5-18-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University):

Free Reading Redux

A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. Franz Kafka, Letter to Oskar Pollak 1904 Paul Horton at Anthony Cody’s blog has offered a third installment of his defense of reading, recommending: David Mikics, a Professor of English at the University of Houston, has recently written a very good book on this issue, Slow Reading in a Hurried Age (2013). As reading and English teachers grappl

6 by plthomasedd / 48min 

Autonomy Must Precede Accountabilty

Nearly 2.5 years ago, I wrote directly about the essential flaw with the thirty-plus-years accountability movement in K-12 U.S. public education. That essential flaw is that accountability built on standards and high-stakes testing is a corruption of the concept of accountability—which may be better understood as “responsibility.” The corrupted “accountability” imposed on students, teachers, and s

11 by plthomasedd / 55min 

5-17-14 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 The Conversation: Racial segregation returns to US schools, 60 years after the Supreme Court banned itRacial segregation returns to US schools, 60 years after the Supreme Court banned it1 by plthomasedd / 1d hide  //  saveMAY 15My Speech to the Graduates: Don’t Listen to Graduation Sp

by mike simpson / 8h 

5-18-13 Curmudgucation Week

CURMUDGUCATION:

Serious People

Why is it that I'm so hard on some people I disagree with here and so gentle with others? Because I have a hard time taking people seriously when they aren't serious people.Certain positions in the current debates indicate clearly how serious a person is. I don't support the idea of national education standards; I think it's a bad idea, doomed to failure, that will not yield any of the benefits it

by Peter Greene / 1h 

5-17-13 Curmudgucation Week

CURMUDGUCATION:PA Charters Don't Want To Die By SwordIn Philadelphia, Irony has collided with Karma, casing an explosion of hilariously tragic tears.First, some history. Philadelphia schools have suffered from financial and political issues (PA's school funding system is messed up, but we'll save that for another day), as well as questions about how well it was actually teaching children. In the l

by mike simpson / 7h 

5-18-14 Wait What?

Wait What?:

  Wait What? 

Wendy Lecker and Diane Ravitch on the 60th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education

Diane Ravitch, the nation’s leading voice for public education explains, As segregation grows worse than it has been for decades, the problems are worsened by current “reforms.” School privatization intensifies segregation, high-stakes testing creates cause for closing struggling schools instead of helping students. As Wendy Lecker writes, there is a growing grassroots to prevent the […] The post

3 by jonpelto / 9min 

5-17-14 Wait What? All Week

Wait What?:  Wait What? All WeekKneecapped’ Malloy Has Only Himself to BlameLast night, Democratic Party leaders and delegates met to re-nominate Dannel “Dan” Malloy to run for a second term as Connecticut’s Governor. Having won by 6,400 out of more than 1.1 million votes cast four years ago, the most recent public opinion poll indicates that only 44 percent of Connecticut voters think Malloy dese

by mike simpson / 7h 

5-18-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

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

‘Help Students Be Organized By Being Organized Yourself’

‘Help Students Be Organized By Being Organized Yourself’ is Part Two in my Ed Week series on classroom organization. This post highlights the thoughts of two teachers — Debbie Diller and Leslie Blauman — as well as comments from readers. You might also be interested in Part One. Here are excerpts from today’s post:

by Larry Ferlazzo / 7min hide  //  save

New York 9/11 Museum Opens — Here Are Related Resources

President Obama spoke at the opening of the New York City 9/11 Museum, and it’s opening to the public this week. Here are some related resources I’m adding to my massive list, The Best Sites To Help Teach About 9/11: Here’s a photo gallery of the museum from the Boston Globe. The New York Times has several multimedia features: Obama Dedicates 9/11 Memorial Museum At 9/11 Museum Dedication, Remem

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 

TED-Ed Video: “What Is The World Wide Web?”

TED-ED has a new video (and accompanying lesson) on “What Is The World Wide Web?” I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About The Internet.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11min hide  //  save

YESTERDAY

“Quill” Could Be A Very Useful Tool For Reinforcing Grammar Concepts

Thanks to Richard Byrne, I recently learned about Quill. It provides well-done interactive exercises to reinforce grammar exercises and the real advantage is that you can create virtual classrooms to track student progress. And, it’s free. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Grammar Practice and to The Best Sites That Students Can Use Independently And Let Teachers Check On Progress. Here’s a vid

by Larry Ferlazzo / 7h 

Infographic: How Long Will Our Natural Resources Last?

