Morning Wink 5-31-14 AM Posts #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTS

MME Digital Learning Projects: An Antidote to Standardized Testing - Musical Media For Education

MME Digital Learning Projects: An Antidote to Standardized Testing - Musical Media For Education: MME Digital Learning Projects: An Antidote to Standardized Testingposted 10 hours agoMME Digital Learning Projects (DLPs) are student created educational songs & YouTube videos using photographs from the Library of Congress for visuals and MME music as audio templates.a) DLPs are either solo or co

by mike simpson / 5min 

Don’t Make Students Wait | Live Long and Prosper

Don’t Make Students Wait | Live Long and Prosper: Don’t Make Students WaitTeachers need to be trained before-the-job…not on-the-job.The Indiana State Board of Education has a plan, approved by a 6-5 vote, to allow non-credentialed college graduates to teach in public school classrooms.The Career Specialist Permit will provide pedagogical training on-the-job.SUCCESSFUL COUNTRIES DO IT RIGHTEducatio

by mike simpson / 6min 

NYC Educator: Working Families Party--Maintaining the Status Cuomo

NYC Educator: Working Families Party--Maintaining the Status Cuomo: Working Families Party--Maintaining the Status CuomoI'm pretty disappointed to read that the Working Families Party is leaning toward a Cuomo endorsement, and even more disappointed to see that UFT is helping to make it happen. The more I observe the zany antics of our insular leadership, the more I wonder what the hell it is they

by mike simpson / 7min 

Stellar Teaching in Failing Schools (Part 1) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Stellar Teaching in Failing Schools (Part 1) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Stellar Teaching in Failing Schools (Part 1)How can “stellar teaching” and “failing schools” be in the same sentence?Failing schools have been defined as ones with low test scores, attendance, and high school graduation rates. They also include high numbers of dropouts and disciplinary referrals wit

by mike simpson / 8min 

Race for state superintendent heated despite agreement on two key issues | EdSource Today

Race for state superintendent heated despite agreement on two key issues | EdSource Today: Race for state superintendent heated despite agreement on two key issuesMay 30th, 2014 | Add a Comment | By John FensterwaldBut Tom Torlakson and Marshall Tuck, the two leading candidates, both Democrats, share similar views on the two biggest education initiatives – and challenges – of the decade in Califor

by mike simpson / 13min 

24/7 - 24 Love Letters to Maxine Greene | Bill Ayers

24/7 | Bill Ayers: 24/724 Love Letters to Maxine Greene(In no particular order)Followed by 7 QuestionsDear Maxine,I’m wandering along an open road tonight, wobbly and a bit unhinged, wondering where I’ll be by morning, writing you now under a sea of stars. You’re on my mind 24/7—I love you, you know—and here’s a simple sampling of letters from the day, one every hour, followed by a week’s worth of

by mike simpson / 25min 

5-31-14 Jersey Jazzman NJ Ed News Round-up Jammin' All Week

Jersey Jazzman:Jersey Jazzman Jammin' All WeekHey, Buddy: Can You Spare $2.5 Billion?Now that Chris Christie's utterly fraudulent budgeting has been laid bare, we're left with a problem: how will New Jersey make up for its two decade-old pension holiday?It's nice to talk about bi-partisan commissions and proclaim that "everyone must make sacrifices," but that's really just a way for pund

by mike simpson / 40min 

5-31-13 Curmudgucation Week

CURMUDGUCATION:Welcome to Common Core HospitalNurse Duncan: Welcome to Common Core Hospital. How may I assist you?Chris: My name's Chris Wobble. I was just in a car accident. My arms seems to be broken in about three places.Nurse Duncan: All righty, then. We just need to do some assessments here to see what shape you're in. As a major health care provider, your health data determines our success r

by mike simpson / 44min 

5-31-14 NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education

NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education:NPE News Briefsfrom The Network for Public EducationNews Flash: Failed Education Policies Will ALWAYS Fail Our Children | AlternetWhat do third-grade retention policies based on reading tests, charter schools, tracking, and parental choice have in common? First, across the U.S., they all have a great deal of public and political support. Seco

by mike simpson / 47min 

5-31-14 THE WHOLE WEEK @ The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education

