Scholarly writing. . .writing well as a young scholar

Some examples:

Legend of the Fall: Snapshots of What’s Wrong in the Education Debate, P. L. Thomas

When Generosity Hurts: Bill Gates, Public School Teachers and the Politics of Humiliation, Henry Giroux

The Politicians Who Cried "Crisis," P. L. Thomas

Of Rocks and Hard Places—The Challenge of Maxine Greene’s Mystification in Teacher Education, P. L. Thomas

More misleading claims from WfS

Taking evidence out of context. . .

Misleading numbers from WfS

A new blog from Ravitch on "Waiting for Superman"

Truthout piece

The Politicians Who Cried "Crisis"

Freedom, decisions, consequences. . .and education

"Freedom becomes mature in confrontation with other freedoms, defending its rights in relation to parental authority, the authority of teachers, and the authority of the state. . . .It's in making decisions that we learn to decide. . . .Consequences are what make decision making a responsible process" (Freire, 1998, pp. 96-97).

Brilliant rebuttal of WfS from Ravitch

The Myth of Charter Schools

(FYI, Ravitch has historically been associated with traditional views of education, including supporting higher standards, more testing, and school choice. Recently, she has publicly reversed her stances in a controversial book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System.)

Bad teachers?

Recommended from Truthout:

The Myth of the Bad Teacher

Algebra Overkill?

From EdWeek:

Is There an Algebra Overkill? By John W. Myres

"Waiting for Superman": Misleading docu-ganda

See this challenge to the new documentary, "Waiting for Superman," from FairTest:

The Real Facts About Waiting for Superman

Good article on the errors of evaluating teachers

From The Washington Post:

D.C. schools' evaluation rules, IMPACT, can't measure all the good teachers do

The Story of Stuff

This was mentioned in class:

The Story of Stuff

Teach for America and National Board Certification

Teach for America

Teach For America: A False Promise

National Board Certification

Assessing Accomplished Teaching: Advanced-Level Certification Programs

Mid-term/self-evaluation DUE 10/13/10

Submit as an ATTACHMENT in Word format the following by the end of class 10/13/10:

(1) A 1-2 page (double-spaced, 12 pt Times New Roman font, 1" margins) self-evaluation that details your evaluation of the quality of your work so far in this course, the key concepts you have learned so far, and a letter grade for your overall performance at mid-term.

(2) Mid-term (Choose ONE):

(a) Take a position on the place of sustainability in the K-12 curriculum. Include the following:

—Provide how you are defining "sustainability," including what elements of it you are considering.

—Establish through which educational philosophy and theory you are taking your position and why.

—Offer some specific examples of how sustainability should be implemented in K-12 education OR specific reasons it should not be included.

OR

(b) Can "sustainability" be taught? Explain carefully why or why not by placing your argument within an educational philosophy and theory.

Interesting study about income distribution and equity

Per our discussions lately, and consider the Slate articles I have linked earlier:

The article is from Huffington Post, but the actual study is included and a link to the PDF is included.

Considering the coporate view of schools from TCR

Straight up Nonsense: Or, How to Diss Students with Differences

Look at the discussion of using a corporate lens to run schools and how Race to the Top funds are reinforce inequity. . .