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Friday, July 4, 2014

The Same Principal, The Same Middle School, A Different Teacher southbronxschool.

http://www.southbronxschool.com:



The Same Principal, The Same Middle School, A Different Teacher

The hits just coming in about this principal at that middle school in Brooklyn.

This is now the third "manifesto" The Crack Team has received from staff members. This principal reminds me of Bobby Pellit, Jason Sudekis' boss in "Horrible Bosses." This stuff just can't be made up.

Next up, a current teacher at that middle school, Irma Rabinowitz (Highlights in red added by The Crack Team).

To whom it may concern:

This is to express my objection to the oppressive and punitive measures applied throughout the 2013-2014 school year at my school.

I have been teaching English and or Social Studies for at least sixteen years at my school. I have

gone throughout these years and enjoyed a distinguished career. However, this year I suffered

under an administrative staff that offered no materials, and no support regarding the children 

who disrupted the educational environment in my class every day.



I started the year teaching English and Social Studies to two (2) sixth grade classes. By the end

of the first marking period my second sixth grade class was taken away from me, and I was

assigned a seventh grade class. I received notification of this fact incidentally at a Departmental

Meeting. I was shocked, and no one in the administrative staff spoke with me about this major

change. I then spoke to the Principal and expressed my concerns that this was outside my 
http://www.southbronxschool.com:

NEA RA. Delegates to Arne: Make Like A Tree and Leave



NEA RA. Delegates to Arne: Make Like A Tree and Leave





By Liana Heitin and Stephen Sawchuk
Denver
Delegates to the National Education Association's annual convention passed a new business item July 4 calling for U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to resign.
The surprising move comes on the heels of union anger over moves across the United States to revise due-process protections, tenure, and seniority—some of which have been supported by Democrats, including the Obama administration.
Proposed by the union's powerful California affiliate, the item cites "the Department's failed education agenda focused on more high-stakes testing, grading and pitting public school students against each other based on test scores" as its rationale for demanding the secretary's resignation. 
Similarly themed items were introduced at the 2012 and 2011 meetings, but have never before passed. (The union did, in 2010, pass an NBI severely chastising Duncan.)
In addition, the California Teachers Association has had an ax to grind with the secretary since he commented on the Vergara v. California ruling, which found that the state's tenure law violated student rights.
Duncan seemed to support the decision, though his statement on it was not a hearty endorsement. Instead, he said that the groups should work together to rewrite the laws. After backlash from American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, the secretary went out of his way to flesh out his opinion on Vergara in a blog post. 
NEA has had a tense relationship with the Obama administration, and it's unclear how this will affect the union.
For years, as Education Week has reported, the NEA has vented its frustration with President Obama by essentially taking it out on Duncan. This strategy has allowed the union to criticize the administration without looking foolish, especially during the 2012 re-election season—after all, the union has never once endorsed a Republican presidential candidate, and had no choice but to throw its weight behind Obama.
But it's also important to note that California is one of the most populous of the state affiliates, and each year submits a large number of the NBIs that are debated. Last year, sources say, the CTA submitted 36 of the 92 total NBIs.
NEA put out its official response to the California item yesterday. President Dennis Van Roekel stated: "NEA members are understandably frustrated with Secretary Duncan and many of the Department of Education's policies in recent years. We will continue to push the Department of Education to drive student-centered policy changes that are influenced by those who know best—educators working in our classrooms and in our schools—rather than profiteers." 
We've got queries out to the Education Department and the AFT for comment, and will update this item once we know more.http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2014/07/nea_calls_for_sec_duncans_resi.html

A Close Look At Close Reading | WagTheDog

A Close Look At Close Reading | WagTheDog:



A Close Look At Close Reading



 Learning is not done to you, it is something you choose to do.

