This powerful TED Talk, in my humble opinion, is thought-provoking and profound. Listen to the talk by clicking on this link: http://www.ted.com/talks/anand_giridharadas_a_tale_of_two_americas_and_the_mini_mart_where_they_collided
The Promise of Public Schools: We Are in Danger of Losing It
Nicole Hannah-Jones, a staff writer for the New York Times magazine, aptly describes the perilous condition of public education, as the privatization movement moves in to kill public education. The very idea that schools should operate like businesses and that families are “consumers,” eats away at the promise of public education.
In the days leading up to and after Betsy DeVos’s confirmation as secretary of education, a hashtag spread across Twitter: #publicschoolproud. Parents and teachers tweeted photos of their kids studying, performing, eating lunch together. People of all races tweeted about how public schools changed them, saved them, helped them succeed. The hashtag and storytelling was a rebuttal to DeVos, who called traditional public schools a “dead end” and who bankrolled efforts to pass reforms in Michigan, her home state, that would funnel public funds in the form of vouchers into religious and privately operated schools and encouraged the proliferation…
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Blog Post on Layering Text
History is an important window for all students to view the world through. As a child, I learned about American history and ancient civilizations. I was not interested in history as a student until we began to learn about more contemporary events that occurred in the 20th century. As a fifth-grade teacher of social studies […]
The plan for American Education
Peter Greene actually is a plan to reconfigure American education. This is not humor or parody. The is not fake news. It is real. http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-hard-rights-planning-document-for.html?m=1 The religious right has waited a long time to put one of their own in charge of the Department of Education. Now they have succeeded. Now the plan begins.
via Peter Greene: The Hard Right Plan for American Education — Diane Ravitch’s blog
Reading Strategically
We own too many books. I’ve confessed this before, and it surprises no one. Don and I spend too much time sorting, culling, dusting, moving, and shelving books. Without constant maintenance, our book collection would take over our lives and home. We have tried to control our book hoarding tendencies, but it’s a losing battle. […]
via So Many Books, So Little Time: Tips for Reading Strategically by Donalyn Miller — Nerdy Book Club
Public School Advocacy
Bob Braun was a star investigative reporter in New Jersey. Now he is retire and blogs about the misdeeds and antics and corruption in his state. He is deeply knowledgeable about education. In this post, he wonders whether the allies of public education have the guts and the will to save their public schools from […]
via Bob Braun: Do Public School Advocates Have the Will to Save Their Schools? — Diane Ravitch’s blog
Teaching From the Archives
Introducing undergraduate students to the importance of archival research and materials by encouraging them to become citizen transcribers for the National Archives as part of their coursework
Lifelong Quest 