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Saturday, August 23, 2014

NYC Educator: UFT Unity Caucus Adopts New Slogan, Aims to Rival Starbucks for World Domination

NYC Educator: UFT Unity Caucus Adopts New Slogan, Aims to Rival Starbucks for World Domination:



UFT Unity Caucus Adopts New Slogan, Aims to Rival Starbucks for World Domination

BREAKING--Since UFT President Mike Mulgrew's momentous speech at the AFT convention, UFT-Unity has been reinvigorated and is looking to expand. For fifty years it has dominated the UFT, controlling every office and insisting all members vote in a bloc no matter what.

When an opposition caucus member won VP high schools, they changed the rules so it would never happen again. When another took over the high school exec. board seats, they made a deal with another caucus to give them a few seats to keep the real opposition out.

UFT Unity Caucus controls every vote in NYSUT and AFT, and broaches no opposition whatsoever. At Delegate Assemblies they do whatever they like, prevent the other side from even speaking,  and claim they're following Robert's Rules.

But nothing stays the same, and ever since Mike Mulgrew suggested the way to preserve Common Core was to punch opponents in the face and push them in the dirt, there's been a new spirit at UFT Unity. It turns out when you punch people in the face and push them in the dirt, they offer less resistance than they might otherwise. Thus there's a new movement in UFT-Unity.

Previously, only the elite few who signed up for the Unity Caucus have been able to publicly evince enthusiasm for things that clearly hurt teachers and students. A great example is Common Core, currently failing 65% of New York's children. Yet Mulgrew wants to punch anyone in the face who tries to take it away from him. So why not extend it to things like VAM, mayoral control, two-tier due process, and supporting politicians who hate us and everything we stand for?

That's why all UFT-Unity chapter leaders will now be taking boxing lessons at 52 Broadway. While UFT can't afford to make all members sign loyalty oaths, since there are lavish privileges and trips that come along with the promise to vote how you're told, a single chapter leader can punch out dozens of people in a typical day. Each chapter leader will be issued sky blue UFT boxing gloves so as to cause minimal physical damage during year one of intimidation. There will be a two-year moratorium on high-stakes results, and then NYC Educator: UFT Unity Caucus Adopts New Slogan, Aims to Rival Starbucks for World Domination:

Are Common Core Standards Actually Data Tags? | Peter Greene

Are Common Core Standards Actually Data Tags? | Peter Greene:



Are Common Core Standards Actually Data Tags?

Posted: Updated: 




 Don't think of them as standards. Think of them as tags.

Think of them as the pedagogical equivalent of people's names on Facebook, the tags you attach to each and every photo that you upload.
We know from our friends at Knewton what the Grand Design is -- a system in which student progress is mapped down to the atomic level. Atomic level (a term that Knewton lervs deeply) means test by test, assignment by assignment, sentence by sentence, item by item. We want to enter every single thing a student does into the Big Data Bank.
But that will only work if we're all using the same set of tags.
We've been saying that CCSS are limited because the standards were written around what can be tested. That's not exactly correct. The standards have been written around what can be tracked.
The standards aren't just about defining what should be taught. They're about cataloging what students have done.
Remember when Facebook introduced emoticons? This was not a public service. Facebook wanted to up its data gathering capabilities by tracking the emotional states of users. If users just defined their own emotions, the data would be too noisy, too hard to crunch. But if the user had to pick from the Facebook standard set of user emotions -- then Facebook would have manageable data.
Ditto for CCSS. If we all just taught to our own local standards, the data noise would be too great. The Data Overlords need us all to be standardized, to be using the same set of tags. That is also why no deviation can be allowed. Okay, we'll let you have 15 percent over and above the standards. The system can probably tolerate that much noise. But under no circumstances can you change the standards -- because that would be changing the national student data tagging system, and THAT we can't tolerate.
This is why the "aligning" process inevitably involves all that marking of standards onto everything we do. It's not instructional. It's not even about accountability.
It's about having us sit and tag every instructional thing we do so that student results can be entered and tracked in the Big Data Bank.
If you are in a state that "dropped" the Core, here's one simple test -- look at your "new" standards and ask just how hard it would be to convert your standards/tags to the CCSS standards/tags. If it's as simple as switching some numbers and letters, Are Common Core Standards Actually Data Tags? | Peter Greene:

NYS Common Core Tests Expect More From Students Than The Questions Require | lacetothetop

NYS Common Core Tests Expect More From Students Than The Questions Require | lacetothetop:



NYS Common Core Tests Expect More From Students Than The Questions Require





 If you ask 8 year olds how two things are similar and different, most will respond in a few sentences.  When NYS asks 8 year olds how two things are similar and different they expect students to respond with a well constructed essay that includes an introduction & conclusion (among several other criteria).  

Teachers are all for teaching essay structure in their writing workshops.  When it is time for students to demonstrate their writing skills, it is the responsibility of the teacher to clearly define the expectations of the essay- especially for an 8 year old.  Teachers wouldn’t penalize students for not including something in their essay if it wasn’t in the criteria  to begin with.  Yet, that is exactly what NYS does.    

Here is the question NYSED asked third graders.  After reading the passage, most third graders could answer this question in a few sentences:

The author provides many details about how sea turtles are similar to and different
from each other. How is a leatherback sea turtle similar to aNYS Common Core Tests Expect More From Students Than The Questions Require | lacetothetop:

Calling all White People! | Bill Ayers

Calling all White People! | Bill Ayers:



Calling all White People!

Michael Brown




Hello White People!


Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager, was killed by a cop in Ferguson, MO—the serial killing of Black people goes mostly unreported or is deemed worthy only of a second section mention in a local paper, but it’s as steady and real as lynching was 100 years ago—and Black people overwhelmingly responded everywhere with sadness and outrage, while white people wondered if the police killing might just have been justified. Demonstrations and vigils and uprisings of love and rage filled the air—Black people would not let this murder go unnoticed.
And what about white people? According to opinion polls, most whites think the protests in the aftermath “Have gone too far,” proving James Baldwin’s observation that the only time white people speak out in favor of non-violence is when Black people are rising up angry.
What is wrong with you, white people?
Wake the fuck up!
“I’m not a bigot,” you may say to yourself after a quicky self-survey. “I’m not Donald Sterling or Cliven Bundy.”
Well, good for you—those guys are idiots.
Maybe you’ve conflated bigotry with white supremacy, and giving yourself a gold star for “color-blindness”—a self-serving invention that assumes that if anyone notes the racial realty right in front of our 
Calling all White People! | Bill Ayers:

Focus On The Children – What We Do for Them And to Them

Focus On The Children – What We Do for Them And to Them:



Focus On The Children – What We Do for Them And to Them

by EDWARDBERGER on AUGUST 23, 2014

Many communities are fighting to save their public schools. When the administrators and elected board members interface with their communities to pass bond issues or stop the drain of students pulled away by partial schools, they assume everyone knows they are fighting for kids. That must be the reason they don’t focus on education issues. They focus on the things they deal with and understand. Years ago I heard an administrator observe, “We focus on buildings and permanent things. The kids? They’re just passing through.”
Specific information from teachers about the strengths and the needs of the educational programs are too often left out of the messages given to the community. When a bond issue fails, or enrollment drops, there is great concern that the community does not support its schools. Yes, in difficult economic times folks are reluctant to vote for new bonds. Voters need to know that student needs will be met by their vote. Districts need to counter the claims of partial schools and be very clear about what they offer.
The reality is that the public will not support district schools that fail to communicate the education benefits they provide, and the needs teachers identify. Partial (alternative) schools succeed where the district schools do not explain the wealth of advantages they deliver for every child.
Voters will support necessary services for children when they understand how this extra burden of taxation helps kids. Not kids five years from now, but kids in school now. In my book, Unscrewed, The Education of Annie, I shared one of the most devastating replies a superintendent made to parents concerned about the lack of an effective math program. The Superintendent, filled with righteous indignation, replied, “For your information we are working on that. In five years we will have one of the best math programs in the state.” The parents replied, “But our children are in school now. They won’t be here in five years.” That exchange broke the bond between parents and the district school. Almost all of those parents found partial schools as alternatives.
When a partial school can suck students away from a district school, something is very wrong. District schools have elected school boards, certified teachers and administrators, the ability to raise capital dollars through Focus On The Children – What We Do for Them And to Them:

8-23-14 Saturday Matinée Double Feature "Little Bo Peep and Her GMO Sheep and Real Democrats Don't" News Breakout

Saturday MatinĂ©e Special Double Feature
News Breakout
Little Bo Peep and Her GMO Sheep 



AND
Real Democrats Don't


Hey, Mr. Mayor–face down Christie’s gangbangers! | Bob Braun's Ledger
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The Violence and Hatred of Common Core Fanatics | Crazy Crawfish's Blog
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2nd Banana 8-23-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post #EDchat #EDreform
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Morning Wink 8-23-14 AM Posts #edchat #edreform
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Do Public School Students Need Special Ed. Anymore?
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Looking For Homeschool Curriculum Not Aligned to Common Core? | Missouri Education Watchdog
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YESTERDAY

“Reframing” California Common Core for a Better Public Sale | deutsch29
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Marshall Tuck run schools SAT scores remained flat, some even declined
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Nite Cap 8-22-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT
James Baldwin said it best: "For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAP8-22-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Creating Safety Without Guns-An Inner City Love StoryWith A Brooklyn Accent: Creating Safety Without Guns-An Inner City Love StoryOne of the reasons I am haunted by the death of Michael Brown is that I have worked