Jonathan Pelto: Guess Which Corporate Sponsor Pays for PBS’ “The Teaching Channel”?

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1. Danielle says:

   February 16, 2014 at 5:14 pm

   This was a January 4, 2014 post on the Facebook page of Parents Across America – Suburban Philadelphia:

   “Sorting and Classifying Equations Overview
   http://www.teachingchannel.org
   Roboteaching? Watch this video that your children’s teachers are being shown at state required trainings. Should state government be standardizing teaching and enforcing a repetitive & robotic style of instruction for our children? It doesn’t seem very inspiring at all, and just happens to be from Teaching Chanel, which is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation that supports privatization of public schools. SHARE THIS WITH EVERY PARENT & SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER YOU KNOW.”

   I was shown this video at an in-service and couldn’t believe that our county’s IU was literally trying to teach us corporate reform-style teaching, which included student bashing. The trainer told us she couldn’t believe how “kids these days” had no stamina for the reading passages on the state tests. When I questioned her about that, she was visibly shaken and softened up her sell a bit.

   This is so insidious. They are using intermediate units to spread their word via The Teaching Channel and many teachers I know don’t see it for what it is. They still say that this shall pass or the pendulum will swing.

   Why aren’t the unions educating their members about this? I can tell you that the PSEA monthly magazine arrived at my home and it looks like nothing in education is a concern to them at this time. It seems like they have signed on to the CCSS train and are not getting off. What is going on here and why?

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   • Sahila says:

     February 16, 2014 at 6:03 pm

     maybe Diane will ask (on you behalf, Danielle) her pal Randi Weingarten why the AFT and the other unions are not “educating their members about this”….

     little ole me thinks they’re not cos they’ve taken money from all the big education ‘reformers’, including Bill Gates and Eli Broad….

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     • Dee Dee says:

       February 16, 2014 at 6:15 pm

       Yes, wouldn’t they be sending out info to all members?

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     • Sahila says:

       February 16, 2014 at 7:08 pm

       one would think Dee Dee….. and its not like communicating with all union members is hard….. emails, flyers, newsletters, robocalls, meetings…. and its not like the national unions dont have the money, personnel, resources for this…. their PR is pretty crappy generally, but they have the money to pay for some good advice on how to run an effective campaign, to pay for good copywriting and graphics work at the very least….

       which begs the question – why are the unions so behind the 8-ball on this? I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s deliberate…. union leaders are dancing to a different tune than their members, paid for by the ed reformer pipers they’ve taken money from…. no other explanation (except complete stupidity and naivety) makes sense…

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     • Michael Brocoum says:

       February 16, 2014 at 11:19 pm

       Veterans don’t buy into this garbage. In NYC UFT members about $1,200 per year membership dues regardless of your pay scale. So it’s in the union’s interest to go along with the deformers and replace each veteran teacher with two new teachers. Same or lower cost to city while UFT gets double in union dues. It’s all about money for the privatizers as well as the union leadership.

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   • jon says:

     February 16, 2014 at 7:34 pm

     You can forget about the union to back us. We need to inform parents who can change everything quicker.

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     • Sahila says:

       February 16, 2014 at 7:41 pm

       this wont change until parents and teachers work TOGETHER….

       teachers have to deal with the problem of sold-out national union leaders, crazy local unions who support ALEC candidates (Illinois example a couple of days ago) and general ignorance and paralysing fear…

       parents have the task of reaching millions of others across the country, working around a bought PTA, with few resources apart from the grapevine…

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     • jon says:

       February 16, 2014 at 8:47 pm

       Sahila: Are you saying the teachers should quit paying union dues?

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     • Michael Brocoum says:

       February 16, 2014 at 11:24 pm

       That’s the problem at least in NYC. The UFT is guaranteed its dues whether or not a teacher joins. A non-member teacher is forced to pay the dues (Agency Fee). The union’s survival is guaranteed hence no need to support or fight for its membership. In fact its loyalty is to guarantor of its dues….city and state government.

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     • Sahila says:

       February 17, 2014 at 1:23 am

       I dont know if teachers should quit paying union fees… I believe in the concept of unionism…. I have trouble when I see union leaders selling out their members and enabling the infliction of ed reform harm on children….

       I think teachers need to take back their unions…. AND be willing to do what unions used to do – really FIGHT for what is right…. not sit on the sidelines whinging and complaining, thinking that because they are paying dues, their leaderships will do the work for them… that’s not what unionism is all about….

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   • Chiara Duggan says:

     February 16, 2014 at 7:47 pm

     How old are these people, with this constant whining about how kids don’t have “stamina” or “grit”?

     Were the schools they went to somehow much more rigorous than today’s public schools?

     I’m 51 and I went to public school and I don’t think we had any more “stamina” or “grit” than my 5th grader does, nor was public school more rigorous and difficult.

     I’m genuinely baffled by the “kids these days” theme in ed reform. Where does it come from? They were much, much better than “kids these days”? I know I wasn’t, nor were my classmates. From what lofty heights of excellence are they speaking? The 1970’s? The 1980’s? The 1990’s? A one room schoolhouse on the prairie where they carried wood, swept the floors and walked 5 miles both ways?

     It’s just more nonsense. It simply isn’t true. I was there! 🙂

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     • Danielle says:

       February 16, 2014 at 10:24 pm

       The presenter was probably about 40. She shared stories about her own elementary age children and how, even they, do not have the stamina (read grit) to find the food they look for in the fridge. As it turns out, the blogger of Crumudgucation reported a very similar experience to mine, also in PA.

       http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2014/01/today-state-of-pennsylvania-provided-me.html

       It sounds like part of a scripted training. They seem to be asked to share a personal anecdote about “kids these days.” Every in-service sounds like it is right off of The Teaching Channel now. It is blood boiling when you are sitting there and you know that this is propaganda coming from Gates, et al. and that most of the teachers in the room haven’t had their “ah ha”moment yet. For some, I think being in denial is their coping mechanism. it is so frustrating. How can we expect parents to wake up if so many of us are still asleep?

       I am not going to stop paying my union dues yet, but feel so betrayed. Teachers usually blindly follow the candidates endorsed by their state union, and we have a gubernatorial race coming where we really need the best Democrat for education. I am not sure that PSEA is backing the candidate who gets it. It really is the ultimate betrayal. Kind of feels like a long time spouse is cheating on me.

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     • Michael Brocoum says:

       February 16, 2014 at 11:27 pm

       In NYC don’t have the option of not paying dues. Union’s survival guaranteed hence not concerned about fighting for its teachers.

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     • Duane Swacker says:

       February 17, 2014 at 6:56 am

       Nah! the 70’s and on were too late for True Grit. Had to be 60’s or earlier:

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   • Chuck says:

     February 16, 2014 at 9:18 pm

     Thanks, Danielle…Truly dreadful. Absolutely deadening…teaching and learning strip mined of any soul

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   • neanderthal100 says:

     February 17, 2014 at 7:22 am

     Did you see that room and all of that board space.?????

     Wow…Most teachers have the worst room layout…most have rooms for 15 students and 35 students wall to wall..

     and.. one little board.

     I thought I even saw a coffee pot??

     Wonder what else they have in this room?

     Tables for the children….instead of the slanted desks where the pencils fall to the floor.??

     Smart Boards…

     and…A marker that actually works!!!

     Lucky Teacher..

     I would have had those kids at the board solving those problems ..

     Moving around..

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     • Linda says:

       February 17, 2014 at 7:26 am

       I am not a math teacher, but I didn’t get the point of the lesson. So you categorized them, so what? And she was doing most of the talking and they were nodding and agreeing. I thought it was more or a what not to do lesson. That’s the best they got? Good grief.

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     • neanderthal100 says:

       February 17, 2014 at 8:53 am

       Linda

       Here is the gibberish for Math ***** Standards 8-EE.7

       Give examples of linear equations on one variable with one solution., infinitely many solutions, or no solutions.

       Show which of these possibilities is the case by successively transforming the given equation into simper forms until an equivalent equation of the form x = a

       a = a, or a = b results (where a and b are different numbers)

       We have been teaching this for years and years but not using this bunch of gobbledeegoop

       What I did

       Solve the three equations ( I had put them on the board)

       Examples
       After solving the equations the students answers were as follows

       Eq 1…..x = 2………………………one solution

       Eq 2…..0 = 0……………………infinitely many

       Eq 3….. 4 = 9………………..False statement..No solutions

       In eq 2…x = 2 means…..the students would write or say or discuss or whatever that 2 is the only number in this universe(that we know of at this point) that will make this equation equal on both sides..
       Then guess what..the students CHECKED THE ANSWER BY SUBSTITUTING THE TWO BACK INTO THE ORIGINAL EQUATION TO SEE IF WOULD IN FACT WORK!!!!!!!
       i DID NOT SEE THIS IN THIS LESSON OR DID I MISS IT.??