~ Seth Godin , “Stop Stealing Dreams”
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David Coleman and other proponents of close reading clearly don’t have respect for students or the learning process.
Common Core’s emphasis on deep analysis of text and close reading is an inappropriate and misguided approach to reading instruction that will discourage and dispirit many students.
“…A first reading is about figuring out what a text says. It is purely an issue of reading comprehension. Thus, if someone is reading a story, he/should be able to retell the plot; if someone is reading a science chapter, he/she should be able to answer questions about the key ideas and details of the text…
However, close reading requires that one go further than this. A second reading would, thus, focus on figuring out how this text worked. How did the author organize it? What literary devices were used and how effective were they?…
Finally, with the information gleaned from the first two readings, a reader is ready to carry out a third reading—going even deeper. What does this text mean? What was the author’s point? What does it have to say to me about my life or my world? How do I evaluate the A Close Look At Close Reading | WagTheDog:

SOCIAL PROMOTION- LAUSD'S PRIME MOVER FOR CONTINUED AND PREDICTABLE STUDENT FAILURE- DID THEY EVER REALLY WANT THESE KIDS TO LEARN? - Perdaily.com

SOCIAL PROMOTION- LAUSD'S PRIME MOVER FOR CONTINUED AND PREDICTABLE STUDENT FAILURE- DID THEY EVER REALLY WANT THESE KIDS TO LEARN? - Perdaily.com:



SOCIAL PROMOTION- LAUSD'S PRIME MOVER FOR CONTINUED AND PREDICTABLE STUDENT FAILURE- DID THEY EVER REALLY WANT THESE KIDS TO LEARN?



social promotion.jpg


 (Mensaje se repite en Español)


I know teachers didn't create social promotion. They, like the students, are just victims of it, since students not being required to master prior grade-level standard precludes a subsequent single-subject credential teacher from doing their jobs- but not from being set up for the blame- which dovetails nicely into an argument for corporate privatization of public education, so that these crooks can get their hands on 40% of the $1 trillion at stake- think credit default swap and sub prime for comparable scams. Did you know Green Dot Charters is traded on the New York Stock Exchange? 

I also know that self-esteem is only the historical cover story for allowing social promotion, but ingrained racist attitudes that have no expectation or belief that poor minority children can learn is really the justification in maintaining those in power that have always had it. George "W" Bush didn't get into Yale and Harvard on his scintillating intellect, but rather his family's pedigree, which just happens to belong to a group of people who will be in the minority in the not too distant future, unless they can stop the new majority from getting the education necessary, so we can all realize our future in a time when that future is not a sure thing- global warming?

Therefore, the only way for that short-sighted privileged minority to maintain power is to make sure that the minorities that are rapidly becoming the majority don't have the educational formation necessary to assume their leadership roll in this putative democracy. Who's going to mow the lawns or take care of the kids? You mean we might have to do that for ourselves? And then there are the crimes of 400 years against Blacks that doesn't get the scrutiny it would get as long as Black children are allowed to continue underachieving, where even too many minority administrators still believe that asking more would be "culturally insensitive." Think about that, if you were lucky enough to get the education necessary to do so.
And if you know that minorities can only reach their potential by holding them to a common standard of excellence, it is understandable why those not wanting these people to reach their potential continue to socially promote them into outright failure or, worse yet, being bad public school administrators. But if you 
SOCIAL PROMOTION- LAUSD'S PRIME MOVER FOR CONTINUED AND PREDICTABLE STUDENT FAILURE- DID THEY EVER REALLY WANT THESE KIDS TO LEARN? - Perdaily.com:

Nite Cap 7-4-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2



James Baldwin said it best: 

"For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."


A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAP


HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!



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FLASHBACK: 4th of July
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Morning Wink 7-4-14 AM Posts #edchat #edreform
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YESTERDAY

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Digital Tools As The Gateway Drug To Real Pedagogy? - The Jose Vilson
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NEA - 2014 News Releases
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Nite Cap 7-3-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2
James Baldwin said it best: "For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAPThe Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass | Bill AyersThe Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass | Bill Ayers: The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick DouglassA speech given at Rochester, New