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Sunday, August 24, 2014

Nite Cap 8-24-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT



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 CAP



Schools in Ferguson Area Prepare for an Emotional Opening Day - NYTimes.com
Schools in Ferguson Area Prepare for an Emotional Opening Day - NYTimes.com: Schools in Ferguson Area Prepare for an Emotional Opening Day As schools in and around Ferguson, Mo., prepared to open, Tom Lawson, chairman of the social studies department of McCluer High School, planned to ask his students some very basic questions.“How are things going?” said Mr. Lawson, who teaches government to seni
8-24-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy
Wait What?: Wait What? All Week Pelto/Murphy 2014 Highlights and Lowlights of the Pelto/Murphy 2014 campaign continue to growKicked off by yesterday’s Wait, Wait? Blog post, the Hartford Courant’s Chris Keating wrote a news update entitled, “Breaking: Pelto Fears He Will Not Reach 7,500 Signatures To Get On Ballot.” Keating began his article with the following, In a potential political boost for G
Leonie Haimson, champion of student rights, speaks about the importance of class size | Living in Dialogue
Leonie Haimson, champion of student rights, speaks about the importance of class size | Living in Dialogue: Leonie Haimson, champion of student rights, speaks about the importance of class sizeLeonie Haimson, founder of Class Size Matters and champion of student rights, speaks at Occupy the Department of Education in 2013. Read about her recent work here.
Michael Brown | Seattle Education
Michael Brown | Seattle Education:Michael BrownJesse Hagopian is the editor and contributing author of the forthcoming book, More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing. Jesse teaches history and is the co-advisor for the Black Student Union at Garfield High School, the site of the historic boycott of the MAP standardized test.  Jesse is also an associate editor for Rethinking
Back-to-School? Classrooms by Walmart?: Feel Guilty About Shopping at Walmart | Cloaking Inequity
Back-to-School? Classrooms by Walmart?: Feel Guilty About Shopping at Walmart | Cloaking Inequity: Back-to-School? Classrooms by Walmart?: Feel Guilty About Shopping at WalmartHonestly, I felt guilty on the rare occasion that I shopped at Walmart. Yes I have shopped at Walmart. I didn’t want to, but sometimes at midnight I had no other choice when I needed emergency water for my Discus aquarium an
8-24-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Fix the omissionSomething's missing and we all know what it is.It's the unfulfilled commitment I have been requesting for over ten years. It's the hole at the heart of the district's dysfunction. It is the emptiness at the root of the complaints and protests about the Garfield rape case. It is what was absent from Director Peaslee's understanding of the protests an
8-24-14 Ed Notes Online
Ed Notes Online: UFT History in a Graphic: Caucuses from 1960-2014I just finished reading Barbara Tuchman's "Guns of August" about the first month of WWI. Almost every issue we face today can be related back to decisions and outcomes a hundred years ago and beyond that.We need to know some history of the UFT in order to fully understand things in context. I created this flow chart in att
Marie Corfield: The Ten Commandments of Public Education
Marie Corfield: The Ten Commandments of Public Education: The Ten Commandments of Public EducationI. Public schools are open to everyone. Thou shalt not call charter schools public because they aren't.Charter schools do not have elected boards that answer to the public Charter schools are not subject to the same laws and regulations as public schoolsCharter schools can and do cherry pick the best
The Answer Sheet 8-24-14
Answer Sheet: Next: #PayMyTuitionChallengeThere is no end to the ingenuity of Twitter users. After the success of the  #IceBucketChallenge on Twitter to raise awareness for ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord), some enterprising young people decided to challenge people, generally people they don’t know, to pay […
8-24-14 Schools Matter
Schools Matter: Bloomberg's Impoverished Poverty Eradication PlanSince finally leaving his New York mayor's throne to someone far less princely, Mike Bloomberg is spending his time jetting around the world playing big shot with his bags of cash and, like all bullies, an unhealthy disdain for anyone who disagrees with him. These days he claims to be all about giving away all his dough before he die
Building Better Teachers—-Mastering the craft demands time to collaborate—just what American schools don’t provide (Sara Mosle) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