I’m adding this infographic to The Best Interactives Showing How Long Our Non-Renewables Will Last: Explore more visuals like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.

by Larry Ferlazzo / 7h

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Week… 5-17-14 …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EF

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFLLARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE DAYTED Talks Starts A New Site, Though I’m Not Really Sure What It Is…TED Talks has just unveiled a new site called “Ideas.Ted.com”. Here’s how they describe it: ideas.TED.com is built to celebrate this: to track ideas that began decades ago and are now forging our current reality. And to foll

by mike simpson / 8h 

Happy 60th Birthday, Brown v. Board of Educaton! | Bill Ayers

Happy 60th Birthday, Brown v. Board of Educaton! | Bill Ayers:

Happy 60th Birthday, Brown v. Board of Educaton!

All children need to develop a sense of the unique capacity of human beings to shape and create reality in concert with conscious purposes and plans. This means that our schools—both within and way beyond the existing institutional spaces called “school”—need to be transformed to provide children ongoing opportunities to exercise their resourcefulness, to solve the real problems of their communities, to imagine and invent. Like all human beings, children and young people need to be of use—they cannot productively be treated as “objects” to be taught “subjects.” Their cognitive and emotional juices will flow if and when their hearts, heads and hands are engaged in improving their daily lives and their surroundings.

Education is always an arena of struggle as well as hope—struggle because it stirs in us the need to look at the world anew, to question what we have created, and to wonder what is worthwhile for human beings to know and experience; hope because we gesture toward the future, toward the impending, and toward the coming of the new. Education is where we ask how we might engage, enlarge, and change our lives, and it is, then, where we confront our dreams and fight out notions of the good life, where we try to comprehend, apprehend, or possibly even change the world. Education is contested space, a natural site of conflict—sometimes restrained, other times in full eruption—over questions of justice.

Let’s take a look backward to understand a bit of falseness: on October 26, 1992 the US Congress designated Monroe Elementary School, one of the segregated Black schools in Topeka, Kansas, a Happy 60th Birthday, Brown v. Board of Educaton! | Bill Ayers:

John Brown LIVES!!!

Last week we traveled to John Brown’s farm in the Adirondack mountains where we celebrated the Old Man’s birthday and his example to all of us of uncompromising and fierce resistance to slavery and white supremacy with the marvelous folks of JOHN BROWN LIVES! Greg Grandin, author of the dazzling The Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World gave a stunning talk, expandi

by billayers / 0min 

We All Play a Part | Connected Principals

We All Play a Part | Connected Principals:

We All Play a Part

by dkerr • May 18, 2014 • 0 Comments

So I received an email this past week from a former student of mine who wanted to check in and catch up. He’s just now finishing his degree in sports medicine, and at the end of the message he thanked me for playing a part in his success, and for helping him grow into the man that he has become. It was a beautiful and emotional letter, and it got me thinking about the part that we all play as educators in the lives of our students as they slowly grow into themselves. He wrote appreciatively about how the school had provided him with opportunities to shine, as well as avenues outside of the classroom to discover and develop his love of helping others and giving back to the community. He found his passion and his spark with the help of his teachers and the many school programs that were offered, and he eventually married the two things that he loved the most to find a vocation that he’s desperate to begin…and I wondered…isn’t that what education is all about?

Coincidentally, on the same day that I received his message, I opened up the latest Marshall Memo and I read an article written by Marc Prensky, where he discusses the true goal of education. Prensky writes that “the real goal of education, and of school, is becoming—becoming a “good” person and becoming a more capable person than when you started”. I thought about this statement carefully, and I have to say that I agree with it almost to a fault. I used this article to take stock of the opportunities and avenues that we are currently providing our own Middle School kids, and I have to say that I like where we are. Let’s look at the programs that we offer to our students, which will no doubt help them find their passions, and their sparks, and the road that will lead them to the person that they will eventually become. Programs like Model United Nations, the Global Issues Network, Math Counts, the National Junior Honor Society, our Leadership/Student Council, the Student Run Television initiative, our Outdoor Education Program, the creative writing club, our robust service learning program, our character education focus and advisory program, and all the rest. By providing meaningful opportunities for our students to discover their passions, and to find success, we are essentially helping them grow and discover and work to find their best selves…and “become” who’ll they’ll eventuaWe All Play a Part | Connected Principals:

Cursive Writing and Coding: Conflicts over School Goals (Part 1) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Cursive Writing and Coding: Conflicts over School Goals (Part 1) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Cursive Writing and Coding: Conflicts over School Goals (Part 1)

Schools as “museums of virtue”* and schools as engines of change have been dominant and conflicting metaphors in the history of school reform. In the mid-19th century, tax-supported public schools pursued Reading, ‘Riting, ‘Rithmetic–the three Rs. Basic literacy–being able to read the Bible, write one’s name, know elementary ciphering, and absorb family and community values–were the primary reasons for creating public schools. In a predominantly rural society, one-room schools sought to preserve the virtues of Protestantism, instill basic literacy, strengthen patriotism, and social custom through the three Rs.

One hundred and fifty years later, public schools are not only expected to instill the traditional three Rs and socialize children into dominant societal values but also expected to be responsible for the “whole child” and change society for the better. There has been an unrelenting expansion of traditional  three Rs to now include a suite of literacies:  scientific , numeracy, technological, and civic. The notion of schools as “museums of virtue” still exists but now competes with the idea that schools were (and are) engines of political, social, and economic changes that could (and should) transform the nation. That conflict can best be seen in the demise of cursive writing and the recent spread of K-12 students learning to code.

Goodbye Cursive

Recent articles (see here and here) have documented the slow death of a traditional subject in the elementary school curriculum for well over a century. Since the 1970s, teaching penmanship, usually in the second or third grades,Cursive Writing and Coding: Conflicts over School Goals (Part 1) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Why We Are Here: Evette Jones at the PCAPS Rallly Yesterday | WeArePCAPS

Why We Are Here: Evette Jones at the PCAPS Rallly Yesterday | WeArePCAPS:

Why We Are Here: Evette Jones at the PCAPS Rallly Yesterday

Posted on May 18, 2014by wearepcaps

Evette Jones, PFT staffer and PCAPS leader, at yesterday’s rally.   Also pictured here from right to left are Rev. Larry Patrick, PA-AFT President Ted Kirsch, PFT President Jerry Jordan and State Rep. James Roebuck

PFT’s Evette Jones

We are here today because 60 years ago the Supreme Court took a giant step forward in the long struggle for racial equality in our country. It struck down the separate but equal doctrine that was the legal foundation for Jim Crow schools in the South. It affirmed the principle that all children are entitled to a quality education.

We are here today because we know the promise of the Brown decision has not been kept. Both nationally and in our city we have witnessed decades of resistance to school desegregation and providing equality of opportunity for children of color.

We are here today because, under a 13 year regime of state control, we are seeing our schools reduced, in the words of Superintendent Hite, to empty shells without the resources that are essential to provide even the bare bones of an education. Our schools threaten to become the shame of the nation, as were the Jim Crow schools of the South in the years before Brown.

We are here today to make clear that we will not accept this outcome and will continue the fight to realize the promise of the Brown decision. We recognize that every gain that has been made in the fight for equality has come from the willingness of ordinary people toWhy We Are Here: Evette Jones at the PCAPS Rallly Yesterday | WeArePCAPS: 

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Week in Class: Week 33 Primary Documents

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Week in Class: Week 33 Primary Documents:

Week in Class: Week 33 Primary Documents

Since we’ve finished with our Language Arts text for the year, I’ve been trying to implement a “replacement” unit for Common Core featuring closed readings. The examples modeled centered on short stories or poetry, but I’ve opted to use primary documents. One of the best resources I’ve found is an older compilation of “essential” speeches, and writings edited by Diane Ravitch, called The American Reader. At this point many of you are probably horrified that I’m using a Ravitch text for Common Core. Perhaps even Dr. Ravitch is just as flabergasted.  Be that as it may, I here is what happened.

A bit of background. We’ve already studied about the abolitionists movement in the U.S. by watching the first episode of the PBS documentary The Abolitionists. We’ve discussed the issues as part of that. The lesson included John Brown’s “Last Statement to the Court” and the first page or so of Frederick Douglass’ “Independence Day Speech at Rochester”. I read them. They really seemed not to get the point. Brown’s text is pretty accessible, but the Douglass piece required me to stop and explain.

Then I finished showing the second half of The Abolitionists. Fortunately, we’d left off from our earlier viewing a few month’s back just at the point where Frederick Douglass is meeting with John Brown, who is trying to enlist Mr. Douglass’ assistance in what will become the Harper’s Ferry raid. We watched the video through the attempted raid, the arrest, conviction, and hanging of Brown, and Douglass’ flight to Canada to escape prosecution as an “accomplice”, and later finished with the civil war, emancipation, and reconstruction.

Common Core wants students to learn through a variety of media, including video resources, but I don’t get the sense that they really understand how this can best be done. The applicable standard seems to be CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.7 Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:

Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

First, video is not just visual information. What made this video work was the storytelling. Without the video, these text would have made littleReflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Week in Class: Week 33 Primary Documents: 

Jersey Jazzman: Another Day, Another "Miracle" Charter School Debunked

Jersey Jazzman: Another Day, Another "Miracle" Charter School Debunked:

Big Education Ape: 5-10-14 Jersey Jazzman NJ Ed News Round-up Jammin' All Week

Jersey Jazzman:Jersey Jazzman Jammin' All WeekWould Linda Brown's Parents Have Wanted a "Choice" District?This weekend is this 60th anniversary of Brown v Board of Education, the landmark case that ended separate but equal public schools. The case was originally brought against the Topeka, Kansas school board by Oliver Brown, the father of Linda, a third grader.Oliver had tried to enroll

by mike simpson / 7h 

Another Day, Another "Miracle" Charter School Debunked

Some of you who read this blog might think I've got something against charter schools. I really don't; I started my career in a charter. There are some good charters out there, and a few really excellent ones. We can even have a discussion about the similarities between urban families who enroll their children in charter schools and families who move to suburban schools to enroll their children in low-poverty public schools.

