An Educator's Guide to Twitter

I am newly intrigued by Twitter, slowly figuring it out, dipping my toes in, but not yet ready to jump. This is an excellent guide if your interested in getting started: An Educator's Guide to Twitter

WashPo Answer Sheet - The unusual next season of ‘Survivor’

Fantasy Revenge!


The unusual next season of ‘Survivor’: "Here is a dream write-up of the next season of the television show ‘Survivor’ that just about every public school teacher in the United States would love to watch."

WashPo Answer Sheet - How test scores are used as a political prop

On the fact cherry-picking "reformers" and their continuing hypocrisy...

How test scores are used as a political prop: "Politicians have long used funding to mandate policy–often with little logic (consider the use of highway funds to force raising the drinking age to 21 under Ronald Reagan). This is happening with abandon in education, as policymakers ignore evidence as they insist on ‘reform.’"

WashPo Answer Sheet - Ironic extremes: Lauding and bashing teachers

This will make you angry...


Ironic extremes: Lauding and bashing teachers: "How’s this for ironic extreme: An international conference is underway in New York about how to elevate the teaching profession, while, in Florida, a new law is about be put on the books that will go a long way to making sure nobody wants to be a public school teacher."

Ferlazzo: “The Books Everyone Must Read”

"The Guardian newspaper created a great word cloud infographic showing The Books Everyone Must Read.  They used “the results of over 15 notable book polls, readers surveys and top 100’s.” It’s definitely worth a look…"

NCTE Inbox - Writing Conferences

A Look at Conferencing 
For more ideas on conferencing in online environments, take a look at Preparing Educators for Online Writing Instruction: Principles and Processes. Beth Hewett and Christa Ehmann show how instructors can engage students in productive conversations about their writing with or without face-to-face contact. See also "Online Writing Instruction: No Longer a Novelty" from NCTE's Council Chronicle.

The following resources from NCTE and ReadWriteThink.org provide more tips and strategies for conferencing with students.

The Council Chronicle article “Formative Assessment: Helping Students Grow” (G) shares how teachers can measure how well their students are learning by implementing and responding to class discussions, quick writes, reader response journals, quizzes, and writing conferences.

"Conferring in the Writing Workshop" (E), a themed issue of School Talk, highlights advice from four experienced teachers of writing -- Ralph Fletcher, Carl Anderson, Joanne Hindley Salch, and Marianne Marino. They share responses that can be given to student writers in the classroom which have been found to enable students to stretch their ability as writers.

Two teachers reflect on their combined experiences in teaching middle school, teaching preservice teachers, and teaching online in order to adapt and apply strategies for bringing positive experiences in a computer-based environment to middle grade students in the Voices from the Middle article, “Lessons Learned from Integrating Technology in a Writer’s Workshop” (M). The result is five valuable lessons, each of which is explained theoretically and described practically through a writers’ workshop example, where teachers conference with their students.

The approach to conferencing and feedback outlined in the Classroom Notes Plus article “Reworking Conferencing for More Effective Writing Feedback” (S) draws upon some basic structures that exist in most writing workshop classrooms at both high school and college levels. But a few important adaptations improve the effectiveness of teacher feedback and student uptake of that feedback.

Teaching students how to talk about their writing and responses to other students’ writing may be key in improving their writing skills. In “Thank You for Sharing: Developing Students’ Social Skills to Improve Peer Writing Conferences” (S) from English Journal, the author suggests several activities that can help. The examples here show how students can conference with each other.

NYTimes Op-Ed Contributor: Let Kids Rule the School

Let kids be in charce of their own learning and curriculum?
Op-Ed Contributor: Let Kids Rule the School: "Eight teens were given the chance to create their own curriculum, and the results have been transformative."

NYTimes: Essay: No Face, but Plants Like Life Too

Is it more "right" to kill and eat plants than it is to kill and eat animals? Essay: No Face, but Plants Like Life Too: "Vegetable behavior, and other ruminations on what we kill so we can eat. "

Sitomer: My blog was hacked!