       What happens is in Eq2…the students would get to a point of

       3x +2 = 3x +2

       We put into the equations a bunch of the student’s favorite numbers to see if they fit
       Some chose 7..some chose 5….some chose 9..etc…etc….shared their findings.

       Oh my..they all fit…a couple chose fractions unless they were in some classes given a specific domain…( I gave Whole numbers 1-10) inclusive

       Every real number will fit into this equation making both sides equal so every real number is the answer to the equation.

       EVERY SINGLE NUMBER WORKS 🙂

       Infinitely Many Solutions

       When graphing both sides you get the same line
       y = 3x + 2
       y = 3x + 2

       Solving this System of Equations = Solution Infinitely many

       (A system of equations is 2 or more and you must find the number(s) that fit into both.)

       Eq 3..Same process where not one would fit..at least not in this world of domains we are allowed to use ..though I am sure soe mathematician somewhere could disprove whatever we say is true.

       In a nutshell…when you solve any Linear equation…you will get

       1. One Solution
       m
       2. No Solution

       3. Infinitely many solutions..

       This teacher solved two linear equations and one quadratic equation..

       When the student said use the rectangle.method to multiply..the teacher said use the square..
       …A SQUARE is a RECTANGLE
       WOuld have immediately used my little review capsule or talking wall to point out the relationship between these polygons..

       As I said..teachers have been teaching this for years and have pulled it apart and have never had to use a robotic. script

       This teacher did not do a bad job because she was obviously putting on a show for the camera and doing some cutsie things…
       Students ere engaged…as mine were 90/90 minus test days..oh..that would be 30/90

       With all of the infinitely many ( or so it seems) standards..I do not see how she can be too cutsie.

       You have to cut up all of that stuff…buy envelopes..buy your own scissors…markers..pay to laminate…etc etc..

       Well..I did because I certainly did not live in a room like that.. I had 32 wall to wall….turning sideways to walk in the aisles or among groups….
       Dried out Dry erase markers…receipts from paying $100 for my own markers…thousands on scissors paper etc.. etc…I mean thousands..

       If I made a mistake feel free to alert me..I told the students they get extra credit for finding my mistakes and since my brain works ahead of my writing..they found many!!!

       Good for you students!!

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2. Michael Brocoum says:

   February 16, 2014 at 5:39 pm

   Arnol, Gates, Broad, etc. Again, way too much concentration of wealth. Public education is their toy towards further corruption of the public sector for personal enrichment.

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3. Marianne Giannis says:

   February 16, 2014 at 6:02 pm

   The Teaching Channel is basically an infomercial for Common Core. When I received an email from Tch for a donation [“Please give a tax-deductible gift to Teaching Channel today. A donation of any amount will help Tch add more videos to their library, help further unwrap the Common Core Standards, and share more resources with us. (Also, by donating, you may be eligible for a special gift!)”], I asked them why they didn’t ask Gates for another grant since they were backed by his foundation. They replied that “the grants never cover the entire operating budget.”

   Hmm… it seems that they have plenty of funding. I wonder what the special gift is and how much you have to donate?

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   • Concerned Citizen says:

     February 16, 2014 at 6:15 pm

     Sell your soul and you may be eligible for a special gift.

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   • Louisiana Purchase says:

     February 16, 2014 at 7:09 pm

     So help me, my head is going to explode if I have to hear the terms “unwrap” or “unpack the standards” one more time.

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     • Marianne Giannis says:

       February 16, 2014 at 7:12 pm

       We should “regift” them and send them back. 🙂

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     • Linda says:

       February 16, 2014 at 7:31 pm

       Send them to Sidwell and Lakeside for the Gates and Obama children to decode.

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     • Ang says:

       February 16, 2014 at 7:40 pm

       Linda,
       I’ll pay the postage!

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     • Robert Rendo says:

       February 17, 2014 at 1:03 am

       Linda,

       You’re right, and I’m in stiches!