But here's the thing...

What really makes me freakin' bananas is when the press -- often abetted by the charter cheerleading class and charter school leaders themselves -- pushes yet another "miracle charter school" story that is based on nothing but half-truths, distortions, and (yes, let's just say it) outright lies.

Let's go to Trenton for the latest example:

The city’s public schools saw a graduation rate as low as 48 percent last year, but at one charter school this year, officials expect not only to graduate every 12th-grade student, but also to see all 17 go on to four-year colleges. 

“There’s no secret to what we do,” said Graig Weiss, intermediate school principal for Foundation Academies. “It’s really, really hard work. 

“We will not make any excuses for why our students do not and will not achieve, because we believe in setting high expectations for our kids, both behaviorally and academically. And when you set high expectations for kids, they absolutely rise to the challenge, and our students are proof of that, year

- See more at: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2014/05/another-day-another-miracle-charter.html#sthash.sVKoJPzX.dpuf

Lawyer For Teachers; Bryan Glass Attorney-at-Law southbronxschool.com

http://www.southbronxschool.com:

Lawyer For Teachers; Bryan Glass Attorney-at-Law

I should be writing about the contract and upcoming vote, but everyone else is, I'm in a contrarian

mood, and I have something to share.

Back in December I raised $665, less the 10% fee, through GoFundMe so I can put down a deposit on hiring an outside attorney. That turned out not to be quite enough for the lawyer, and we had to save and scrimp a little more through April until I finally retained the him.

In the last 2 months or so I have consulted, retained, and conferred with my attorney Bryan Glass as we prepare to take the NYCDOE, and others to federal court. For those that donated and/or sent me emotional support I apologize in not being more forthcoming and sharing more information.

There were several reasons for this. I wanted to keep things pretty close to the vest until I retained Bryan, the case it turned out is quite sensitive in nature and I couldn't share too many facts, and at one time we thought we might settle and I did not want to throw a monkey wrench into that. But now the gloves are in the process of being removed.

On another note, words alone cannot describe Bryan Glass. There are not enough superlatives I can think of to say how smart, intuitive, and caring as he is.

If you are a teacher in trouble, about to be in trouble, being harassed, being belittled, or anything, you need to call or email Bryan ASAP.

Bryan truly believes in what he is doing. Bryan is not in this fight for himself, but for the teacher that has no other place to turn, for the teachers that is being bullied, for the teacher that cries herself to work everyday, for the teacher who needs their feelings validated, for the teacher that feels helpless.http://www.southbronxschool.com:

National union leader leads rally for funding, against Brownback | CJOnline.com

National union leader leads rally for funding, against Brownback | CJOnline.com:

National union leader leads rally for funding, against Brownback

Visit from AFT's Weingarten takes political tone as unions blast Brownback, laud Davis

Posted: May 17, 2014 - 10:01am

THAD ALLTON/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Educators with the American Federation of Teachers and the Kansas National Education Association listened Saturday as American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten spoke on the south steps of the Kansas statehouse.

By Andy Marso

andy.marso@cjonline.com

Addressing a crowd of hundreds of teachers Saturday on the south steps of the Statehouse, Randi Weingarten thundered in a voice that belied her petite frame.

“We will not be silenced,” Weingarten said.

Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers and its 1.5 million members, visited Topeka for the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Board decision. 

Her group used the anniversary to muster opposition to Gov. Sam Brownback and the conservative-led Legislature, saying their policies are leading the state to greater educational inequality in contrast to the 1954 court decision.

Blue-shirted educators from AFT joined red-shirted members of the Kansas National Education Association in a march from the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic site to the Statehouse, where they rallied for more K-12 spending and protections for teachers.

Weingarten whipped up the crowd of several hundred by telling them Brown v. Board's legacy demands they fight those seeking to destabilize public education to promote private alternatives that will leave some children behind.

"There is a real attack on the institutions that remain a ladder of opportunity," Weingarten said.

House Minority Leader Paul Davis, Brownback's Democratic opponent, spoke at the rally.

Davis said Kansans "believe that we have a moral obligation to give our children the very best education possible" but current leadership is failing to fulfill that obligation.

"Right now we have a governor and we have far too many state legislators who see

National union leader leads rally for funding, against Brownback | CJOnline.com: