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Monthly Archives: February 2009

Do It For Peace

Sunday, February 22, 2009

“…It’s just to try and work on the good bit of you.” – John Lennon (1969) I Met the Walrus is an animated film directed by Josh Raskin and produced by Jerry Levitan. Illustration is by James Braithwaite and computer illustration is by Alex Kurina. It’s based on an interview with Lennon by Jerry Levitan, [...]

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What it Means to be White

Monday, February 16, 2009

I first heard of Tim Wise during the presidential campaign when I read an essay he wrote called This is your nation on White Privilege, a polemic on the candidacy of Sarah Palin. Now I’m taking a class on race and racism, and reading his book, White Like Me. I hoped to finish the book [...]

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Wave After Wave of Reform

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The 21st century isn’t what it used to be. In 1991, before I joined the staff, my school was awarded a $748,500 grant from RJR Nabisco to develop “innovative programs to improve education” as part of an initiative called New Century Schools. Louis V. Gerstner Jr., chairman and chief executive of RJR Nabisco Inc. said, [...]

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Stimulus-Response

Saturday, February 7, 2009

While the president has been busy trying to staunch the bleeding this week, he managed to find time to visit a public DC charter school: “This kind of innovative school…is an example of how all our schools should be….We’re very proud of what’s been accomplished at this school and we want to make sure that [...]

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What is Scientifically Based Research?

Sunday, February 1, 2009

A nagging little pamphlet from NIFL appeared in my teacher mailbox the other day. I’d been hopeful that the government’s fetish for experimental reading research design would go into remission with the new administration, but that seems not to be the case. Always curious about government propaganda, I read through “What is Scientifically Based Research?” [...]

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