Quarantined and Disrupted | JD2718

Quarantined and Disrupted | JD2718

Quarantined and Disrupted

Glanced down at my phone to see who was texting. Today. Middle of the day. It was a former student. Now a teacher herself. Middle school. Why was she texting from work? She’s teaching in person. The text cleared things up.

Quarantined

She was unceremoniously sent home, to quarantine. One of her students is positive.

Disrupted

So she’s already been tested, and with some luck will be negative. But the teacher is home. Class moves to fully remote. They are disrupted. But is this a surprise? They were already doing some weird “in one day, out the next” kind of thing. Maybe every third day? I should ask. And there was weird recorded lessons, or live stream… I don’t know the details. But the class was already disrupted.

Every class in the city has already been disrupted. At best – at best – classes are 50% in person. Every third day is more common than every other day, and there are schools on less frequent rotations than that. Each school is different.

Little side note: this does not mean that each school chose what it thought was best. The DoE’s insistence on a full rotation with daily instruction outside of as well as inside of school, and the UFT’s insistence on “blended learning” straight-jacketed most schools. Some were able to go through the necessary hoops to get “exceptions” accepted – but remember how the first schools that decided they wanted to go remote were shot down? The schools chose, unless the Chancellor wanted them to choose something else.

As September passed, a new disruption developed: many schools offer in building instruction – via the internet. Students, mostly in some high schools, come to school, open a lap top, and zoom into their CONTINUE READING: Quarantined and Disrupted | JD2718

CURMUDGUCATION: Orphaned Education, Forgotten Children

CURMUDGUCATION: Orphaned Education, Forgotten Children

Orphaned Education, Forgotten Children

These are depressing times. Let me tell you why I'm bummed, but first, let me tell you a story.

Almost a decade ago, I was the local union president during a contentious contract negotiation that became a strike. That was probably the lowest part of my teaching career. If you've taught for more than a year or two, you know, somewhere back in the back of your mind, that a lot of people are not really pulling for you, don't really respect the work you do, don't think you should get all uppity about wanting good wages, good working conditions, some sort of say in how the work is done. 

You know all that, but you put your head down, focus on the work, the students, the people out there who respect and value the work you're doing. There are plenty of them, sure enough. But those others. You know they're out there, in many cases in positions of power, but like I said--you keep your head down. But during the strike, I couldn't ignore them. They stopped me on the street, called me at home. I had to look right into that dark maw, and it was deeply disheartening. 

I feel like we're back there again. Seven months of this pandemess, and I think we've become numb, used to just how much education and children is NOT part of the ongoing concerns before us at the moment. On the one hand, it's not news--public education has been a political orphan for at least thirty or forty years. Go ahead--name a prominent political figure who's known for being a champion of public education. Name a Secretary of Education who did their utmost to stand up for public CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Orphaned Education, Forgotten Children

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/2020/10/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos_10.html

Three New Resources To Help Teach About The Presidential Election

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

mohamed_hassan / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST RESOURCES FOR TEACHING ABOUT THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION : Election 101 is from CNN. Lesson of the Day: How Does the Electoral College Work and Why Does It Matter? is from The NY Times Learning Network.

‘Keeping Politics Out of the Classroom Is Like Keeping the Water Out of Rain’

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Four educators consider how to explore politics in the classroom, including by incorporating multiple perspectives and ensuring all student voices are heard. Here are some excerpts:

The Best Videos For Educators In 2020 – Part Two

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

It continues to be time for end-of-year “Best” lists. Now it’s time for the Best Videos For Educators. You can see all my previous “Best” lists related to videos and movies (and there are a lot since I’ve doing this since 2007) here. Note that they’re also continually revised and updated. Here are my picks from the second half of 2020: A few months ago, I posted Implicit Bias Training Doesn’t See

This Should Be Great: “What The Constitution Means To Me” Is On Amazon Prime Video This Friday

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

lynn0101 / Pixabay Last year, I published “What the Constitution Means to Me” Sounds Like A Great Play With Lots Of Teaching Potential. I just learned that they taped one of the performances and it will be available on Amazon Prime this Friday! You can read more about it at: Heidi Schreck says she now feels “100 years older” than she was when she filmed the Broadway version. is from Slate. Here’s

Everything You Wanted To Learn About Infographics But Were Afraid To Ask

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

FirmBee / 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 Infographics: T

My Latest BAM! Radio Show Is About Creating Conditions That Encourage Students To Develop Intrinsic Motivation For Reading

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

Three Ways to Help Students in Distance Learning Develop an Intrinsic Desire to Read is the topic of my latest ten-minute BAM! Radio Show. I’m joined in the conversation by Sawson Jaber, Melissa Butler, Jennifer Orr and 

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

The Real Learning is in the Chat Box | Teacher in a strange land

The Real Learning is in the Chat Box | Teacher in a strange land

The Real Learning is in the Chat Box

My friend Mitchell Robinson, of Michigan State University asks: Am I the only teacher who finishes a Zoom class, during which I’m sharing a slide show, moderating class discussions, posing questions on assigned readings, and trying to respond to students’ questions in a thoughtful way, only to find out after ending the Zoom session that there was a whole other class happening in the chat window that I couldn’t see because my cursor had disappeared under the 25 windows and tabs I had open, juggling apps and programs?

Ah, yes. The chat box. My theory is that the chat box, used by adults and college students, contains what people want others to believe they’re thinking (cute jokes, pithy observations, deep questions) but don’t want to say out loud. What they’ve always been thinking, in fact, as a ‘presentation’ was occurring, in real time and real life, as well as online: a mishmash of random thoughts, tentative assertions and show-off remarks. Perhaps, in some contexts, a little flirting.