Building Better Teachers—-Mastering the craft demands time to collaborate—just what American schools don’t provide (Sara Mosle) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Building Better Teachers—-Mastering the craft demands time to collaborate—just what American schools don’t provide (Sara Mosle)Sara Mosle, who teaches writing at Philip’s Academy Charter School in Newark, N.J., has wr
The Gates Foundation Education Reform Hype Machine and Bizarre Inequality Theory
The Gates Foundation Education Reform Hype Machine and Bizarre Inequality Theory: The Gates Foundation Education Reform Hype Machine and Bizarre Inequality TheorySunday, 24 August 2014 00:00By Adam Bessie and Dan Carino, Truthout | Graphic JournalismTruthout readers like you made this story possible. Can you help sustain our work with a tax-deductible donation?For a more immersive experience, read
Gene V Glass: Education in Two Worlds: One State Has the Courage to Stand for What It Believes
Gene V Glass: Education in Two Worlds: One State Has the Courage to Stand for What It Believes: One State Has the Courage to Stand for What It BelievesOn August 19th, the Vermont State Board of Education issued a remarkable document. Their "Statement and Resolution on Assessment and Accountability" is a remarkable document, and it is essential reading for educators and politicians in all
Peg with Pen: Parents, I Cannot Protect Your Children
Peg with Pen: Parents, I Cannot Protect Your Children: Parents, I Cannot Protect Your ChildrenI will do my best. But my best isn't good enough - and I think that is the point I really want to make it here. Across the nation teachers are fighting back hard. Across the nation teachers will shut their doors and do their best to protect children from high stakes testing, test prep, nonstop district an
Morning Wink 8-24-14 AM Posts #edchat #edreform
BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTSLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 8-24-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for allDiane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: David Sirota: Microsoft Admits Keeping $92 Billion Offshore to Reduce TaxesWriting in the International Business Times, investigative journalist David Sirota reports that Microsoft admits keepin
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 8-24-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: David Sirota: Microsoft Admits Keeping $92 Billion Offshore to Reduce TaxesWriting in the International Business Times, investigative journalist David Sirota reports that Microsoft admits keeping $92.9 billion offshore to avoid paying $29.6 billion in taxes, according to the most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Comm
8-24-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Friday & Sat. (2nd Wk) Tweets About #Ferguson #MichaelBrown[View the story "Friday & Sat. (2nd Wk) Tweets About #Ferguson #MichaelBrown" on Storify]by Larry Ferlazzo / 9h Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Week… 8-23-14 …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFLarry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL
8-24-14 Curmudgucation Week
CURMUDGUCATION: Objectivity Is a UnicornObjectivity is a unicorn. It's inspiring to believe in, pretty to create pictures of. Some folks love the idea of objectivity so much that they dress up horses or try their hand at photoshop. But at the end of the day, it doesn't actually exist.Nevertheless, we continue to enshrine the idea of objectivity in places where it does not exist. Writers have repea
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 8-24-14
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Voices from the field: The MiSiS CRISIS + smf’s 2¢The Associated Administrators of Los Angeles Weekly Update | Week of August 25, 2014 | http://bit.ly/1ojn9Go 21 August 2014  ::  On August 12, 2014, LAUSD opened the school year using a new student information system, MiSiS (My Integrated Student Information System). The result has been chaos at secondar
8-24-14 @ The Chalk Face
@ THE CHALK FACE: About the radio showJoin Drs. Shaun Johnson and Tim Slekar LIVE Sundays at 6PM EST and Wednesdays at 7PM EST on Blog Talk Radio for progressive, pro-public education talk radio. Call in to speak live with Tim and Shaun during the show, (805) 727-7111. You can also listen to our Monday "Sunday-Replay" at 7PM EST, and re-broadcasts of the archives every Tuesday and Thursd
8-24-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University)
the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University): Howard Zinn: “education cannot be neutral on the critical issues of our time”24 August 1922—Howard Zinn was born. His life and career spanned the twentieth century and into the first decade of the twenty-first. It is his memoir, You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A
8-24-14 Hemlock on the Rocks
Hemlock on the Rocks: Pictures Sent From PhotoPad by ZAGGby Rene Diedrich / 9h hide  //  save8-23-14 Hemlock on the RocksHemlock on the Rocks: “Reframing” California Common Core for a Better Public SaleWordPress.com deutsch29 posted: "The Frameworks Institute is a nonprofit dedicated to promoting the images of other nonprofits with the goal of hooking the publicby Rene Diedrich / 3h L.A. Now
empathyeducates – St. Louis Artists Respond To Ferguson With Chalk
empathyeducates – St. Louis Artists Respond To Ferguson With Chalk: St. Louis Artists Respond To Ferguson With ChalkWhat have we done to our children? We express distress over their education. All those tests, a standardized curriculum. Our schools are “failing,” or so some say and charter schools are scamming in countless ways. We try to opt outkindergarten. Before High School dependant on where
8-24-14 Perdido Street School
Perdido Street School: Daily News: Cuomo Not Much National Stature For White House RunFrom the Daily News: While Cuomo publicly dismisses talk of a candidacy, his people have hardly discouraged such speculation. A 2016 scenario goes like this: Hillary Clinton chooses not to run, blowing the Democratic field open. The problem for Cuomo, party activists and Democratic insiders say, is that he has do
The Privatizing Agenda of Survey-producing Education Next | deutsch29
The Privatizing Agenda of Survey-producing Education Next | deutsch29: The Privatizing Agenda of Survey-producing Education NextAugust 23, 2014In August 2014, Education Next released the results of its annual education poll.In a post on August 20, 2014, I wrote briefly on the EdNext survey findings specific to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).  I plan to examine the entire survey more closel
UTLA Bilingual Education Committee PSA: LAU V. NICHOLS
UTLA Bilingual Education Committee PSA: LAU V. NICHOLS: UTLA Bilingual Education Committee PSA: LAU V. NICHOLSAUGUST 24, 2014 BY ROBERT D. SKEELS * RDSATHENE LEAVE A COMMENT40th Anniversary of the Supreme Court Decision on Rights of Linguistic Minorities40th Anniversary of the Supreme Court Decision on Rights of Linguistic MinoritiesIn 1974, the attorneys for Kenny Lau and 1800 Chinese speaking st
Louisiana Educator: Should Teachers and Principals Join Professional Unions?
Louisiana Educator: Should Teachers and Principals Join Professional Unions?: Should Teachers and Principals Join Professional Unions?Most of the reformers of public education are very opposed to teacher unions. They blame teacher unions for being nothing more than obstructionists to what they consider to be needed school reform. Reformers believe that merit pay, no seniority, no tenure, zero inpu
Parent portals allow families to check up on their children's schoolwork, but some people worry they may be overused by obsessive parents. | UTSanDiego.com
Parent portals allow families to check up on their children's schoolwork, but some people worry they may be overused by obsessive parents. | UTSanDiego.com: Parent portals: helping or hovering?Families love convenience of technology, but some wonder if it goes too farKatie Anderson checks the grades of her son Michael (in desk photo) by logging onto Oceanside Unified School District's parent porta
Supporting Teacher Tenure
Supporting Teacher Tenure: Teacher Tenure: Yes!BY ROBIN LAKOFFShare on facebookShare on twitterShare on emailShare on pinterest_shareMore Sharing Services1In his New York Times op-ed of August 19, Frank Bruni has become only the latest in a long line of authoritative people to denounce teacher tenure. By so doing, Bruni enters the race to become my least favorite Times columnist, against the stiff
solidaridad - Marshall Tuck's staunchest supporters are unabashed Ayn Rand votaries
solidaridad: UTLA Bilingual Education Committee PSA: LAU V. NICHOLS40th Anniversary of the Supreme Court Decision on Rights of Linguistic Minorities by Robert D. Skeels 40th Anniversary of the Supreme Court Decision on Rights of Linguistic Minorities In 1974, the attorneys for Kenny Lau and 1800 Chinese speaking students sued the San Francisco School District on the grounds that these students wer
The Public Eye: Schools pay search firms to find superintendent candidates - Our Region - The Sacramento Bee
The Public Eye: Schools pay search firms to find superintendent candidates - Our Region - The Sacramento Bee: The Public Eye: Schools pay search firms to find superintendent candidatesBy Diana Lambertdlambert@sacbee.comPublished: Saturday, Aug. 23, 2014 - 9:54 pmLast Modified: Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014 - 12:03 amFinding a new school district superintendent can be an arduous and expensive process.Distr

