3-24-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

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

“Scrawlar” Will Certainly Be One Of The Top Web 2.0 Tools Of The Year…

Scrawlar lets teachers create virtual classrooms, lets students write and use a “whiteboard,” doesn’t require student email registration (just a classroom password and a student-created sign-in code, and is free. It’s also usable on laptops, desktops, tablets and phones. It doesn’t get much better than that! For now, I’m adding it to The Best Sites That Students Can Use Independently And Let Teac

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h hide  //  save

Video: “What Happens In One Minute Around The World”

This video came from The Atlantic. You can read more about it here.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h 

“Great Teachers Focus On Connections & Relationships”

Great Teachers Focus On Connections & Relationships is my latest post over at Education Week Teacher. Eric Jensen, Jason Flom, and PJ Caposey share their suggestions for five best practices that teachers can implement in the classroom. This is Part Two in a three-part series. Here are some excerpts:

by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h 

Students Learn About Antonyms & Write About Their Perfect School In My Latest NY Times Post For ELLs

Students learn about antonyms, in addition to writing about what they think are the qualities of an excellent school, in my latest New York Times post for English Language Learners. An interactive and teaching ideas are included. You can see all my previous NY Times post for ELLs here.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 

3-23-14 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 Obamacare ResourcesHere are new additions to The Best Interactives Showing How Obamacare Works: Obamacare: Enrollment numbers and Medicaid expansion is from CNN.by Larry Ferlazzo / 13min Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Week… 3-22-14 …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFLarry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching E

by mike simpson / 8h 

3-24-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

CCC 13 (Brooklyn) - High-Stakes Testing: “How Does It Impact Our Students?" Tues. Mar. 25 6:30PM

Bringing the opt-out movement to the communities.Last week I was at the CEC 14 similar event - still working on the video. ​​High Stakes Testing Forum Meeting WHEN: Tuesday, March 25thWHERE: PS 133- 610 Baltic St, 11217 , 2014 TIME: 6:30pm-8:30pm  Entrance on Baltic & 4th Ave High-Stakes Testing: “How Does It Impact Our Students?"  ► How to help your child with test anxiety  ► How test sc

by ed notes online / 19min 

As the NYSUT World Turns: Some NYC Unity Caucus Delegates May Bolt and Vote Stronger Together

Leroy Barr Offer to Unity RA DelegatesReports are surfacing that a small faction of Unity may just vote their conscience and damn the consequences at the April 5 NYSUT Representative Assembly.Unity Caucus held a meeting at 52 Broadway (UFT HQ) after last Wednesday's (March 19) Delegate Assembly - with dinner served (were they using our dues money - did they pay rent? Can MORE hold caucus meetings

by ed notes online / 20min 

3-23-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: Video: 12 Days to Being Tossed Out By Eva Moskowitz Success CharterInterview with former Success Charter parent exposes shady tactics.Great work by GEM's Darren Marelli.An interview with New York City Parent Karen Sprowal.  Ms. Sprowal tells the story of her kindergarten son's 12 days at Success Academy Charter School. Ms. Sprowal describes how her son was pushed out of the charte

by mike simpson / 9h 

3-24-13 CURMUDGUCATION

CURMUDGUCATION:

Why CCSS Can't Be Decoupled

Don't think of them as standards. Think of them as tags.Think of them as the pedagogical equivalent of people's names on facebook, the tags you attach to each and every photo that you upload.We know from our friends at Knewton what the Grand Design is-- a system in which student progress is mapped down to the atomic level. Atomic level (a term that Knewton lervs deeply) means test by test, assignm

by Peter A. Greene / 1h 

3-23-13 CURMUDGUCATION Week

CURMUDGUCATION: News from Institute of GrittologyHere at the Institute of Grittology, we're committed to helping monetize the work of our research partners, The Research Institute for the Study of Obvious Conclusions ("Working hard to recycle conventional wisdom as proprietary programing").Our speakers bureau has determined that statements such as "treating children with support and

by mike simpson / 10h 

3-24-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School:

Jeb Bush Channels David Coleman In A Defense Of The Common Core

College Board President David Coleman, one of the architects of the Common Core State Standards, famously told an audience in New York State that one of the things you learn in life when you get older is that nobody gives a shit what you think or feel about stuff.Jeb Bush channeled that Coleman sentiment in a recent defense of Common Core:Bush has repeatedly explained the standards, implemented an

by reality-based edu... / 1h 

Cuomo's Job Performance Numbers Fall Again In Siena Poll

Sheriff Andy is under water, mainly due to the economy:New York voters do not see improvement on key issues ranging from the state’s economy to curtailing government corruption during Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s tenure, a Siena College poll released Monday found. The poll, which surveyed New York voters on a range of issues including the economic well-being of their family, tax policy, the quality of publ

by reality-based edu... / 20min 

Poll Shows Cuomo Would Be Vulnerable To Third Party Candidate

Not enough to knock him off, but maybe enough to ruin Sheriff Andy's plans for a big 2014 re-election victory to set him up for a 2016 presidential run: A wealthy Democratic activist commissioned a poll that shows a third-party leftist candidate could eat into what Gov. Cuomo is hoping will be a commanding victory this year. The fact the poll was even commissioned is another sign that Cuomo's bigg

by reality-based edu... / 38min hide  //  save

Message To New York Legislators: You Leave APPR In Place At Your Peril

If you make no changes to the teacher evaluation system in NY State, then all the changes you make to Common Core aren't going to mean a damn.You see, the APPR teacher evaluation system is causing as much damage to children in this state as Common Core is.Want to know why there is so much testing and rote learning in New York classrooms these days?Because APPR forces it.Students are taking so-call

by reality-based edu... / 5h 

3-23-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School: How Education Reform Is Harming The Health Of ChildrenThere is a horrific story in the NY Post this morning about a rash of suicides involving NYC school children over the last seven weeks: The city’s public schools are in the grip of a suicide epidemic. Ten students have taken their own lives in the past seven weeks, according to remarks made Saturday by Chancellor Carmen F

by mike simpson / 10h 

UPDATE: Parents are opting out of PSSA tests: Here’s why + The School District’s big Trust problem | Parents United for Public Education

The School District’s big Trust problem | Parents United for Public Education:

Parents are opting out of PSSA tests: Here’s why

Parents United’s own Robin Roberts talks about why she opted her three children out of the PSSA tests which begin this week. (Photo: Philadelphia Inquirer) Today’s Philadelphia Inquirer features a great photo of Parents United’s Robin Roberts on why her children are opting out of the PSSA tests which begin this week. By Roberts’ count, her third grader was going to spend six school days – at leas

by parentsunitedphil... / 2min 

The School District’s big Trust problem

Posted on March 24, 2014 by PRIDEVENTURES1Leave a comment

“Who will be the first to step up and earn our students’ trust and prove that our children are the most important? Who will start a new era of trust to create a public education model we all can take pride in?”

Trust is an important aspect in all relationships.  Lack of trust has the ability to destroy the greatest of friendships and in the past lead to wars and death.  Being able to trust someone will influence a person’s decisions, and attitude, toward an entity or institution. 

The School District of Philadelphia has a trust issue.  As president of Lea Elementary’s Home and School Association, I hear this all the time – and more now than ever.

In families the most precious commodity is their children. They represent the opportunity and possibility to repair past mistakes guardians and parents have made concerning their own life choices.  In them adults see the future and a chance to do great things, representing pride to the family. Education has always been the path forward or out of current circumstances depending on what obstacles individual families face.  The fact that there is such an exodus from the traditional public schools in certain communities to 

Schools serving as enrollment hubs for Obamacare :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet

Schools serving as enrollment hubs for Obamacare :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:



MARCH 24, 2014

Schools serving as enrollment hubs for Obamacare

by Kimberly Beltran

(Calif.) Sacramento high school student Juzely Duran is all in. So is state schools chief Tom Torlakson.

Each in their own way is supporting the “All In for Health” campaign, a major effort aimed at using schools as a conduit for helping hundreds of thousands of uninsured students, parents and employees sign up for health benefits under President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

A project of The Children’s Partnership, a national nonprofit advocacy organization, the All In for Health campaign was launched last year to provide schools and child-care providers with tools to reach out to uninsured children and families with information about new health coverage options and even help them sign up.

“As education leaders, we have an important role to play in keeping children, families, and school  Schools serving as enrollment hubs for Obamacare :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:

More Than Half of Asian American Teens are Bullied in School

More Than Half of Asian American Teens are Bullied in School:

MORE THAN HALF OF ASIAN AMERICAN TEENS ARE BULLIED IN SCHOOL

Saw this infographic posted on the Giant Robot's Twitter last week... We've seen this statistic shared before, but it's worth repeating and reinforcing. And seriously, it hasn't become any less upsetting.

According to survey data released in 2011 by the US Justice Department and Education Department, Asian Americans endure far more bullying in U.S. schools than any other ethnic group, and compared to other teens, Asian American teens are three times as likely to face bullying on the internet.

A report released last year by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and The Sikh Coalition revealed that half of all Asian American students surveyed in New York City have been the target of bias-bullying and harassment, mirroring national statistics.

And according to a report released earlier this month, more than half of Sikh school children are bullied.

Throw in the scores of stories I've posted the years about young Asian Americans who have taken their lives after 

'American Revolutionary' now playing in New York City

One-week theatrical run March 21-27 at AMC Loews 19th St. East 6If you're in New York City, make sure you take some time out to catch this amazing film... American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs is now playing a one-week theatrical run at AMC Loewes 19th St. East 6, now through March 27. Directed Grace Lee, the documtary is an illuminating portrait of legendary 98-year-old philoso

1 by Phil Yu / 7h hide  //  save

Volunteer for the UC Berkeley SASC Summer Institute

Mentorship program for Southeast Asian high school students, June 18-22This summer, UC Berkeley's Southeast Asian Student Coalition will be hosting its 2014 Summer Institute, a five-day educational and mentorship program for Southeast Asian high school youth to engage in workshops, dialogues, and a variety of peer-bonding activities promoting higher education, cultural awareness, and other subject

by Phil Yu / 7h 

Lousiana school board settles religious harassment lawsuit

Federal lawsuit alleged sixth grader was routinely belittled for being BuddhistLast week in New Orleans, the ACLU settled lawsuit with a Louisiana school board on behalf of a sixth grader who says he was routinely harassed by teachers and administrators because of his Buddhist beliefs.Settlement In Suit Involving La. Buddhist StudentThe federal lawsuit, filed in January, alleged that a teacher at

by Phil Yu / 7h 

NYC Educator: The Sad Tale of UFT-Unity's Robo Voters

NYC Educator: The Sad Tale of UFT-Unity's Robo Voters:

The Sad Tale of UFT-Unity's Robo Voters

-->   By special guest blogger Arwen E.

Welcome to the NYSUT Convention in NYC. Your UFT-Unity representatives were programmed after last Wednesday's Delegate Assembly, and will be arriving at the appointed time.

April 4th-6th, 2014, Mid-Town Manhattan

-->

The Unity Caucus, representing about one third of NYSUT's convention votes, will send approximately 800 robo-delegates to vote according to the dictates of the Unity leadership, rather than the dictates of conscience or the dictates of a democratic representation of constituencies.  It is a sad and sorry fact that although our Union is the most powerful tool we have to defend the rights of teachers, students and public schools, it has made some very poor decisions in the recent past, including support for mayoral control in the Bloomberg era, Common Core State 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: THE STRANGE ANONYMITY OF CHICAGO GUN VIOLENCE

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: THE STRANGE ANONYMITY OF CHICAGO GUN VIOLENCE:

THE STRANGE ANONYMITY OF CHICAGO GUN VIOLENCE

Stock footage (DNAinfo)

Gun violence continues to plague Chicago's communities and with it comes a strange anonymity regarding both the dead and maimed as well as the shooters. Over the weekend, 21 more people were shot, 2 of them fatally. I hate to relate this story simply in terms of numbers because the huge weekend shooting count published in the press every Monday morning, along with the stock footage of yellow crime tape, keeps us from seeing this horror in personal terms. This for example is from this morning's report from CBS 5 morning news:

A 19-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy were shot in the right foot, and a 19-year-old man was shot in the left leg. All three victims were taken to Stroger Hospital in stable condition.

The worst part is that, like the Vietnam War's body-bag count, these numbers become the 

Weekend Quotables

Courageous Saucedo student speaks out against ISAT.  Sun-Times editorial...CPS damaged its credibility with parents, and undermined the trust that is so essential to good schooling, by choosing, foolishly, to interview small children on such a sensitive matter without even informing their parents — the ones who made the final decision on skipping the test. CPS had the law on its side, but wisdom w

by Mike Klonsky / 1h