NYTimes: Across Nation, Mosque Projects Meet Opposition

Residents in Temecula, Calif., protested against a mosque’s proposed worship center.

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Published: August 7, 2010

While a high-profile battle rages over a mosque near ground zero in Manhattan, heated confrontations have also broken out in communities across the country where mosques are proposed for far less hallowed locations.

10 Ways to Use The New York Times for Teaching Literature

10 Ways to Use The New York Times for Teaching Literature: "New York Times resources to complement the teaching of any fiction, nonfiction or poetry.


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NYTimes: Portrait of Pain Ignites Debate Over Afghan War

Eros Hoagland for The New York Times

Aisha, an 18-year-old Afghan who was disfigured as punishment for fleeing an 

arranged marriage, left Afghanistan for the United States to undergo a series of surgeries.

By ROD NORDLAND

Published: August 4, 2010

The Debate Over The Mosque Near Ground Zero

The top story today, which has been brewing for weeks, is about the approval of a proposed mosque near the site of the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Here are a variety of resources and viewpoints on the issue, which touches on the First Amendment, 9/11, religious freedom, politics, and raw human emotion...

The News
The USA Today
**"Muslims in USA face fears, bias to build, expand mosques" (7/5/10)
**"Can you be 'entitled' to bigotry? Some pols, advocates say yes" (8/3/10)
**"NYC panel clears way for mosque near Ground Zero" (8/4/10)

The New York Times
**"Planned Sign of Tolerance Bringing Division Instead" (7/14/10)
**"Debate Heats Up About Mosque Near Ground Zero" (7/31/10)
**"Mosque Plan Clears Hurdle in New York" (8/4/10)

The Wall Street Journal
**The Mosque Controversy Graphic Interactive (Allows you to navigate to stories and opinions by major figures involved in the issue.)

NYC.gov
**Mayor Bloomberg's Speech at Governors Island (8/3/10)

Opinions and Editorials
The USA Today
**Editorial: "Our view on religious freedom: Planned Muslim center in NYC tests American values" (7/21/10)
**Peter Gadiel: "Opposing view on religious freedom: Stop the mosque" (7/21/10)
**Letters to the Editor: "Land near Ground Zero is no place for mosque" (7/26/10)
**Thomas S. Kidd: "Mosque is now way to 'build bridges'" (8/4/10)

The New York Times
**Editorial: "A Monument to Tolerance" (8/4/10)
**Thomas L. Friedman: "Broadway and the Mosque" (8/4/10)
**Response to 8/4 Editorial: "The ADL, the Mosque, and the Fight Against Bigotry" (8/5/10)

The New York Daily News
**Editorial: "A bittersweet moment in American religious history" (8/5/10)

Television Coverage
MSNBC
**Countdown with Keith Olbermann: Interview with Russell Simmons (8/4/10)
**Morning Joe: Interview with George Pataki (8/4/10)
**Morning Joe: General Coverage I and General Coverage II (8/4/10)

NCTE Inbox - Creating Community Through Writing

(from NCTE)

As students begin their return to the classroom, they need to feel that they own the space and the learning that takes place in it. Foreground such ownership for students by collaboratively writing an owner's manual that describes the classroom's areas and procedures. The ReadWriteThink.org lesson Our Classroom: Writing an Owner's Manual (E) has everything you need to get started.

Younger elementary students who are just learning to write can build community as they collaborate to establish classroom guidelines. The ReadWriteThink.org lesson Creating Class Rules: A Beginning to Creating Community (E) focuses on a simple shared-writing activity to bring students together as they decide upon the structures for the classroom.

Getting to know one another is a fundamental step for community building. Check out the ReadWriteThink.org lesson plan Introducing Each Other: Interviews, Memoirs, Photos, and Internet Research (M) for a get-acquainted activity that invites pairs of students to learn about each other and share their findings with the rest of the class.

For a similar activity for older students, try the ReadWriteThink.org lesson The Feature Story -- Fifteen Minutes (and 500 Words) of Fame! (S), which asks students to write a newspaper profile of a classmate, with a particular focus on a talent, interest, or passion of that classmate.

To learn more about students as writers, try the ReadWriteThink.org lesson Writing about Writing: An Extended Metaphor Assignment (S-C), which uses Richard Wilbur's poem "The Writer" as an inspiration for students' own descriptions of their writing practices.

For even more activities and resources, check out the Back to School Resources (G), which includes lesson plans and additional articles to help get your year off to a great start.

Washington Post: The Answer Sheet - Report: When/why progress in closing achievement gap stalled

(via Larry Ferlazzo)

By Valerie Strauss | August 3

Progress seen over several decades in narrowing the educational achievement gap between black and white students has remained stalled for 20 years, according to data analyzed in a new report.

Called “The Black-White Achievement Gap: When Progress Stopped,” the report by the Educational Testing Service examines periods of progress and stagnation since 1910 in closing the achievement gap.

Anybody who thinks that the achievement gap will be closed by throwing more standardized test scores at kids and without addressing health and social issues should read the report and think again.

Read More ->

NY Daily News: The sound of bubbles bursting: Student gains on state test vanished into thin air

BY DIANE RAVITCH

Sunday, August 1st 2010, 4:00 AM

Every year for the past four years, the New York State Education Department has announced dramatic test score gains. And every year, it turns out they were misrepresenting reality. This year, New Yorkers got an accurate accounting of student performance, and it was sobering.

Since 2006, scores have gone through the roof. Teachers and principals quietly told reporters that the tests were getting easier to pass, but no one listened. A few critics and testing experts warned that outsized annual gains were not credible, but no one listened.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/08/01/2010-08-01_the_sound_of_bubbles_bursting.html#ixzz0vUIgqykf

Larry Ferlazzo: One Very Disappointing Part Of President Obama’s Speech Today

From Larry Ferlazzo's Edublog:

President Obama spoke at the Urban League today on education reform. You can read his speech here (and you can read what I had hoped he might say here).

I know the President and Secretary Duncan keep on saying they don’t think charter schools are the answer, only part of the answer, and that they are only talking about “good” charter schools.

Well, the President highlighted one of those supposedly “good” charter schools in his speech. Here is what he said:

So, no, I don’t support all charter schools, but I do support good charter schools. I’ll give you an example. There’s a charter school called Mastery in Philadelphia. And in just two years, three of the schools that Mastery has taken over have seen reading and math levels nearly double –- in some cases, triple. Chaka Fattah is here, so he knows what I’m talking about. One school called Pickett went from just 14 percent of students being proficient in math to almost 70 percent. (Applause.) Now — and here’s the kicker — at the same time academic performance improved, violence dropped by 80 percent -– 80 percent. And that’s no coincidence. (Applause.)

Now, if a school like Mastery can do it, if Pickett can do it, every troubled school can do it.

The problem is that Pickett did it with a 42% student attrition rate, which I also pointed out when TIME wrote a laudatory article about the school earlier this year.

Come on! Kicking-out “low-performing” students is an effective way to increase school scores, but is that really the model the President wants to raise up?

NY Times: When 81% Passing Suddenly Becomes 18%

By SHARON OTTERMAN and ROBERT GEBELOFF

Published: August 1, 2010

As passing rates plummeted under tighter standards, New York City principals contemplated the unraveling of achievements that they were suddenly informed were illusory.

NYTimes: Editorial - The Fight Over Education in Washington

Forces of the status quo are trying to discredit President Obama’s signature education initiative, the Race to the Top.

July 30, 2010