6-8-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

PEP Report: Teachers, Parents Make Demands on Farina; ATRs, Etc To Hold Rally at Tweed, Tues., June 10, 4:30PM

Just back from the gym and heading back outside soon. The last 2 days of wake, our anniversary, and a day of funeral have been crazy and tough. I'll try to blog about these remarkable 2 days if I can get it together. But first, back to business at hand.Lots going on.Below is the report from Lydia Howrilka, who was discontinued in her first year by an abusive principal who picked on the wrong perso

by ed notes online / 34min 

Video: Sean Ahern at the PEP on Diversity

by ed notes online / 1h 

6-7-14 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online: Ed Notes OnlineFred Smith Calls Farina on Field Test Waste of Learning TimeFrom Schoolbook. Go Fred. No time now but I will add to this later about the Bronx teacher who was fired years ago because 4 of his 8th grade classes refused to take the field tests. Search ed notes for Doug Avella if interested. I've been too busy with the contract stuff so have neglected the great work Fr

by mike simpson / 9h 

6-8-14 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.:

Sunday reads.

Rudy Lozano (July 17, 1951-June 8, 1983) and Harold Washington. How Bill Gates pulled off the Common Core Revolution. James Deanes. Early pioneer in real Chicago school reform. Governor Pat Squeezy Quinn and his policy of protecting the one percent. Maxine Greene and the Frozen Sea Inside of Us. REVEALED: Gates Foundation financed PBS education programming which promoted Microsoft’s interests. Ne

by Fred Klonsky / 7min 

Previti, Dillon, Brown and myself: A conversation regarding the leadership and membership of the Illinois Education Association

  Part of continuing conversation between retired teachers, activists and bloggers Ken Previti, John Dillon, Glen Brown and myself. This conversation is cross posted on each of our blogs. Mr. Rogers gave valuable adult lessons to children, parents, teachers, and all of us. “I like to be told If it’s going to hurt, If it’s going to be hard, If it’s not going to hurt. I like to be told. I like to

1 by Fred Klonsky / 58min 

6-7-14 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 teacherTen minute drawing. Rahm’s city of lights.by Fred Klonsky / 12min Keeping retirement weird. The kids play their ukes with the old guy.  The west end of the parking lot of the huge old Harrison High School in Little Village was fil

by mike simpson / 9h 

6-8-14 With A Brooklyn Accent:

With A Brooklyn Accent:

Alliances Across the Political Spectrum in the Movement Against Common Core Have Antecedents in the Depression Era Labor Movement

Many of my friends on the left, with the best of motives, have raised questions about my wilingess to work with Conservatives and Libertarians in the movement against Common Core and other top down attacks on public education. They think that alliances of this kind are both dangerous and historically unprecedented.However, while such alliances may not have been very common in the post World War 2

by Mark Naison / 50min hide  //  save

Why the Battle Against Common Core is Everyone's Fight

 The greatest threat to democracy in the United States is the excessive concentration of wealth in a small number of hands. It is because of this that one single extremely wealthy individual- Bill Gates- was able to leap on a relatively obscure proposal for a national curriculum and get 45 states to adopt it at breakneck speed, with little scrutiny and no field testing. The protest against that cu

by Mark Naison / 4h 

6-7-14 With A Brooklyn Accent:

With A Brooklyn Accent: Notorious Phd on the New Orleans Charter DistrictIt started under Bush,But Duncan Loved It,The City of New Orleans,Told teachers to shove it,When Katrina struck,They brought charters in,With TFA to staff them,Saying students would win,But 9 years later,The schools may be worse,What looked like progress,Is just the reverse.A privatized district,With revolving door staffWhere

by mike simpson / 7h 

Stephen Krashen Blog 6-8-14

SKrashen:

Say What?

" (Bill) Gates has said that one of the benefits of common standards would be to open the classroom to digital learning, making it easier for software developers — including Microsoft — to develop new products for the country’s 15,000 school districts. In February, Microsoft announced that it was joining Pearson, the world’s largest educational publisher, to load Pearson’s Common Core class

by skrashen / 8h 

Inigo Montoya challenges common core testing program

Comment on Ed Week blog, ELLs Test-Drive New English-Language Proficiency AssessmentsPosted at: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-thelanguage/2014/06/wida_field_testing_new_english.htmlInigo Montoya: You keep using that word.I do not think it means what you think it means. ...  (from: The Princess Bride). We are told that ELLs are about to "test drive" the "New English-Langu

6 by skrashen / 12h 

JUN 06

Arne Duncan suggests year-round school as a solution to the summer slide. I disagree.

Posted on: http://stateimpact.npr.org/ohio/2014/06/05/the-impact-of-the-summer-slide/ Arne Duncan has suggested that year-round school is the solution to the summer slide.  Thanks to the common core, year-round school will make things worse. Research tells us that those living in poverty have the least access to books. Students living in poverty also show the most summer loss, and those who re

29 by skrashen / 1d 

More Money For On-Line Testing?

Posted as a comment on "Ed. Groups Urge More Federal Spending for Common-Core Tests," at: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2014/06/more_federal_funds_for_common-.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS3More money to support the biggest boondoggle in the history of education? There is zero research supporting the value of on-line testing, and no plans to do even small scale studies. The amoun

51 by skrashen / 2d 

JUN 02

This should settle the bilingual education debate

Sent to Education Week, June 2, 2014Lesli Maxwell is right: Things have changed dramatically since the dismantling of bilingual education in California caused by the passage of Proposition 227 ("Proposal to restore bilingual education in California advances," May 28).  The most important change is that there is more evidence than ever that bilingual education works, that bilingual educat

20 by skrashen / 5d 

6-8-14 empathyeducates

empathyeducates:

Death to Common Core! Long Live Failed Education Policy!

By Paul L. Thomas, Ed.D. | Originally Published at The Becoming Radical. June 6, 2014 From the beginning of the call for and debate about Common Core, I have taken a clear stand against the promise of standards-based reform; for example, Why Common Standards Won’t Work: A […]

by empathy / 1h 

Study Shows Why Standardized Test Scores Aren’t Just About Schools

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has launched Fwd.us, which will lobby for higher education standards. (David Paul Morris, Bloomberg ) Will we ever learn that philanthropy is really not impressive. Nor is money the cure for what ails us. A practiced philosophy that promotes caring human connectivity brings […]

by empathy / 7h hide  //  save

A Case For High Quality Education

 – Lawsuit Challenges Florida School Funding (Vouchers, Charters, Pre-K Failures)

In 1998, 72% of voters approved an amendment to the Florida Constitution mandating that the State has a paramount duty to provide a “uniform, efficient, safe, secure and high quality” public education system. Source Southern Legal Counsel By Leslie Postal | The Orlando Sentinel. May 30, 2014 […]

by empathy / 8h 

6-7-14 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 Death to Common Core! Long Live Failed Education Policy!From the beginning of the call for and debate about Common Core, I have taken a clear stand against the promise of standards-based reform; for example, Why Common Standards Won’t Work: A call for national standards ensures that w

by mike simpson / 9h 

6-8-13 Curmudgucation

CURMUDGUCATION:

If Competition Is So Great...

Reformsters love competition. Love it.Our students should be competitive. Our measure of success is how well our students can compete with workers in Shanghai and India and China (we never discuss that a good way to compete would be to learn how to live on ten bucks a week pay, but never mind that-- competition!).Our schools should be competitive. We should let everybody who wants to open up a sch

by Peter Greene / 2min 

CCSS: Schooling for Wretched People in a Miserable World

The Council of the Great City Schools (yet another group apparently set up to make money by shilling for the Core) has created a marvelous promotional video for the Core. Done in the style of those high-speed marker-drawing videos that the interwebs love, and narrated by a possible-non-caucasian lady narrator, it does a fabulous job of distilling the world view embedded in the Common Core complex.

2 by Peter Greene / 6min 

6-7-13 Curmudgucation Week

CURMUDGUCATION:Curmudgucation WeekData-Driven DiscriminationIf you needed any more reason to be wary of the massive upsuck of student data from the education system, The Weekly Wonk offers more reason to fear our Data Overlords.  Seeta Peña Gangadharan, and Samuel Woolley, a pair of data wonks, have written "Decoding Discrimination in the Digital Age," a brief overview of some of the con

by mike simpson / 8h 

6-8-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

The "Unintended Consequences" Of The Common Core And The Education Reform Movement

An editorial from the New Hampshire Union Leader:Kids and cursive Common Core falloutUnintended consequences are beginning to sprout in the wake of U.S. education decisions. For one thing, there is the move to do away with any concentration on handwriting other than in kindergarten and first grade. For another, there is the federal overreach on common standards.A lengthy New York Times report last

by reality-based edu... / 10min 

Bill Gates As Bond Villain

Bill Gates responds to criticism that he's making money off the Common Core:“This is about giving money away,” he said of his support for the standards. “This is philanthropy. This is trying to make sure students have the kind of opportunity I had . . . and it’s almost outrageous to say otherwise, in my view.Sure this is about giving money away - and getting an agenda promoted in returnGates gets

by reality-based edu... / 17min 

Bill Gates Exposed For All To See As An Arrogant, Whiny Elitist

Okay, it's official:We're onto a new phase of the fight against the CCSS. News media outlets are no longer buying and using pro-Common Core boilerplate rhetoric in stories on the Common Core, they're no longer framing the CCSS the way CCSS proponents want the standards framed, and they're no longer buying into the marginalization of proponents strategies that CCSS proponents and supporters have us

by reality-based edu... / 6min 

6-7-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School: Perdido Street School WeekZephyr Teachout Wants To Make Testing/Teacher Evaluation Protest A Centerpiece Of An Anti-Cuomo CampaignJummy Vielkind at Capital NY:ALBANY—Zephyr Teachout says it will be at least another week before she decides whether to mount a left-flank challenge to Governor Andrew Cuomo. “My decision is based on whether I can put together the resources to mou

by mike simpson / 9h 

Oh to be a Teacher… | Connected Principals

Oh to be a Teacher… | Connected Principals:

Oh to be a Teacher…

by dkerr • June 8, 2014 • 0 Comments

So I went for a run yesterday through a park close to where I live. It was a gorgeous summer-like day, and it felt like the entire neighborhood was out enjoying the sunshine…families having picnics, people fishing in the pond, runners, old men and women doing Tai Chi, but most of all…children laughing and playing. I decided to sit down on one of the little benches to take it all in for a few minutes before I continued on, and I was inspired by something that brought me close to tears. I started to focus on all the kids while I sat there, and the unadulterated joy and happiness that oozed out of them as they were running around flying kites, and kicking balls, and blowing bubbles, and riding their bikes and scooters, and trying to catch butterflies, and playing tag, and all the rest. I was overcome by the beauty and the innocence and the purity of these kids, and I got thinking about how lucky I am, how lucky we all are for that matter to be surrounded by children each and every day. There is nothing in this world more beautiful than a child at play…there is nothing more inspiring in this world than a child learning…there is nothing more profound in this world than the lessons that we can learn from our children…and there is nothing more pure in this world than a child laughing, and imagining, and creating on a warm summer-like day.

Oh to be a teacher…to be able to marvel at this beauty each and every day…to play a part in the learning and growing and becoming of these gorgeous creatures. Oh to be a teacher…to be a searchlight soul for our kids who are looking to find their way in the world, and looking to find their spark. Oh to be a teacher…to inspire and mentor and parent and love these children as they pass through our lives. A more important, meaningful, and purposeful profession cannot be found, and it’s you who have the power to unlock and shape the future leaders of our world. Think about that…the opportunity that we have…the responsibility…the gift! Oh to be a teacher…

As we wrap up the school year and prepare for a well deserved summer holiday, and when you’re finally at home or Oh to be a Teacher… | Connected Principals:

Schooling in the Ownership Society: How world's richest man bought school reform

Schooling in the Ownership Society: How world's richest man bought school reform:

How world's richest man bought school reform

WaPo reporter Lyndsey Layton tells the story of how Bill Gates bought and paid for so-called school "reform".  He even got NEA and AFT leaders to buy-in to Common Core. 

On a summer day in 2008, Gene Wilhoit, director of a national group of state school chiefs, and David Coleman, an emerging evangelist for the standards movement, spent hours in Bill Gates’s sleek headquarters near Seattle, trying to persuade him and his wife, Melinda, to turn their idea into reality...What followed was one of the swiftest and most remarkable shifts in education policy in U.S. history. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation didn’t just bankroll the development of what became known as the Common Core State Standards. With more than $200 million, the foundation also built political support across the country, persuading state governments to Schooling in the Ownership Society: How world's richest man bought school reform:

NYC Educator: But Mister, I'm Not Using the Phone for That

NYC Educator: But Mister, I'm Not Using the Phone for That:

But Mister, I'm Not Using the Phone for That

There are a whole lot of reasons why we grab our smart phones. I'm as guilty as anyone. Though I wear a watch, I don't trust it anymore. My phone has atomic time or something, and it's always accurate. I will pull it out of my pocket in class to check the time.

Students have different reasons they may look at it. Some of the girls in my classes say they aren't using it to text. They're using it as a mirror. Often it's evident that they're doing just that, so I tell them to put their mirrors away. That's what I tell kids using real mirrors. But that's just one more odd use for the phone.

Many of my kids use smart phone programs as translators. This is really helpful in that stand-alone translators, which I almost never see anymore, cost hundreds of dollars. These translators replaced paper dictionaries, which I used to frequently see. The thing is, I don't actually want my kids to depend on translators. Students who use translators are focused on whatever happened when the word came up, and they're completely tuned out to the moment.

Some of my least successful students spent an inordinate amount of time with dictionaries or translators. I tell them they don't need to do this in class, and that if they want to they can sit with a newspaper at home and translate the whole thing. In a live classroom, as in every live situation, they need to train their ears. They'll have ears even if they forget their translators. Also, a lot of translators are notoriously awful, giving my kids words that are either outdated or never used by those of us who are native speakers. Ears are almost always better.

I'm constantly suspicious of kids who have their hands under their desks, and more often than not find them using phones. Sometimes they defend themselves by saying they're using translators, but it's plainly visible that they're texting. Sometimes they think I can't tell they're texting NYC Educator: But Mister, I'm Not Using the Phone for That: