8-19-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

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

This Year’s Phi Delta Kappa and Gallup Education Poll Just Released – Not Good News For President Obama

Every year for the past 45 years, Phi Delta Kappa and Gallup have done a Poll On Education issues. This year’s poll results were just released. You can read a summary and the entire poll results here. I’m going to just reprint parts of their press release because it gives a good overview of the results.First, though, here are links to my posts about the poll in previous years: This Year’s Phi Del

by Larry Ferlazzo / 32min 

Tuesday’s Tweets About #Ferguson #MichaelBrown

[View the story "Tuesday's Tweets About #Ferguson #MichaelBrown" on Storify]

by Larry Ferlazzo / 8min 

LA Unified computer problems hampering special ed teachers

LA Unified computer problems hampering special ed teachers Two weeks into the new school year, LA Unified administrators are still working out bugs in a new computer system, a disruption that has made instruction particularly difficult for special education teachers, who need specific information for each of their students.. The new MiSiS — My Integrated Student Information System — is designed to

2 by Yana Gracile / 23min 

One Of Best Quick Twitter Exchanges On Ed You’ll Ever See

[View the story "One Of Best Quick Twitter Exchanges On Ed You'll Ever See" on Storify]

by Larry Ferlazzo / 4min 

New TED-Ed Video & Lesson: “How Do Tornadoes Form?”

Here’s a good new video and lesson from TED-ED. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Tornadoes:

by Larry Ferlazzo / 42min

This Is Sure Interesting: “Google May Start Handing Out Gmail Accounts to Kids”

© 2010 Robert Scoble, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Google May Start Handing Out Gmail Accounts to Kids just appeared in the Atlantic. Here’s how it begins: Google may be going kid-friendly. The tech giant is allegedly planning to offer accounts to children under the age of 13 for services like Gmail and YouTube, according to reports. The unprecedented move would allow children to navigate fully onli

by Larry Ferlazzo / 25min 

The Best Resources For World Humanitarian Day

The United Nations has declared today to be World Humanitarian Day: World Humanitarian Day is a time to recognize those who face danger and adversity in order to help others. The day was designated by the General Assembly to coincide with the anniversary of the 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq. World Humanitarian Day is also an opportunity to celebrate the spirit t

by Larry Ferlazzo / 22min hide  //  save

How NOT To Make Public Policy Change Happen

© 2010 Sean MacEntee, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio I’ve written a lot about my perspective around making social change — much of which is informed by my nineteen year former career as a community organizer. You can see a collection of these posts at The Best Posts & Articles On Building Influence & Creating Change. Two recent articles bring me to this topic again today. The first one appeare

by Larry Ferlazzo / 22min 

Easily Create Your Own Fake Newspaper Front Page

One my most popular posts is about a tool called News Jack (see Easily Make Your Own Unique (& Fake) CNN, NY Times, Etc. Website With “News Jack”). Reader Uday Ogra tells me about a new similar site called Create News. Sites like these are engaging tools for students to write about historical and literary events, though I still wonder how they fit in with copyright laws….

by Larry Ferlazzo / 29min hide  //  save

Reminder: All Student Hand-Outs From My Student Motivation Book Available Free To Download

My two books on student motivation were published by Eye On Education, and older copies have a code you need to type on the Eye on Education website in order to access the many student figures in the book so they could be downloaded. Eye on Education was bought by Routledge, and I was pleased to see that they made all the all those figure freely available to everybody — whether you bought the bo

by Larry Ferlazzo / 29min 

Monday’s Tweets About #Ferguson #MichaelBrown

[View the story "Monday's Tweets About #Ferguson #MichaelBrown" on Storify]

by Larry Ferlazzo / 10h

8-18-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: “Thinking Like A Scientist Can Help Overcome Allure Of Appearances”© 2012 Bart Everson, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio As regular readers of this blog and my books know, I’m a big believer in inductive learning (see More Info On Why Inductive Learning Is So Effective and Is This The Most Important Research Study Of The Year? Ma

by mike simpson / 6h 

8-19-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

Commentary on Cavanagh Students - Campbell Brown and Mona Davids Wants Her Fired

You can have a conversation with Julie Cavanagh on any topic but nothing lights her up more than talking about her students, two of whom are heading off to college. Julie has taught special needs children and what a joy to see these kids break out of that mold. Read her email (Julie Cavanagh Former Students Head For College - Help Them Out) and head over to GoFundMe to help them out at Herkimer Co

by ed notes online / 52min 

UFT 101: Why Does Our Teachers Union Matter? - Weds Aug. 20, 4PM

Some of us in MORE are talking about a new teacher support group where we pair vets - especially retirees who might have the time - with newbies. (If you are a retiree or even currently teaching who might be interested, email me at normsco@gmail.com).I am somewhat surprised at how many people - and not just the usual suspects -- have been coming out to the summer series. There have even been a bun

by ed notes online / 1h hide  //  save

Arkansaw University Charter School Productivity Report -- Indefensible

An academic review finds the claims made by the report rest on shaky ground and suffer from multiple sources of invalidity, rendering the report useless. Nothing in the report provides any guidance for educators or policymakers ... Think Twice think tank review project of the National Education Policy Center (NEPC), with funding from the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice.Shoul

by ed notes online / 1h 

YESTERDAY

Why Parent Leaders Should Join Court Intervention in Support of Tenure

Some folks should take some time and school parents and leaders in the history of NYC and schools.  Political cronyism was rampant in NYC during the early part of the last centu

8-18-14 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online: Julie Cavanagh Former Students Head For College - Help Them OutDear Friends, Family and Colleagues:Two of my (in some cases for those receiving this, "our") former students are heading to college next week!  Sterling Baker and Devine Fludd attended PS 15 and I had the privilege to teach and learn with them for two years (and additionally have remained in each other's liv

by mike simpson / 8h 

8-19-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet:

Obama losing public support on education issues, new poll finds

  Anybody paying attention to the roiling education reform debate won’t be especially surprised by the results of a well-regarded annual poll: Support for President Obama on education issues is waning — with only 27 percent giving him an A or B — and a majority of the public saying they oppose the Common Core […]

by Valerie Strauss / 24min 

Strauss: Teacher raises nearly $80,000 to feed Ferguson kids who can’t get meals at shuttered schools

A teacher in North Carolina has raised nearly $80,000 to feed students from low-income families in Ferguson, Mo., who would ordinarily be getting free lunches at public schools in the St. Louis suburb but can’t because the start of the 2014-15 school year has been delayed twice as a result of civil unrest. Read full article >>

by Valerie Strauss / 6min 

Ferguson public schools won’t open this week as planned

Public schools in the Ferguson-Florissant School District in Missouri were supposed to open on Aug. 14 but did not as a result of the civil unrest sparked after a policeman shot and killed teenager Michael Brown on Aug. 9. The new date for the opening of the 2014-15 school year was supposed to be Monday, […]

6 by Valerie Strauss / 1h 

Poll: Common Core support among teachers plummets, with fewer than half supporting it

Anybody watching the escalating battle across the country over the Common Core State Standards and aligned standardized testing will hardly be surprised by a new national poll which reveals a significant loss of support over the last year — especially among teachers, whose approval rating dropped from 76 percent  in 2013 to only  46 percent […]

6 by Valerie Strauss / 10h 

8-18-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet: What’s the real purpose of educational benchmarking?“Benchmarking” is a word that is now everywhere in the world of education. There’s even a Center on International Education Benchmarking, a program of the National Center on Education and the Economy, which over 20 years has benchmarked the education systems of more than 20 countries in what is said to be an effort to […]by Valerie

by mike simpson / 7h 

8-19-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

Apartheid Schooling in New Jersey

Bob Braun's Ledger: on One NewarkI remember standing in line at the career fair at the New Jersey university where I received my Master of Arts in Teaching and certification to teach secondary history and social studies. The line at the Newark table was vacant. No one, not one person, was interested in starting a career in Newark New Jersey public schools. Despite financial incentives, jobs in New

by freetoteach / 10min 

Fox News Viewers at Socialist Health Clubs

I work out at a city-owned health club, where old men who hate government come in their white tennis shoes and walk on the new municipally-owned treadmills, while watching the babes on FoxNews hand out to them their morning doses of hate.  They walk, glower, and sour without apparent purpose other than to make their hearts harder as hard as their arteries. But yesterday I figured out how to get ol

by Jim Horn / 7min hide  //  save

More Bogus Research from UofArkansas's Walmart School of Ed Reform

What a shame that a great state university like Arkansas would allow billionaire bullshit "research" to sully its good name!NEPC has reviewed the recent charter school "research" study by Jay Greene and his team and found it severely lacking in most everything that research requires to be legitimate:BOULDER, CO (August 19, 2014) –A recent report from the University of Arkansas

by Jim Horn / 47min 

Workforce Investment Act Becomes $3 Billion Handout to Predatory "Colleges"

No bills get through Congress these days without an overwhelming amount of money to be made by both sides of the corporate aisle.  Such a bill sailed through last month without so much as racial slur at the President, something quite unheard of in the age of an ostensibly-black Commander in Chief.  The legislation is called the Workforce Investment Act, and it's worth $3.1 billion to corporate hig

by Jim Horn / 2min 

8-17-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter: Teaching is Not a Business!!!Teaching Is Not a BusinessBy DAVID L. KIRPAUG. 16, 2014PhotoCreditEleanor DavisContinue reading the main storyShare This PageTODAY’S education reformers believe that schools are broken and that business can supply the remedy. Some place their faith in the idea of competition. Others embrace disruptive innovation, mainly through online learning. Both cam

by mike simpson / 9h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Today's test question: Why do police wear camouflage?

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Today's test question: Why do police wear camouflage?:

Today's test question: Why do police wear camouflage?

WATCHING FROM CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Worst Media Coverage Ever Awardbelongs to CBS News for this morning's headline: Michael Brown Protests in Ferguson Hijacked by 'Criminals' : Cops. Unless by "criminals" the headline was meant to refer to the Ferguson PD.



As the violent and terrifying Ferguson siege by militarized police forces, heads into Day 10, I'm still awed by the courage, anger, and desperate resistance shown by the mostly-peaceful and disciplined community protests against overwhelming odds. More live (on MSNBC) late night images of courageous youngsters ducking and dancing their way past armored vehicles, through the barrage of rubber bullets and tear-gas canisters, even daring to pick them up and return them to their rightful owners, jar memories of Watts '65, Harlem '64, Prague '68, Chicago '68, Tienanmen '89, Tahrir Square '2013 and Gaza last month.



Yes, 10 days since the murder of Michael Brown by Officer Wilson and still no arrest. Still no charges filed. What we know for sure from the various autopsy reports is that Brown was shot 6 times (including once in the palm of his raised hand and one in the top of his skull) as he stood passively, hands in the air. How many more autopsy reports do we need to see and how many federal investigations do we need to take place before an arrest is even made and charges filed? The struggle continues. No justice, no peace!



CAUTION... Three of Ferguson's four public schools remain closed but that doesn't mean children aren't getting Civics lessons from street teachers after being Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Today's test question: Why do police wear camouflage?:

Water is to Cats As Common Core is to Moms. Opt Your Child Out. | Missouri Education Watchdog

Water is to Cats As Common Core is to Moms. Opt Your Child Out. | Missouri Education Watchdog:

Water is to Cats As Common Core is to Moms. Opt Your Child Out.

inShare

It took about four years before two dreaded words in the English language~Common Core~gained national attention by the media and politicians.  The reason?  Angry moms (and dads) started raising concern about the CCSSI at their school boards, with their legislators, state boards of education, state education agencies and were summarily ignored and/or ridiculed.  Questions were not answered and concerns were dismissed.

The education reformers/supporters  responded by attacking the citizens voicing their concern about the adoption and implementation of the standards.  Adults (who are compelled to pay for this reform) have been told by pro Common Coreites they are:

• Misinformed
• Right Wing nut jobs
• Obama haters
• Racists
• Not teachers so they have no right to complain or make suggestions
• Hysterical
• Ignorant and/or confused
• Bullies
• Worried for nothing: we’ve always had standards
• Stuck in the past

The Fordham Institute mistakenly believes that the marketing ploy needed to make this illegal reform more palatable should focus on emotional statements to parents.  Don’t you think the reformers have slung enough emotional vitriol onto parents by calling them names and marginalizing them?  Parents don’t want or need the reformers to talk down to them or wrap their message in a ‘gentler, kinder’ campaign.  It’s condescending and shows again how the reformers won’t discuss the facts about the Initiative.

Citizens want the truth about the process, transparency, cost, data retrieval and storage.  It might be too late for the reformers to save the Common Core States Initiative.  They should have realized that trying to drown moms and dads concerns only make them angrier and more Water is to Cats As Common Core is to Moms. Opt Your Child Out. | Missouri Education Watchdog:

8-19-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Ferguson Protests Highlight Link Between Growing Poverty and Militarized Policing

With A Brooklyn Accent:

Ferguson Protests Highlight Link Between Growing Poverty and Militarized Policing

The problems of America's poor have been "off the grid" for some time. Politicians of both parties reserve their concern for the middle class, fearing that any reference to poverty will destroy their electoral appeal. The one mass movement against social inequality we have had, Occupy Wall Street was predominantly white and college educated. But in a society where a majority of people ar

by Mark Naison / 3h 

8-18-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: What A Difference A Year Makes: The Evolution of BATS

With A Brooklyn Accent: What A Difference A Year Makes: The Evolution of BATSBATs is not the same group as it was a year ago. It is far more urban and multiracial and has changed its focus. It is now as concerned with school closings and school privatization as it is with testing and common core and with fending off attacks on teacher tenure and due process. It is also much more explicitly concern

by mike simpson / 7h