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     • Duane Swacker says:

       February 17, 2014 at 7:01 am

       La Pur,

       This is only a test:

       “unwrap” or “unpack the standards”, “unwrap” or “unpack the standards”, “unwrap” or “unpack the standards”, “unwrap” or “unpack the standards”, “unwrap” or “unpack the standards”, “unwrap” or “unpack the standards”, “unwrap” or “unpack the standards”, “unwrap” or “unpack the standards”.

       Now, if you don’t respond I will know it worked!!

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     • neanderthal100 says:

       February 17, 2014 at 7:15 am

       LOL Duane and Loueeeiana Purchase……So True!!

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     • neanderthal100 says:

       February 17, 2014 at 7:16 am

       oops

       Loueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesiana

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4. Marianne Giannis says:

   February 16, 2014 at 6:25 pm

   Common Core is an academic subject: “Sharing Common Core Language With Students” https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/share-common-core-with-students

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   • Chiara Duggan says:

     February 16, 2014 at 8:53 pm

     Interesting. She feels she has to say “this job is not a joke and I didn’t take this job because I couldn’t do anything else, I could have done a lot of things”.

     It’s just odd. I’m sure it’s sincere, but why does she feel she has to say this to her students and on this video? Do students come into her class believing her job is “a joke” and where would they get that idea?

     I’m not clear what it’s doing in this video, or why the Gates Foundation chose it.

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     • Marianne Giannis says:

       February 16, 2014 at 9:05 pm

       It is a theme that is in many of their videos. I started watching these videos last year and that is what prompted me to start digging deeper into Common Core. Something just didn’t seem right.

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   • Duane Swacker says:

     February 17, 2014 at 7:03 am

     Better you watching them than me, Marianne.

     What adult beverage do you like? I’ll send you a bottle just for all the pain watching them has to have caused you!

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     • neanderthal100 says:

       February 17, 2014 at 7:17 am

       Another chuckle this morn!!
       Thx Duane

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     • Duane Swacker says:

       February 17, 2014 at 7:20 am

       Just got another call from the district, another, in this case, “ice” day. We’ve had 16 school days this semester so far and we started the semester on Jan. 2.

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5. Stephen Eric Bryden says:

   February 16, 2014 at 6:53 pm

   Filth Gates

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6. Green Mountain Educator says:

   February 16, 2014 at 8:16 pm

   Perhaps I should focus only upon my students. I will pay attention to their needs, wants and desires. I will focus on the community in which I teach. I will do what I can to resist the corporate kings, the American Royalty, but I will do what I know is right. Devoted educators know what is right, but we don’t have the money and the PR firms to support us.

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   • Mike says:

     February 16, 2014 at 8:56 pm

     That is all fine and well, but if your job is riding on test scores, you will end up teaching to the test. Of course. You may know it’s wrong, but many of us have families to feed and clothe, etc. If the government wants to wreck its own school system, let them. You and I need to survive on a personal level. We aren’t Hans and Sophie Scholl. This is what the vast majority of people did in Nazi Germany and in Soviet Russia. They did what they were told and shut their mouths. The time for creativity in teaching is over- big time. You are Winston Smith in “1984.” You keep your mouth shut or you never teach again. Adding critical comments and blogging could be considered “thought crime” so beware.

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     • Duane Swacker says:

       February 17, 2014 at 7:05 am

       So, you’re extolling being a good nazi?

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7. Chiara Duggan says:

   February 16, 2014 at 8:35 pm

   I turned off Education Nation on network tv a couple of years ago because they had the governors seated in front of promotional “signage” for The University of Phoenix. Haven’t watched anything on public education on tv since.

   Just appalling. They may as well have been wearing the for-profit corporate logo.

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8. Robert D. Shepherd says:

   February 17, 2014 at 3:20 am

   Good morning, class. I am Mr. I. Crane, roboteacher model CC$$.TFA.666.v3. Pull my string to begin your rigorous lesson on CC$$.ELA.RI.11-12.4b.

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   • Duane Swacker says:

     February 17, 2014 at 7:08 am

     No, more strings, Robert.

     “Hit the enter button on your pad, follow all instructions to the key and watch lesson CC$$.ELA.RI.11-12.4b with yours truly narrating.”

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     • Robert D. Shepherd says:

       February 17, 2014 at 8:32 am

       Teaching. There’s an app for that!

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   • neanderthal100 says:

     February 17, 2014 at 7:18 am

     Oh my ..I can not stop laughing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
     ICNSL 🙂

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9. democracy says:

   February 17, 2014 at 5:20 am

   One of the avowed purposes of The Teaching Channel is to “elevate and celebrate teachers in our society.” Uh-huh.

