MLK Jr. Day Reader 2021 – radical eyes for equity

MLK Jr. Day Reader 2021 – radical eyes for equity

MLK Jr. Day Reader 2021

From 1984 until 2002, 18 years, I taught high school English in the town and school where I grew up and graduated, moving into the classroom of my high school English teacher, Lynn Harrill, where I had sat as a student just six years earlier.

My first few years were overwhelming and at times terrifying; I taught five different preparations—managing fifteen different textbooks—and several of the classes were filled to capacity, 35 students packed into the room.

Throughout those two decades spanning the 1980s and past the 1990s, I was a student-centered teacher who had a wonderful relationship with my students—lots of mutual love and respect. However, there was always some tension between me and white redneck boys.

Again, these white redneck boys were who I had been growing up, and even the least aware among them likely sensed deep down inside that I knew who they were.

One of the worst days of my teaching career—sitting among having to confront a student gunman and returning to school after three children burned down the school building—included the actions of one white redneck boy.

A significant sub-unit of my nine-week non-fiction unit included walking CONTINUE READING: MLK Jr. Day Reader 2021 – radical eyes for equity

Some Questions for 2021 | JD2718

Some Questions for 2021 | JD2718

Some Questions for 2021

If you are reading this, you might know me. And if you know me, you know I can ask questions that are not really questions. That’s not these.

Real questions for the New Year (in the order in which I expect us to learn the answers)

November – January: How will the national elections turn out?

• January 5 – what happens in the Georgia Senate runoffs? 2 Republicans, 2 Democrats, or split?

If the Democrats win both, I do not expect that Schumer plans to win any votes 51 – 50. They will more likely try to return to business as usual, and forge some agreements not to go full-on obstructionist in the future. If the Republicans win either one, they very well might defeat stuff 51-49 or 52-48… but I think they also may want to move away from full-on obstructionism. Certainly their distancing themselves from Trump make that seem possible. Anyhow, I started writing on Sunday, and I’m wrapping this up Tuesday evening. There’s definitely a slight edge for the democrats, but it is way too early to tell. Plus, in this instant, the actual lead is split.

(finally posting, almost three hours later, and the lead is still split, but it looks like both CONTINUE READING: Some Questions for 2021 | JD2718

A Teacher’s Predictions For 2021 | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

A Teacher’s Predictions For 2021 | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

A TEACHER’S PREDICTIONS FOR 2021

Some of these predictions are educated guesses that I hope don’t come true, and some may be pipe dreams. Check them out, let me know which ones are off-base, and share your own! You can see the predictions I’ve made in previous years at the end of this post.

*The new stimulus package will be a much-needed boost for schools.  However, it won’t be sufficient to deal with the full negative impact of the recession, and another stimulus – this time including support for states – will be approved in February.   Unfortunately, the Democrats will only pick-up one of Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats being decided in January (Editor’s Note: I’m thrilled to say that based on still incomplete election returns, it appears that I was wrong on this), so the support won’t be as generous as it would have been if that party controlled both houses of Congress.  That shot-in-the-arm to states will substantially reduce potential education cuts next year.

*President-Elect Joe Biden’s victory should not only lead to greater support for schools during this pandemic, but will also reduce additional pressures on our students and their families (and their subsequent negative impacts on student academic achievement), including through the elimination of President Trump’s draconian immigration crackdowns and policies negatively impacting low-income families.

*Speaking of the new administration’s education policies, its plans look great, and new Education Secretary Miguel Cardona will be about a zillion times better than the non-educator who has held that position for the past four years.

*Many more school districts will be joining the San Bernardino school system in deciding to finish the rest of the school year full online. It’ll be a wise decision for many in high infection areas. Unfortunately, however, many of those same districts will stockpile new funds from the federal stimulus package for the following year and won’t use it in ways they should – to solicit teacher input about professional development needs to improve remote teaching, increase online classes for vulnerable student populations, and increase social service support for students and families who have become disconnected to schools during the pandemic.

* The vaccine roll-out for adults will take longer than expected, and a vaccine for children won’t arrive until CONTINUE READING: A Teacher’s Predictions For 2021 | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

EDUCATION MYTHS OF 2021 – Dad Gone Wild

EDUCATION MYTHS OF 2021 – Dad Gone Wild

EDUCATION MYTHS OF 2021

“The music we play has to be tomorrow’s, the things we say have to be today, and the reason for bothering is yesterday.”
― Pete Townshend, Who I Am

 

2021 is now officially underway, and unsurprisingly, it’s coming in as noisily as 2020 went out. Increasing cases of COVID-19, an increasingly unhinged president, along with fights over whether school buildings should be open or not, are quickly sucking the air out 2021 before it can even get a proper start. When it comes to education policy, buried amidst all the noise, are several myths that need exposing. This is especially important in Tennessee, where Governor Lee is convening a special session of the General Assembly specifically for education policy.