My blog was hacked!: "Hi, my name is Whit Little and I have hacked Alan's blog today to talk to you about this most important of seasons.

The season of data.

See, as we all know it's coming up on testing time and in my role as the DDVP (Data-Driven Vice Principal) I want to make sure that you are properly placing all of your energy into the singularly most important area of a child's education: their standardized test scores.

• Are your students prepared for the tests?
• Have you pre-tested the test material in order to make sure that your students are test ready?
• Have you generated data which can give an indication as to the data that will ultimately be generated from your students' test data?
• Have you had the requisite amount of conversations about the importance of these tests to your students? (i.e. Twice a day on M,T,F and and three times per day on Tu, Th as per Ed Code Section 6ZL9TH.90L87M-B)
• Has your faculty engaged in enough meetings about the importance about upcoming tests?
• Have you done your 'How to properly administer this test' workshop? (And don't give me any of that, 'But I've done this for years, why must I attend the same ol' meeting yet again?' nonsense. It shows a lack of respect for the tests and of the importance of the data that these tests will generate.)

This time of year is no joke and we hope you understand the gravity of these tests. Please report all suspicious peers who display a cavalier attitude about the importance of these tests - or the data - to me, Whit Little. (You can just leave a comment below.)

And if you think it's unethical for me to hack into Alan's blog in order to relay the importance of the upcoming tests, might I remind you that the powers being granted to me, the DDVP, are currently growing in scale and scope to an unprecedented level.

Rightfully so, too. It's a new era and this is but one of many changes to come in the near future so get over yourselves.

And yes, there will be a test.

"

WashPo - Ravitch: Jon Stewart and other education heroes

Ravitch: Jon Stewart and other education heroes: "This was written by education historian Diane Ravitch for her Bridging Differences blog, which she co-authors with Deborah Meier on the Education Week website. Ravitch and Meier exchange letters about what matters most in education. Ravitch, a research professor at New York University, is the author of the bestselling “The Death and Life of the Great American School System,” an important critique of the flaws in the modern school reform movement."

Huffington Post - Sam Chaltain: Time for Obama to Become Our Teacher-in-Chief

Sam Chaltain: Time for Obama to Become Our Teacher-in-Chief: "On March 4, during an appearance in Miami with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, President Obama announced he will spend the month of March conducting a listening tour across the country, and 'talking to parents and students and educators about what we need to do to achieve reform, promote responsibility, and deliver results when it comes to education.'

I think it's a great idea -- and the clock is ticking. So without further delay, I'd like to recommend three core questions Mr. Obama should ask at every stop:
1. What do we know about how people learn -- and how can we apply that wisdom to education policies and practices?
2. What does the ideal learning environment actually look like -- and how can we create more such places for kids, both in and out of school?
3. What other metrics of success can we use to gauge student learning -- and how can we apply them in ways that will continually improve both our schools and our teaching?

Washington Post Answer Sheet: The ed report that all 'reformers' should read

The ed report that all 'reformers' should read: "Here are two take-away messages for school reformers around the country that are embedded in an important new report about how the D.C. public school system is faring under the 2007 law that gave the mayor control. * The standardized test scores that have been trumpeted to show improvement in the schools cannot legitimately be used to show progress in student learning. This is true, the report says, not only for D.C. schools but for any and all other school systems that use standardized tests as a measure of achievement."

NYTimes: Bipartisan Group Backs Common School Curriculum

Bipartisan Group Backs Common School Curriculum: "The proposal goes beyond the common academic standards in English and mathematics that about 40 states adopted last year, by providing specific guidelines about what should be taught in each grade."

Ferlazzo: A “Round-Up” Of Recent Posts, Videos & Articles On School Reform & Union Issues

A “Round-Up” Of Recent Posts, Videos & Articles On School Reform & Union Issues: "There have been quite a few good and useful posts and articles on school reform issues over the past few days. Here they are, along with links to “The Best…” lists I’m adding them to:

* There have been some good posts challenging comments by some “school reformers” that the experience of having many years in the classroom is over-rated. They say that after the first few years, it has no impact on student achievement. Here are some posts rebutting that claim:
The Teaching Experience at the Shanker Blog
Teaching experience matters! is from NYC Public School Parents
Firing Teachers with Due Process is a good piece from Forbes that rebuts a different claim — that it takes many years to get rid of a bad teacher.
I’m adding those posts to The Best Articles For Helping To Understand Both Why Teacher Tenure Is Important & The Reasons Behind Seniority-Based Layoffs.