   Vicki Phillips of the Gates Foundation is on the Board of Directors at The Teaching Channel. She is there precisely because she subscribes to corporate-style “reform” and because Phillips is a top-down authoritarian. When she was superintendent in Portland, Oregon, she was called “Hurricane Vicki” because she was a whirlwind of corporate“reform” and because she treated teachers and parents as weak stalks that could be bent to her will.

   Here’s how the blog Seattle Education described her:

   “During her three years in Portland, Phillips’ name became synonymous with top-down management, corporate-style reforms, and a my-way-or-the-highway attitude. If Phillips’ time in Portland offers any sort of preview on what’s to come from the Gates Foundation in the coming years, the country’s educators could face a new era of well-funded curriculum standardization, support for business-like initiatives, and additional, test-driven programs that may not serve individual school districts well.”

   See: http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/vicki-phillips-director-of-education-college-ready-united-states-program/

   She makes a perfect fit at Gates, and at the Gates-funded Teaching Channel.

   Interestingly, in March of last year (2013), Phillips penned an article with Randi Weingarten in which they opined that it was critical for American public education to “align teacher development and evaluation to the Common Core state standards.” Phillips and Weingarten made the preposterous claim that it was absolutely essential that the “mission” of public schooling “must evolve from an outmoded model of education that exists in too many places to a new paradigm that will prepare students for life, college, and career.”

   http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112746/gates-foundation-sponsored-effective-teaching

   I’ve noted previously that the Sandia Report (1993) – issued in the wake of A Nation at Risk – examined the allegations that public education was “broken” and “in crisis” and concluded that:

   * “..on nearly every measure we found steady or slightly improving trends.”

   * “youth today [the 1980s] are choosing natural science and engineering degrees at a higher rate than their peers of the 1960s.”

   * “business leaders surveyed are generally satisfied with the skill levels of their employees, and the problems that do exist do not appear to point to the k-12 education system as a root cause.”

   * “The student performance data clearly indicate that today’s youth are achieving levels of education at least as high as any previous generation.”

   Phillips asserts that “teachers are benefitting from the new evaluation systems” that are tied to the Common Core and “change is needed” because “We desperately need a school system that ensures America’s 50 million students are prepared for success in college and careers.”

   She just keeps reciting the same old canard.

   And she gets paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in salary to do it.

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10. Deborah says:

    February 17, 2014 at 7:36 am

    PBS…. PRIVATE Broadcasting Station? Shame on them.

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    • Deborah says:

      February 17, 2014 at 7:37 am

      Oops…meant Service.

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11. neanderthal100 says:

    February 17, 2014 at 7:42 am

    N-Q-3
    Choose a level of accuracy appropriate to limitations on measurement when reporting quantities.

    Unpack

    Understand that the tool used to determine the level of accuracy that can be reported for a measurement

    When using a ruler, you can only legitimately report accuracy to the nearest division.

    A ruler is used that has millimeter divisions to measure th e length of my pen, I can only report its length to the nearest millimeter

    Oh Please…………
    Go around my elbow and up through the clouds to get to my thumb!!!!!

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    • Robert D. Shepherd says:

      February 17, 2014 at 8:33 am

      ROFLMAO!

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12. Marianne Giannis says:

    February 17, 2014 at 8:52 am

    Gates Foundation CEO, Jeff Raikes, praises his high school speech and drama teacher for inspiring him and giving him skills that helped him in his life.
    https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/gates-foundation-ceo-praises-teacher

    Gates Foundation Officer, Sarah Allan, praises her ninth grade writing teacher for helping her have confidence with her writing and encouraging her to enter a poetry contest.
    https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teachers-encouraging-writing

    Gates Foundation Officer, Mike Gates, fondly remembers his 6th grade teacher reading classics to the class every day after lunch. https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/celebrating-sixth-grade-core-teachers

    These people remember the inspiration and encouragement that their teachers gave them. There was no mention of rigor, tests, or standards as they reflected upon what influenced them the most in their own education.

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    • dianeravitch says:

      February 17, 2014 at 11:20 am

      Marianne, how can you explain Gates’ promotion of measures that hurt teachers and public schools. Did they forget who educated them? They didn’t go to Lakeside in Seattle with 12 in a class.

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      • Marianne Giannis says:

        February 17, 2014 at 1:10 pm

        “Did they forget who educated them?”

        It’s only my opinion but…

        I have thought long and hard about this and I think it is just plain arrogance, an ignorance and disregard of the history of education, and a lack of respect for others outside of their inner circle. New Venture Schools defines the educational entrepreneur as “a rare breed of innovator whose characteristics and activities may lead to the transformation—not merely the slight improvement—of the public education system.” They believe that they are really more special. They have no humility and do not feel an obligation to listen to those outside of their club. They have isolated themselves from persuasion.

        I guess that is why I respect Maria Montessori as an innovator because even though she was a successful physician and well-known speaker, she took the time to go back to school to become an educator. She had the self-humility and respect for children to change her ideas as she observed and tested her materials and methods with the poor neglected children in Italy.
        Flexibility and adapting is what a teacher learns after being in the classroom for a few years. It requires humility, time, and patience which are qualities that the reformers tend to lack.

        Common Core (and the testing etc.) is fundamentally flawed. The reformers are fundamentally deficient in their ability to lead in a democratic society. A change in course to a healthy public school system lies in the wisdom and leadership of veteran classroom teachers; they possess the qualities necessary to create a vision of education that is respectful, appropriate, and just for all of our nation’s children.

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13. neanderthal100 says:

    February 17, 2014 at 9:20 am

    ‘One Size fits all in mathematical terms”
    y = 3x +2
    y = 3x +2

    3x + 2 = 3x + 3

    Solution :Infinitely many

    Let x = any 8th grade student in the USA
    They all fit on “One Line”…..

    Of course our solution would be finite unless you consider all of the upcoming students in future generations as elements of the domain …( and unless the world comes to its end)

    Future Generations forever are all supposed to fit on this one line…one dimensional….infinite in both directions though we only use {x: x E Whole Numbers and x > or equal to 1}

    Two-three dimensional is out of this CCSS…You can not expand.into any direction except the one we choose for you…..just get on this line a race your petukas to the top of nowhere forever and ever and ever and ever….

    You Walk this line and only this line…Got it…
    You Teach this line and only this line…Got it..

    We will test you on every coordinate on this line and they had all better fit. If we have one “Out of Order” You are fired and he/she/it has FAILED!!!!

    Of course…we offer you many new products at our dot com website that your schools can purchase to make sure everything fits on our LINE…….

    “As tight as birds in flight …..racing at the same height ….their plight is a fight to the light”
    Stopped in mid air….CCSS darkness ….”We now fly in fright ….in the dark and Foggy night”

    Help

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    • Robert D. Shepherd says:

      February 17, 2014 at 11:32 pm

      well said, Neanderthal!

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14. Linda says:

    February 17, 2014 at 10:36 am

    This past week, as the deadline approached for states to make their submissions to Arne Duncan’s Department of Education requesting monies appropriated under the Race to the Top initiative, we were reminded that the DOE has decreed that no proposal will be considered where the state government has put a cap on charter schools. In other words, the federal government has put its thumb heavily on the scales of local deliberations as to what approach toward charter schools best serves their communities’ interests. Penalties are being imposed on those who choose to limit, in any quantitative way, the charter school movement.

    This heavy-handed use of federal leverage by the Obama administration should not come as a surprise. After all, Obama himself has been a consistent, highly vocal advocate of “privatization.” He has travelled the country from coast to coast, like Johnny Appleseed, sowing distrust of public schools and – especially – public school teachers. They have been blamed for what ails America – the young unprepared for the 21st century globalized economy; the shortage of engineers; high drop-out rates; school districts’ financial woes, whatever.

    http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/02/17/american-public-schools-rip/

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15. Ponderosa says:

    February 17, 2014 at 11:46 am

    I watched the Teaching Channel video on “Simplifying Text Complexity”. A miasma of meaningless verbiage. Has teaching English come to this?

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16. Alexandra Miletta says:

    February 17, 2014 at 1:12 pm

    If you really want to see the most annoying thing ever (and so insulting!) here’s a Teaching Channel video narrated by a kid about his teacher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj5MneCKziQ&list=UUibvNgcTZQ02PucorqcTvLg

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    • Marianne Giannis says:

      February 17, 2014 at 4:23 pm

      And this one: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/owning-the-common-core?fd=1

      Are the students studying math or Common Core? Are these sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers? Their logo is at the end of the clip.

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      • Linda says:

        February 17, 2014 at 4:28 pm

        Wow..invasion of the body snatchers…she has a perfect common core brain. How dreadful. Hide the children.

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      • Robert D. Shepherd says:

        February 17, 2014 at 8:13 pm

        The NEA and the AFT both just entered into a huge contract with the two testing consortia to promote the Core and the new exams after already having accepted many millions from Gates to do the same.

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      • Marianne Giannis says:

        February 17, 2014 at 9:57 pm

        Maybe the NEA and AFT should be returning some money too.

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      • Linda says:

        February 17, 2014 at 10:23 pm

        Check out #ResistTFA

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      • Sahila says:

        February 18, 2014 at 12:03 pm

        @Robert….. and @ Diane Ravitch….. so where is the uprising at the support both national unions are giving to the Core and testing?

        Diane – I dont like intruding into your personal life, but surely you see that you cannot continue to publicly support Randi in her role as AFT leader when she continuously takes actions that are directly in opposition of your publicly stated views on what is good for children and public education?

        At this level of human activity, the political IS personal, and the personal IS political…

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      • dianeravitch says:

        February 18, 2014 at 12:35 pm

        Thanks for the advice, Sahila. Each of us does what we think best. I take orders from no one.

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      • Sahila says:

        February 18, 2014 at 4:50 pm

        I’m not giving orders Diane…. or making demands….

        I AM asking how is it possible to defend anyone, even a friend, who INTENTIONALLY works in opposition to one’s own principles, whose actions harm teachers, children, public education itself?

        How is it possible to publicly support Randi Weingarten and the decisions/actions she has taken as leader of the AFT? By refusing to call her on those decisions/actions, you are tacitly, implicitly endorsing them, which undermines your own position….

        It’s a mess…. I know it’s hard for Randi to take a very public step back, denounce ed reform, give back the plutocrats’ money in order to take back the AFT’s independence and integrity…. But you did it – you admitted you were wrong, took the heat for that and walked forward… perhaps she will listen to your encouragement, guidance even and find the strength to do what’s right for her union members and children across the country…

        and yes, friendships are special relationships, not to be thrown away lightly…

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      • Michael Brocoum says:

        February 18, 2014 at 8:09 pm

        Sahila, it’s apparently even worse than you think about Weingarten. About 5 years ago I wrote to Norm Scott the publisher of Ednotesonline.com to inform him that the Obama admin was behind ads attacking teacher seniority/tenure. The ads were developed by SDK Kinckerbocker, a PR firm for Democrats and run by Anita Dunne who was Obama’s communications director for his 2008 campaign. The ads posted by this firm were identified as “KeepGreatTeachers.Org”, concealing the fact that it was actually SDK Knickerbocker. A blogger on this site recently informed me that Weingarten’s former partner, Hillary Rosen, works for SDK. If true it would certainly support the idea that Weingarten’s concerns about UFT/AFT members are secondary to those of Obama, Gates, and other power brokers and monied interests to the detriment of the union members.

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      • dianeravitch says:

        February 18, 2014 at 9:03 pm

        Michael, Randi’s partner today is a wonderful social-justice rabbi, so perhaps you can cut her some slack. I made mistakes in the past, and I too repent my errors. I have a long memory, long enough to remember the times I was wrong.

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      • Michael Brocoum says:

        February 18, 2014 at 9:20 pm

        I stand corrected.

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    • Linda says:

      February 17, 2014 at 4:29 pm

      Insulting and false.

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17. 21st Century Poet says:

    February 17, 2014 at 4:25 pm

    Reblogged this on 21st Century Theater.

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18. Preeti Ratnam says:

    February 17, 2014 at 5:52 pm

    Looking at photos at the website of the Lakeside in Seattle… I cannot get rid of one thought… I don’t know if I am right…. The place looks kind of dark and gloomy… despite all the wealth…

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19. Mary-Faith says:

    February 18, 2014 at 9:33 am

    Diane,

    We need master teachers, not lawyers, businessmen, administrators, to rise to the positions of power in the education arena: Weingarten, Gates, Duncan. How do we go about doing this?

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    • Sahila says:

      February 18, 2014 at 12:07 pm

      you go about it by beginning a revolution – an actual, “we will fight them on the beaches”, in-the-streets revolution…. overthrow leadership of the unions, give the money back to the plutocrats, refuse to enable implementation of ‘reform’ and take it to the public….

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