Tuesday Open Thread
Update: Cleveland has an orchestra class and will be adding a second one thanks to the efforts of one student, Robert Babs, and yet another dedicated SPS music teacher, Michelle Maury. Thanks to a reader for this tip; here's the story from KING-5.
Some news items first:
What's on your mind?
Some news items first:
- Congrats to Aki Kurose for winning the City's competition for best middle school attendance. They got Mollie Moon ice cream for the whole school. This is the second competition they have won (the other was a national attendance competition).
- SPS has won a grant for $241k for fresh fruit and veggies for our food program. This continues a program for a fruit or veggie snack for students and will go to 13 elementary schools where their F/RL rate is 80% or more.
- One of my favorite little bookshops, Ada's Technical Books, is having a good program this Thursday the 12th at 7 p.m. with author, Jessica Sklar. She will be discussing her book, Mathematics in Popular Culture; Essays on Appearances in Film, Fiction, Games, TV and other Media. From their website:
What's on your mind?
Comments
Retooling Teach For America
-Friend of Ada's Technical Books
"Cease and desist" using Democrats in your name
This sums it up:
The reform movement's goals include shutting down low-performing public schools; weakening or eliminating teacher tenure; and expanding charter schools, which are publicly funded but often run by private-sector managers, some of them for-profit companies.
"Wealthy Democrats have joined Republicans in pouring millions into political campaigns, lobbying and community organizing to try to advance these goals nationwide."
The Republicans must be laughing their heads off.
from the Article Above:
(1)"Being a great teacher has to be one of the hardest jobs in the world.
(2)Those first couple of years in the classroom are a huge learning curve for any teacher, and it seems arrogant to think that just because the TFA kids went to good schools and got good grades, they'll instantly be able to teach.
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(3) TFA began providing TFA Corp Members into schools that would have had at best marginally qualified teachers (and in many case an ongoing progression of substitutes) in the positions that TFA CMs filled. This was over 20 years ago.
(4) Today TFA provides CMs that in many cases will fill positions that would be occupied by experienced fully qualified teachers. The results from this use of TFA CMs in almost every case reveals this is a dubious plan and will not close achievement gaps over time.
(5) The Federal Gov. and many corporations are providing funding to TFA. It appears that several corporations think of such contributions as contributing to the public benefit. Chase Bank lists contributing to TFA as among its many "supposed" works that aid the community. ---- TFA 2012 is not the TFA of 1990. -- Chase get a clue.
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But Kopp misses the point by focusing on the number of applicants rather than on potential longer-term benefits to public education. Rather than bend to the student's perception that teaching is not prestigious enough to do long term, TFA should instead use its vast resources to encourage students to see teaching as the end goal, and TFA as a viable means to that end.
The revelation that if a 3 year commitment was required there would be a large decline in the number of TFA applications --- seems to indicate TFA is more interested in enlarging its own size and greater penetration into districts that have no need for it (like Seattle) rather than for the welfare of students and long term improvement in those districts.
Details here.
So are they middle-schoolers or grown adults? Do they want to be teachers or not?
Even Bill Gates says the program length should be longer.
So what were the folks at the Professional Educator Standards Board doing when they approved TFA?
They at PESB were going along with the Big Money wishes ... no surprise there ... Stritikus should be in hot water over this fiasco ... but the state legislature represents $$$ not constituents... The machine rolls on ... All hail Wendy Kopp.
-- Dan Dempsey
Students say school is not challenging enough. Interesting little article.
FHP
http://dianeravitch.net/2012/07/11/are-u-s-schools-too-easy/
Teacher/Parent
Yes on 1240 PDC stats
http://queenanne.komonews.com/news/events/765288-discuss-possible-downtown-school-uptown-alliance-meeting-thursday
CT
Pardner