October 31, 2008

Arthur Miller and the Baby Mamas

Filed under: New Teacher Diaries by American-Chick-Lit @ 5:26 pm

[Editor's note: American-Chick-Lit is the pseudonym of a second-year teacher in a high school in the Bronx.]

The Crucible

The Crucible was going to be a tough text to teach to 11th graders, and bringing the culture of Puritan New England to the Bronx was going to be a challenge. At least that’s what I thought at first.

How will students born in the ’90s grasp the Puritan ideals of Reverends Hale and Parris? How will we break through the archaic language of “aye” and “Goody” and other unknown daily utterances and get to understand the depths of the themes of this play? (more…)

The Politics Of Resentment And Fear

Filed under: Labor Politics by Leo Casey @ 8:36 am

As the economic crisis that has come in the wake of Wall Street’s financial meltdown deepens, one response from the American right has already begun to take shape - a politics of resentment and fear. For these laissez-faire market evangelists of deregulation and unfettered corporate power and greed, the current economic debacle is not a reason to reflect on the real world consequences of their ideological dogma, but a political opportunity to pursue ‘divide and conquer’ strategies designed to set working people against each other. (more…)

October 30, 2008

Research as a big bear hunt

Filed under: Education Education Funding NYC DOE by Maisie @ 4:11 pm

Wear orange if you go into the woods this weekend. If, say, you’re tracking down remote rural voters, or even NYC schools research, hunting season is starting early.

James Kemble, the executive director of the new Research Alliance for New York City Schools, described his ambitious vision for independent research with such urgency at the press conference launch that NYC Partnership prez Kathryn Wylde, who followed him at the podium, commented, “You can tell Jim is loaded for bear.”

Joel Klein, who spoke next, said, “If Jim is loaded for bear then I’m the bear.” Indeed, chancellor. (more…)

Civics Is Fun!

Filed under: Education Politics by W.J. Levay @ 11:01 am

Students at the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, delivering a civics lesson on CNN to the tune of T.I.’s “Whatever You Like”:

October 29, 2008

Special Education, By The Book

Filed under: Education NYC DOE by W.J. Levay @ 6:12 pm

Standard Operating Procedures Manual

The DOE released on Oct. 28 an updated Standard Operating Procedures Manual for “The Referral, Evaluation, and Placement of School-Age Students with Disabilities.” The nearly 300-page document, a comprehensive explanation of special education policies and procedures from referral through placement, is available as a PDF at the DOE’s Special Education Educator Resources page. A companion “Practitioner’s Guide with Primary Emphasis on Assessing Achievement as Part of an Evaluation for Special Education,” is also newly available.

The big changes were summarized in this September New York Teacher column.

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

Filed under: New Teacher Diaries by They Call Me Teacher @ 5:48 pm

[Editor's note: They Call Me Teacher is the pseudonym of a first-year teacher in an elementary school in the Bronx. She blogs at They Call Me Teacher where this post originally appeared.]

Some of our students (most of the boys, actually) act like different people outside of our classroom walls. At lunch and before school they are out of control, rude, disrespectful, and loud. For the third day in a row (in our post-Columbus Day four-day week), my co-teacher and I walked out to pick up our charges from recess only to find mass chaos and fights either taking place or on the verge of erupting.

Wednesday’s fight was going on when we arrived, and sadly, it was between two of our boys. It was the first fight we’ve seen, with our own eyes, involving our students. I was starting to think that our boys were a bit more civilized than the rest of the school… I was wrong. (more…)

October 28, 2008

The Sophomore

Filed under: New Teacher Diaries by Sue Denim @ 12:17 pm

[Editor’s note: Sue Denim is the pseudonym for a second-year special education teacher in a high school in the Bronx.]

This is my second year as a special education teacher. I’ve quickly discovered that as many rules and regulations as there are for education in general, there are even more for special ed. Our students have special needs, and there are all sorts of requirements to make sure their needs are met. In our system, however, these requirements don’t always make it to the classroom.

Most of my kids are supposed to be in a 15:1:1 environment (no more than 15 students, one teacher, and one paraprofessional). Most of their IEPs say they’re supposed to be in a 12:1:1 environment, but that’s just a leftover from middle school. High school students can be in a 15:1:1 environment; middle schoolers and below aren’t supposed to have more than 12 kids in the class. But creating and updating an IEP is a sloppy process, and details are often neglected. (more…)

October 27, 2008

Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair

Filed under: Education by Ron Isaac @ 4:06 pm

The story is relatively fresh but reading it leaves a bitter aftertaste and foul whiff that is vintage Chancellor Klein.

The New York Times on October 22 reported that a librarian at Brooklyn Tech High School, a veteran of 39 years as an educator, was fined $500 by the city’s Conflict of Interests Board because he had violated the city’s ethics code. The damning evidence, developed by the sticky gumshoes at the Department of Investigation, was the librarian’s admitted inclusion of a new edition of “Macbeth” on a display table of literature he recommends. In a sparsely circulated newsletter he also cited it as “best new book.” (more…)

October 24, 2008

New York Teacher

Filed under: Education Funding Roundup UFT News by W.J. Levay @ 6:10 pm

Read the latest New York Teacher online. Highlights:

The UFT has joined One New York: Fighting for Fairness, a new coalition that aims to defend needed services for poor and middle-income New Yorkers.

A veteran art teacher was assigned to stuff envelopes, even though she clearly had been ruled fit for duty by the DOE.

The Oct. 15 Delegate Assembly, the first of the new school year, had the feel of a war room as delegates tackled three major challenges.

Expect another fierce fight over school spending as another round of midyear budget cuts is expected in Albany.

Why Obama is the clear choice for teachers.

Report: Kids Less Likely to Graduate Than Parents

Filed under: Education NCLB by W.J. Levay @ 5:22 pm

The AP looks at a report by Education Trust on NCLB and graduation rates:

“The U.S. is stagnating while other industrialized countries are surpassing us,” said Anna Habash, author of the report by Education Trust, which advocates on behalf of minority and poor children. “And that is going to have a dramatic impact on our ability to compete,” she said.

In fact, the United States is now the only industrialized country where young people are less likely than their parents to earn a diploma, the report said, citing data compiled by the international Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

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