You might even say the chat box contents, especially in a well-run virtual classroom, is what participants will be taking away from this class—not the official material, as displayed, but their reactions to those ideas. Content on the slides will always be there for you, to refer to, like facts in a book. The chat box, and ongoing dialogue following are where the learning juice is found.

Brilliant lectures or important speeches are much better when there is a backchannel CONTINUE READING: The Real Learning is in the Chat Box | Teacher in a strange land

ANDRE PERRY: The first presidential debate showed our leaders are not acting that way

The first presidential debate showed our leaders are not acting that way

‘Stand by.’ ‘Shut up.’ Is this really what we want to teach our children?

Our leaders must also be teachers, but they’re not acting that way

Frustrated by interruptions from President Donald Trump at the first presidential debate, an exasperated former Vice President Joe Biden blurted, “Would you shut up, man?” Biden sounded like a bad substitute teacher who was being overrun by a belligerent child.

During that exchange, I turned to my 9-year-old son, who was sitting next to me, and asked him to leave the room. I’d hoped by watching the candidates discuss government, leadership and the most important issues facing our world, he would learn something positive. But it was no teaching moment. Instead, bad teaching was on full display.

Our elected officials may not see themselves as teaching professionals, but that is exactly what they are. They model behavior with their words, deeds and policies. When they promote laws and regulations based on science, whether it’s following public health recommendations about masks or pushing for legislation that would take climate change seriously and shrink our carbon footprint, children memorizing their periodic tables understand that what they’re learning matters. When our officials promote free and fair elections and demonstrate how power is passed on peacefully in a democracy, children witness the pages of their social studies textbooks come to life. And when they act out our country’s core values of equality and unity by ensuring every American is treated with fairness and justice, CONTINUE READING: The first presidential debate showed our leaders are not acting that way

CURMUDGUCATION: Not Politics In The Classroom

CURMUDGUCATION: Not Politics In The Classroom

Not Politics In The Classroom

 Distance learning seems to have pumped new life into the debate about politics in the classroom. From parents freaking out over a Black Lives Matter poster, to simple declarations that teachers should never, ever talk politics, to the Pesident's adoption of the call for more patriotic education, we're back to arguing about how much political content should make it into a classroom.

I actually agree that a teacher's politics don't belong in the classroom. But there' a reason that maintaining the wall has become more difficult, and I'm pretty sure I don't mean the same thing that some critics mean.  But I have another way to sort this out--I'll get there eventually. 

The problem is bigger because of the politization of everything

One of the extremes represented by the current administration is the extension of a personal political brand. This kind of bundling is not new--if you were a Prohibitionist, there was a whole batch of political positions having nothing to do with alcohol that you were expected to support. But Trump has taken this over the top, from the very beginning of his term when he established that counting people in a photograph was a political statement. 

That has simply accelerated. If you say that climate science is real, that Black lives matter, that California is a lovely state, that Mexicans are not all racists, that racism is part of US history, that mocking disabled people is wrong, that Nazis are always bad, and any number of other comments, you have taken a partisan political stand. Trump has staked his claim to so many positions that it's hard to have a position on anything at all and not be taking a side for or against the President. Again, this is not new--once upon a time, it was partisan politics to say that ketchup is not a vegetable. But it's as bad now as it has ever been, and needlessly extended to a number of piddly issues.

For some subjects, this is an extension of an old minefield. I taught US literature for decades, which meant that I had to discuss race, religion and gender issues every week. All of those are more politically fraught now than they were thirty years ago. My position was always, explicitly, "I am not here to tell you whether these folks were right or wrong, but to show you as clearly as I can how they saw the world and their place in it." But the very notion that somebody can hold a particular point of view for reasons CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Not Politics In The Classroom

Teacher Tom: The Goal Ought to Be to Stop Patronizing the Children

Teacher Tom: The Goal Ought to Be to Stop Patronizing the Children

The Goal Ought to Be to Stop Patronizing the Children

When Jos de Blok, founder and CEO of the successful Dutch home healthcare company Buurtzorg was asked, "How do you motivate your (10,000) employees," he replied, "I don't. Seems patronizing."

This is the "leader" of an organization that has been voted Employer of the Year in the Netherlands five times. In contrast to the leading management theories that almost always come down to some combination of carrots and sticks, de Blok's company has no management, no bureaucracy, no HR department, and runs on the principles of "trust and self-organization." What de Blok has discovered is that "By doing nothing and doing less, you get better results."  

The other day, a colleague who teaches in a public school confessed that she had accidentally purchased "incentive snacks" and other prizes for her students, forgetting for a moment that they were still engaged in online learning due to the pandemic. Then she wondered how she was going to motivate the kids in this new era of remote education when she was not there to physically hand them their rewards. She's not alone in this. Our educational system has long been fueled by the notion that one of a teacher's main jobs is to CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: The Goal Ought to Be to Stop Patronizing the Children

The Network for Public Education Action Endorses Senate Candidates! | Diane Ravitch's blog

The Network for Public Education Action Endorses Senate Candidates! | Diane Ravitch's blog

The Network for Public Education Action Endorses Senate Candidates!

The Network for Public Education Action is delighted to endorse the following candidates for election to the United States Senate:

Mark Kelly-Arizona

Jon Ossoff-Georgia

Theresa Greenfield-Iowa

Barbara Bollier-Kansas

Amy McGrath-Kentucky

Sara Gideon-Maine

Steve Bullock-Montana

Cal Cunningham-North Carolina

Jaime Harrison-South Carolina

NPE Action Endorses 8 Candidates for the U.S. Senate

We endorse these nine candidates as friends of public education. We are not able to send them money, but we urge friends of public education in their states to donate to their campaigns and vote for them.

The Network for Public Education Action Endorses Senate Candidates! | Diane Ravitch's blog