Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Big Education Ape: 5-8-12 AM Thank a Teacher EDition #THANKATEACHER

Big Education Ape: PARENTS CAN!:
Big Education Ape: PARENTS CAN!

Published by Coopmike48 – 7 news spotters today

Join Us and Thank a Teacher

ed.gov - Darlene McCampbell, my high school English teacher, was an extraordinary teacher. She challenged us, encouraged us, and brought out the best in us. Mrs. McCampbell is still teaching and inspiring s...
arneduncan

Sec. Arne Duncan: Ask the Teachers

huffingtonpost.com - When I ask teachers why they teach, they almost always say that it is because they want to make a difference in the lives of children. They talk about the joys of teaching and the singular rewards ...
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“Incubators of Innovation?” « Diane Ravitch's blog

dianeravitch.net - To mark National Charter School Week, President Obama issued a proclamation hailing charter schools as “incubators of innovation.” I began wondering what exactly he was thinking about. I wonder if ...
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LEE: Fellowships

educationalequity.org - LEE runs two six-month fellowship programs that match participants with a school board member or statewide elected official to work on a collaborative project. Both programs give participants a cha...
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The Horace Mann League: ALEC

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Occupy's anarchists seen as both divisive, crucial

sfgate.com - Michael Macor / The Chronicle Mitchell Langon is co-manager of Berkeley Surplus, where many protesters buy gear for Occupy marches. Every time windows are smashed and clashes erupt with police at O...
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Female Candidate in Mexico Bares Some Skin in Campaign Posters

hispanicallyspeakingnews.com - Published at 7:38 pm EST, May 7, 2012 A female candidate of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, posed semi-nude for posters in her “provocative” campaign for a seat in Mexico’s ...
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Opinion: Odds On Your Next Governor

nbcchicago.com - advertisement It's never too early to start handicapping the 2014 field. Here are the candidates that Ward Room expects to see in the next gubernatorial race.  REPUBLICANS DAN RUTHERFORD, 5-2: Ruth...
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With Arne down the rabbit hole. « Fred Klonsky

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Tips for writing college admission essays

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Teachers’ Fund Lawyers-Up Against Walmart Brass

californiaprogressreport.com - Printer-friendly versionSend by emailBy Steven Mikulan The Frying Pan The California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) filed a lawsuit last week against current and former members of Walm...
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With Arne down the rabbit hole. « Fred Klonsky

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - With Arne down the rabbit hole. « Fred Klonsky: With Arne down the rabbit hole.by Fred KlonskyAlice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do...
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Daily Kos: Today is Teacher Appreciation Day

Daily Kos: Today is Teacher Appreciation Day:


Today is Teacher Appreciation Day

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)


the most specific of the days of this week, which is Teacher Appreciation Week.

Today is a day when if at all possible you should express appreciation to a teacher.

If you have children in school, even a simple note of thanks for what that teacher has done can make a difference, especially in a time when teachers feel very much under attack by some in our society.
If you are feeling generous, a gift card - to Starbucks, or a bookstore, or - and this helps with the teaching - a copy or office supply store, even for a nominal amount, will be greatly appreciated.

Perhaps you no longer have children in school.  But maybe you know  teachers (other than me).  Send them an email of thanks for what they do.

Write a letter of appreciation, perhaps naming a specific teacher, to your local paper.
If you can track one down, maybe a note of thanks to one of your former teachers would be appreciated.
Do a blog post, thanking a teacher who made a difference for you or for someone about whom you care.
Encourage others also to act.

Remember what Henry Adams said:  A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.  We sometimes wonder about the difference we make.  Let us know.

Enjoy what teachers gave you.
Remember it.

Pass it on.

Peace.



Eugene Robinson describes "Austerity as a bridge to nowhere"

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)
in a succinct but powerful column in today's Washington Post.  He begins simply enough:
Economic austerity is a dangerous, self-defeating intellectual fad. Perhaps I should say that’s what it was, given Sunday’s election results in Europe. Perhaps I should also say good riddance.
Of course, as we all know, given that Paul Ryan's is the driving mind behind Republican economic policies right now, we cannot as yet say "good riddance."   Then again, Robinson with his gift for language would probably include Ryan as a prime example of what he calls "addled ideologues who control the Republican part" who will 
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“Incubators of Innovation?” « Diane Ravitch's blog

“Incubators of Innovation?” « Diane Ravitch's blog:


“Incubators of Innovation?”

by dianerav

Charter Schools - Dividing Communities since 1991

To mark National Charter School Week, President Obama issued a proclamation hailing charter schools as “incubators of innovation.”
I began wondering what exactly he was thinking about.
I wonder if he ever visited the website http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/.
I wonder if he knows about the nation’s largest charter chain, the Gulen network, run by associates of a Turkish imam.
I wonder if he was thinking about the “no excuses” charter schools, where mostly black children are taught 
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U.S. News Ranks Nation's Best High Schools - US News and World Report

U.S. News Ranks Nation's Best High Schools - US News and World Report:


U.S. News Ranks Nation's Best High Schools

The 2012 edition includes data on nearly 22,000 public schools, 500 of which received gold medals.

By LAURA MCMULLEN
May 8, 2012 RSS Feed Print
U.S. News nationally ranks more than 4,500 high schools.
The Best High Schools identify the top public schools that prepare students for college success.
When considering your child's education, it may be hard not to focus on the potential loans needed to pay for college or the outlook of the post-graduation job market. Sending your child to a top high school can ease that transition into the adult world. Often, students who graduate from a great high school do so with college credits, scholarship money, and marketable skills.
To help guide you through the universe of public high schools,U.S. News today released the fourth edition of the Best High Schools rankings, available exclusively online. While the 
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Thoughts on teachers — from Socrates to Lady Gaga - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Thoughts on teachers — from Socrates to Lady Gaga - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:


Thoughts on teachers — from Socrates to Lady Gaga

by Valerie Strauss


Today is National Teacher Day, part of Teacher Appreciation Week, an annual moment to heap praise on teachers in a country that has spent the rest of the past year doing pretty much the opposite.
Morale has been plummeted in recent years among most of the approximate 3,232,800 teachers in K-12 public schools, according to recent polls. This is a result in large part of the actions of state legislatures that have passed laws end teacher tenure, to make teacher evaluation partly dependent on student standardized test scores, and to take other actions that many teachers see as an assault on their profession.
Read full article >>

Teacher on flawed tests: ‘We can ill-afford to be silent while our very jobs are at stake’

by Valerie Strauss
I received the following email from a New York State math teacher. The message reveals a previously unreported problem with the New York State 7th Grade Math exam recently given to students, this on top of the now famous English Language Arts test questions about a talking pineapple and other problems with these tests that have been cited by principals and others.
Read full article >>
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Union Gears Workshops Toward Parent Power – SchoolBook

Union Gears Workshops Toward Parent Power – SchoolBook:


Union Gears Workshops Toward Parent Power

by Mary Ann Giordano


Last week a parent coordinator, Taneesha Crawford, wrote a post for SchoolBook about parent engagement, asking who is paying attention to parent accountability and finding ways to help parents become more involved.
“Someone is always talking, measuring, criticizing — but not solving,” she wrote.
On Monday, Gotham Schools identified one potential problem solver: the teachers’ union. According to Gotham, the United Federation of Teachers began a series of workshops for parents on Saturday morning, to help provide them with skills and motivation “to advocate on behalf of their children and schools, and demand education policy changes.”
About fifty parents — ten from each borough — packed a third-floor conference room at union headquarters for the new academy’s inaugural meeting on Saturday morning. The parents were invited to participate by borough liaisons to the union, according to Anthony Harmon, a union official who conducts parent outreach. Several veteran city activists, including Juan Pagan and Laurie Frey mingled with self-described lobbying naifs, who took turns practicing short introductory speeches in the style of a public testimony.
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Thinking about Teacher Appreciation Day. « Fred Klonsky

Thinking about Teacher Appreciation Day. « Fred Klonsky:


Thinking about Teacher Appreciation Day.

by Fred Klonsky


Obama has decided to declare this week National Charter School Week.
The guy sure knows how to appreciate teachers. I haven’t felt so appreciated since he announced support for firing all the union teachers in Central Falls, Rhode Island.
There’s a joke going around Facebook: Arne Duncan supports same-sex marriage if you can find a way to test it.
Another joke from professor Mark Naison: Teacher Appreciation Week in the current national climate is like having Deer Appreciation Week during hunting season.
Still another Facebook project: people are posting the name of a teacher that mattered to them.
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Jersey Jazzman: All I Want For Teacher Appreciation Day

Jersey Jazzman: All I Want For Teacher Appreciation Day:


All I Want For Teacher Appreciation Day

I appreciate the lunch and the cards and the tweets and gifts and all the other little thank yous. I really do; we all do.

But you know what I really want today?



The Usual Suspects

by Duke
Last Wednesday, while us teachers were actually in school and, you know, teaching, the usual elites were gathering at an "invitation only" event to talk about how they are going to save education from... I dunno, us? Must be, because we weren't invited.

But we're so lucky - Alexander Russo threw us a few crumbs:
COMING OUT FOR THE PARENT TRIGGER: It was notable to me that the organizers opened the summit with a screening of the parent trigger movie (Won't Back Down) and an appearance by Parent Revolution's Ben Austin, who also won one of NSVF's annual awards. From Two Million Minutes to Waiting For "Superman" to Race To Nowhere, the potential power of mass media to shape public option is clear, but the reform community has been 
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Parent Trigger - California Teachers Association

Parent Trigger - California Teachers Association:


PARENT TRIGGER






The Adelanto Elementary School District Board of Trustees boldly stood up for students and the rights of all parents in the school community by rejecting an attempt led mainly by a group of outside organizers to shut down an elementary school, replace the entire staff, and create a privately managed charter school.

The trustees recognized that Parent Revolution organizers at Desert Trails Elementary School had failed to meet the simple majority threshold required by the state’s so-called “parent trigger” law because many parents who initially signed the petition now wanted their names removed amid allegations of misrepresentation and harassment by some signature gatherers.

The Adelanto School Board meeting drew some heavy-hitter outsiders to the district, including parent trigger author and former state senator Gloria Romero. Acknowledging she had never been to Adelanto before, she urged the board to send a national message and approve the trigger petition. One board member respectfully reminded her that their role was not to send political messages, but to follo
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LAUSD AND THE WHY OF PRIVATIZED PUBLIC EDUCATION (VIDEO #6) - Perdaily.com

LAUSD AND THE WHY OF PRIVATIZED PUBLIC EDUCATION (VIDEO #6) - Perdaily.com:


LAUSD AND THE WHY OF PRIVATIZED PUBLIC EDUCATION (VIDEO #6)

by Leonard Isenberg
Privatization.jpg
(Mensaje se repite en Espaรฑol)

(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post)

One of the main functions of government has been to educate its population. With ever increasing corporate sovereignty that has gotten to the point where it challenges the supremacy of government, corporations are in an all out fight to privatize public education. The reasons are two-fold:

1. A revenue stream that is conservatively estimated at $370 billion a year lies in the balance for private interests that are finally able to supplant the tradition public function of educating our youth. It is estimated that a hedge fund could double its money in 7 years by running a publicly funded charter school, while taking advantage of generous federal and state tax benefits. Then, like with the credit default swapsand sub prime fiascoes, these charter operators could then dump these debt laden charter back on the state and taxpayers for them to clean up the mess.

2. In addition to a financial benefit, corporate privatization of public education means that public 
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President proclaims…charter schools | Merianna Neely

President proclaims…charter schools | Merianna Neely:


President proclaims…charter schools

by  on MAY 8, 2012 in FUTURE OF EDUCATION
Charter Schools - Dividing Communities since 1991

Yesterday, the president spoke on education:
Whether created by parents and teachers or community and civic leaders, charter schools serve as incubators of innovation in neighborhoods across our country.  These institutions give educators the freedom to cultivate new teaching models and develop creative methods to meet students’ needs.  This unique flexibility is matched by strong accountability and high standards, so underperforming charter schools can be closed, while those that consistently help students succeed can serve as models of reform for other public schools.
Sorry, I mean he spoke on charter schools and the way that they are incubating innovation. He commended their teachers and their administrations and didn’t say a word about public schools. No word about the amount of time and energy that they are currently putting in to abide by the standardized testing movement that he has continued. No word about the money they are personally contributing to classroom 
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NYC Educator: I Sure Do Feel Appreciated

NYC Educator: I Sure Do Feel Appreciated:


I Sure Do Feel Appreciated

by Miss Eyre
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!  I know it's Teacher Appreciation Week because I got this lovely e-mail from State Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. informing me, among other things, about the great new teacher evaluation systems that are going to be put in place despite the fact that the vast majority of working teachers don't like them.

I try not to be paranoid about such things.  I tell myself that I work hard, that I have good relationships with my administration, my students, and their families, that I have nothing to fear.  Usually that works.

But this "Teacher Appreciation Week e-mail" was a 
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All Education Matters: Suicidal Debtor Writes Again, "Through my tears, I decided to come back to the blog to see if there was anything new, and I found my story posted."

All Education Matters: Suicidal Debtor Writes Again, "Through my tears, I decided to come back to the blog to see if there was anything new, and I found my story posted.":


Suicidal Debtor Writes Again, "Through my tears, I decided to come back to the blog to see if there was anything new, and I found my story posted."

by Cryn Johannsen

If you are suicidal, please call: The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255
 
I am really glad that this poster came back and found that their remarks had been turned into a short piece about the student lending crisis. Here is why we must work on outreach, so that people know that they are not alone, and that we must band together to fight back.

Here's what they just wrote:

Today was an especially low day for me; I spent it pacing and panicking. My dark thoughts came back into my mind again and they're really starting to scare me. One of my loans is coming out of 
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Schools Matter: Schools, Students and Teachers Sold for Scrap

Schools Matter: Schools, Students and Teachers Sold for Scrap:


Schools, Students and Teachers Sold for Scrap

by Judy Rabin
   Coming to a school near you, underfunded, overburdened and sold for scrap, if it hasn't already.
   Camden, New Jersey, across the river from Philadelphia is next -- but not last.  
   Refreshing to see quality journalism is still alive and well.


Read full story at the Philadelphia citypaper

Who's Killing Philly Public Schools?

Underfunded. Overburdened. About to be sold for scrap.

Daniel Denvir
City Paper


Thomas Knudsen, the man who was temporarily put in charge of Philadelphia schools in January, was running 
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Florida State Board of Education Takes to the Road to Flack for Charter Schools | Scathing Purple Musings

Florida State Board of Education Takes to the Road to Flack for Charter Schools | Scathing Purple Musings:


Florida State Board of Education Takes to the Road to Flack for Charter Schools

by Bob Sikes

Charter Schools - Dividing Communities since 1991

The Orlando Sentinel’s  Dave Weber has a snarky take on the state board’s clear favoritism for charter schools. Writes Weber:
Florida’s state Board of Education is having a love fest for charters schools this week, with board members fanning out around the state to tell charters what a wonderful job they are doing.
 But where is our love, officials at traditional schools are asking?
 In observance of National Charter Schools Week, members of the state board are heading to 
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Common Explanations for Change and Stability in Classroom Practice | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Common Explanations for Change and Stability in Classroom Practice | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:


Common Explanations for Change and Stability in Classroom Practice

by larrycuban


The list of explanations for why classroom practices, even when counting modest changes teachers made in routine tasks and activities, has remained largely stable over decades is hardly exhaustive or inclusive. It does, however, cover the major ones in the literature on school reform.
*What keeps teaching largely stable are teaching traditions dating back centuries that are reinforced by those who enter and stay in teaching, supported by popular social beliefs, and fortified by the age-graded school structure.
Historical traditions of teacher-centered instruction to transfer knowledge, skills, and values from one generation 
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