YESTERDAY

NYC Educator: UFT Unity Caucus Adopts New Slogan, Aims to Rival Starbucks for World Domination
NYC Educator: UFT Unity Caucus Adopts New Slogan, Aims to Rival Starbucks for World Domination: UFT Unity Caucus Adopts New Slogan, Aims to Rival Starbucks for World DominationBREAKING--Since UFT President Mike Mulgrew's momentous speech at the AFT convention, UFT-Unity has been reinvigorated and is looking to expand. For fifty years it has dominated the UFT, controlling every office and insisting
Are Common Core Standards Actually Data Tags? | Peter Greene
Are Common Core Standards Actually Data Tags? | Peter Greene: Are Common Core Standards Actually Data Tags?Posted: 05/18/2014 6:13 pm EDT Updated: 07/18/2014 5:59 am EDT Don't think of them as standards. Think of them as tags.Think of them as the pedagogical equivalent of people's names on Facebook, the tags you attach to each and every photo that you upload.We know from our friends at Knewton wha
NYS Common Core Tests Expect More From Students Than The Questions Require | lacetothetop
NYS Common Core Tests Expect More From Students Than The Questions Require | lacetothetop: NYS Common Core Tests Expect More From Students Than The Questions Require If you ask 8 year olds how two things are similar and different, most will respond in a few sentences.  When NYS asks 8 year olds how two things are similar and different they expect students to respond with a well constructed essay t
Calling all White People! | Bill Ayers
Calling all White People! | Bill Ayers:Calling all White People!Hello White People!Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager, was killed by a cop in Ferguson, MO—the serial killing of Black people goes mostly unreported or is deemed worthy only of a second section mention in a local paper, but it’s as steady and real as lynching was 100 years ago—and Black people overwhelmingly responded everywhere
Focus On The Children – What We Do for Them And to Them
Focus On The Children – What We Do for Them And to Them: Focus On The Children – What We Do for Them And to Themby EDWARDBERGER on AUGUST 23, 2014Many communities are fighting to save their public schools. When the administrators and elected board members interface with their communities to pass bond issues or stop the drain of students pulled away by partial schools, they assume everyone knows th
8-23-14 Saturday Matinée Double Feature "Little Bo Peep and Her GMO Sheep and Real Democrats Don't" News Breakout
Saturday Matinée Special Double FeatureNews BreakoutLittle Bo Peep and Her GMO Sheep ANDReal Democrats Don'tHey, Mr. Mayor–face down Christie’s gangbangers! | Bob Braun's LedgerHey, Mr. Mayor–face down Christie’s gangbangers! | Bob Braun's Ledger: Hey, Mr. Mayor–face down Christie’s gangbangers!Mr. Mayor–be the loud voice for kidsNewark Mayor Ras Baraka got a lot of media attention Friday when he





Schools in Ferguson Area Prepare for an Emotional Opening Day - NYTimes.com

Schools in Ferguson Area Prepare for an Emotional Opening Day - NYTimes.com:



Schools in Ferguson Area Prepare for an Emotional Opening Day



Michael Brown


 As schools in and around Ferguson, Mo., prepared to open, Tom Lawson, chairman of the social studies department of McCluer High School, planned to ask his students some very basic questions.



“How are things going?” said Mr. Lawson, who teaches government to seniors. “What is there that I can do for you?”



Those innocent-seeming questions, typical for any first day of school, will carry special freight given the extraordinary local events of the last two weeks, when the shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer triggered nights of protests and severe law enforcement response in Ferguson.



The school year in Ferguson was scheduled to begin on Aug. 14, but the opening was delayed because of the unrest that followed the killing of Michael Brown five days earlier. Public schools will open on Monday, and teachers and administrators in the Ferguson-Florissant School District are eager to establish some sense of normalcy.



At University City High School, in a nearby district that opened on schedule, April Pezzolla, a sociology and government teacher, said she had invited students to conduct a free-ranging discussion on the first day of school earlier this month. “They were able to deconstruct the issues in terms of looking at things like poverty, education, the militarization of the police department and the perception around the country and the world that St. Louis was in turmoil,” she said.



Ms. Pezzolla, who has taught for 12 years at the school — where more than 90 percent of the students are African-American — said, “I have never been prouder to be a teacher than this past week.”



By contrast, a district across the state line in Illinois was reported to have asked teachers to “change the subject” if the events in Ferguson came up in class. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the principal of Edwardsville High School in Illinois had sent a memo to the staff saying that discussions of the protests “have caused students and parents to lash out, which is not healthy.” A spokeswoman for the school referred questions to the school district. Ed Hightower, the superintendent, did not return a call seeking comment.



In Ferguson itself, educators expect to talk extensively with the district’s 11,000 students about the turmoil in their town. Many of their students live in the apartment complex that was home to Mr. Brown; Mr. Lawson, the social studies teacher, said some of them probably had known him personally.