The Whole Child Blog — Whole Child Education:THE WHOLE WEEK @ The Whole Child Blog Discover the Flip: Putting Learning at the Center of the ClassroomPost written by Mikaela Dwyer, a journalism student at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester. She considers herself a human rights activist and spends her time volunteering on campus and with various local nonprofits. After graduation, Dwyer

by mike simpson / 50min 

5-31-14 This Week in LA - School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):Follow the money: last filing deadline today for LAUSD electionTonight is the final disclosure deadline for candidates running in the June 3 special election, to fill LA Unified’s District 1 board seat. “There should be updated numbers by midnight from all the candidates,” said a staff member at the City E

by mike simpson / 51min 

5-31-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida ALL Week

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education:Scathing Purple Musings  Color me purple in Florida ALL WeekBobby Jindal Rebukes Jeb Bush on Common CoreI guess he really means it. From CNN reporter Dana Davidsen: Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal said Thursday he’s against Common Core, the academic standards that

by mike simpson / 56min 

All Week @ The Answer Sheet 5-31-14

The Answer Sheet:All Week @ The Answer SheetMark Zuckerberg is giving $120 million to Bay Area schools (after his last education reform effort didn’t go so well)The world’s most innovative community shouldn’t also be a home for struggling public schools. Today Priscilla and I are announcing a $120 million commitment to support efforts to improve education for underserved communities in the Bay Are

by mike simpson / 58min 

5-31-14 Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Schooling in the Ownership Society All Week

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog:Schooling in the Ownership SocietyMike Klonsky's SmallTalk Schooling in the Ownership SocietyBridging DifferencesCommunity Rejuvenation Muralist Desi MundoDesi MundoStrong coffee this morning with Desi Mundo, visionary artist and  founder of the Oakland-based Community Rejuvenation Project. Desi grew up tagging and writing on the walls of Chicago and eventually became

by mike simpson / 1h 

5-31-14 Wait What? All Week

Wait What?:  Wait What? All WeekWill the Working Families Party stand up for working families in this year’s electionThe Working Families Party is based in New York.  They also have a chapter here in Connecticut. Considering Dannel “Dan” Malloy only won by 6,000 votes in the last election, many observers credit the Working Family with giving him them victory since the WFP line added more than 26,0

by mike simpson / 1h 

5-31-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum:Seattle Schools Community ForumMath Talk in Friday Update Update: the Board meeting agenda was finally posted at the end of the day.  There is an amendment to the Math Adoption via President Peaslee and Director Peters.  We move that the School Board amend the motion for adoption of K-5 Mathematics Materials to include a dual adoption of Math in Focus Singapore Math

by mike simpson / 1h 

5-31-14 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online: Ed Notes OnlineMORE Weekly Update: 3 Happy Hours Today, Info on Observing Contract Vote CountThe busy bees at MORE - important info on observing the contract vote count on Monday and Tuesday -- Ellen Fox and I will be there both days -- Monday they open the school packages and envelopes and Tuesday they count.At first Leroy Barr told us only each caucus could have one observer. MO

by mike simpson / 1h 

5-31-14 Fred All Week 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.: Fred All Week Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacherKeeping retirement weird. Free stuff.This morning I took this selfie with my new iPhone. I told this story of Facebook yesterday. Since I have drawn a series of cartoons about Mark Zuckerberg, I expect that I will be expelled from

by mike simpson / 1h 

5-31-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School: Perdido Street School WeekThe UFT Sold You Out To CuomoThe next time you hear any jive out of the UFT or AFT leadership about holding Andrew Cuomo accountable for his policies, remember that the union leaderships helped to engineer the Working Families Party endorsement of Andrew Cuomo by threatening the party with financial "collapse" if Cuomo wasn't given the nod

by mike simpson / 1h 

5-31-14 the becoming radical EMPATHYEDUCATES! | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

THE BECOMING RADICALRadical ScholarshipEMPATHYEDUCATES!the becoming radical  A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by Endgame: Disaster Capitalism, New Orleans, and the Charter ScamThe horror of 9/11 in 2001 and the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 captured both the 24/7 media attention and cultural consciousness in the U.S. In the wake of both, however, the impact of disaster capitalism has

by mike simpson / 1h 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 5-31-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:4LAKIDS - SOME OF THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT  L.A. UNIFIED BOND OVERSIGHT PANEL WANTS iPAD CRITIC REAPPOINTEDSchool board member Galatzan defends her move to oust a critic of the iPad program by Howard Blume, LA Times | http://lat.ms/1k7FNEH May 29, 2014 7:08 PM  ::  The committee that oversees school bond spending in Los Angeles has called for the reinst

by mike simpson / 1h 

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Week… 5-31-14 …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EF

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFLLARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE DAY“Teaching History By Encouraging Curiosity”Teaching History By Encouraging Curiosity is my latest post at Education Week Teacher. Today, educators Diana Laufenberg, Sarah Kirby-Gonzalez and Peter Pappas contribute their responses. Here are excerpts:by Larry Ferlazzo / 7h New TED-Ed Video &a

by mike simpson / 1h 

This Week's Education Research Report 5-31-14 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2

Education Research ReportTHIS WEEK'S EDUCATION RESEARCH REPORTACT Report Highlights the Challenge of Catching Up At-Risk StudentsVery few students from at-risk demographic groups—including ethnic minorities, English language learners, those from low-income families and those with disabilities—who start off “far off track“ academically are able to get back on track by four years later, according to

by mike simpson / 1h 

5-31-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter:  Schools Matter All WeekSteve Hinnefeld Reviews Hoosier School Heist: Unions Unite NOWby Doug MartinSteve Hinnefeld has posted a review of my book Hoosier School Heist on his blog, School Matters.  Please read his review and check out his other pieces, too.  Here is an excerpt from Steven's review:  "Martin has a Ph.D. in literature, has taught in universities and published a

by mike simpson / 1h 

All Week 5-31-14 @ THE CHALK FACE

@ THE CHALK FACE : All Week @ THE CHALK FACE Endgame: Disaster Capitalism, New Orleans, and the Charter ScamEndgame: Disaster Capitalism, New Orleans, and the Charter Scam. via Endgame: Disaster Capitalism, New Orleans, and the Charter Scam.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical5 by plthomasedd / 23h In the U.S., Where the Female Nipple Is More Dangerous Than a GunIn the U.S., Where the Female

by mike simpson / 1h 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 5-31-14 #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2

Diane Ravitch's blogLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONGDIANE RAVITCH'S BLOGMotoko Rich Shows: Far Right Opposes Common CoreIt is getting to be a dizzying experience to read about the Common Core on the Néw York Times. When Motoko Rich reported from Tennessee, she found an unlikely left-right alliance questioning the standards. A few days later, and the familiar script is back in place: only the

by mike simpson / 1h 

YESTERDAY

BREAKING NEWS!! MULGREW PULLING WFP STRINGS FOR CUOMO!!!.southbronxschool.com

http://www.southbronxschool.com: BREAKING NEWS!! MULGREW PULLING WFP STRINGS FOR CUOMO!!!On March 15, 44 BC the Roman Senate, led by Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutusstabbed to death Julius Caesar. Caesar's dying words, according to William Shakespeare upon seeing that Brutus was amongst the conspirators was, "Et tu Brutue?"During the Last Supper, which The Crack Team belie

by mike simpson / 10h 

5-30-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Lots Of New World Cup Interactives & InfographicsHere are new interactives and infographics I’m adding to The Best Sites For Learning About The 2014 World Cup In Brazil: Here are three interactives from The Guardian: Brazil 2014: interactive World Cup travel guide The World Cup’s top 100 footballers of all time – intera

by mike simpson / 14h 

Thinking About Schools: The Right to Bear Standards

Thinking About Schools: The Right to Bear Standards: The Right to Bear StandardsStandards don't hurt kids.  People with standards hurt kids. With the furor over the Common Core State Standards, you'd think they were in the 2nd Amendment debate:  The right to bear standards vs. standards control.  Like millions of others, I owned a rifle as a kid.  And, like millions of educators, I've used learnin

by mike simpson / 15h 

Nite Cap 5-30-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

James Baldwin said it best: "For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAPJune 2014 ACCS Meeting Agenda - Advisory Commission on Charter Schools (CA Dept of Education)June 2014 ACCS Meeting Agenda - Advisory Commission on Charter Schools (CA Dept of Education): ACCS Live Meeting WebcastMeeting NoticeAdvisory Commission

1 by mike simpson / 16h 

June 2014 ACCS Meeting Agenda - Advisory Commission on Charter Schools (CA Dept of Education)