* I’m embedding this “must-watch” thirty minute video of a talk by one of my favorite education writers and researchers, Richard Rothstein. Here’s how the Education Testing Service describes it:
Rothstein, a former New York Times national education columnist, discusses the false narrative about public education — especially urban schools — that currently exists. Rothstein maintains that many education reform proposals, especially those that focus on teacher accountability, are based on a misinterpretation and misuse of data. He stresses the direct correlation between poverty and educational failure.
Rothstein makes many important points but, because of some of the key ones he makes, I’m adding the video to The Best Places To Learn What Impact A Teacher & Outside Factors Have On Student Achievement.

* Teach for America 20th Anniversary Alumni Summit: Conclusions, Questions, and other Ruminations comes from Education Notes Online, and I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles Raising Concerns About Teach For America.

* The relationship between education spending and test scores is an important piece that I’m adding to The Best Sites For Learning That Money Does Matter For Schools.

* The “three great teachers in a row” myth is a piece by Valerie Strauss at The Washington Post. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The “Value-Added” Approach Towards Teacher Evaluation.

* Why politicians should spend time at school is another piece from Valerie Strauss’ blog. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Effective Student & Teacher Assessments.

* Here are some useful pieces related to what’s going on in Wisconsin, and that I’m adding to The Best Resources For Learning About Attacks On Teachers & Other Public Sector Workers In Wisconsin:

Unions Hope States’ Attacks Nurture a Comeback comes from The New York Times.
Both Sides Begin Efforts for Recalls in Wisconsin is also from The New York Times.
How To Make A Misleading Public/Private Earnings Gap Disappear is from The Shanker Blog.
The Budget: Who’s Really to Blame? is a cartoon from The Atlantic."

The Learning Network: Briefly Noted: Practicing Useful Annotation Strategies

The Learning Network: Briefly Noted: Practicing Useful Annotation Strategies: "Lesson Plan | Practicing note-taking methods and reflecting on the value of marginalia."

NYTimes On Education: Evaluating New York Teachers, Perhaps the Numbers Do Lie

On Education: Evaluating New York Teachers, Perhaps the Numbers Do Lie: "A teacher in Manhattan earns effusive praise from her principal, colleagues and students. But the school system’s formula pan her performance?"

NYTimes "Room For Debate" Blog: Why Blame the Teachers?

Why Blame the Teachers?: "Across America, teachers have become the targets of criticism and budget cuts. Do they deserve it? "

The Learning Network: One Size Fits All? Reflecting on the Role of Government

The Learning Network: One Size Fits All? Reflecting on the Role of Government: "Lesson Plan | Nine different activities for considering the role of government and political ideology."

The Learning Network: Of Budgets and Bargaining: Putting the Union Protests Into Context

The Learning Network: Of Budgets and Bargaining: Putting the Union Protests Into Context: "Lesson Plan | Activities for learning about the current protests over state budgets and unions."

The Learning Network: More Great 'Read-Alouds' From The New York Times

The Learning Network: More Great 'Read-Alouds' From The New York Times: "We've updated last year's popular list of short, engaging Times pieces to read aloud in honor of the March 9 observance of World Read-Aloud Day."

NYTimes: Teachers Wonder, Why the Scorn?

Teachers Wonder, Why the Scorn?: "Many teachers see demands to cut their pay, benefits and say in how schools are run as attacks not just on their livelihoods, but on their value. "

Ferlazzo: The Best Posts Responding To Bill Gates’ Appallingly Clueless Op-Ed Piece

"Readers of this blog are familiar with the op-ed piece that Bill Gates wrote for the Washington Post this week where he said class size should be increased that teachers haven't gotten any better over the years (unlike other professions). Believe me, those are just the tip of the iceberg. He also made a similar presentation to a meeting of U.S. Governors this week.

There have been a number of excellent responses to Gates over the past twenty-four hours from...educators.

Here are my choices for The Best Posts Responding To Bill Gates' Appallingly Clueless Op-Ed Piece:

Though I wouldn't say mine are the best of the bunch, you might want to check out The Arrogance Of Bill Gates — Part Three and A Perfect Cartoon For Bill Gates.

Who Elected Bill Gates? is from Gary Stager.

Smart Guy (Gates) makes my list of “Dumbest Stuff I’ve Ever Read!” is from School Finance 101.

Can We Improve Education By Increasing Class Size? comes from GOOD.

An Open Letter to Bill Gates: Higher Class Sizes will Drive Teachers Out by Anthony Cody at Ed Week.

Expert Witness comes from Nancy Flanagan at Ed Week.

A partial response to Bill Gates’ op ed about teachers is by Ken Bernstein.

The Bill Gates problem in school reform is by Paul Thomas."

Huff Post: Matt Damon Calls Out President Obama, Education Policy

"This is not the man he voted for. Matt Damon sat down with Piers Morgan for an interview that will air Thursday night, and among other things, talked about his feelings on the first two years of President Obama's administration. During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Damon was a vocal Obama supporter, campaigning for the then-candidate at rallies, promoting him through a MoveOn video contest and attending fundraisers for him.

Now, he's not so enthused about Obama. When asked if he was happy with the way the President is running the country, Damon said, point blank, 'no.'

'I really think he misinterpreted his mandate. A friend of mine said to me the other day, I thought it was a great line, 'I no longer hope for audacity,'' Damon said. 'He's doubled down on a lot of things, going back to education... the idea that we're testing kids and we're tying teachers salaries to how kids are performing on tests, that kind of mechanized thinking has nothing to do with higher order. We're training them, not teaching them.

For the full interview, tune into Damon and the rest of the cast of the new film, 'The Adjustment Bureau' on 'Piers Morgan Tonight' at 9 PM EST on Thursday.
Read more: Barack Obama Education, President Obama, Entertainment, Education, Matt Damon Barack Obama, Matt Damon Barack Obama Education, The Adjustment Bureau, Piers Morgan Tonight, Matt Damon, Piers Morgan, Barack Obama, Entertainment News"

The Daily Show on Wisconsin and Teachers

A must watch from Jon Stewart that aired on Monday 2/28/11, split into two clips regarding the attack on teachers (unions).

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Crisis in Dairyland - Angry Curds
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Crisis in Dairyland - Message for Teachers
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Ravitch: Rage Simmering Among American Teachers

Ravitch's original op-ed for CNN is here.

NPR's Talk of the Nation Discussion about "Rage Simmering Among American Teachers": "Education historian Diane Ravitch says the teachers on the front lines of labor rallies in Wisconsin reflect growing anger among educators nationwide. Teachers are sick and tired, she says, of being blamed for the ills of America's public schools."

Rethinking Schools: Teaching About Labor Issues and the Wisconsin Worker Fight Back

Teaching About Labor Issues and the Wisconsin Worker Fight Back

According to Labor historian, Mark Naison, the movement of workers that began in Wisconsin and is now spreading to other states is "the most important labor struggle in the United States in the 21st Century."

The current uprising of workers in Wisconsin and other states presents a powerful opportunity to teach students about what the protests are about, and why their teachers and neighbors are joining the struggle. It's an opportunity to critically examine issues, and to model for students responsible civic action and engagement in the political process.

As members of teacher unions, we have an additional responsibility, summarized by the late Howard Zinn in an interview published in Transforming Teacher Unions:

"If teacher unions want to be strong and well-supported, it's essential that they not only be teacher unionists but teachers of unionism. We need to create a generation of students who support teachers and the movements of teachers for their rights."

Listed below are teaching resources for all grade levels.

Embrace this "teachable moment," and share with us (in the comments) what resources you are using, how you are using them, and how your students are responding.