities do and forces education schools to drink the corp. ed. Kool-Aid. In the midst of all of this I read about an increase in the number of homeless children in New York. And then there was Occupy Wall Street – underreported – but representative of an America - composed of independent thinkers - waking up. As people begin to speak up, those with power tremble ever so slightly.

I tremble a bit as well…with an inner rage that I try to keep calm by swimming laps several mornings a week while thinking about how we might change the current narrative regarding this fabricated educational crisis that has allowed corporations to swoop in and profit at our children’s expense. I watched a clip of MorningJoe on MSNBC in which they talked about how the arts have disappeared from the public schools. They talked about

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Sign this petition

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Senators - VOTE NO on H.R. 2218 - Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools Act

By Susan DuFresne (Contact)

To be delivered to: The United States Senate

Dear Senators:

The recent passage of H.R. 2218, the Empowering Parents Through the Quality Charter Schools Act by the House of Representatives is equally troubling. The nation’s teachers are not alone in their condemnation of this potential federal mandate to implement Charter Schools in every state.

The Association of School Administrators has also raised concerns that H.R.2218 will harm the commitment to properly fund public schools by siphoning money through the voucher system to private charter schools falsely labeled as “Public Charters”.

While some effective charter schools exist, significant fraud and abuse of the public trust has occurred across the nation among charter schools and their operators. We are witnessing a re-segregating of our nation’s schools in the areas of:

1. Race
2. Class
3. Ability
4. Sexual Orientation
5. Language

We are equally concerned that the interest of corporations and wealthy individuals has corrupted education policy in a way which will irreparably change the focus of education from one of success, learning, and accomplishment for children; to one designed merely for profit by corporations.

We the undersigned feel that a unique opportunity exists for you to reaffirm your commitment to education for all of America's children by VOTING NO – against H.R. 2218.

Your NAY VOTE will be a clear signal that you are not taking the side of corporate money and Wall Street hedge funders. It will be a firm gesture that indicates your genuine concern for the nation's children, teachers and schools.

Sincerely,

As students, parents, teachers, administrators, and community members who are concerned about the re-segregation of public schools through the promotion of Charter Schools, we oppose H.R. 2218 - Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools Act .

We demand that you, as a Senator of the United States of America VOTE NO on H.R. 2218 - Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools Act to protect the civil rights of ALL public school children in America.

We need 1,000 signatures
There are currently 598 signatures

Previous petition signers:

Jersey Jazzman: All the Education Opinion That's Fit To Fail

Jersey Jazzman: All the Education Opinion That's Fit To Fail:

All the Education Opinion That's Fit To Fail

by Duke

The NY Times attempts education opining. Yeesh:

To qualify for waivers, states will have to install new tests — and teacher evaluation systems that take those test results into account — by the 2014-15 school year. The 12 states that received federal grants in the Race to the Top program last year have a head start. They agreed to put in data-driven teacher evaluation systems as part of that competition. But even reform-minded states like Delaware, which was one of the first to win a grant, have been unable to get their systems up and running and have asked

School Tech Connect: Sadly, No

School Tech Connect: Sadly, No:

Sadly, No

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim)

Hate to harp on this, but it does seem to be a requirement that no matter who is president, his or her secretary of education has to believe in things that simply aren't true.

Popout

People have these little fantasies about what they achieved. If you look at the same history that Duncan is

NYC Public School Parents: Karen Sprowal: My question and Prof. Noguera's response at MisEducation Nation

NYC Public School Parents: Karen Sprowal: My question and Prof. Noguera's response at MisEducation Nation:

Karen Sprowal: My question and Prof. Noguera's response at MisEducation Nation

by Leonie Haimson

For more on the MisEducation Nation forum, held Sept. 27 with Diane Ravitch, Pedro Noguera, Brian Jones, and me, sponsored by FAIR, see Julie Cavanagh’s report, GothamSchools article, and Peter Murphy of the NY Charter Schools Association. Here is video of the entire forum; which was excellent. Michael Fiorello asked a question to Pedro Noguera about his role in authorizing charter schools at 1hr 12 minutes in, and Karen’s question to Noguera and his response are at 1hr 26 minutes in.

There has been a lot of controversy raised about my question to Prof. Pedro Noguera and his response at the MisEducation Nation forum on Tuesday night. I would like to clarify the issues as I see them.

