1-28-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education:

Florida Republican Lawmakers Devotion to STEM Conflicts With Their School Choice Obsession

The nation’s supposed need for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) professionals drives much republican education policymaking in Florida. Governor Rick Scott turned a state college over to the influence of a state senator in the interest of graduating STEM grads. Mouthpieces for Common Core never stop lecturing about the need to prepare students to “compete in a global workforce” tha

by Bob Sikes / 1h hide  //  save

Why New York’s Common Core Collapse Continues to Haunt Florida

Florida is a year or two behind New York implementing Common Core and its rigid high-stakes tests regime and New York’s rapidly unfolding collapse has gone beyond cautionary tale status. State superintendent John King was told by a legislator last week that the only supporters of Core left are “yourself (King) and the members of the Board of Regents” only two days before the state teacher’s union

27 by Bob Sikes / 4h

1-27-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education: How Come Florida Legislators Aren’t Talking About VAM and Merit PayMiami-Dade superintendent Alberto Carvalho made  the pitch to the state board of education last week that Florida must pause its multiple accountability systems: Carvalho said the proposal would make it c

by mike simpson / 8h 

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog 1-28-14

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog:

NYPD investigated Sex Trafficking

NYPD arrest nearly 200 people for sex trafficking and related crimes in operation leading up to Sunday Super Bowl. As major events such as the Super Bowl can increase the number of prostitution. The federal and local authorities have been working to stop human trafficking, targeting johns and sex traffickers. "New York Police Department vice units trained in dealing with sex trafficking and p

by Lee Thao / 1h

Obama address "women issues "front and center"

"After five years of fractious political combat, President Obama declared independence from Congress on Tuesday as he outlined a series of limited initiatives on jobs, wages, retirement and the environment that he will take without legislative approval." (Peter Baker)President Obama announce his plan for the future in regard to the economics during State of the Union on Tuesday night, re

by Lee Thao / 2min 

Arena drawings bring hope to dying area

Downtown sacramneto is slated to undergo major renovations. Mayor Johnson is hoping to revive downtown sacramento. For example, Denver was a wasteland prior to building new venues for multiple sports teams. Downtown has been deteriorating over the years one of the main areas is the downtown mall. Shops are closing down and people are no longer wanted to go to this mall. It is now an attraction for

by Thomas Bates / 1h

Animal Testing

Animal Exploitation Now has recently exposed that the number of fines the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) has made for  "laboratory negligence" has gone up by 162% in the past 3 years. The group is claiming that the USDA is failing at its job of regulating labs and not protecting animals used for testing. All together 35 labs were fined and 163 animals were killed. On the other side

by A Keat / 1h 

Hong Kong to Destroy Confiscated Ivory

It has been reported that 30.8 of the 32.6 tons of ivory that has been confiscated by Hong Kong will be incinerated in the next one to two years. This has been a demand by conversation groups, who battle the trafficking of ivory, for many years. Hong Kong announced this just weeks after a public event in China where 6.2 tons of ivory was destroyed. Incinerating 95% of their confiscated ivory is an

by A Keat / 1h 

YESTERDAY

Political Cartoons: The Two Branches of Government

     As I was searching for more cartoons to share, I found the one above among many illustrations of Obama... and his low poll ratings. But this one particularly struck me as funny because we, of course, learned that there are really three branches of the government in our country's system and not two. Then, as we read on, the two branches that are stated are actually Obama's pen and phone. A pen

by Ruth Kuang / 9h 

Free Marijuana At The Potluck

On January 24th, an northern Californian elementary school teacher has been arrested for allegedly bringing marijuana-laced food to school affecting many school staffs while also affecting one student. Some staffs complain about a stomach ache while a few left to go to the hospital.. "Teresa Gilmete Badger, a 47-year-old teacher at Matthew Turner Elementary School in Benicia, was arrested Fri

by Dennis Wu / 9h hide  //  save

Political Cartoons: Obama and the NSA

     I have always thought that the best way to learn was when one was having fun. This is true as well when learning about politics through political cartoons and laughing along with them. Who really wants to read through blocks of texts when a simple picture would suffice? The saying goes: A picture is worth a thousand words. Please join me, as I embark on this amateur journey to explore politic

by Ruth Kuang / 10h 

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog 1-27-14

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog: Happy Cows Come from California... When Its Not In a DroughtAround this time you can see cows freely roaming green pastures from the freeway, however, lack of rain has caused these pastures to die out. Ranchers are selling their cattle and an increasingly fast rate in California. With California being in it's third dry year, the cattle industry has suffered. All of our

by mike simpson / 9h 

1-28-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL:

New “State Of The Union” Resources

Here are new additions to The Best (& Most Intriguing) Resources For Learning About The State Of The Union Message (I’m sure there will be a lot more I’ll be adding tomorrow): History through the president’s words is a cool interactive from The Washington Post. If It Happened There: The State of the Union is a fascinating article in Slate.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 28min 

Today’s Update On Lawsuit Attacking California’s Teachers

Vergara v. California is a carefully-watched court case that began this week and attempts to eliminate fundamental teacher rights likes tenure and due process. It’s being financed by a multi-millionaire corporate reformer. Here are the newest updates to The Best Resources On California Court Case Attacking Teacher’s Rights: Trial over California teacher protection laws opens is from The LA Times.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 28min 

More Learning Resources On The Super Bowl

Here are two new additions to The Best Sites Where ELL’s Can Learn About The Super Bowl: Teach the Super Bowl: Ideas for Subjects Across the Curriculum is from The New York Times Learning Network. Super Bowl Ad History is an interactive from The Wall Street Journal. Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 28min 

The Best Fun Sesame Street Songs — Contribute Your Own!

I thought it would be fun to bring together the fun Sesame Street videos of songs I’ve sometimes posted here. I’m not including any of the ones designed to teach social emotional skills — just the ones I would more characterize as primarily pure fun (you can see the SEL message ones here. Feel free to suggest your own! This next one was suggested by Travis True:

by Larry Ferlazzo / 0min hide  //  save

My Newest 8-Minute Podcast: “What Are the Basics Every Teacher Should Know About the Maker Movement?”

What Are the Basics Every Teacher Should Know About the Maker Movement? is the title of my latest eight-minute BAM! podcast. My guests are Sylvia Martinez and Tanya Baker. Sylvia Martinez is co-author of “Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom.” She works with schools worldwide to introduce Maker tools, technology. Tanya Baker has been the director of National Progra

by Larry Ferlazzo / 0min 

Creating Instagram Video “Book Trailers” With English Language Learners

I’ve written a lot in the past, and shared student work, about using Instagram and Vine videos with English Language Learners to learn academic vocabulary. Last week, I shared how I was going to try to do a similar project with my English Language Learners — this time, having them create fifteen second video “book trailers” — in other words, mini-book reviews. In that same post, I shared a number

by Larry Ferlazzo / 0min 

Video: R.I.P. Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger, the extraordinary folk singer and advocate for social justice, died last night. Here’s a great performance from 2009:

by Larry Ferlazzo / 0min 

This Week In Web 2.0

In yet another attempt to get at the enormous backlog I have of sites worth , I’ve recently begin a regular feature called “The Week In Web 2.0.” (you might also be interested in The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2013): Curriculet lets teachers assign what appears to be books in the public domain (though I might be wrong on that) and embed quizzes and questions into them. Here’s a vi

by Larry Ferlazzo / 9h 

1-27-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: My Latest NY Times Post For ELLs: Learn The Progressive Tense & Create A Future Family TreeMy latest New York Times post for English Language Learners helps students learn the progressive tense and family vocabulary. It also includes a teaching idea about creating “future” family trees. A student interactive is included

by mike simpson / 9h 

1-28-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:

IEA chief lawyer comments of pension theft suit filed today.

IEA General Counsel Mitch Roth comments of the We Are One Illinois coalition’s law suit against pension theft. This morning, the We Are One Illinois (WAOI) coalition, of which IEA is a founding union, and 25 active and retired members of TRS, SURS and SERS, on behalf of themselves and a class of others like them, filed a 55-page lawsuit (attached) in Sangamon County challenging the constitutionali

by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

Will Guzzardi. “Let’s not heed those who continually beat the drums of war on pensions.”

Today the We Are One coalition of state public employees filed their class action suit against the state’s pension theft. A few days ago Senate President John Cullerton took aim at Chicago pensions, proclaiming that cutting police, fire and Chcago teacher pensions was job one of this session of the General Assembly. I asked Will Guzzardi, candidate for 39th State Representative what he thought

by Fred Klonsky / 1:03 PM UTC-8 

Breaking. We Are One files class action suit against Illinois pension theft.

Union coalition files lawsuit to overturn pension-slashing SB1 January 28, 2014 By IEA News   We Are One Illinois Coalition files suit to overturn “pension theft” law The union coalition We Are One Illinois and a group of active and retired public employees filed suit today in Sangamon County Circuit Court to overturn pension-slashing Senate Bill 1 (Public Act 98-599). Defendants in the suit are G

by Fred Klonsky / 0min hide  //  save

Ten minute drawing. The reunion tour.

2 by Fred Klonsky / 8min 

Soup Kitchen and half a cola at Robyn Gabel’s office.

This afternoon our chapter of IEA Retired, the Skokie Organization of Retired Educators (SORE) had planned another pension protest outside the Evanston district office of State Representative Robyn Gabel. We had planned to set up a soup kitchen and offer half of a glass of cola. Jack was bringing the Coleman burner and the pot of chicken soup. I was bringing the cola. Off-brand, to keep the cost

3 by Fred Klonsky / 2h hide  //  save

So long, it’s been good to know you.

I heard about Pete’s passing the way I hear about most news these days. On Facebook. Facebook friends were saying how bad they felt. But I sat back in my chair and smiled. I mean. Jesus Christ, 94 years. Did you know his first musical instrument was a ukulele? The New York Times obit about Pete had all the songs he found, rewrote or stole and passed on. I don’t know about that stuff either. All I

35 by Fred Klonsky / 2h 

1-27-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: John Dillon, retired teacher, pension activist and writer.John Dillon. Now we know that SB1 is not enough to cover the crime.  John Dillon, retired teacher and pension activist and writer. John Dillon’s Pension Vocabulary: Prescience: Looking for answers in Illinois. Had the real purpose of SB1 been t

by mike simpson / 9h