Classroom 2.0 LIVE! - Next Show: March 24, 2012 Special Guest: Linda Yollis

Classroom 2.0 LIVE! - Home:

Next Show: March 24, 2012
Special Guest: Linda Yollis
Topic: Featured Teacher

About Linda:  has been an elementary school teacher in Los Angles California for over 25 years. Currently she is teaching Grade 3 but has taught combination classes and with grade. She has just completed in Masters Degree Integrating Technology in the Classroom. You can find Linda blogging here. http://yollisclassblog.blogspot.ca/p/meet-mrs-yollis.html

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Classroom 2.0 LIVE is an opportunity to gather with other members of the community in real-time events, complete with audio, chat, desktop sharing, and sometimes even video. You are invited to join us for our weekly Saturday show with co-hosts Peggy George, Kim Caise and Lorna Costantini!

The show lasts an hour, and links for more information and accessing the Collaborate room can be found below and on the Using Collaborate page. We strive to make our shows very beginner-friendly, and if you've never participated in a live web meeting, don't be afraid to come and take a peek at the show's format. We would love for newbies to join us and 'dip their toes' in the conversations until you feel comfortable enough to 'jump in the conversations with both feet'! We want to encourage "experienced Web 2.0 users" to join us to contribute and extend the conversation by providing real-life examples and tips/suggestions.

Show Format:
Brief description of weekly sessions will typically include of the following:

1. A specific topic will be discussed each week so you can be prepared to bring links, ideas, tools you'd like to share.
2. The "Newbie Question of the Week" (introduction to topic)
3. Announcements of upcoming shows on The Future of Education.
4. Plans and topic for the next week's show with an invitation to join us for future sessions.

If you would like to know more about how to access our shows or how to navigate and find things on our website be sure to check out our monthly Livebinders. Click on the tab for "Classroom 2.0 LIVE Resources" and view the screencasts. January Livebinder:http://www.livebinders.com/edit?id=266490

The in box. Guzzardi update. « Fred Klonsky

The in box. Guzzardi update. « Fred Klonsky:

The in box. Guzzardi update.

by Fred Klonsky

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your support and give you an update about yesterday’s election.
We’re currently down 111 votes, or just under 1%. There are some absentee and provisional ballots still outstanding. It’s going to be an uphill climb to make up that difference, but we will do everything to ensure that all votes are counted. Voters deserve to have confidence in the process, and that means knowing their voice is heard.
But whatever the final total may be, today we are celebrating all that we accomplished.
We built a movement in this neighborhood. Voters across the district stood together and 

The in box. Blinded to the truth by hatred for unions. « Fred Klonsky

The in box. Blinded to the truth by hatred for unions. « Fred Klonsky:

The in box. Blinded to the truth by hatred for unions.

by Fred Klonsky

An anonymous reader writes periodically to scold me for being a teacher and union member. He wrote again following yesterday’s post about the 39th house district race between progressive Will Guzzardi and daughter of Democratic Machine Boss, Toni Berrios.

Fred,
We finally agree on something!
~PaperCut

No. Actually we don’t. Guzzardi is a pro-teacher, pro-union democrat. Berrios, and her patrons: papa Joe, Madigan and Emanuel, all agree with your hatred for teacher unions.

Fred,
Let me be clearer. I can not stand corrupt politicians and the nepotism they thrust upon the public taxpayer even more than corrupt unions who get out the vote for these same people. The root 

Outraged New Yorkers Marched In Protest of the Trayvon Martin Murder

Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública:

Thousands of Black, Latino, Asian, White Young and Not-so-Young Outraged New Yorkers Marched In Protest of the Trayvon Martin Murder

Popout 
Thanx to Jazz Hayden and All Things Harlem...

Here is a video snapshot of the Million Hoodies March for Trayvon Martin in Union Square, New York City on March 21, 2012.

The speaker is Brian Jones a Teacher, Writer and Activist we interviewed during the rally/march. He connects the killing of Trayvon Martin to Michelle Alexander's book, The New Jim Crow and the view of black and brown men as criminals. The results of this criminalization has not only led to the mass incarceration of black men but also the murder of them like what happened with Trayvon Martin.

This Week In Education: Campaign 2010: Too Much Credit For "Stand IL"?

This Week In Education: Campaign 2010: Too Much Credit For "Stand IL"?:

Campaign 2010: Too Much Credit For "Stand IL"?

Today's Chicago news is dominated with wrapup stories about the Illinois primaries -- many of them focused on the role Stand For Children IL may have played in the races where it placed bets.  The organization gave $150,000 to 14 folks -- a couple of them runing against union-approved candidates -- and when all of its candidates won Stand sent out a press release ("This is a strong testament to the will of Illinois voters to keep children at the center of our education decisions in Springfield.") and appeared in local media (Stand for Children-endorsed candidates sweep elections WBEZ, Follow the money to see who makes the winners Sun Times).  Sure it's important to rally the base and take credit where due, but I'm curious curious that Stand is making their role so public given what happened last year, and dismayed that the media seems to be presuming that Stand caused these victories to happen in any measurable way.  Stand opponents are making the same mistake (Grass roots’ effort comes up just a little short against Big Money and the Machine Fred Klonsky).  The Chicago teachers union complained about the campaign donations

Only 7 Percent of Teachers Believe in Standardized Tests - Education - GOOD

Only 7 Percent of Teachers Believe in Standardized Tests - Education - GOOD:

Only 7 Percent of Teachers Believe in Standardized Tests

by Liz Dwyer

The number of standardized tests students have to take is about to increase, but the according to a national survey from Scholastic and the Gates Foundation, the nation’s teachers overwhelmingly don’t see the high-stakes exams as essential.
The survey asked more than 10,000 educators about their classrooms, schools, and how student and teacher performances should be measured. A huge majority of teachers believe in measuring student achievement, but 

Shanker Blog » If Your Evidence Is Changes In Proficiency Rates, You Probably Don't Have Much Evidence

Shanker Blog » If Your Evidence Is Changes In Proficiency Rates, You Probably Don't Have Much Evidence:

If Your Evidence Is Changes In Proficiency Rates, You Probably Don’t Have Much Evidence

by Matthew Di Carlo

Education policymaking and debates are under constant threat from an improbable assailant: Changes in cross-sectional proficiency rates.
The use of rate changes is still proliferating rapidly at all levels of our education system. These measures, which play an important role in the provisions of No Child Left Behind, are already prominent components of many states’ core accountability systems (e..g, California), while several others will be using some version of them in their new, high-stakes school/district “grading systems.” New York State is awarding millions in competitive grants, with almost half the criteria based on rate changes. District consultants issue reports recommending widespread school closures and reconstitutions based on these measures. And, most recently, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan used proficiency rate increases as “preliminary evidence” supporting the School 

Missouri Education Watchdog: Another Article on the Fallacy of Parent Trigger being Considered School "Choice"

Missouri Education Watchdog: Another Article on the Fallacy of Parent Trigger being Considered School "Choice":

Another Article on the Fallacy of Parent Trigger being Considered School "Choice"

by stlgretchen

Neal McCluskey of Cato eloquently states why the parent trigger option the ed reformers tout as school "choice" falls short.  From "Power Yes, Trigger No":

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Posted by Neal McCluskey

 

There is little question that parents have too little power in elementary and secondary education. In fact, they have almost no power: they can vote, but are otherwise usually relegated to being class moms, or holding bake sales, or some other fluffy “involvement” that gives them no real say over how their children are educated. Adding insult to injury, that doesn’t often stop professional educators fromblaming parents when students don’t do so well.

To remedy the problem, the trendy thing seems to be “parent trigger” laws that would, 

Opposing view: Testing isn't teaching – USATODAY.com

Opposing view: Testing isn't teaching – USATODAY.com:

Opposing view: Testing isn't teaching

By Kevin G. Welner

Updated 11h 50m ago

• Comments

• 
• 
• 

First do no harm. In their impatience with a teacher evaluation system that needs improvement, proponents of a system based on student test scores ignore this simple moral imperative.

• 
  By John Raoux, AP

Enlarge

By John Raoux, AP

• OUR VIEW: A joke no more

No newspaper has done more to report on how test-driven policies can go wrong than USA TODAY, with its coverage of former Washington, D.C., chancellorMichelle Rhee and the nation's test-erasure scandals.

Yet the real scandals are ingrained in these test-based systems; they exist with or without fraud. We sell our children short when we send them to schools where testing supplants teaching, test-taking supplants learning, and test scores are the ultimate goal.

To understand how tests and learning become enemies, imagine the impact on teachers whose job security suddenly depends on the inappropriate application of a statistical 

On Foreign Relations & Precious Gems - Bridging Differences - Education Week

On Foreign Relations & Precious Gems - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

On Foreign Relations & Precious Gems

by Deborah Meier

Dear Diane,
I'm going to borrow an idea from Mike Klonsky's Small Talk blog. I've too much I'm bursting to say! Like ...
Note that the four dissenters on the Council on Foreign Relations' task force are never quoted in the news reports. Their dissent needs to be read. But what struck me, aside from the make-up of the committee, was the sponsor. Would they publish a task force report on Russian/U.S. relations written by people who had no background experience or expertise on the subject? Someone like me—although I suspect I know as much about that subject as their experts do on American public schooling. (I follow it.) But why is it that they think education belongs on their plate? I suppose that it's seen as one of our weapons for defeating our foreign enemies.
Besides, as Jack Jennings of the Center on Education Policy, points out: "Everything the report recommends is 

Nardone: Standardized education is killing U.S. creativity - Framingham, MA - The MetroWest Daily News

Nardone: Standardized education is killing U.S. creativity - Framingham, MA - The MetroWest Daily News:

Nardone: Standardized education is killing U.S. creativity

By Julie Nardone/Local columnist

The MetroWest Daily News

Posted Jul 03, 2011 @ 12:11 AM

Last update Jul 12, 2011 @ 11:27 AM

Buckminster Fuller said, "Look into the eyes of a newborn baby and you will see the spark and the soul of a genius."

So, why do we take that baby and spend 12-plus years schooling its genius out?

Because we've been taught to believe that time spent tethered to chairs cramming arbitrary information into our brains and spitting it onto tests constitutes learning. I don't fault anyone who supports this version of education. I did, too. I thought I could only learn from a certified teacher. I thought every year I went to school made me smarter. I thought the boredom I endured assured me a ticket to the good life.

Untrue.

I entered school curious, confident and courageous. I left a diploma and two degrees later with an injured spirit, a fear of authority and an inability to see my own strengths. During my non-work hours, I shopped at malls to fill the empty spaces in my life or watched TV until my brain went numb. It took a solid decade to unlearn the de-humanizing behavior I'd been

Read more: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinion/x1498053445/Nardone-Standardized-education-is-killing-U-S-creativity#ixzz1pqaYFDzB