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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Big Education Ape: 3-29-11 Special AM Edition #WeAreWI #WIUnion #p2 #ASCD11

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now


as shared by 6 people on Coopmike48’s Twitter list
usatoday.com - By Jack Gillum and Marisol Bello, USA TODAY WASHINGTON — In just two years, Crosby S. Noyes Education Campus went from a school deemed in need of improvement to a place that the District of Columbi...

mikeklonsky
washingtonpost.com - Nearly all of us have taken bubble tests. We mark the spaces with a soft pencil. Occasionally we make a mistake, erase the mark and fill in the right bubble. On average we make no more than two or ...

mikeklonsky
huffingtonpost.com - Okay, you've won! Tenure has been abolished. There are no limits on charters, and vouchers are available to all takers. Collective bargaining is a thing of the past. The dreaded fire-breathing drag...

DianeRavitch
jsonline.com - March 29, 2011 | Students in Milwaukee's school choice program performed worse than or about the same as students in Milwaukee Public Schools in math and reading on the latest statewide test, accor...

DianeRavitch
education.ohio.com - By John Higgins Beacon Journal staff writerIn the coming debate over education policy in Ohio, the argument will probably be raised that we’ve been throwing tons of money at education and it doesn’...

DianeRavitch

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coopmike48 Catalyst Notebook :: Facilities task force to urge CPS officials to put off consolidations - http://goo.gl/COs785 minutes ago · reply

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coopmike48 Michigan college students protest higher education cuts at state Capitol | Lansing Journal | lansingstatejournal.com -http://goo.gl/xgJm04 minutes ago · reply

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coopmike48 Mansfield (OH) tea party guest incites debate on Islam, school policy - Democratic Underground -http://goo.gl/9KPebabout 1 minute ago · reply

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#edu Read this paper42 MORE ARTICLES
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Occupation Underway Now at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities « Student ActivismOccupation Underway Now at the University of Minnesota Twin Citiesby Angus JohnstonA morning rally at the Univer...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Do You Use An “Innovative Practice” With English Language Learners? | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...Do You Use An “Innovative Practice” With English Language Learners? The National Clearin...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - News | www.kochwatch.orgKoch Brothers Continue Their Canadian Takeover *-By Emma Pullman at DeSmogBlog* *March 27, 2011-* On Friday, the Canadian government fell to a vote of non-confidence. As Can...

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Media9

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Education123 MORE ARTICLES
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Daily Kos: thinking about retirement. . .thinking about retirement. . .by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)In less than two months I turn 65. In a normal world, and were I a normal person, I might wel...

coopmike48
latimesblogs.latimes.com - Editor Russ Stanton announced the following honors from the Scripps Howard National Journalism Awards: Jason Felch, Jason Song, Doug Smith, Sandra Poindexter and Ken Schwencke on Friday were named ...

leoniehaimson
techcrunch.com - Editor’s note: The following guest post is by bestselling author and former venture capitalist Peter Sims. His next book isLittle Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries. In hi...

leoniehaimson
Politics35 MORE ARTICLES
guardian.co.uk - Red Ed Miliband and Balls showed complete lack of judgement in attending a demonstration so steeped in falsehoods, lies, gross violence, anarchy and vandalism. Yesterday's demo proved how deceitful...

leoniehaimson
history.com - Mar 29, 1973: Two months after the signing of the Vietnam peace agreement, the last U.S. combat troops leave South Vietnam as Hanoi frees the remaining American prisoners of war held in North Vietn...

coopmike48
northjersey.com - MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Scott Walker's administration took steps Monday to adjust state workers' paychecks to reflect a new collective bargaining law, while the state Justice Department asked a court ...

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Art & Entertainment19 MORE ARTICLES
michaelklonsky.blogspot.com - Here's his value-added formula Want to know how L.A.'s incoming supt. John Deasy (the man from Gates) is going to sort good teachers from bad? How he's going to decide who get fired and who stays? ...

mikeklonsky
blog.angryasianman.com - Check out this weird-ass reading passage that was recently spotted in a third grade standardized (MAP) test in Missouri. In this educational essay, the author explains that rock-paper-scissors -- a...

coopmike48
blog.angryasianman.com - Writers! Time to put pen to parchment and prepare your submissions to Hyphen and the Asian American Writers' Workshop's 2011 Asian American Short Story Contest, a unique nationwide competition high...

coopmike48
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Living14 MORE ARTICLES
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Stop the Anti-Union “Auto-No!” Urge Congress to support fair union elections for workers! | Reverend Manny and the Twilight Empire - "the Secular, Humanist Revival"Stop the Anti-Union “Auto-No!” Ur...

coopmike48
uppitywis.org - Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's office just released this absurd statement, ratationalizing the unrationable:The LRB has the mandatory ministerial duty to publish laws within ten work...

coopmike48
defendwisconsin.org - Gov. Scott Walker’s administration is no longer collecting dues on behalf of state unions and as of Sunday began charging employees more for health care and their pensions, even though nonpartisan ...

coopmike48
Business6 MORE ARTICLES
gothamschools.org - by Philissa Cramer Schools are at the center of Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Cuomo’s budget deal squabbling. (WSJ, Post) Bloomberg says the budget requires layoffs; Cuomo says there’s actually a school...

coopmike48
womensenews.org - Right smack dab in the middle of Women's History Month we've been treated to the spectacle of Wisconsin's new GOP Gov. Scott Walker taking apart public-sector workers' bargaining rights and women's...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Japan business lobby gives OK to scrap corporate tax cut - Yahoo! NewsJapan business lobby gives OK to scrap corporate tax cutEmailPrintPlay VideoEarthquakes Video:Tsunami fears surge on US coast, ...

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grittv.org - Embed by admin was published on March 29th, 2011 "I do see flickers of hope, I see that there's an organic movement going on in Wisconsin, across the country," said Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, "It...

mikeklonsky
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - NYC Educator: The Uncoolest Cool Kid in SchoolThe Uncoolest Cool Kid in Schoolby Miss EyreI went to one of our school's baseball games recently to cheer on the team. A few of my students and a few ...

coopmike48
bluecheddar.wordpress.com - by bluecheddar Conservatives Leaning Against Persons of interest You probably heard. UW-Madison Professor William Cronon wrote about the right wing bill mill ALEC. Following he wrote this New York ...

coopmike48
#p2 Read this paper6 MORE ARTICLES
uppitywis.org - From WisPolitics.com ...-- Supreme Court Justice David Prosser warned Monday his defeat next week would “destroy judicial independence” in Wisconsin if the millions of dollars being spent to help h...

coopmike48
bluecheddar.wordpress.com - by bluecheddar This is a guest post: Wisconsin is part of a bigger battle. We know this is not just speculation because Gov. Walker’s candid conversation on the phone when he thought he was talking...

coopmike48
democurmudgeon.blogspot.com - I thought it was strange, after all the national media coverage regarding Scott Walker’s attack on middle class workers, that there were so few polls done here. Since March 4th. The wait is over:...

coopmike48

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Do You Use An “Innovative Practice” With English Language Learners? | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Do You Use An “Innovative Practice” With English Language Learners? | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...
Do You Use An “Innovative Practice” With English Language Learners? The National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition has announced the Innovations for English Learners series. Here’s how they describe it: *In this series, NCELA will highlight innovative practices from the field which show promise for ...
“News PaPair” News PaPair lets members summarize news stories and question and comment on them. It’s similar to Spotery and Brikut. All three are now on The Best Places Where Students Can Write For An “Authentic Audience” list.
You Can Now Use Posterous For Email Newsletters Posterous now lets you use their platform to send out free email newsletters. You can read how to do it at Read Write Web’s post, Using Posterous for Your Small Business Email Newsletters. I’m adding it to The Best Applications For Creating Free ...
Earth Day Resources Earth Day is coming-up on April 22nd, and I’ve just updated The Best Earth Day Sites. Additional suggestions are always welcome.
Which Neighborhood Is Better? One of my favorite lessons each year is one where our students compare our school neighborhood with the most wealthy section of Sacramento, the “Fabulous Forties.” I’ve written extensively about this lesson of highlighting assets instead of deficits ...
“Etch A Sketch art will amaze you” Etch A Sketch art will amaze you is a slideshow from CBS News of some pretty amazing art on Etch-A-Sketch. I’m adding it to The Best Examples Of “Unusual” Art.
“Hot Spot” Interview With An EFL Teacher In The Tunisian Revolution I recently began a new regular interview series. There are always lots of “hot spots” around the world — places where there are natural disasters, political upheavals, etc. And English teachers can be found in most of those places. If you are an ...
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Bill to impose cap on charters | Thoughts on Public Education

Bill to impose cap on charters | Thoughts on Public Education

Bill to impose cap on charters

Immediate moratorium in LA, Oakland Unified

Posted on 3/29/11 • Categorized as Charters

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

Charter school supporters didn’t have to worry much about severe restrictions on their operations becoming law over the past seven years – not with Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor. But they’re less certain now, with Jerry Brown in the corner office. Even though Brown founded two charter schools in Oakland, to get his budget passed, Brown is leaning heavily on teachers and classified employees unions that are pushing some of the bills that the charter community fears the most.

Near the top of the list is AB 401, which would put a lid on charter growth and immediately impose a moratorium in Los Angeles and other urban districts that have been the most welcoming to charter schools. Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco

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KOCH OUT AM News | www.kochwatch.org

News | www.kochwatch.org
Koch Brothers Continue Their Canadian Takeover *-By Emma Pullman at DeSmogBlog* *March 27, 2011-* On Friday, the Canadian government fell to a vote of non-confidence. As Canadians prepare to head to the polls for an early May election, the oily architects of the Tea Party, mega-funders of climate ...
Weekly Standard: The Paranoid Style in Liberal Politics *(Awww- Poor Koch Brothers! Poor little brutally oppressed billionaires!-CD) * *April 4, 2011-* David Koch’s secretary told him the news. This was in February, during the rowdy standoff between Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and demonstrators ...
Palm Beach Post: Gov. Rick Scott's drug testing policy stirs suspicion *March 26, 2011-* One of the more popular services at Solantic, the urgent care chain co-founded by Florida Gov. Rick Scott, is drug testing, according to Solantic CEO Karen Bowling. Given Solantic's role in that marketplace, critics are again asking ...
Seattle PI: The Koch brothers move north *March 25, 2011-* They’ve bankrolled the Tea Party movement in the U.S., and underwritten climate change skeptics, and now billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch are upping their involvements in Canada. Koch Industries is registering to lobby ...
Salon: Billionaire self-pity and the Koch brothers *-By Glenn Greenwald* *March 27, 2011-* Since the financial crisis of 2008, one of the most revealing spectacles has been the parade of financial elites who petulantly insist that they are the victims of societal hostility: political officials heap ...
TRIANGLE'S ECHOES: The Unfinished Struggle for Worker Protection, Safety and Health WATCH ON YOUTUBE:
Michigan Messenger: Jails may be privatized under Emergency Manager law Even private police could be considered *March 21, 2011-* In addition to allowing previously negotiated union contracts to be voided, Michigan’s new Emergency Manager law gives appointees the authority to privatize police services and jails. Indeed, ...
The Young Turks: Massive London Protests - U.S. Next? WATCH ON YOUTUBE:
NJ.Com: N.J. Turnpike toll collectors union files lawsuit to delay vote on privatization *March 24, 2011-* The union that represents toll collectors and other employees on the New Jersey Turnpike filed a lawsuit in federal court today asking a vote to privatize their jobs be delayed. Gov. Chris Christie has been pushing for privatization ...
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Stop the Anti-Union “Auto-No!” Urge Congress to support fair union elections for workers! | Reverend Manny and the Twilight Empire - "the Secular, Humanist Revival"

Stop the Anti-Union “Auto-No!” Urge Congress to support fair union elections for workers! | Reverend Manny and the Twilight Empire - "the Secular, Humanist Revival"

Stop the Anti-Union “Auto-No!” Urge Congress to support fair union elections for workers!

Reverend Manny on March 29, 2011 — Leave a Comment

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION

++++++++++++++++++++++

Anti-worker legislators are stealthily pushing a provision to count non-voters as “no” voters in union elections. It’s undemocratic, and it will make it incredibly difficult for railway and airline workers to form unions.

If these legislators are successful, it will result in widespread worker intimidation and fraud in union elections. It’s critical that we stop these politicians from turning the clock back on progress.

Write to your representative, and tell them to protect fair union elections >>


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State law could keep new textbooks out of classroom for 8 to 10 years | California Watch

State law could keep new textbooks out of classroom for 8 to 10 years | California Watch

State law could keep new textbooks out of classroom for 8 to 10 years

March 29, 2011 | Louis Freedberg

skynesher/istockphoto.com

The Obama administration hailed the adoption of national "common core" curriculum standards by California and more 40 other states as a "game changer" in the drive to make American children more competitive in the global marketplace.

But under current scenarios, California students won't have use of math textbooksaligned with the new standards until the 2019-20 school year, and won't have English language arts textbooks until 2021 at the earliest, said Tom Adams, director of the Curriculum Frameworks and Instructional Resources Division at the state education department. That will be years after President Obama leaves office, even if he is elected to a second term.

It would take that long to have new math and English language arts textbooks in K-8 grades, even if they weren't aligned to the "common core" curriculum standards. The

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Democurmudgeon: Republicans take Union Busting National...

Democurmudgeon: Republicans take Union Busting National...
Republicans take Union Busting National... Rachel Maddow on union busting for air and rail workers on a federal level. Of course Gov. Scott Walker in the instigator.
After 21 years Vouchers Do Worse, or in a few cases, the same as Public Schools. Hey, Let's give out more vouchers... Here's part of the story just posted at jsonline. It's bad news for vouchers, but that won't change the Walker administrations mind to expand the program with no taxpayer accountability or testing: *Students in Milwaukee's school choice program ...
Republicans Implement New Union Rules before Law takes Effect to Break Up Unions Now Why are the Republicans moving ahead with their plans even though the law is not official yet? Because they know the unions don’t have the time to hold the vote to continue representation. Not only that, employee paychecks will start contributing more ...
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Daily Kos: thinking about retirement. . .

Daily Kos: thinking about retirement. . .

thinking about retirement. . .

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

In less than two months I turn 65. In a normal world, and were I a normal person, I might well be ending my work career and moving on. But little is normal.

I am not eligible for full Social Security for another year.

Still, on Saturday I went to a pre-retirement conference sponsored by my school system to explore my options, among other reasons because of one thing - this year only, with our school system under extreme financial pressure, there is a possible one-time only $20,000 payment for highly paid teachers to retire. I needed to explore options to ensure I was making the best possible decision.

Yesterday when I returned home I had my retirement pay estimate from the state of Maryland teachers are part of the state retirement system, which is itself changing. To continue to earn the same benefits we will at a minimum have to contribute an additional 2% of our salary (it could be 3%) because the pension is underfunded - the state has not been making its employer's share of the pension obligation, which is what caused the shortfall. And since our pay in our system is frozen, that means our take-home pay will be decreases some, even as costs for things like health insurance go up.

I felt I had to consider all options. Among these were retiring from my current job and seeking other employment, either teaching elsewhere or doing other work, at least for a year until Social Security kicked in.

Except in a sense I had already decided. And the reasoning was not financial.

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Monday, March 28, 2011

Modern School: Why So Many Teachers Have Martyr Complexes

Modern School: Why So Many Teachers Have Martyr Complexes
Honduran Teachers Strike Honduras After the Coup (by codepinkhq) Three weeks into a teacher’s strike, Honduran President Porfirio Lobo is threatening to fire all teachers and dissolve their unions. The Associate Press reported that teachers who fail to show up to work today ...
Lowered Expectations: School Failure is the New Success (Image by Tinou Bao) In response to teacher concerns that school reform efforts were moving forward too quickly, without adequate discussion, analysis or teacher buy-in, an administrator suggested that it was okay to “fail forward.” The most ...
Why So Many Teachers Have Martyr Complexes Teacher Martyrs Before the Lion (Jean-Leon Gerome) In a recent posting I mentioned a colleague who said he was a “teacher first, and unionist second,” by which he meant that he would advocate for his kids and make decisions based on what he ...
Michigan: Crush the Unions and the Unemployed! Michigan Worker? (Image by AlexStaubo) Michigan has become the first state in the U.S. to cut unemployment benefits below the 26-week standard set by the federal government. Starting in January, 2012, unemployed workers will only be able to collect ...
LAUSD: Killing Student Enthusiasm With Value-Added Image by Gummo The *L.A. Times* reported today that Los Angeles school district leaders are “poised to plunge ahead with their own confidential 'value-added' ratings this spring, saying the approach is far more objective and accurate than any other ...
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NYC Educator: The Uncoolest Cool Kid in School

NYC Educator: The Uncoolest Cool Kid in School

The Uncoolest Cool Kid in School

by Miss Eyre
I went to one of our school's baseball games recently to cheer on the team. A few of my students and a few others I know slightly are playing, and I genuinely enjoy cheering them on. Shortly after I arrived and checked in with my colleagues to find out about the score, I looked, through the chain link fence, up and down the bench until I found Richie.

The kid I'll call Richie is the subject of this post, the Uncoolest Cool Kid in School. He's one of the kindest, gentlest most young men I've ever met. He's not exactly shy; I wouldn't quite say he keeps to himself. He just doesn't say more than is necessary in any given situation. And he's nice to everyone, even to kids who seem very different from him.

In a school in which most of the males strive to live up to a macho or at
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Faint | The Jose Vilson

Faint | The Jose Vilson

Faint

by Jose

Linkin Park, "Faint"

Energized from this past weekend’s trip to the Center for Teaching Quality (TeacherSolutions 2030 retreat), I focused all my energies on ensuring that my first and second period class of math would kick ass. My students showed tremendous gains in their transformations test they took the week before, and the last quiz they took on Thursday showed elements of strong understanding in inequalities. Today, I wanted to change my own energy a bit to demonstrate how much I appreciated their efforts.

For the most part, I didn’t think it was a terrible class. I got through the lesson in a reasonable amount of tim

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Occupation Underway Now at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities « Student Activism

Occupation Underway Now at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities « Student Activism

Occupation Underway Now at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities

by Angus Johnston

A morning rally at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities has turned into what organizers are calling an “open and soft occupation” of the university’s Social Sciences Tower.

“Students and community supporters,” a post on the group’s blog declared, “are outraged over soaring tuition, budget cuts, skyrocketing administrative salaries, mounting student debt, attacks on cultural diversity groups on campus, and blatant disregard for workers’ rights across the nation. In light of recent student and worker uprisings around the world, students in the Twin Cities are no longer willing to bear the burdens of the economic

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