June 2014 ACCS Meeting Agenda - Advisory Commission on Charter Schools (CA Dept of Education): ACCS Live Meeting WebcastMeeting NoticeAdvisory Commission on Charter SchoolsAn advisory body to the State Board of EducationWednesday, June 11, 20149:30 a.m. ± – 12:30 p.m. ±California Department of Education1430 N Street, Room 1101Sacramento, CA 95814-5901916-322-6029Commission MembersBrian BauerGary D

by mike simpson / 16h 

5 Ways To Influence Change | Connected Principals

5 Ways To Influence Change | Connected Principals: 5 Ways To Influence Changeby George Couros • May 30, 2014 • 0 Comments“At the end of the day, what qualifies people to be called ‘leaders’ is their capacity to influence others to change their behavior in order to achieve important results.” Joseph GrennyIn a time where the only constant in education is change, people involved with education need

by mike simpson / 16h 

5-30-14 Schools Matter -: Doug Martin's Letter to the Anderson Herald Bulletin

Schools Matter: Doug Martin's Letter to the Anderson Herald Bulletin: Doug Martin's Letter to the Anderson Herald Bulletinhttp://www.hoosierschoolheist.com/(The following is Doug Martin's letter to the editors of the Anderson, Indiana, Herald Bulletin. If you would like to contact that newspaper, you can at letters@heraldbulletin.com)  I find it highly depressing and even insulting that your newsp

by mike simpson / 17h 

Jeb “Common Core” Bush is unloading new data – about himself. | Reclaim Reform

Jeb “Common Core” Bush is unloading new data – about himself. | Reclaim Reform: Jeb “Common Core” Bush is unloading new data – about himself.Posted on May 30, 2014by Ken PrevitiWell, get ready.Jeb “Common Core” Bush is unloading new data – about himself.(Important: This is NOT about democrats or republicans. This is about rebranding and the dismantling of public education and other public services

by mike simpson / 18h 

This Week In Education: Thompson: Michelle Obama, Meanwitchs and Stinkburgers

This Week In Education: Thompson: Michelle Obama, Meanwitchs and Stinkburgers: Thompson: Michelle Obama, Meanwitchs and Stinkburgers I love Michelle Obama as much as I remain loyal to her husband, despite his awful test and punish education policy. When the First Lady is attacked, I am angered almost as much as when the Obama administration assaults public education.The issues underlying both Mich

by mike simpson / 18h 

NYC Educator: Top 10 Reasons You May Be a "Master Teacher"

NYC Educator: Top 10 Reasons You May Be a "Master Teacher": Top 10 Reasons You May Be a "Master Teacher"Will You Be One of the Chosen Few in NYC to Get that $20,000 Bonus?  You Might Be Able to Guess That You're a Master Teacher:10.  when you continue to give Common-Core aligned tests even though 70% of your class hasn't a prayer to pass.9.  when you've considered giving up you

by mike simpson / 20h 

#EduElection: How Grassroots Voices Shaped NYC's Mayoral Election | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity

#EduElection: How Grassroots Voices Shaped NYC's Mayoral Election | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity: #EduElection: How Grassroots Voices Shaped NYC's Mayoral ElectionPosted on: Friday May 30th, 2014It seems the tide might finally be turning in the fight for public education. A wonderful new issue of the The Annenberg's Institute's Voices in Urba

by mike simpson / 20h 

Back 2 Basics: Everything that’s wrong with urban education reform in a single, bitter-tasting story | EduShyster

Back 2 Basics | EduShyster: Back 2 Basics Everything that’s wrong with urban education reform in a single, bitter-tasting storyReader: I feel that I must address the elephant in the room. I’m talking, of course, about history—the sore subject that is absolutely not being eliminated from the Boston Public Schools. And irregardless of what you may have heard, there is no truth at all to the rumor th

by mike simpson / 20h 

What is a SCOE and What They Do for Education

SCOE | About: About SCOEThe Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) is one of 58 county offices located throughout the state. Approximately 650 regular and more than 950 temporary and substitute SCOE staff work year-round providing services which complement and supplement those offered by public school districts in Sacramento County.SCOE plays a leadership role in the delivery of quality educ

1 by mike simpson / 21h 

Winners, Losers and the American Way - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

Winners, Losers and the American Way - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher: Winners, Losers and the American WayBy Nancy Flanagan on May 30, 2014 1:18 PMIt looks--at first glance--like something most American parents would be familiar with: a note from school, outlining the purpose and activities of an end-of-school Field Day."The purpose of the day is for our school to get tog