On Thursday, all 2,000 district staff members, including teachers, administrators, office staff members, security personnel and bus drivers, attended a training session on how to identify signs of stress in children. Counselors from the University of Missouri and local nonprofit groups came Schools in Ferguson Area Prepare for an Emotional Opening Day - NYTimes.com:

8-24-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy

Wait What?:



Wait What? All Week




Highlights and Lowlights of the Pelto/Murphy 2014 campaign continue to grow

Kicked off by yesterday’s Wait, Wait? Blog post, the Hartford Courant’s Chris Keating wrote a news update entitled, “Breaking: Pelto Fears He Will Not Reach 7,500 Signatures To Get On Ballot.” Keating began his article with the following, In a potential political boost for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, liberal Democrat Jonathan Pelto told The Hartford […] The post Highlights and Lowlights of the Pelto/Mu


8-23-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy
Wait What?:  Wait What? All Week Pelto/Murphy 2014 Teacher “wins” appointment to State Board of EducationCongratulations to Erin Bernham, a Meriden teacher on her appointment to the State Board of Education! It is great news that a teacher will be added to counter-balance the cadre of corporate education reform industry advocates who have spent the last four years undermining public education. In

Leonie Haimson, champion of student rights, speaks about the importance of class size | Living in Dialogue

Leonie Haimson, champion of student rights, speaks about the importance of class size | Living in Dialogue:



Leonie Haimson, champion of student rights, speaks about the importance of class size



Leonie Haimson, founder of Class Size Matters and champion of student rights, speaks at Occupy the Department of Education in 2013. Read about her recent work here.









Michael Brown | Seattle Education

Michael Brown | Seattle Education:

Michael Brown

Jesse Hagopian is the editor and contributing author of the forthcoming book, More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing. Jesse teaches history and is the co-advisor for the Black Student Union at Garfield High School, the site of the historic boycott of the MAP standardized test.  Jesse is also an associate editor for Rethinking Schools magazine, a founding member of Social Equality Educators (SEE), and recipient of the 2013 “Secondary School Teacher of Year” award from the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences. The following post was originally published on his blog I am an Educator.
This is a test
“We were at graduation, me and him, and we were talking. He said he wasn’t going to end up like some people on the streets. He was going to get an education.”
Hershel Johnson, a friend Michael Brown’s since middle school.
MikeBrown_CapGown In the wake of the police murder of the unarmed 18-year-old African American high school graduate Michael Brown, and the ensuing uprising of the people of Ferguson, the Ferguson-Florissant School District announced classes would not resume for the school year on Aug. 14 as planned, and as of today, school is still not in session.
The unrest between police and protesters prompted Gov. Jay Nixon (D) to declare a state of emergency in Ferguson and then impose a curfew. Comedian John Oliver described Gov. Nixon’s curfew announcement as “patronizing,” and charged him with speaking in the tone of a “pissed-off vice principal” attempting to further restrict the freedom of the people of Ferguson. Oliver’s school analogy may have been prompted by Nixon’s statement that,
“…to protect the people and property of Ferguson today, I signed an order declaring a state of emergency and ordering implementation of a curfew in the impacted area of Michael Brown | Seattle Education:

Back-to-School? Classrooms by Walmart?: Feel Guilty About Shopping at Walmart | Cloaking Inequity

Back-to-School? Classrooms by Walmart?: Feel Guilty About Shopping at Walmart | Cloaking Inequity:



Back-to-School? Classrooms by Walmart?: Feel Guilty About Shopping at Walmart

bgl7i
Honestly, I felt guilty on the rare occasion that I shopped at Walmart. Yes I have shopped at Walmart. I didn’t want to, but sometimes at midnight I had no other choice when I needed emergency water for my Discus aquarium and spaghetti sauce. Walmart politics are of course objectionable to me, but they litter the Texas landscape— they are inescapable. One of the surprises about my move to California is that I haven’t even seen a Walmart in Sacramento yet. Of course they exist, but in Texas you can’t spit without hitting a Walmart.
Screen Shot 2014-08-24 at 9.16.06 AM
Walmart’s issues have been well documented. For example, the PBS documentary Store Wars included the following:
Wal-Mart employs more people than any other company in the United States outside of the Federal government, yet the majority of its employees with children live below the poverty line. “Buy American” banners are prominently placed throughout its stores; however, the majority of its goods are made outside the U.S. and often in sweatshops.
The sentiment behind Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton’s promise of a “better life for all” belies questionable business practices – many that have been challenged by employees, unions, environmentalists, recording artists and human rights organizations.
Forbes magazine, polling business executives (not employees) has ranked Wal-Mart among the best 100 corporations to work for. Yet the employees on average take home pay of under $250 a week. The salary for full-time employees (called “associates”) is $6 to $7.50 an hour for 28-40 hours a week, which is typical in the discount retail industry. This pay scale places employees with families below the poverty line, with the majority of employees’ children qualifying for free lunch at school. When closely 
Back-to-School? Classrooms by Walmart?: Feel Guilty About Shopping at Walmart | Cloaking Inequity: