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/2020/09/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos_19.html

Everything You Wanted To Know About Classroom Management But Were Afraid To Ask

by Larry Ferlazzo / 4h

ernestoeslava / Pixabay I have over 2,100 frequently revised and updated “Best” lists on just about every subject imaginable, and you can find them listed three different ways in three different places (see Three Accessible Ways To Search For & Find My “Best” Lists ). I’m starting to publish a series where each day I will highlight the “Best” lists in a separate category. Today, it’s on Classroom

Tuesday’s Must-Read Articles About School Reopening

by Larry Ferlazzo / 5h

geralt / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : As Schools Go Remote, Finding ‘Lost’ Students Gets Harder is from The NY Times. Learning Curve: Teacher Resigns Rather Than Expose Her Family To COVID-19 is from NPR. They Work Full Time. They Attend School. They’re Only Teenagers. is from The HuffPost. Duval Schools’ laptop gap impacts

“Strategies for Promoting Student Collaboration in a Distance Learning Environment”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 6h

Strategies for Promoting Student Collaboration in a Distance Learning Environment is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Another teacher and I share strategies to encourage student collaboration in a remote or hybrid learning environment, including through group presentations and class-created “norms.” Here’s an excerpt:

Most Popular Posts Of The Week

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

I’m making a change in the content of the regular feature. In addition to sharing the top five posts that have received the most “hits” in the preceding seven days (though they may have originally been published on an earlier date), I will also include the top five posts that have actually appeared in the past week. Often, these are different posts. You might also be interested in IT’S THE THIRTE

World Teachers’ Day Is On Oct. 5th – Here Are Related Resources

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

Jorgeduardo / Pixabay World Teachers’ Day, held annually on October 5th since 1994 – when it was created by UNESCO – celebrates teachers worldwide (in the United States, National Teacher Day is Tuesday in the first full week of May). You might be interested in The Best Resources To Learn About World Teachers Day .

Everything You Wanted To Know About Assessment But Were Afraid To Ask

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

Wokandapix / Pixabay I have over 2,100 frequently revised and updated “Best” lists on just about every subject imaginable, and you can find them listed three different ways in three different places (see Three Accessible Ways To Search For & Find My “Best” Lists ). I’m starting to publish a series where each day I will highlight the “Best” lists in a separate category. Today, it’s on Assessment:

Zoom Adds Features For Educators

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

Alexandra_Koch / Pixabay Zoom announced, and shared instructional videos, today about some new features for educators (none of which I thought were really that very useful). They had also previously announced that today was going to be the day they introduced a self-selecting option for breakout rooms (see ON SEPT. 21ST, ZOOM IMPLEMENTS A FEATURE TO ALLOW PEOPLE TO CHOOSE THEIR OWN BREAKOUT ROOMS

How Could I Have Not Known That Google Offers Free A.I. Powered Feedback On The Pronunciation Of Any Word?

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

I wanted to confirm today that I was pronouncing the word “hubris” correctly (why I wanted to say that word is a topic for another blog post). So, I searched “How do you pronounce hubris?” And something like what you see in the image at the top of this blog post appeared. You can click on the audio to hear it – at regular speed or slow. AND you can record yourself saying the word and it will give

New Study Finds That Teacher Leadership Results In Improved Learning For Students

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

TheDigitalArtist / Pixabay Echoing previous studies highlighted in The Best Posts, Articles & Videos On “Teacher Leadership” — Contribute More! , a new study, The association between teacher leadership and student achievement: 

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

One Billion Dollars for Black Girls. | Schott Foundation for Public Education

One Billion Dollars for Black Girls. | Schott Foundation for Public Education

One Billion Dollars for Black Girls

Philanthropy isn’t known for being a quick and nimble sector. When change does come it’s the result of long and dedicated work by those in the field and their funder allies. From our founding, Schott has pushed philanthropy to adopt a race and gender equity framework, and a new generation of advocates and funders are joining a growing chorus.

In that spirit, this week a new fund was launched with an audacious goal. The Black Girl Freedom Fund is raising one billion dollars over the next ten years to address the myriad of interconnected problems facing Black girls and young women. As the fund’s open letter puts it:

We, Black women, and Femmes activists, artists, educators, organizers, and philanthropists, have come together at the historic time to call attention to the fact that Black girls in the United States are in crisis. From discrimination in education and healthcare to sexual assault and policing, the lives and livelihoods of Black girls and young women are notably absent in the public narratives, policies, and justice movements most crucial to addressing inequality and racial trauma.

Central to Schott’s work and perspective is the understanding that the most disadvantaged people live at the intersections of multiple overlapping oppressions and that support and solutions must be tailored to the specific experiences of those most affected by injustice. That’s why we originally lifted up the crisis facing Black male students, and why we have supported research and advocacy for girls of color, like the Black Girls Matter report and Girls for Gender Equity.

Schott joins the Black Girl Freedom Fund’s call for donors, large and small, to step up and “robustly invest in Black girls and CONTINUE READING: One Billion Dollars for Black Girls. | Schott Foundation for Public Education

"Unintended" Messaging About Black (Male) Teachers - Philly's 7th Ward

"Unintended" Messaging About Black (Male) Teachers - Philly's 7th Ward

“UNINTENDED” MESSAGING ABOUT BLACK (MALE) TEACHERS

Teachers who establish meaningful relationships with their students should be celebrated and modeled after. However, social media has a way of turning any narrative on its head; making teachers overnight sensations for sharing complex handshakes with their students.

Inventing customary handshakes for each student doesn’t make a teacher great, however I get the point of all the hype; if a teacher cares enough to have a special handshake with each student, it says something about their attention to detail and care for each kid. It also says something about establishing solidarity with students.

Barry White Jr., a fifth-grade teacher in Charlotte, North Carolina, was a Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James fan. He began doing handshakes with his students because he wanted to bring to his class the same bond and closeness shared on the Cavs at the time to his students. David Jamison, a fifth-grade teacher in Memphis, Tennessee, memorized 75 different handshakes with his students. Like White, Jamison sought to create a stronger bond with his students.

His efforts, and the response received on social media earned Jamison with an appearance on Good Morning America.  

It must be said that both White and Jamison are Black men. It matters CONTINUE READING: "Unintended" Messaging About Black (Male) Teachers - Philly's 7th Ward

What Does A “Safe Return” To School Look Like? - PopularResistance.Org

What Does A “Safe Return” To School Look Like? - PopularResistance.Org

WHAT DOES A “SAFE RETURN” TO SCHOOL LOOK LIKE?

Ask Teacher Unions.

Powerful elites are willing to sacrifice the lives and futures of millions to feed their own profits. Teachers are fighting back.

Demands for stu­dents and edu­ca­tors to return to in-per­son school­ing dur­ing the pan­dem­ic are com­ing from Democ­rats and Repub­li­cans, both claim­ing the return is nec­es­sary not just to pro­vide high-qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion, but to save the econ­o­my and get par­ents back to work. The nar­ra­tive con­scious­ly exploits the needs of par­ents who may not have health­care and who rely on pub­lic schools to care for and edu­cate their chil­dren while they work. It pits par­ents, stu­dents, teach­ers and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers against one anoth­er, using (or ignor­ing) sci­en­tif­ic data to suit the polit­i­cal pur­pose of mon­eyed inter­ests — the bipar­ti­san project of destroy­ing pub­lic schools.

When Edu­ca­tion Sec­re­tary Bet­sy DeVos tweets that par­ents ​“need real options for edu­ca­tion this fall” and #School­ChoiceNow — with­out pro­vid­ing the equip­ment, con­di­tions or funds need­ed to make schools safe — the real mes­sage is clear. The Right is using the push to reopen as a way to inten­si­fy the pri­va­ti­za­tion and mar­ke­ti­za­tion of edu­ca­tion, boost prof­its in the edu­ca­tion­al tech­nol­o­gy sec­tor and erode trust in pub­lic schools.

In response, teach­ers’ labor activism — wide­spread and robust in recent years — con­tin­ues to emerge. Teach­ers orga­niz­ing on social media have cam­paigned for var­i­ous sci­en­tif­ic stan­dards to trig­ger reopen­ing; #14DaysNoNewCases, for exam­ple, demands that cam­pus­es only reopen after going two weeks with­out CONTINUE READING: What Does A “Safe Return” To School Look Like? - PopularResistance.Org

Ed Notes Online: NYC District 14 Demands Safe Schools/Remote Learning (9/16/2020) - Video by Darren Marelli

Ed Notes Online: NYC District 14 Demands Safe Schools/Remote Learning (9/16/2020) - Video by Darren Marelli

NYC District 14 Demands Safe Schools/Remote Learning (9/16/2020) - Video by Darren Marelli

Highlights from the community gathering outside District 14 Superintendent, Alicja Winnicki's, office Thursday demanding the maintenance of an all remote/ start for NYC schools.

I used to go into Winnicki's classroom for tech support in the early 2000s. She's been supt for a long time back to the Bloomberg era -- a decade I think. I'm sure she is not happy about parents pushing back. Most interesting to me is that the head of CEC 14 (local board) seems to be one of the leaders -- I know how hard people at the top work to keep parents at the school and district level in line. The rage against Carranza and DeBlasio's leadership of NYC schools is very similar to the rage expressed when Bloomberg and Klein's were in charge.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/NSJsiIvuIWI

 Ed Notes Online: NYC District 14 Demands Safe Schools/Remote Learning (9/16/2020) - Video by Darren Marelli

NANCY BAILEY: 3rd Grade Reading Laws Are Harmful

3rd Grade Reading Laws Are Harmful

3rd Grade Reading Laws Are Harmful

By Stefanie Rysdahl Fuhr

Many states insist that students read by third grade. If students have difficulties they might be retained. Students might master reading later. They should not be punished if they aren’t reading perfectly in third grade.

Last spring I sent this letter to my state legislators.  Feel free to use it as a template for your legislators.

____________

Dear Senator XXXXX OR Representative XXXXX,

As a constituent, I urge you to repeal Read Well by 3rd Grade legislation. This law is forcing children to read in kindergarten and to be tested on some arbitrary level using inappropriate and even false reading assessments. This is hurting the children who are our future leaders. Everyone can recognize the absurdity of expecting all children to crawl at a certain age. Likewise, experts tell us that labeling children as deficient before they are developmentally ready to read is extremely harmful. Experts tell us that the average age a child learns to read is 7. Some read earlier and some read later. Please look at this research.

In Finland, where teens score at the top of international reading tests, children don’t start school until age 7 because lawmakers, drawing on the wisdom of experts, understand that many younger kids have not reached the developmental maturity for the more focused structure that we in Minnesota are imposing on younger and younger children. Forcing our children to read before they are developmentally ready is causing them to be falsely labeled as deficient.

Finland also knows that education is local. They respect the expertise and knowledge of local teachers.

National Education Policy Center and Education Deans for Justice recently posted this policy statement, “The Science of Reading,” which provides legislators with proven policies:

I ask you to look to such proven policies instead of legislation that promotes a narrowed CONTINUE READING: 3rd Grade Reading Laws Are Harmful

Teacher Tom: In Search of Something Good and True

Teacher Tom: In Search of Something Good and True

In Search of Something Good and True

"Ah, children, ah, dear friends, don't be afraid of life. How good life is when one does something good and true!" ~Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Here in the US, we are in the run up to what many of us consider to be the most pivotal political moment of our lifetimes. Of course, only future generations will be able to tell us whether that's true or not. It could be that the last Presidential election was the most consequential or perhaps we'll find that it's one to come, but nevertheless it feels like more Americans than ever are taking the democratic process more seriously than ever before. We are reading and thinking and arguing. The election dominates the news and dinner table conversations. 

Looked at one way, this is how our democracy is designed to work. It is designed for two political parties. It is designed for average people talking among themselves. It is a system of self-governance that relies upon all of us engaging with one another in the project of self-governance. Looked at another way, of course, it's not working at all. The idea is that an educated populace would, through it collective voice, create the best possible governance through a process of civilized public debate and compromise, but when we look around we see little but anger, enmity, and strife.

Like most human "systems" it looks better on paper. One of the characteristics of any of our systems is that our human brain, for better or worse, has evolved to believe itself. It CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: In Search of Something Good and True