1 by mike simpson / 21h 

NYC Public School Parents: NYC Parents: the Tripod survey is being given in 134 schools and you have the right to opt out

NYC Public School Parents: NYC Parents: the Tripod survey is being given in 134 schools and you have the right to opt out: NYC Parents: the Tripod survey is being given in 134 schools and you have the right to opt outWatch out parents!  Whether you know it or not, the DOE is giving a controversial survey to NYC students in 134 schools called the Tripod Survey.  DOE officials say they are allowing

1 by mike simpson / 21h 

Career Pathways Trust Awardees - Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education)

Career Pathways Trust Awardees - Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education): State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Announces Award of Career Pathways Trust Grants Linking Education and CareersOAKLAND—Almost 40 consortia representing hundreds of thousands of students across California are the first recipients of grants under a new $250 million program designed to help students stay in school and move toward coll

by mike simpson / 21h 

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Zuckerberg is at it again

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Zuckerberg is at it again: Zuckerberg is at it again'The word 'policy' makes us think of politicians and bureaucrats. But what happens when powerful policy-makers aren’t elected or appointed? Today, billionaires are shaping education policy in the United States. Buying political influence—-even legally...' -- Robin RogersVast private donations have brought publi

by mike simpson / 22h 

5-30-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District): Morning Read: Can new LAUSD board member create change?South LA to elect a school board member; Can a new face help? South Los Angles residents will vote Tuesday on a new school board member – but their decision will affect students all over the district. A slate of seven candidates are vying for District

by mike simpson / 22h 

The Only Bold Choice: Parents United statement on delaying the budget vote | Parents United for Public Education

The Only Bold Choice: Parents United statement on delaying the budget vote | Parents United for Public Education: The Only Bold Choice: Parents United statement on delaying the budget votePosted on May 30, 2014 by HELENGYMLeave a commentParents United for Public Education statement on delaying the budget voteLast night Superintendent William Hite and the School Reform Commission made a bold move a

by mike simpson / 22h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Community Rejuvenation Muralist Desi Mundo

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Community Rejuvenation Muralist Desi Mundo: Community Rejuvenation Muralist Desi MundoDesi MundoStrong coffee this morning with Desi Mundo, visionary artist and  founder of the Oakland-based Community Rejuvenation Project. Desi grew up tagging and writing on the walls of Chicago and eventually became an airbrush artist of renown. His work in Oakland and surrounding t

by mike simpson / 22h 

5-30-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Math Adoption - You Can Influence the OutcomeWe are now at the nth hour for the Math Adoption.  I say that because by Monday, Tuesday - it will be too late.  This is the weekend that any waivering directors will make up their minds. There are three Director Community meetings tomorrow morning.  Their e-mail isschoolboard@seattleschools.org - put "math adoption

by mike simpson / 23h 

2014 Summer Meal Service Sites - Food Programs (CA Dept of Education)

2014 Summer Meal Service Sites - Food Programs (CA Dept of Education): 2014 Summer Meal Service SitesProvides parents and referral agencies with a list of locations where children may receive free nutritious meals during school vacation and off-track periods. Please call site contact to confirm participation.Entities wishing to serve meals under the Summer Food Service Program should contact the s

by mike simpson / 23h 

The Answer Sheet 5-30-14

Answer Sheet: Mark Zuckerberg is giving $120 million to Bay Area schools (after his last education reform effort didn’t go so well)The world’s most innovative community shouldn’t also be a home for struggling public schools. Today Priscilla and I are announcing a $120 million commitment to support efforts to improve education for underserved communities in the Bay Area. That begins an op-ed in the

by mike simpson / 23h 

Student Voice – Situational? Optional? Or Essential?

