Education Matters: DeSantis goes after tech and teachers

Education Matters: DeSantis goes after tech and teachers

DeSantis goes after tech and teachers

 Ron DeSantis went after big tech today, signing a bill that will fine them if they deplatform politicians who violate their standards and conditions, i.e., lie and insight violence. Juxtapose this next to what he said the other day when he said he would go after teachers who dared to tell the truth about the systemic racism that has pervaded our history. Welcome to Florida, where only what the ruling party says matters, whether it is true or not.   

At his press conference, he said...

Khomeini Died in 1989, long before Twitter and Facebook even existed, and the reason Trump was Deplatformed was because of his constant lies and him instigating violence. More specifically, he was kicked off Twitter and Facebook, private businesses, because he violates their terms and conditions. 

As bad as this is, it's made worse because DeSantis and his little boot have said they plan to stifle teachers' free speech. 

From Flagler Live:

A proposed rule that will be weighed by the State Board of Education aims to control the way history is taugh CONTINUE READING: Education Matters: DeSantis goes after tech and teachers

Education Matters: Greene and the district don't deny Corcoran had teacher removed from the classroom

Education Matters: Greene and the district don't deny Corcoran had teacher removed from the classroom

Greene and the district don't deny Corcoran had teacher removed from the classroom

 Where not a lawyer, it seems to me Amy Donofrio is going to own the district as she sues it into oblivion. Corcoran tells the Times Union he had Greene remove her from the classroom. While the district sticks with her, she is under investigation (for what) story. 

I spoke with a school board member on Sunday, and they said it was absurd that Corcoran was telling people he had her removed though it sure seems like the right hand, the super is keeping the left hand, the board, in the dark.

  

So just like that, the commissioner says jump, and our super asks how high, though I guess we shouldn't be CONTINUE READING: Education Matters: Greene and the district don't deny Corcoran had teacher removed from the classroom

How Professors Teach | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

How Professors Teach | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

How Professors Teach

Jonathan Zimmerman’s Amateur Hour (a great title) documents how college professors have taught over the past two centuries. It is a worthwhile read for those who have experienced the full range of university teaching from packed lecture halls to wood-paneled seminar rooms. And it got me thinking of my experiences in college and university classrooms over many years. I have forgotten most of my professors’s names as I collected degrees except for a handful who have had a large influence upon me as both a student and human being.

Since I was a high school history teacher for many years before becoming a professor, I prized teaching before scholarship. Sure both are important, but my previous experiences as a graduate student made me very aware of the startling variation in university teaching as I stumbled through a Masters degree and CONTINUE READING: How Professors Teach | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

A NYC Teacher Blogger Fell, 1 Year Ago Today | JD2718

A NYC Teacher Blogger Fell, 1 Year Ago Today | JD2718

A NYC Teacher Blogger Fell, 1 Year Ago Today

Eric “Chaz” Chasanoff was one of the best-known New York City teacher bloggers. He was an exceptional advocate for teachers, and a opponent of arbitrary and unfair policies.

Eric wrote regularly for well over a decade. He started in 2006. And he didn’t stop, until COVID stopped him.

During the pandemic he was writing every two or three days. On April 26 he wrote about reducing administrative costs, and not school budgets. And then… Silence. On May 2 I wrote to him. He was already sick, and did not respond. I didn’t know. I wrote to other bloggers, to his UFT borough office. And then we learned.

Eric was a weatherman – on TV – before he was a teacher. He became an earth science teacher. Earth Science Eric. Read here as James Eterno, his UFT Chapter Leader at Jamaica HS, talks about Eric.

Eric wrote about teacher issues. He wrote about teacher financial issues – pension, TDA. He wrote about problem schools, and problem administrators. He wrote about good work the UFT did, and he wrote CONTINUE READING: A NYC Teacher Blogger Fell, 1 Year Ago Today | JD2718

Teacher Evaluations (Hammers & Nails) | Blue Cereal Education

Teacher Evaluations (Hammers & Nails) | Blue Cereal Education

Teacher Evaluations (Hammers & Nails)

There’s a difference between caring how well you’re actually doing your job and caring how well you do on official evaluations. Ideally, the two at least overlap - like a Venn Diagram or pop and hip-hop. That’s not always a given, however. In practice, it’s often more like the relationship between reality and reality TV.

I know a teacher I’ll call Mr. Lutum. Mr. Lutum has been teaching forever - long enough that he began to fear he’d grown a bit stale. After some soul searching and a few months of crippling doubt and despair, he decided that if he were going to continue teaching, he at least needed a fresh start and a serious change of scenery.

He took a position in a high poverty, majority-minority district in the building people only work at until they have enough seniority to go elsewhere. Lutum figured he’d put his lofty rhetoric and progressive ideals to the test and see if he actually had the chops to work with kids who are nothing like himself – and without being either cynical or CONTINUE READING: Teacher Evaluations (Hammers & Nails) | Blue Cereal Education

During Pandemic, More Parents Come To Appreciate Teachers and Understand Teaching | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

During Pandemic, More Parents Come To Appreciate Teachers and Understand Teaching | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

During Pandemic, More Parents Come To Appreciate Teachers and Understand Teaching

Teacher Appreciation Week begins May 3rd. With school closures over a year ago and the onslaught of remote instruction, many parents have come to appreciate not only what teachers do in classrooms (and now on screens) than ever before (see here) but also how complex the act of teaching is.

Celebrities sport T-shirts asking that teacher should have higher salaries. Actor Ron Farrell who has three children being home schooled was seen in his neighborhood picking up garbage.

