'politics' Category
Are You Smarter than a Billionaire?
Clay Burell threw down a fun little quiz challenge yesterday, and I took it. My result said I’m smarter than 97.64% of the population (whoever that is) which, according to his preliminary results, puts me behind his 98.3% score, and Stephen Downes’ 98.98%. I left a comment asking, What does it mean to be smart? [...]
Say what?
For those of us working to “raise the bar” in public schools, we need to keep an eye on the Hypocrite-in-Chief, who consistently lowers it whenever he wanders off script. Disgusting.
Going the Distance
One of my students was having trouble with some math exercises (as in, 480 cm. = __m) and I asked him to show me about how long a centimeter is, and how long a meter is, but that was hard for him because he didn’t have an intuitive sense of the relationship between meters and [...]
Protecting Child Genius
Dennis Kucinich:
The government has a major responsibility. After all, an educated populous is core, central to democracy. Charlie, as you walk up the stairs of the Capitol on your way into the House of Representatives, way over the top of that entrance to the House is a statue of a woman whose arm is outstretched, [...]My NCLB Testimony
Since many people, including Linda Darling Hammond who offers (exceptionally) a comparative international perspective on education reform, are giving testimony in Washington this week at the ESEA reauthorization hearing…
“We’ve learned a lot, and we shouldn’t ignore that evidence,” said Miller, who is leading the overhaul of the law in the House, which starts this week. [...]In Practice
I’ve joined a group of teacher bloggers from Title 1 schools, writing about education policy and education technology. The blog is called In Practice. I’ve wanted for quite a long time (since I started blogging, in fact) to work on a group blog, so I’m very pleased to have this opportunity. Organizational guru, Alice Mercer, [...]
School Staff Turns Down State Bonuses
I don’t begrudge any teachers a little extra recognition. But the idea that it “will inspire and empower Alaska’s outstanding educators to use their expertise” is wrong. It won’t.
So I was very pleased this morning to see this in the paper:
Pearl Creek turns down state bonuses
By Robinson Duffy
rduffy@newsminer.com
Published August 24, 2007
The teachers and staff at [...]Getting Past ‘Villains’ and ‘Fools’
If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up somewhere else.
-Yogi Berra
Education historian, Sherman Dorn has a new book, Accountability Frankenstein, in which he explores the roots of test-based school accountability. Listen to the preface here (mp3). He compares the testing movement to Frankenstein’s monster, calling it “an obscene marriage of technocracy and [...]Like Cranky Talk Show Hosts
Responding to Chris Lehman’s post, All Children Can Learn, I share his questions. Chis asks,
…what is important for all students to know? What is more important — demonstrating recall or demonstrating problem-solving skills? Immediate ability or the ability to produce over time?
What are the schools we want? What are the schools we need? And how [...]Salvaging What’s Good
This is my attempt to make sense of what “school 2.0″ might mean, using a couple of education reform classics I just finished reading. For what it’s worth, I hate speculating about the future, and am more comfortable building with whatever I’m given to work with, if I can see any use.
I found Neil Postman’s [...]
