Critical Consciousness – Spirit of Paulo Friere

Andrew Gerst joined Teach for America and taught in Los Angeles schools, both public and charter. He has offered the following advice to TFA leadership:
How (I’d Like) to Fix Teach for America

For the last two-plus years, I’ve taught math in low-income Los Angeles public schools: first in the Los Angeles Unified School District through Teach for America, and later in a charter school. I have a prestigious degree, a master’s in education, and a minor in mathematics, and I’ve struggled more every single day of all two-plus years than at any other job I’ve ever had—an understatement. I feel I have had some successes, and some of our teachers have done very well. But I can say without doubt that Teach for America did not prepare the vast majority of my “corps members,” as our fellow teachers are called, and me to effectuate the long-term “transformational change” that…

If you want to explain the holistic, holistic evaluation, an example of the structure of an holistic activity, an holistic question, the ideal of teaching as it used to be, how to be a great teacher, the antithesis of John Hattie’s philosophy – the true story that follows is it. For me, this story from the ‘80s is an icon. If someone asks me: How could I be a better teacher? I say, read this, absorb this, now go forth and teach.

The Rock Lady

The third-former from the largely Maori-attended secondary school checked the notice on the door – SPECIAL NEEDS TEACHER – then knocked.

‘Come in Ruia.’

Ruia came in and stood there shyly, unsure about what to do next.

The teacher put her arm over her shoulder and guided her to a chair, and then sat down beside her.

On a desk to the teacher’s left were…

Last weekend I attended a joyous family wedding and thus was preoccupied and failed to notice one of the seminal moments in reformer history. This was Michael Barber’s speech on “Joy and Data.” Barber is the chief education adviser to Pearson, and he gave this speech in Australia, hoping to debunk the claim that an undue emphasis on data takes away the joy of learning. Barber’s goal was to demonstrate that joy and data go together like a horse and carriage.

Valerie Strauss wrote about Barber’s speech here, and Peter Greene did his usual sharp vivisection of Barber’s ideology here. Strauss collects some of the witty Twitter responses to Barber’s speech; Greene contrasts it with Pearson’s activities and Barber’s publications.

Strauss summarizes:

“In his speech, Barber argues that the pursuit of data has wrongly been accused of sucking the creativity out of learning but that in his world view…

Artículo de Arturo Pérez Reverte

CUIDADO…con lo que se avecina….es mas gordo de lo que os imagináis…un gobierno Europeo impuesto por los Neocon “Los Illuminatis” que irá quitando a corto plazo a los políticos demócratas y manipulando las elecciones…y colocando tecnócratas, nos queda poco. Los Indignados tienen más razón de lo que os podáis llegar a imaginar. No es una cuestion de PSOE ni de PP, nada tiene que ver. Esto solo se para negándonos a esas mentiras de pagar la deuda en que ellos nos han metido falsamente para tenernos hipotecados hasta nuestros nietos….se acabaron los Estados/Nación…adiós España.

Hay un problema laboral del colectivo de controladores aéreos que afecta al 1,2% de la población española (600.000 personas) y casi todos saltáis como energúmenos pidiendo hasta el linchamiento de ese colectivo cuando el día anterior hacen otra reforma del sistema laboral más restrictiva, quitan los 420 euros de ayuda…

This letter was written by a first grade teacher in upstate Néw York:

She writes:

(Un)Intended Consequences

Today was the first day of the NYS ELA tests. I must state right from the outset that my students do not take these tests. Not yet. But in two short years, they will. And yet, these tests had an effect on my students today and will continue to do so in the days to come. You see, these tests have a ripple effect. The immediate effect is that my students who receive services such as reading and resource will not receive these services for the next TWO WEEKS since the teachers who provide these services are proctoring the state tests. They will also lose services when some of these same teachers are pulled out to score the tests in the subsequent weeks. (They will lose out again when we begin the SLO…

Steve Cohen and David Gamberg are highly respected superintendents on Long Island. In this post, they explain why so many parents object to the current climate of high-stakes testing. With leaders like Cohen and Gamberg, who think that students need and deserve a real education, you can understand why Long Island is the epicenter of the Opt Out movement in New York and perhaps in the nation. Their article appeared in the Suffolk Times-Review, a local newspaper on Long Island; I should not quote so much of it, but it is such a powerful article that I could not resist. Open the link and read it all. Both of these superintendents, by the way, are already members of the blog’s honor roll.

They begin:

A mere four years ago, and for decades prior, one could not find any substantial evidence of students opting-out of standardized testing. At first glance, the…

FairTest has been fighting the misuse of standardized testing since 1985. Here is their weekly update on the exploding movement to curb high-stakes testing and to opt students out of testing to send a message to policymakers:

The assessment reform movement gains momentum across the U.S. and even beyond national borders, as parents, students, teachers, administrators, and school board members say “Enough is enough” to standardized exam misuse and overuse. Now is the time to ratchet up pressure on members of Congress and state legislatures to roll back test-and-punish mandates!

Less Testing: More Teaching — Contact U.S. Senators April 8 National Day of Action for “No Child Left Behind” Overhaul
http://fairtest.org/national-day-action-april-8

Fact vs Threat: Schools Unlikely to Lose Federal Funds Due to High Opt Out Numbers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/04/02/will-schools-lose-federal-funds-if-kids-dont-take-mandated-tests-fact-vs-threat/

Atlanta School Test Cheating: Lessons Policy Makers Ignore

Bob Schaeffer of FairTest on Atlanta Cheating Scandal

Are Exit Exams Necessary?: More States Say “No”