My son, Matthew, was kicked out of Kindergarten in the fall of 2008 at the Harlem Success Charter. It took a long time for me and Matthew to get over this experience, and for me to feel comfortable talking about it, but our story was

Mayor Bloomberg’s Scorn for Occupy Wall Street | The Dissenter

Mayor Bloomberg’s Scorn for Occupy Wall Street | The Dissenter:

Mayor Bloomberg’s Scorn for Occupy Wall Street

by Kevin Gosztola

Michael Bloomberg (photo: Center for American Progress)

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in his weekly appearance on “The John Gambling Show” on AM WOR710, addressed the persistence of those participating Occupy Wall Street in Zuccotti Park. It was an example of a member of the power elite voicing his or her contempt for protest. It was also clear that Gambling has scorn for the protest, too, as the discussion begins with the question, “How do you end that thing?”

Bloomberg answers:

The protesters are protesting against people who make $40-50,000 a year and are struggling to make ends meet. That’s the bottom line. These are the people that work on Wall Street in the

All Education Matters: Occupy Sallie Mae!

All Education Matters: Occupy Sallie Mae!:

Occupy Sallie Mae!

by Cryn Johannsen

How about occupying Sallie Mae, and demanding that usurious companies can no longer turn Americans into indentured educated servants?!? I'm in! I'll organize.

Help AEM get back to Washington, D.C. in November! Pitch in $10 today. Every dime helps.

An educational justice advocate for the SRC | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

An educational justice advocate for the SRC | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

An educational justice advocate for the SRC

by Ron Whitehorne

Education stakeholders in Philadelphia, including the advocacy community, have grown used to having our decisions made for us behind closed doors. There has been much talk about the need for new leadership and changing our governance. But for the moment it is business as usual, with the mayor and governor choosing the next generation of School District leadership without any public input or discussion.

They choose, we react.

Featured Title:

Opinion: Open up a dialogue about upcoming appointments

read more

Schools Matter: Dead Until Proven Guilty: U. S. Assassination of U. S. Citizens

Schools Matter: Dead Until Proven Guilty: U. S. Assassination of U. S. Citizens:

Dead Until Proven Guilty: U. S. Assassination of U. S. Citizens

by Jim Horn

When Ted Koppel began Nightline over 30 years ago, he could not have imagined today's (or tonight's) version with host Terry Moron, or is that Moran, who offers a newsy feel to an endless supply of nothing stories that aren't quite titillating enough for hosts of Entertainment Tonight. And even the real stories they cover, including the latest assassinations of American citizens abroad, without the burdensome benefit of capture and trial, are done so with the tepid empty-headedness that we have come to expect from the corporate media in general.

Night before last ABC offered a breathless digitally-enhanced animated recreation of the digitally-enhanced distance dusting of the two citizens in question, which was followed by Moron's puff-ball interview with the increasingly-vapid and increasingly-youthful and ever-glamorous Christiane Amanpour (at right), whose enthusiasm could not be contained for the fact that Obama has been even more heedless than W. in carrying out this facet of the our terrrorist war on terror. So much for the Constitution and

Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky's blog:

Saturday coffee.

by Fred Klonsky

The Bloomingdale Trail.

The rain finally stopped this morning. It’s has been raining on and off for a week.

The temperature won’t get above 60 until Monday when we warm up enough for me to go to work in just a sweater.

But this morning the sun is shining. The mortar guys are finishing tuck pointing our 130 year old brick walls and the carpenters come back on Monday to finish rebuilding the roof.

The neighbor’s chickens are out in the yard. Our neighbor told me that Logan Square has more live chickens

What Happened to My Grade Book?: More Blocks & Constructs = Night 2

What Happened to My Grade Book?: More Blocks & Constructs = Night 2:

More Blocks & Constructs = Night 2

Little sis missed big sis's discovery from the night before. She discovered and proved her understanding of square numbers to me in case you missed it. She's 4.

So last night, I asked big sis to show her little sis a square number. She eagerly got to work demonstrating her understanding of what a square number represents.

I did not say a word. I just folded laundry and watched while they explored. One of the original squares big sis built to explain was made with two rows of blue and one of green.
Little sis started building on big sis's blue and green square. First she stretched the pattern into a rectangle. Then, she instructed her sister, "Close your eyes." She quickly build the rest of the square.

"I made a really big one," she giggled.

After little sis made her great square, she said, "Open your eyes." Her big sister did and she

Enter to Win $7,500 To Create Your Ultimate School Lounge!

Enter to Win $7,500 To Create Your Ultimate School Lounge!:

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