Student Voice – Situational? Optional? Or Essential?: Student Voice – Situational? Optional? Or Essential?At the beginning of our existence, we grew quickly through the stages of maturity until we became the people we are today. During early development we acquire understanding of the freedoms, choices, and rules that structure how our society functions, through hands-on exploration, curiosity and

by mike simpson / 23h 

Morning Wink 5-30-14 AM Posts #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTSJackson Rising: People Power and the New Cooperative Movement | NewBlackMan (in Exile)Jackson Rising: People Power and the New Cooperative Movement | NewBlackMan (in Exile): Jackson Rising: People Power and the New Cooperative MovementJackson Rising: People Power and the New Cooperative Movementby Lamont Lilly | special to NewBlackMan (in Exile)Once home t

1 by mike simpson / 1d 

2nd Banana 5-31-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post

2nd Banana 5-24-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post

2nd Banana 5-17-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post

2nd Banana 5-10-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post 

2nd Banana 5-3-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post 

2nd Banana 4-26-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post

Nite Cap 5-30-14

Nite Cap 5-29-14

Nite Cap 5-28-14 

Nite Cap 5-27-14

Nite Cap 5-26-14

Nite Cap 5-25-14

Nite Cap 5-24-14 

MME Digital Learning Projects: An Antidote to Standardized Testing - Musical Media For Education

MME Digital Learning Projects: An Antidote to Standardized Testing - Musical Media For Education:

MME Digital Learning Projects: An Antidote to Standardized Testing

posted 10 hours ago

MME Digital Learning Projects (DLPs) are student created educational songs & YouTube videos using photographs from the Library of Congress for visuals and MME music as audio templates.

a) DLPs are either solo or collaborative projects, so students will develop the ability to function as more than isolated test takers. 

b) The work requires group members to play different roles, allowing the diverse gifts of students to be exercised and recognized. Testing ignores the innate talents of many if not most students.

c) Something meaningful & fun will be created. When students are finished they will have a rocking song or music video on YouTube. This can bring back refrigerator-hanging pride in school work. Standardized testing is essentially meaningless to students.

d) Working with music and primary source photographs involves art appreciation and nurtures creativity. Standardized testing has marginalized art, music, recess, Phys. Ed. & Social Studies.

e) all of the above

f) enough of the above

To learn more about Digital Learning Projects from Musical Media for Education:
http://musicalmediaforeducation.tumblr.com/post/41551618809/mme-digital-learning-projects

DLP Video-Intro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nduS4hQ8etQ

Musical Media for Education (MME) 
http://musicalmediaforeducation.tumblr.com/post/1049472188/the-

MME Digital Learning Projects: An Antidote to Standardized Testing - Musical Media For Education:

Don’t Make Students Wait | Live Long and Prosper

Don’t Make Students Wait | Live Long and Prosper:

Don’t Make Students Wait

Teachers need to be trained before-the-job…not on-the-job.

The Indiana State Board of Education has a plan, approved by a 6-5 vote, to allow non-credentialed college graduates to teach in public school classrooms.The Career Specialist Permit will provide pedagogical training on-the-job.

SUCCESSFUL COUNTRIES DO IT RIGHT

Education Reform Has Failed; Here Are Four Lessons From Abroad to Make It Succeed

In successful countries teachers are not trained on-the-job for teaching. They are experts in pedagogy first…before they’re allowed to enter the classroom. The Indiana State Board of Education is attempting to reduce the qualificationsfor becoming a teacher in Indiana. A slim majority of school board members favor allowing anyone with a college degree to teach. This is not education “reform.” It’s an ignorant attempt to destroy the teaching profession.

…in Finland, primary teachers are required to both major in education and minor in two subjects taught in primary education. Primary education is usually considered grades one through eight, depending on the country. Upper-level teachers are required to major in the subject they will teach. If a person has a master’s degree in a specific subject only, the person must get a master’s degree in education before teaching. All teachers spend significant time studying pedagogy, the art and science of teaching. [emphasis added]

State Board of Education member visiting schools

One of Indiana’s school board members claims that, while the new rule would allow schools to hire people with no teaching credentials, no one is being forced to. He claims that the outcry about the new rule has been “overstated” and “the Don’t Make Students Wait | Live Long and Prosper:

NYC Educator: Working Families Party--Maintaining the Status Cuomo

NYC Educator: Working Families Party--Maintaining the Status Cuomo:

Working Families Party--Maintaining the Status Cuomo

I'm pretty disappointed to read that the Working Families Party is leaning toward a Cuomo endorsement, and even more disappointed to see that UFT is helping to make it happen. The more I observe the zany antics of our insular leadership, the more I wonder what the hell it is they're trying to accomplish. It's not like they're trying to get us better working conditions, as they subject most teachers to 80 minutes of PD every Monday. While Fariña may find that a great notion, she clearly has not experienced what passes for PD in most city schools.

