Language and Thought (NYTimes / Radiolab)

Two very interesting pieces to consider about how language shapes and affects the way we live and who we are. Well, these pieces make it REALLY interesting. I think there are implications here for how we think about teaching, as well as a potentially good text during a language study.

Does Your Language Shape How You Think?

BY GUY DEUTSCHER

The idea that your mother tongue shapes your experience of the world may be true after all.

RADIOLAB

Words

By Radiolab

August 9, 2010

It’s almost impossible to imagine a world without words. But in this hour of Radiolab, we try to do just that. We speak to a woman who taught a 27-year-old man the first words of his life, and we hear a firsthand account of what it feels like to have the language center of your brain wiped out by a stroke. Plus: a group of children invent an entirely new language in Nicaragua in the 1970s.

Read more. And watch the episode’s companion film from Will Hoffman and Daniel Mercadante.

Download MP3

NYTimes - Herbert on Troops and Afghanistan

Op-Ed Columnist: We Owe the Troops an Exit

BY BOB HERBERT

There is no silver lining to the war in Afghanistan, and its toll — in dollars and in lives — is growing.

Arne Duncan Op-Ed on Data and Teachers

From the Daily News


Let's unleash all data on teachers: U.S. secretary of education asks, What's there to hide?
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/08/29/2010-08-29_lets_unleash_all_data_on_teachers.html?r=opinions&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nydnrss%2Fopinions+%28Opinions%29#ixzz0y17zUajL

Snag Learning: Online Video Resources

http://learning.snagfilms.com/
SnagLearning is dedicated to presenting high-quality documentary films as educational tools to ignite meaningful discussion within the learning community.
via Larry Ferlazzo

NYTimes - "Moonshine or the Kids?"

Nicholas Kristof Op-Ed:

Moonshine or the Kids?

On the annual win-a-trip journey, finding families without enough money to pay school fees, but with plenty for booze and cigarettes.

May 23, 2010

NYTimes - Kristof on Modern Slavery

Links to several op-eds from Nicholas Kristof starting with a series from early 2004 and then some...

Girls For Sale

One thinks of slavery as an evil confined to musty sepia photographs. But there are 21st-century versions of slaves as well, girls like Srey Neth, here in northwestern Cambodia.

January 17, 2004OPINIONOP-ED

Bargaining For Freedom

Srey Neth and Srey Mom were stunned when I proposed buying their freedom from their brothel owners.

January 21, 2004OPINIONOP-ED

Going Home, With Hope

As we bounced along rural Cambodian roads, the two teenage prostitutes I had just purchased told me how they had come to be 21st-century slaves.

January 24, 2004OPINIONOP-ED

Loss of Innocence

Four years of sexual servitude had shattered Srey Mom's spirit and left her with no real family, other than the brothel owner she called ''Mother.''

January 28, 2004OPINIONOP-ED

Stopping The Traffickers

Buying sex slaves and freeing them is not a long-term solution. It helps individuals but risks creating incentives for other girls to be kidnapped into servitude.

January 31, 2004OPINIONOP-ED

Seduction, Slavery and Sex

A trio of best-selling Swedish novels, along with legislation, are shining a light on human trafficking and prostitution.

July 15, 2010

The Learning Network - Teaching With Infographics | Social Studies, History, and Economics

What looks to be another great resource from the Learning Network. They have compiled many ideas for using infographics in social studies, history, and economics education.

We know it can be hard to find the right infographic to complement your curriculum without packing a lunch and making a day of it – especially when it comes to social studies, current events and politics, history and economics. So we’ve tried to do the work for you.

Below are some of the best infographics, we think, in these areas. But there are many more. To find an infographic suited to a specific curricular element, try the multimedia archive and relevant blogs, such as Economix. And for more about infographics in general, look at yesterday’s post about them.

NYTimes - A Travel Guide From the Jim Crow Era

Some questions here to go with this related New York Times article, "The Open Road Wasn't Quite Open to All" by Celia McGee.

"For almost three decades beginning in 1936, many African-American travelers relied on a booklet to help them decide where they could comfortably eat, sleep, buy gas, find a tailor or beauty parlor, shop on a honeymoon to Niagara Falls, or go out at night. In 1949, when the guide was 80 pages, there were five recommended hotels in Atlanta. In Cheyenne, Wyo., the Barbeque Inn was the place to stay..."

Huffington Post - "Partnership and Trust Are the Most Important Values We Can Add

Steve Zimmer, a teacher in Los Angeles weighs in on the LA Times story and teacher evaluation on the Huffington Post.

The Los Angeles Times has been running a weekly series that I consider a vicious attack on the integrity of the teaching profession. The reporters have singled out individual Los Angeles Unified School District teachers, identified them by name and, using several years worth of records and a statistical method known as value-added analysis, judged those teachers ineffective or effective by whether the math and English test scores in their classrooms had risen or dropped over time. Click on the link to read more.

HuffPost - Sean Paige: No Whining About Not "Winning" Dash for the Cash

Sean Paige: No Whining About Not "Winning" Dash for the Cash

There are numerous silver linings in Colorado's not having made the final cut in Barack Obama's Dash for the Cash, the administration's crude attempt to spur school reform by bribing states with borrowed money.

Writing Routines

Help Students Set Up an Effective Writing Routine
In his Edutopia blog, NCTE member Todd Finley offers strategies, including the rituals of well-known authors, for helping students establish writing routines. (from NCTE Inbox)

The LA Times and Teacher Accountability

Since the LA Times publicly released information that "holds teachers accountable", some have written in response. Yes, this is good to get the blood boiling.

Here we go:

<|>"The UFT's Worst Nightmare: Public can see how well Los Angeles teachers teach" (Editorial from the New York Daily News 8/23/10)

<|>The Huffington Post has compiled some good links to the issue in this short summary: The Los Angeles Times examines teacher effectiveness in the Los Angeles Unified School District using a statistical analysis of students' California Standards Test scores in math and English. The first in a series of stories, it created a stir about privacy and methodology. Some of the responses to the story are here, here and here. Note: A grant from The Hechinger Report helped fund the work, though it did not participate in the analysis. (Just Schools, California Watch and Marketplace)

<|>"The Real-Life Values Behind the LA Times Value-Added Teacher Controversy" (by Susan Kaiser Greenland for the Huffington Post 8/20/10)

<|>NPR also did a piece, which you can listen to here. (8/18/10)

<|>Larry Ferlazzo has compiled a whole category on his site related to the article and surrounding story. It all begins with this post. And more are here and here as well as offering his own thoughts on Arne Duncan's role in this.

<|> Daniel Willingham has posted a YouTube video that does a pretty good job of explaining problems with merit pay and value added measurment.

The New Buzz Over the Islamic Center This Weekend

Since President Obama has chimed in on the supposed controversy, papers and news outlets were buzzing anew today with opinion and commentary. Most of the discussion has shifted to what the president's role should be in the controversy and its political ramification. Here is some of what I found. The following links are compiled from Saturday, August 14 through Tuesday, August 17, 2010.

The New York Times
Op-Ed Columnist: Islam and the Two Americas

BY ROSS DOUTHAT

Two Americas, one based on religious liberty and the other on cultural assimilation, are in tension again in the debate over a mosque near ground zero.

Preaching About a Mosque

BY TOBIN HARSHAW

For many, the issue of the Islamic cultural center near ground zero has become personal. This hasn't helped with the "dialogue" the project was supposed to start.

G.O.P. Sees Mosque Near Ground Zero as Campaign Issue

BY CARL HULSE

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada said those who plan to erect an Islamic center near ground zero should look elsewhere.

Political Memo: Obama Says Mosque Remarks Were Not Endorsement

BY SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

President Obama’s attempt to reframe comments about a community center in New York City had him plunging into a debate about Islam and American identity.

3 Republicans Criticize Obama’s Endorsement of Mosque

BY EDWARD WYATT

Leading Republicans reacted negatively to President Obama’s statements in favor of a Muslim community center in Lower Manhattan.

Fighting Words

The debate over the Islamic center and mosque near ground zero continued, unabated, with volleys from Charles Krauthammer and President Obama.

Editorial: The Constitution and the Mosque

President Obama needs to push back even harder against the voices of intolerance regarding the building of a mosque in Lower Manhattan.

Op-Ed Contributor: Sufis: The Muslims in the Middle

BY WILLIAM DALRYMPLE

Sufis, our allies within Islam, may be alienated by the mosque fight.

The Huffington Post

Bloomberg: 'Sad Day For America' If Ground Zero Mosque Plan Is Killed

AP | Posted 08.16.2010 | New York

NEW YORK — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says it would be "a sad day for America" if opponents successfully kill plans for a mosque proposed ...

Read Whole Story

Obama Reframes Mosque Debate

Chris Weigant | Posted 08.16.2010 | Politics

Obama showed that the "Ground Zero mosque" argument is not a simple one, and in fact has two major segments. The first is whether or not the mosque "should be allowed" to be built. The second is whether it "should" be built.

Newt and Nazis: Aiding and Abetting bin Laden

Philip Smucker | Posted 08.16.2010 | Politics

When Americans vilify Muslims en masse by considering them as enemies or potential enemies, al Qaeda's recruiting efforts are made easy.

Read Post

Newt Gingrich Calls 'Ground Zero Mosque' Organizers 'Radical Islamists' Seeking 'Supremacy,' Compares Them To Nazis (VIDEO)

The Huffington Post | Nick Wing | Posted 08.16.2010 | Politics

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich minced no words Monday morning when he called organizers of the "Ground Zero Mosque" "radical Islamists" seeking "s...

Read Whole Story

America In The Twilight Zone: I Can't Believe We Are Even Discussing This

Russell Simmons | Posted 08.16.2010 | Politics

As the right continues to preach that they are the ones who are on god's side, with the "Ground Zero Mosque, they're behaving in quite the opposite manner.

Read Post

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