3-27-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

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

Virtual Reality & Education

Facebook’s recent purchase of a virtual reality company has been in the news this week. I have to admit I hadn’t been paying much attention to it until I heard this segment on the PBS News Hour, Facebook invests in a virtual reality future with $2 billion Oculus Rift acquisition. I’ve embedded the video below, and you can read the transcript at the link, but the line I highlighted at the top of t

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h hide  //  save

Infographic: “Dancing Around The World”

I’m adding this infographic to The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Different Cultures: Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h  

3-26-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Origami & The Language Experience ApproachIn the Language Experience Approach, students do an activity and then used the shared experience to develop a group written description of what just happened, as well as using it as a good speaking, listening, and reading opportunity. It’s a great language learning activity. Mak

by mike simpson / 8h 

3-27-14 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.:

I’m #19 on the IEA Retired ballot.

My ballot for retired delegate to the NEA RA has arrived. I’ll mark it tomorrow and drop it in the mail box. I’m number #19. There are 27 IEA Retired members running and they are all good folks. They have to be to offer up themselves to spend 10 days in Denver the week of July 4th. There are three days for the Retired Conference and six more for the NEA RA. Plus toss in a day for travel. Trust me.

by Fred Klonsky / 16min 

Phil Kadner. If Rauner could create thousands of jobs, cut waste and produce billions in new tax revenue within weeks of the next election, he ought to audition for a part as Moses in the remake of “The Ten Commandments.”

- Phil Kadner writes for the Daily Southtown Star. “For too long, Illinois has underfunded its schools and overburdened its property taxpayers,” Gov. Pat Quinn said Wednesday. Well, it’s hard to argue with a man who repeats a message that I’ve been sending to readers of this column for 20 years. The property tax is the most unfair tax of all and not based on ability to pay, the governor said. Abs

4 by Fred Klonsky / 56min 

John J. Garvey. Is this how we thank our teachers?

John J. Garvey, a retired Chicago school teacher. His letter appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times. Imagine you are in your mid-70s and retired from the Chicago Public Schools for over a decade. You have a comfortable pension because you dedicated 39 years of your life to serve as a teacher and administrator in the school district. When you finished college, you entered the profession you had dreamed

by Fred Klonsky / 2min hide  //  save

Ten minute drawing. Union.

by Fred Klonsky / 27min 

Revenue, revenue, revenue. And tax fairness.

Bruce Rauner’s budget address. Illinois’ financial problem is rooted in a lack of sufficient revenue and tax fairness. Quinn’s budget address yesterday starts to  acknowledge what we have said. He was right to call for keeping the 5% income tax place. Illinois is one of the lowest taxing, lowest spending states in the country. Bruce Rauner’s call for even lower corporate and lower taxes on the we

by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

3-26-14 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.: A tangled web of Rauner, Madigan, Stand for Children’s Edelman and the IEA leaders. I’m sorry I wasn’t louder.. One of the more curious charges leveled against me by Haisman/Swanson is that I didn’t make any criticisms of Bruce Rayner until the final morning of the primary campaign. Even casual reader

by mike simpson / 8h 

Jeff Bryant and Amy Stuart Wells Show How Test-and-Punish Contributes to School Segregation | janresseger

Jeff Bryant and Amy Stuart Wells Show How Test-and-Punish Contributes to School Segregation | janresseger:

Jeff Bryant and Amy Stuart Wells Show How Test-and-Punish Contributes to School Segregation

Posted on March 27, 2014 by janresseger

In an important and insightful piece yesterday for the Education Opportunity Network, How ‘Education Reform’ Perpetuates Racial Disparity, Jeff Bryant examines a new report (released late last week by the U.S. Department of Education) about racial disparities in public schools.

Bryant writes:  “America was shocked, shocked, by new data from the U.S. Department of Education last week showing that a child’s education destiny in the nation’s public schools is strongly determined by race.  As the report in the New York Times put it, the new data revealed that, ‘racial minorities are more likely than white students to be suspended from school….’  But racial disparities in the nation’s schools aren’t just about the discipline.  As both the Times report mentioned… and Education Week reported, when students of color aren’t getting disproportionally kicked out of school, they are getting an inferior education.”

Bryant would like to see the Department of Education focus not so much on the presence of educational inequality as on its causes.  He is also looking for some leadership to show us how these problems can be addressed:  “Shocking data for sure… But surely one would think this data would prompt explanation.  Not so much.  In reporting the data, the Department itself found no fault and placed no blame.  As a report in The Huffington Post stated, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan could only say, ‘this data collection shines a clear, unbiased light on places’ but not on any policies, people, or other causational factors.”

For more challenging and useful analysis, Bryant points us to a new report published by the National Education Policy Center, Seeing Past the Colorblind” Myth of Education Policy, a 

3-26-14 empathyeducates - A Common Core for All of Us

empathyeducates:

Black Preschoolers More Likely to Face Suspension

By Kimberly Hefling and Jesse J. Holland | Originally Published at Assocated Press. Yahoo News. March 21, 2014 WASHINGTON (AP) — Black students are more likely to be suspended from U.S. public schools — even as tiny preschoolers. The racial disparities in American education, from access to […]

by empathy / 6min 

Segregation. Integration. Desegregation – NY Schools Most Segregated In America

By Lilly Workneh | Originally Published at The Grio. March 26, 2014 at 12:30 PM A recent study reveals that some states face a deeper racial divide in public schools than others – listing New York as the leading state with the most segregated schools in the […]

by empathy / 7h  

3-26-14 empathyeducates - A Common Core for All of Us

empathyeducates: A Common Core for All of UsIllustration; Credit Giacomo Bagnara The New York Times. March 22, 2014 I COULDN’T get a cab. A sketchy-looking guy hunkering around the entrance of the Grand Hyatt in San Diego showed me his bicycle. “Climb on, lady,” he said. “I’ll take ya.” I thought it over. “O.K.,” […]by empathy / 7h  Republican Governors Wrestle with Unpopular Common Core Education

by mike simpson / 8h 

3-27-13 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION:

Students First presents a Tragedy in 4 Acts

Students First, an advocacy group that believes passionately in the power of educational advocacy to make some people more wealthy, recently released a video aimed at Pennsylvania and entitled "Protect Excellent Teachers in Pennsylvania." Clocking in at just under two minutes, it's a gripping and compelling tale. Seriously. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll kiss common sense goodbye. Let'

by Peter A. Greene / 23min 

Personalized Learning

One of the benefits promised repeatedly by our Data Overlords and Standards Bearers is the personalization of education.We will collect the data and crunch the numbers and analyze the results and cross check the strengths and weaknesses against a thousand points of light and lo and behold, the System will spit out a Pearson-produced educational program on the Pearson software loaded on the student

by Peter A. Greene / 18min 

Poop Sandwich

If you wanted to trick someone into eating poop, you would not just hand them a bowl of poop unless you also had a gun to point at the person's head.No, it would be easier to trick them by hiding the poop inside something yummy like soup or a casserole. Or you could make a poop sandwich. Just hide the poop between two perfectly good slices of tasty bread (white, rye, pumpernickel-- for purposes of

by Peter A. Greene / 1h 

3-26-13 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION: Ethan's Act UpdateAndrea Pratt Rediske is disappointed and frustrated, but as I'm "talking" to her on facebook this morning before school, she has finally received word about the current fate of the Florida bill that carries her son's name.You will recognize Andrea Rediske as the mother of Ethan Rediske, who made news as the victim of Florida's bizarrely Kafka-esque testi

by mike simpson / 8h

3-27-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School:

Charter Schools Get Government-Funded Rent, Co-Location Rights, Extra Per Pupil Cash In Budget Deal

Cuomo got everything Eva and Company wanted:State leaders reached a tentative deal on a charter school reform package that will increase per pupil spending and provide government-funded rent for the schools for the first time. Also under the deal, if a new charter approved by the city includes a request for space inside existing city buildings, the city would have five-months to make a “reasonable

by reality-based edu... / 13min 

Students Say Get Rid Of Common Core

The kids are alright:ALBANY—A majority of State Assembly members chose to stick with the Common Core standards during a recent vote, but a younger legislative body that voted in the chamber this weekend made a different decision.A group of high school students visited the Capitol on Sunday to perform a mock Assembly exercise, during which they debated real bills on the Assembly floor, including on

by reality-based edu... / 20min 

Some Are Starting To Notice What A Child Andrew Cuomo Is

Two pieces on how much Andrew Cuomo seems to be going out of his way to take it to Bill de Blasio on issue after after issue and acting like a schmuck on wheels in the process.First, Anthony Weiner in the Daily News:Anyone with political antennae can tell that Cuomo has, frankly, been a bit of a jerk — while de Blasio seems to have remained respectful and deferential in his dealings with the gover

by reality-based edu... / 1min 

Call Sheldon Silver And Ask Why Tests Only Count For Teachers

I am glad that they are taking the high stakes from the CCSS tests away for two years for children.But they are keeping those stakes for teachers, so if you are a teacher in the New York State public school system, you may have 40% of your evaluation based upon a battery of performance assessments and state Common Core tests that your students have no stake in.Let me repeat that, because it is so

by reality-based edu... / 34min hide  //  save

Final Budget Agreement: No Changes To APPR Teacher Evaluations

From the Buffalo News:Precisely how far the changes to Common Core will go was still being debated Wednesday at the Capitol. But lawmakers say they expect, at a minimum, that certain Common Core test results will not count against student records for a period of time, additional money will be pumped into teacher professional development funds to help them make the transition to the Common Core sys

by reality-based edu... / 2h 

3-26-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School: CCSS Tests Won't Count For Students, Will Count For Teacher EvaluationsThis sounds ripe for a court challenge: ALBANY -- A deal is being negotiated to place a two-year moratorium on the use of student tests based on the Common Core for grade promotion in public schools. New York City schools and a handful of districts statewide have used the standardized tests under Common C

by mike simpson / 8h 

New York State’s Extreme School Segregation:Inequality, Inaction and a Damaged Future Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública

Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública:

New York State’s Extreme School Segregation:Inequality, Inaction and a Damaged Future 

New-York's-Extreme-School-Segregation-2014.pdf

New York has the most segregated schools in the country: in 2009, black and Latino students in the state had the highest concentration in intensely-segregated public schools (less than 10% white enrollment), the lowest exposure to white students, and the most uneven distribution with white students across schools. Heavily impacting these state rankings is New York City, home to the largest and one of the most segregated public school systems in the nation.

Forty years ago, school desegregation was a serious component of the state’s education policy, as a result of community pressure and legal cases. Key desegregation cases arose throughout a number of segregated communities. The U.S. Justice Department case in Yonkers was the first in history to combine housing desegregation and school desegregation claims simultaneously. The remedy for the school desegregation case in Rochester led to one of the country’s eight existing voluntary interdistrict programs. The magnet school plan for the school desegregation case in Buffalo was hailed as a model for other similar cities across the country. In  New York City, a citywide desegregation case was never brought but community control of local schools sometimes helped integration efforts, as many school officials and community members challenged practices and policies that perpetuated racial imbalance and educational inequity across schools.

In light of these efforts, local and political resistance influenced New York’s history of school desegregation. Around the tim

Don’t Miss! Rally for School Funding 3/27 and GOTV 3/29 | Parents United for Public Education

Don’t Miss! Rally for School Funding 3/27 and GOTV 3/29 | Parents United for Public Education:







Don’t Miss! Rally for School Funding 3/27 and GOTV 3/29

Posted on March 27, 2014 by PARENTSUNITEDPHILALeave a comment

TODAY! Tax the Frackers, Fund our schools!

(Editorial cartoon: John Cole)

FUND OUR SCHOOLS/TAX MARCELLUS SHALE RALLY

Thursday, MARCH 27 @ 4 PM

440 N. Broad Street (rain location, SDP auditorium)

WHO: STATE SENATOR VINCENT HUGHES and ALL CONCERNED CITIZENS

WHY: Our schools have been devastated by nearly $1 billion in cutsin Gov. Tom Corbett’s budgets. To repair that damage, State Senator Vincent Hughes is sponsoring a bill that will immediately generate $375 million new dollars for education across Pennsylvania. The bill will tax the extraction of Marcellus Shale natural gas and generate more than $1 billion NEW DOLLARS for education by 2020.

JOIN THE FIGHT TO FUND OUR SCHOOLS!!

TIME FOR CORPORATIONS TO PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE!!

JOIN US ON Thursday, MARCH 27 @ 4pm, 440 N. Broad Street!!

More info: Call 215-879-7777

PCAPs launches Get Out the Vote rally and campaign

Parents United is proud to support our allies PCAPS as we help launch an education-focused Get Out the Vote (GOTV) campaign on Saturday, March 29 to elect a responsible education and school-focused governor for Pennsylvania.

From the PCAPs website:

On March 29th the Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools will kick off a seven month campaign to make this year’s gubernatorial election about fully funded, quality schools for all children.   The heart of this effort will be getting 25,000 registered voters to sign a pledge to vote for candidates who are committed to the following five points:

1) Support a funding formula that will distribute state dollars based on student needs and the local district’s ability to pay.

2) Provide more revenue for education and human services by closing corporate tax loopholes, taxing natural gas production, and cancelling prison expansion.

3) Hold charter schools accountable and give local districts the power to monitor them.

4) Shutdown the school to prison pipeline. Replace harsh, zero tolerance polices that criminalize students or minor offenses with restorative justice.

5) Abolish the School Reform Commission and return our schools to Local Control.

We will be canvassing and tabling in neighborhoods throughout the city to sign up education voters.   We will continue to demonstrate and take direct action to press these demands.   And we will monitor the candidates as to where they stand on this platform.   Registering new voters and getting out a big education vote come election day will be part of our campaign.

The event on March 29th will be a kick off rally with speakers, a training for canvassers and then going door to door with the education voter pledge.

WHEN:   March 29th, 11a.m.

WHERE:  Media Mobilizing Project, 4233 Chestnut St.

PCAPS member organizations aim to turn out over a hundred volunteers for this first canvass.   Please join us.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: A retired educator speaks out. Quinn steps up.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: A retired educator speaks out. Quinn steps up.:

A retired educator speaks out. Quinn steps up.

No vote was taken yesterday on the bill to abolish the state's ALEC-initiated Charter Commission. Maybe today. Word is that we need 3 more votes. Still time to call senators: Senator Mike Noland (D-Elgin) - (847) 214-8864 Senator Iris Martinez (D-Chicago) - (773) 463-0720 Senator Dan Biss (D-Skokie) - (847) 568-1250

Thanks go out to John J. Garvey, a retired Chicago public school teacher and administrator, for his powerful piece in Tuesday's Sun-Times, "Is this how we thank our teachers." I doubt that the pension busters in Springfield including Gov. Quinn (certainly not his billionaire political opponent Bruce Rauner) will even bother to read it. But I will share it with my students so they can enter the teaching profession, if they still choose to do so, with open eyes and a heart for struggle.

Quinn's budget speech

SPEAKING OF QUINN, of course I'm still pissed at him for signing SB1 but I liked his budget speech yesterday, calling for a spending proposal that would make permanent the 67% state income tax increase set to expire in 2015 and couple it with property tax relief for homeowners. The plan will hopefully generate enough revenue to increase badly-needed school funding. Quinn offers no real long-term solution to the budget crisis -- like a progressive taxing structure that makes the wealthiest and the corporations pay their fair share and shifting away from reliance on