Andrew Cuomo's proud achievement is a tax cap that limits most school budgets to a cap of 2% or rate of inflation, whatever is lower. Concurrently he's running a Gap Elimination Adjustment that cuts state aid all over the state. Consequently, most districts cannot compensate locally for the budget cuts our "student lobbyist" has imposed. It's disastrous and has resulted in the loss of thousands of teaching and education-related jobs. It's hurt schoolchildren all over the city.

Here in NYC, Cuomo ran roughshod over our democratically elected mayor, Bill de Blasio, who promised a halt to school closings and an end to the blank check given privatizers like Eva Moskowitz. UFT did nothing as the heretofore inviolate mayoral control was stopped in its tracks. In NY State, mayoral control seems to apply only if you're accomplishing the DFER agenda.

The only alternative for us right now is the Green Party, currently running Howie Hawkins and NYC's own Brian Jones. I voted for Howie last time, NYC Educator: Working Families Party--Maintaining the Status Cuomo:

Stellar Teaching in Failing Schools (Part 1) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Stellar Teaching in Failing Schools (Part 1) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Stellar Teaching in Failing Schools (Part 1)

How can “stellar teaching” and “failing schools” be in the same sentence?

Failing schools have been defined as ones with low test scores, attendance, and high school graduation rates. They also include high numbers of dropouts and disciplinary referrals with frequent turnover in principals and teachers and presence of far more inexperienced than experienced teachers. Over decades of being in such schools I observed many traditional and non-traditional lessons. Some were forgettable not only by students but also by me–although I kept notes to remind me how the low-level content and skills were taught and how classroom management was, at best, uneven and, on occasion, chaotic.

But I do not want to describe forgettable lessons in low-performing schools. Such examples have been noted often by reformers usually omitting, however, that such teaching also occurs in schools serving upper-middle income neighborhoods. Readers can recall such teaching that echo the caricaturedhistory teacher who droned on and on about the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act inFerris Bueller’s Day Off. The frequency of poor teaching, however, occurs much less often in these predominately white, middle-class schools than in the urban ones labeled failing.

What I do want to describe are the handful of urban teachers in schools labeled as failures who teach superb lessons often, are respected by their students, and have stayed in these failing schools year in and year out. There are scores of low-key Jaime Escalantes, Rafe Esquiths, and others who have gone Stellar Teaching in Failing Schools (Part 1) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Race for state superintendent heated despite agreement on two key issues | EdSource Today

Race for state superintendent heated despite agreement on two key issues | EdSource Today:

Race for state superintendent heated despite agreement on two key issues

May 30th, 2014 | Add a Comment | 
By John Fensterwald

But Tom Torlakson and Marshall Tuck, the two leading candidates, both Democrats, share similar views on the two biggest education initiatives – and challenges – of the decade in California. Torlakson, seeking his second four-year term, and Tuck, the former president and CEO of a group of charter schools in Los Angeles, fully support the state’s new school financing system, the Local Control Funding Formula. And both are firmly behind the Common Core State Standards, which have replaced California’s state standards in math and English language arts.The candidates’ views on charter schools, teachers unions and education reform have turned the race for state superintendent of public instruction into an expensive proxy war between big labor and big donors.

“The Common Core is a massive shift for our schools and should be a top priority in terms of support for the next two years,” Tuck wrote on his campaign website.

“Embracing Common Core bodes well for the direction we are going,” Torlakson said in an interview this week.

The true contrarian in the race, at least on these issues, is a little-known veteran teacher from the Long Beach Unified School District who also ran in 2010. Lydia Gutierrez, a Republican, opposes both “high-stakes testing” and the Common Core standards, which she criticizes as untested and unproven.

What’s given the race unexpected visibility and bite is that Torlakson and Tuck are on opposite sides of a fault line of education reform – nationally and in California. Tuck believes that teachers unions are too powerful and that “parents should be the biggest voice in education and a threat” to the unions, he said in an interview. He favors curbing teacher tenure and seniority and using standardized scores to some degree for teacher evaluations. He backs the “parent trigger” law, which gives parents of students in low-performing schools the leverage  to demand structural changes, including switching to a charter school.

Until he resigned to run for state superintendent, Tuck ran the nonprofit Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, a group of 17 low-performing schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District that then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa took over in 2007. Before that, he opened up nine charter schools in Los Angeles as president of Green Dot Public Schools.

Torlakson, a former legislator, is a close ally of the state’s teachers unions and favors their workplace protections. He opposed the state pursuing a waiver from the No Child Left Behind law, which Tuck supports, in part because a condition required using student test scores for teacher evaluations. The California Teachers Association, in turn, has spent about $4 million on TV and radio ads praising Torlakson and criticizing Tuck. That’s about four times the $1 million and change that Tuck and Torlakson each have raised for their own campaigns. Gutierrez has raised about $30,000.

Major donors backing Tuck include William Bloomfield, a real estate developer from Manhattan Beach, who has spent $720,000 on mailers promoting Tuck. The California Senior Advocates League PAC, an independent expenditure group Race for state superintendent heated despite agreement on two key issues | EdSource Today:

24/7 - 24 Love Letters to Maxine Greene | Bill Ayers

24/7 | Bill Ayers:

24/7

24 Love Letters to Maxine Greene

(In no particular order)

Followed by 7 Questions

Dear Maxine,

I’m wandering along an open road tonight, wobbly and a bit unhinged, wondering where I’ll be by morning, writing you now under a sea of stars. You’re on my mind 24/7—I love you, you know—and here’s a simple sampling of letters from the day, one every hour, followed by a week’s worth of questions:



1)      Your eyes, yes, why not? Laughing eyes, and worried too. Wonderful eyes, burning day and night, aware, alert eyes.

2)      A sense rumbling beneath every conversation: you’re just waking up, at this very moment—this morning’s news! That cab-driver’s comment! The piece on the war in the New Yorker! Rachel Madow! The show at the Public! Bill T. Jones! Rashid Khalidi on Charlie Rose! Brecht!—and you’re breaking loose. You’re speaking to me (I know it’s a narcissistic illusion, but I allow myself, why not?) as if I’m just waking up too, and in our first waking moments I must pay urgent attention, gather whatever courage I can, and prepare to break loose as well.

3)      You offer me a bowl of soup and a bed for the night—me, the natural narcissism again, why not?—but you offer a bite and a bed for the night to many others, including the homeless man on 5^th Avenue one night in a snow storm (my hopeful invitation in perspective!) and his aggressive rejection: What do you want from me lady?

4)      Your crazy question after that lecture: Was it OK? It was, yes, it was surely OK. It was only words after all—let’s not make more of it than it was—conceived and constructed and spoken by you for perhaps an hour, a bit more, in a crowded    room, a stuffy place at the start. And yet people who heard you were gasping throughout, some weeping, some laughing and reaching out to touch another’s hand. The air sizzled and crackled, until, as you would have it, fresh and startling winds began to blow through the room. No one left quite the same, not even you. It was OK—why not?

5)      Your one persistent rule, which is to reach, and your dazzling embodiment of the practice of it, the effort of it, trying again and again to speak beyond barriers and without bounds, to stretch, to reach.

6)      Those exaggerations, those excesses—all the little efforts and grand gestures, and why not, designed to clear the air of hum-drum, ho-hum, and all the tedious repetition and buzz.

7)      The admonition to create—right here and right now, in this community or in this school or on this corner—a place to do philosophy, and a bit of the possible world we might want to inhabit.

8)      Your inner rhythm: Wake up! Be astonished! Act! Doubt! (REPEAT!)

9)      Storming all those habitual barricades, the impositions and constraints, especially your own.

10)  Reminding us again what it means to be alive and in dialogue with others, unfinished and situated, in-motion and struggling to expand the public square as a place of balance and decency, human dignity and possibility.

11)  Your sense that we are all necessarily blind to our own blind spots, anesthetized, sleepy, and in need of occasional jolts and shocks into new awarenesses.

12)  Your contradictions and conflicts, your reversals, dialectcs.

13)  Another world—not necessarily a better world, possibly much worse, but another world nonetheless—is inevitable: Imagine a possible world you’d like to live in. Why not?

14)  All the echoes: Arendt and Camus and DuBois, for example, Addams and King and Horton, Ginsberg, Shelly, Hughes and Brooks. Orwell. Morrison. Saramago. DeLillo. Woolf. That wild unruly company you keep.

15)  Your invitations—to try once to construct a classroom on a base of fearless and relentless inquiry, for example, every established and received bit of wisdom, common sense, and dogma open for examination, interrogation, and rethinking.

16)  Your impatience with gurus of every stripe, and with anyone who 24/7 | Bill Ayers: