Category Results
Another major language
countries, regions, and cities where Spanish is spoken. If so, why do we still have all of the academic research in education, and its literature, referring Spanish to us as a “minority language”?
As many agree, education research findings, and the American population at large, should begin
interacting more to further necessary critical awareness if we are to make it out of
the dualistic grip of “reformers” versus “those-who-oppose-this-reform” talking heads (cf. Dana
Bennis' “The Education Policy Debate”), who add more confusion instead of resolution to our dire public schools, and... You Say You Want a Revolution…
Anonymous Teacher - The Bronx, NY
Thank you for the question. First of all, I do not have an answer for you. Your question very much hits home for me, and the best I can do in this situation is to tell you how I have figured out to live with those conflicting thoughts... Pulling That Injustice Trigger
What moved me about this student-led protest is that at such a young age, these students recognize how to magnify their power through unity against a single injustice: school cuts that compromise their education. From one Facebook invitation to protest these cuts that pulled their injustice triggers, 18,000 students were moved to the streets with signs and their... Raining on My Students’ Parades
But, my wife and I both have brown skin, and come from backgrounds that don't privilege a free-form attitude about freedom and success, even defined simply as having enough food, clothing and a... Democracy at Risk? Ask the Kids!
The other day, I made a suggestion in the comments of Brainwrap's excellent diary (2/22/10) on the latest developments in the evolution of the Pennsylvania school district tale known in the Daily community as ‘WebCamGate.' In short, the district is being sued by the parents of a student who was disciplined by his school for something he must have done in his... Uncle Sam Wants YOU… and he’s waiting in the cafeteria
Another man, slightly older, stood beside him, also in uniform. My peers looked curiously over at the table, and most of them wandered over and talked to the two men. The kids asked them questions and looked through all of the material the men had brought.
Later, I talked to one of my friends, who had gone over to talk to the recruiters. He announced that he had decided that day to join the Marines. I... The ABC’s of School Success
This week, the world said goodbye to Howard Zinn, an award-winning writer, activist, professor, and role model for democratic educators. He was 87.
Zinn dedicated his life to promoting true democracy and social justice through education and action. Although he spoke and wrote extensively on the injustices that humans have inflicted upon each other, throughout history and in the present, he never lost hope for a more peaceful world.
In one of his last interviews, Zinn said that he wanted... Teacherken on Linda Darling-Hammond’s New Book
Our man, Freire, is calling us out--PUT YO' MONEY WHERE YO' MOUTH IS! Words without reflection are pointless. Words without action are likewise pointless. It is only when we balance our words with reflection and action that we can call ourselves thinkers and transformers. (Sigh. Where are the Freires of the world? 'Cause I'm single and ready to mingle! If you're there--mouths silently--call me.)
All kidding aside, this is exactly what I have moved to implement in my classroom--a movement from thoughts and words to... The Plans of Mice and Men
We developed this model for educational reform while I was out of the classroom for a year and Khadigah had just graduated from undergrad with her newly minted teacher's certificate. For a nine minute synopsis of our model, watch our video:
This video summarizes my vision for my return to the classroom. My... Remembering Hope & Joy
I'll begin with a story. I spent the last four days on a small hostel/ranch/community center/aspiring eco-destination called Rancho Esperanza in the isolated fishing village of Jiquilillo. The owner of the ranch, Nato (Nate), was born in Maine and has been involved with the village for eleven years, living there full time for the last eight.
Six years ago Nate began an after school program for the youth of... Painting The Landscape
The Landscape is a blog for IDEA staff, board, and advisory board members to reflect on the bigger picture in education today, from philosophy to practice and policy to pedagogy. We'll report on exciting ideas, schools, and changes toward the development of a more deeply democratic educational experience for young people. We'll also share stories from our personal experiences as... Using the Master’s Tools
Critical pedagogy was my tool of choice: an educational philosophy accredited to the late Paolo Freire, which...
Posted on Jun 16, 2010 - 05:53 PM by Luis Moreno in Crazy Quilt
Spanish, like every other major language, is indeed a crazy quilt of various dialects as there arecountries, regions, and cities where Spanish is spoken. If so, why do we still have all of the academic research in education, and its literature, referring Spanish to us as a “minority language”?
As many agree, education research findings, and the American population at large, should begin
interacting more to further necessary critical awareness if we are to make it out of
the dualistic grip of “reformers” versus “those-who-oppose-this-reform” talking heads (cf. Dana
Bennis' “The Education Policy Debate”), who add more confusion instead of resolution to our dire public schools, and... You Say You Want a Revolution…
Posted on May 10, 2010 - 09:10 AM by Jonah Canner in Got Questions?
I am a teacher in New York City working in a very poor community with mostly youth of color. Every day I see the effects of centuries of racism and class oppression show up on my students' faces. On some days I have hope that we will be able to create a just future and I want their schools to be better. Some days are harder and I think the only way out is for their schools to be destroyed. What does IDEA have to offer me?Anonymous Teacher - The Bronx, NY
Thank you for the question. First of all, I do not have an answer for you. Your question very much hits home for me, and the best I can do in this situation is to tell you how I have figured out to live with those conflicting thoughts... Pulling That Injustice Trigger
Posted on Apr 29, 2010 - 08:45 PM by Ammerah Saidi in The Learning Curve
Now, I'm not one for protests, especially not protests that end after a one hour march around some political building with people going back to their homes feeling they've done their best. However, I was moved to read about the protests of thousands of students in New Jersey this week (read all about it in the NYTimes here).What moved me about this student-led protest is that at such a young age, these students recognize how to magnify their power through unity against a single injustice: school cuts that compromise their education. From one Facebook invitation to protest these cuts that pulled their injustice triggers, 18,000 students were moved to the streets with signs and their... Raining on My Students’ Parades
Posted on Apr 12, 2010 - 09:31 AM by Kristan Morrison in democracy.edu
My graduate students tell me that I am depressing them - that I am the unfunny version of Saturday Night Live's Debbie Downer . Well, they didn't actually call me that, but that's sometimes how I feel. I teach the foundations of education course at my university. This is the class where American education is looked at through a critical lens - comparing the historical, Jeffersonian democratic citizenship purpose of education to the social mobility purposes that seem most paramount in schools today. We explore and critique different philosophies of education, deconstruct our society's current politicization of education, examine the injustices of our education system's funding practices,... Unschooling Is About ContextPosted on Mar 19, 2010 - 08:31 AM by Khalif Williams in Uncharted Parenting
When my family decided to give homeschooling a try, we knew we wanted to define our own philosophy and approach. Being huge fans of the unschooling concept (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling) we began our adventure with the assumption that our children's curiosity would drive our inquiry, explorations, and adventures. We even use the term "unschooling" often to describe that to which we are up. This term keeps us grounded in our primary motivation for the endeavor: freedom and success.But, my wife and I both have brown skin, and come from backgrounds that don't privilege a free-form attitude about freedom and success, even defined simply as having enough food, clothing and a... Democracy at Risk? Ask the Kids!
Posted on Feb 26, 2010 - 01:20 AM by Laura Stine in The Landscape
Editor's Note: Laura Stine is a member of IDEA's Advisory Board and a guest blogger. In this post, she responds to the recent exposure of a school district that used webcams to spy on students. She refers to a blogger with the screen name "Brainwrap" on the political opinion website The Daily Kos, which calls its blogs "diaries."The other day, I made a suggestion in the comments of Brainwrap's excellent diary (2/22/10) on the latest developments in the evolution of the Pennsylvania school district tale known in the Daily community as ‘WebCamGate.' In short, the district is being sued by the parents of a student who was disciplined by his school for something he must have done in his... Uncle Sam Wants YOU… and he’s waiting in the cafeteria
Posted on Feb 15, 2010 - 06:16 PM by Claire Russell in Pulse
He stood there like a statue -- dressed head to foot in the full uniform of a United States Marine. His hands were behind his back with unmatched pride. He stood behind a table that was sitting in the middle of my cafeteria. The banner on the front of the table read "Marine Recruits."Another man, slightly older, stood beside him, also in uniform. My peers looked curiously over at the table, and most of them wandered over and talked to the two men. The kids asked them questions and looked through all of the material the men had brought.
Later, I talked to one of my friends, who had gone over to talk to the recruiters. He announced that he had decided that day to join the Marines. I... The ABC’s of School Success
Posted on Feb 12, 2010 - 08:27 AM by Dana Bennis in News Feed
On Feb. 1, President Obama vowed to toss out the nation’s current school accountability system and replace it with a more balanced scorecard of school performance that looks at student growth and school progress.
I love the idea. Mr. Obama and education secretary Arne Duncan have repeatedly criticized the No Child Left Behind Act for keeping the “goals loose but the steps tight.” On their watch, both men aspire to introduce a new law that keeps the “goals tight but the steps loose.”
With that more flexible standard in mind, I have a scorecard to propose: the ABC’s of School Success. It provides both structure and freedom by identifying five universal measurement categories—Achievement, Balance, Climate, Democratic Practices and Equity—and letting individual schools chose which data points to track under each category.
Howard Zinn: One of the Great Democratic EducatorsPosted on Jan 30, 2010 - 03:10 PM by Melia Dicker in The Landscape
"The interchange between student and teacher, the free inquiry that is promulgated in the classroom, a spirit of equality in the classroom, to me that is part of a democratic education." - Howard ZinnThis week, the world said goodbye to Howard Zinn, an award-winning writer, activist, professor, and role model for democratic educators. He was 87.
Zinn dedicated his life to promoting true democracy and social justice through education and action. Although he spoke and wrote extensively on the injustices that humans have inflicted upon each other, throughout history and in the present, he never lost hope for a more peaceful world.
In one of his last interviews, Zinn said that he wanted... Teacherken on Linda Darling-Hammond’s New Book
Posted on Jan 25, 2010 - 10:22 AM by Dana Bennis in The Landscape
I've followed Teacherken's writings on education for a couple of years now. Teacherken (Kenneth J. Bernstein, a teacher in the DC metro area) is one of the most outspoken voices advocating for more personalized and democratic education, writing on the popular Daily Kos blog. In a post written this past weekend, he reviews educator and author Linda Darling-Hammond's new book, The Flat World and Education: How America's Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future, a great book I just picked up last week. As Teacherken explains, Darling-Hammond provides us with a strong argument to significantly change the direction of education in this country away from more tests and standardization... Working for Freire’s “True Word”Posted on Jan 18, 2010 - 06:26 PM by Ammerah Saidi in The Learning Curve
Paolo Freire writes, "Human existence cannot be silent nor can it be nourished by false words, but only by true words, with which men and women transform the world."Our man, Freire, is calling us out--PUT YO' MONEY WHERE YO' MOUTH IS! Words without reflection are pointless. Words without action are likewise pointless. It is only when we balance our words with reflection and action that we can call ourselves thinkers and transformers. (Sigh. Where are the Freires of the world? 'Cause I'm single and ready to mingle! If you're there--mouths silently--call me.)
All kidding aside, this is exactly what I have moved to implement in my classroom--a movement from thoughts and words to... The Plans of Mice and Men
Posted on Jan 11, 2010 - 08:04 PM by Ammerah Saidi in The Learning Curve
My friend and partner, Khadigah Alasry, in the fight to make education real again, developed a vision for a model of reform last year. We started presenting this model within the U.S. and over the internet. We've been invited to present in Dublin, the Cayman Islands, Hawaii, Dubai, Paris, and other places but due to our lack of funds and now time, we have had to kindly decline.We developed this model for educational reform while I was out of the classroom for a year and Khadigah had just graduated from undergrad with her newly minted teacher's certificate. For a nine minute synopsis of our model, watch our video:
This video summarizes my vision for my return to the classroom. My... Remembering Hope & Joy
Posted on Dec 27, 2009 - 02:41 PM by Jonah Canner in Got Questions?
I am currently on vacation in Nicaragua, and while I have been doing a lot of thinking, I have not been doing very much writing, as is wont to happen from time to time. And with thinking inevitably comes questioning. So what better place to explore some of those questions than here?I'll begin with a story. I spent the last four days on a small hostel/ranch/community center/aspiring eco-destination called Rancho Esperanza in the isolated fishing village of Jiquilillo. The owner of the ranch, Nato (Nate), was born in Maine and has been involved with the village for eleven years, living there full time for the last eight.
Six years ago Nate began an after school program for the youth of... Painting The Landscape
Posted on Nov 23, 2009 - 10:28 AM by Dana Bennis in The Landscape
Think “landscape” and you might visualize an expansive nature scene, or maybe the nitty-gritty workings of the political landscape. Perhaps you think of the act of landscaping in terms of developing a park or other area. For the purposes of this blog, the landscape metaphor refers to all of this and more.The Landscape is a blog for IDEA staff, board, and advisory board members to reflect on the bigger picture in education today, from philosophy to practice and policy to pedagogy. We'll report on exciting ideas, schools, and changes toward the development of a more deeply democratic educational experience for young people. We'll also share stories from our personal experiences as... Using the Master’s Tools
Posted on Nov 01, 2009 - 06:47 PM by Ammerah Saidi in The Learning Curve
My first week into teaching after my year in graduate school, I was filled with grand ideas and ideals as to what I would do in my classroom to help my students liberate themselves from the intellectual shackles of US public education. I entered my classroom and my school with the belief that my students and I would revolutionize the educational experience in Detroit forever--no hyperbole intended. This is how deeply I believed in my students and their potential to be positive change agents in a world which deemed them failures or equally insulting, average at best.Critical pedagogy was my tool of choice: an educational philosophy accredited to the late Paolo Freire, which...