Normally that might be considered good news. But these certainly are not normal times, and I would argue that the focus isn’t borne out of concern for kids, as much as it is out adults protecting their revenue streams.

The ongoing pandemic has decimated several industries – restaurants, tourism, entertainment, among them. Education is equally vulnerable.

Districts risk losing state funding due to a loss of students. Luckily this is one area legislators can offer some protection. But equally at risk are those private entities that have taken root in the CONTINUE READING: EDUCATION MYTHS OF 2021 – Dad Gone Wild

NANCY BAILEY: Guarded Hope and 7 Concerns for Public Education this New Year

Guarded Hope and 7 Concerns for Public Education this New Year

Guarded Hope and 7 Concerns for Public Education this New Year

We have a new President and a new education secretary and hope for the future of public education.

Hope doesn’t come easy because schools face what appear to be insurmountable difficulties due to Covid-19. Also, wealthy individuals and groups who want school privatization are established in the system, mostly in dozens of anti-public school nonprofits, foundations, and think tanks.

We’ll be watching to see who Education Secretary Miguel Cardona chooses to work in the U.S. Department of Education and watch what happens to public schools at the State and local levels.

Here are some concerns.

1. Covid-19

Covid-19 dominates the education discussion. Governors and school officials must take the virus and school openings seriously without caving to political pressure to open schools when it’s dangerous. The virus doesn’t care what school students attend. Some CONTINUE READING: Guarded Hope and 7 Concerns for Public Education this New Year

A teacher’s deepest concerns going into 2021: students who disappeared, covid-19 myopia and six more - The Washington Post

A teacher’s deepest concerns going into 2021: students who disappeared, covid-19 myopia and six more - The Washington Post

A teacher’s deepest fears about 2021: Students who disappeared, covid-19 myopia and six more

Longtime educator Larry Ferlazzo has been a frequent writer on this blog for a decade — and now he is back with his list of the things that most concern him about schooling going into 2021.

Ferlazzo teaches English and social studies at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento. He has written or edited 12 books about education, writes a teacher advice blog for Education Week and has a popular resource-sharing blog.

His many pieces on this blog include one about how teachers can help students motivate themselves, and a favorite of mine, titled, “NEWS BREAK (not breaking news): Teacher asks students to grade him. One wrote: ‘I give Mr. Ferlazzo an A at being annoying.’ ”

In July, he wrote a post about the eight things that were most worrying him about the start of the 2020-21 school year during the global coronavirus pandemic. They included concerns about how he would quickly and effectively build relationships with students remotely, the mental health of his students, and concerns about the difficulty of remote learning but the lack of understanding about those difficulties by administrators and others.

This new piece about what most concerns him heading into a new calendar year appeared on one of his blogs, and he gave me permission to publish it.

Ferlazzo also recently made his annual list of what he considered the worst and best education news of the year, which you can read here.

By Larry Ferlazzo

In July, I wrote a column for The Answer Sheet headlined, “Teacher: Eight concerns about school this fall that are robbing me of sleep.”

And, boy, was I spot-on with those concerns as the fall semester unfolded.

I was able to get a decent handle on the ones I listed that were within my control, such as what to cover in the curriculum and what to jettison.

And I have developed a substantial amount of cynicism about others beyond my control, particularly those related to people who have never done remote teaching but still tell teachers how to do it. CONTINUE READING: A teacher’s deepest concerns going into 2021: students who disappeared, covid-19 myopia and six more - The Washington Post

SURVEY: BRUCE LESLEY WANTS TO KNOW What's your priority for children for 2021? - First Focus Campaign for Children

Children's Action Network - First Focus Campaign for Children

SURVEY: BRUCE LESLEY WANTS TO KNOW

What's your priority for children for 2021?

Ensuring all children have health coverage

Increasing access to quality child care and early childhood programs

Designating a White House Office of Children to oversee children’s issues

Ending the school-to-prison pipeline and placing more counselors in schools

Providing greater budget transparency on children’s issues

Cutting child poverty rates in half within the decade

Ensuring racial equity for children’s outcomes

Prioritizing well-being and legal protections for immigrant youth

TAKE THE SURVEY HERE: Children's Action Network - First Focus Campaign for Children