Celebrity parents calling for higher salaries only mirrors now more than ever that Moms and Dads sitting in kitchens and bedrooms hovering over their children have a deeper understanding (and appreciation) about teaching being not only a complex activity but also a relationship built on trust and respect.

That appreciation and understanding were too often unconsidered by many CONTINUE READING: During Pandemic, More Parents Come To Appreciate Teachers and Understand Teaching | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Tim Slekar: A Survey of Teachers | Diane Ravitch's blog

Tim Slekar: A Survey of Teachers | Diane Ravitch's blog

Tim Slekar: A Survey of Teachers

If you are a teacher, you are invited to participate in a survey.

Tim Slekar is writing a book about teachers and their working conditions. He would be grateful to teachers who agree to take the attached survey and return it to him. His email is Timslekar@gmail.com

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Tim Slekar: A Survey of Teachers | Diane Ravitch's blog

CURMUDGUCATION: An Evaluation That Teachers Can Use

CURMUDGUCATION: An Evaluation That Teachers Can Use

An Evaluation That Teachers Can Use

A post from Jay Wamsted at Education Post (yes, that Education Post--I've said it before and I'll say it again--it's important to read from all over the edu-web) got me thinking about the sources of feedback that teachers can tap. He tells a story about a missed moment in which someone offered him feedback on his teaching that he didn't want to hear, and how he regrets that missed opportunity.

Which I get. I suspect most teachers who have been doing the work more than five years get it. Because the system so rarely gives us feedback we can use, teachers hunker down into a cycle of reflection and self-evaluation, and that is a great and beautiful thing, but it has its drawbacks. Teachers can fall into a despair spiral ("I should have handled that differently today and I also didn't get that student what they needed and I'm a week behind on papers and oh my god did I just choose the wrong profession??")

Teachers can also get into a place where outside feedback hits like a bucket of cold water and our back goes up and our claws come out. That's what happened to Wamsted. It happened to me, a bit differently. It was very early in my career. I was teaching ninth graders, and at the beginning of a unit doing a preliminary check what knowledge they had to bring to the table. And at some point, students said, "Mr. Greene, we don't know any of that stuff. They never taught us that in middle school."

Except, here's the thing--I had just switched teaching positions that year. I had been one of their middle school teachers. I knew damn well what I had taught them, and it had included the stuff CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: An Evaluation That Teachers Can Use

Why a Public School Teacher is Running for Allegheny County Council | gadflyonthewallblog

Why a Public School Teacher is Running for Allegheny County Council | gadflyonthewallblog

Why a Public School Teacher is Running for Allegheny County Council

People seem surprised when I knock on their doors.

Perhaps it’s the fact that they weren’t expecting anyone to drop by.

Perhaps it’s because we’re still in a global pandemic.

But when they peek through their screens or poke their heads out with a quizzical look, the one thing that seems to put them at ease is when I tell them I’m a public school teacher.

It’s certainly not that I’m running for Allegheny County Council near Pittsburgh, Pa.

A teacher, they know and understand. Their kids had teachers. They had teachers when they were young.

But County Council?

Many of them seem to struggle with what that governmental body even is.

Municipal council, they know. School board, magistrate, even CONTINUE READING: Why a Public School Teacher is Running for Allegheny County Council | gadflyonthewallblog

You’re Going to Miss Us When We’re Gone – What School May Look Like Once All the Teachers Quit | gadflyonthewallblog

You’re Going to Miss Us When We’re Gone – What School May Look Like Once All the Teachers Quit | gadflyonthewallblog

You’re Going to Miss Us When We’re Gone – What School May Look Like Once All the Teachers Quit

The alarm buzzed at 4:30 am. Time to get up.

DeShaun and his little brother Marco got out of bed and threw on their clothes.

Mom was in the other room hastily getting her work bag together.

“Are you two ready yet? We’ve got to go in 20 minutes.”

Marco just yawned, but Deshaun dared to complain about the hour.

“We didn’t used to have to get up so early,” he said.

“That was when you still had school. Now I’ve got to get you all to the daycare by 5 or they’ll be full up.”

DeShaun frowned but got ready anyway. He didn’t want to have to sit outside all day again. There were older kids in the park who got kids like him to run drugs during the day. He could make some money that way, but the only kids he knew who did CONTINUE READING: You’re Going to Miss Us When We’re Gone – What School May Look Like Once All the Teachers Quit | gadflyonthewallblog

The New York Times Should Add a Former Teacher to Its Editorial Board | Diane Ravitch's blog

The New York Times Should Add a Former Teacher to Its Editorial Board | Diane Ravitch's blog

The New York Times Should Add a Former Teacher to Its Editorial Board

The New York Times published an editorial correctly blasting Betsy DeVos as the worst Secretary of Education in the 40-year history of the Department of Education. Unfortunately, the balance of the editorial was a plea to administer tests to find out how far the nation’s children had fallen behind because of the pandemic.

This is a misguided proposal, as I have explained many times on this blog. See here.

The Times wrote in this editorial:

Given a shortage of testing data for Black, Hispanic and poor children, it could well be that these groups have fared worse in the pandemic than their white or more affluent peers. The country needs specific information on how these subgroups are doing so that it can allocate educational resources strategically.

Beyond that, parents need to know where their children stand after such a sustained period without much face-to-face instruction. Given these realities, the new education CONTINUE READING: The New York Times Should Add a Former Teacher to Its Editorial Board | Diane Ravitch's blog