Archives for category: Humor
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

NAISON: DO NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO!

By dianeravitch
October 17, 2013 //
15

Mark NAISON, professor of African-American studies at Fordham University, co-founded the BATs.

BATs are everywhere. They think high-stakes testing is child abuse. They think that evaluating teachers in relation to student test scores is nonsense.

Mark Naison here posts a hilarious parody of New York’s educator evaluation system, untested, being built in mid-air, that old airplane cliche.

If you are angry about high-stakes testing, watch it.

If you are upset about the loss of teacher autonomy and professionalism, watch it.

If you want to laugh out loud, watch it.

If you work for the New York State Education Department, DO NOT WATCH IT.

Be careful, laughter is dangerous.

Categories Common Core, Education Industry, Humor, New York, Parents, Race to the Top

Your Gift for Today: Time to Laugh

By dianeravitch
October 6, 2013 //
5

This is one
you should not miss:

http://stockholdersfirst.org/

Very funny, with a catchy song too.

Categories Humor

Patrick Welsh: Four Decades of Failed Reforms

By dianeravitch
September 30, 2013 //
16

Patrick Welsh is an experienced teacher who writes often in the Washington Post about the real problems of schools. If only the editorial board of the Post–besotted with the failed strategies of corporate reform–would heed the wisdom of Patrick Welsh!

In this article, he describes the many reforms that have been imposed in teachers in his high school since he started teaching forty years ago. The article refers to “four decades of failed school reforms.”

Now we are in the worst of all reforms, where the “reforms” are devised by non-educators or people who taught for a year or two. Where non-educators or those with minimal experience are made state commissioner of education and use their power to demoralize teachers and destroy the teaching profession.

This era will end. But how many excellent teachers will we lose before the reform industry admits its failure and goes away?

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Humor, Teachers and Teaching

Your Sunday Gift: Time to Laugh Out Loud

By dianeravitch
September 29, 2013 //
11

This is one of the
funniest satires of current education thinking that I
have read in a long time. It was written by Russ Walsh of Rider
University. Russ describes the development of a new assessment
program for toddlers, to determine if they are career-and -college
ready The acronym for the new program is TIT for TAT. No experts in
early childhood education were involved in developing the new
assessments. They were annoying. They asked too many questions.
Read and enjoy!

Categories Childhood, Pre-K, K, Humor

EduShyster: Teachers Advise Hollywood on How to Fix Failing Films

By dianeravitch
September 23, 2013 //
4

EduShyster discovered a witty teacher who decided that educators know best. That’s why they are educators.

This is how it started:

“When a teacher came across a recent interview on MSNBC with Hollywood director M. Night Shyamalan about his new book, I Got Schooled: 5 Keys to Unlocking Quality Education, he was struck by a thunderbolt of an idea. If Shyamalan, whose last film was a box office bomb, could offer insights about improving education, maybe he, a mere teacher, could finally solve one of the great mysteries of our time: why are so many Hollywood films so bad? What’s more, why should his lack of any direct knowledge about film making or Hollywood get in the way of offering a quick fix? And so #HowToFixFilm was born: five keys that can finally make bad movies better.”

Hint: one of the keys: Fire bad directors.

A reader sent this link to the video:

http://deltascape.blogspot.com/2013/09/why-do-we-need-celebrities-to-fix.html

Categories Humor

EduShyster Explains the New York Times’ Infatuation with “Excellence”

By dianeravitch
September 15, 2013 //
6

Want to know why the New York Times writes puff piece after puff piece about Teach for America and miraculous charter schools where everyone succeeds?

EduShyster explains it all for you. Excellence loves excellence.

Categories Humor

Breaking News: EduShyster Unmasks Herself!

By dianeravitch
September 11, 2013 //
10

EduShyster is one of the most brilliant, clever, and downright funny bloggers in the pedagogic blogosphere. She is one of the very few bloggers who is consistently able to make me laugh out loud.

For reasons she will explain here, she has decided to reveal her name.

When I met her a year ago, she reminded me that we had first met in 2010, when I came to Boston to talk about my last book. She told me her name. I am terrible with remembering names. I told her that her secret was safe with me because I wouldn’t remember her name anyway.

But now the world, if it cares, knows her name. To me, she will always be EduShyster. Unforgettable.

Categories Humor

This Is Why We Will Win: We Have the Best Humorists

By dianeravitch
September 9, 2013 //
4

We will win for many reasons:

First, because everything the “reformers” have tried is failing, and they keep doing it again and again, and failing again and again.

Second, because the public really likes their local public schools and hates all that excessive standardized testing (see the latest PDK/Gallup Poll).

And third, we have the best humorists.

We already have Edushyster and StudentsLast.

Now comes a hilarious new website that explains the financial side of the current version of “reform.”

It is called “StockholdersFirst.”

Please watch and listen to the catchy lyrics of the song.

Categories Humor

Gary Babad: Obama Threatens to Use Educational Weapons of Mass Destruction in Syria

By dianeravitch
September 8, 2013 //
3

Gary Babad is a New York City parent who enjoys fame for his parodies, which he posts from time to time on the NYC Parent blog.

He has created his own news service (GBN), which gets scoops from improbable and often non-existent sources.

This is one of his best.

According to informed sources, President Obama will turn the Syrian situation over to the Department of Education if he doesn’t get clearance to deploy the Department of Defense.

Why? Because Secretary Duncan can use his waiver authority which does not need Congressional approval.

Read the post and prepare to laugh out loud!

Categories Humor

A Song for “Reformers”

By dianeravitch
September 2, 2013 //
6

Sheila Resseger, who taught deaf children for many years,
wrote to say there will be a Labor Day rally today in Providence,
Rhode Island. “In Honor of Labor Day, the Coalition to Defend
Public Education (Providence), and the RI Badass Teachers are
holding a rally in downtown Providence–Labor Day Rally for Justice
in Public Education. We will have speakers from the
community–teachers, retired teachers, parents, and concerned
citizens. We will talk about the callous attempt to privatize
public education for private gain. We will talk about the
inappropriateness of the Common Core State (sic) Standards. We will
recite limericks, perform a rap, and sing this song that I
transcribed from Barry Lane’s Cabaret at Occupy the DOE 2.0 in D.C.
last spring.” Sheila posted the following song for Labor Day. Song
from Barry Lane’s Cabaret at Occupy the DOE 2.0 in D.C., April 4,
2013 Sung to the tune of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”
Superficial unrealistic rigor is atrocious Yet so many education
reformers propose this. If you drill them hard enough, They’ll stay
upon their toeses. Superficial unrealistic rigor is atrocious. We
shouldn’t be afraid to speak when policies seem bad. We have the
best democracy the world has ever had. Why do they keep on scolding
us on how we run our class? Take those mandates and those tests and
… Help us stay on task! Superficial unrealistic rigor is atrocious.
What qualifies you to be the education Moses? Testing is not
teaching, We don’t buy the mass hypnosis, Superficial unrealistic
rigor is atrocious. We knew this child named Billie His life had
not been kind. He was a child that stingy folks had (?) left far
far behind. A caring teacher came one day and reached this little
boy. So reading, writing, ‘rithmetic is this lad’s pride and joy!
Super teachers always know connection is where hope is. Let them
guide their classrooms with a student-centered focus. Please untie
their hands and lose this data hocus-pocus. Super teachers always
know connection is where hope is. Super teachers always know
connection is where hope is. Super teachers always know connection
is where hope is. If you’re feeling sad and blue This song will
help you cope with Superficial unrealistic rigor that’s
atrocious!

Categories Corporate Reformers, Humor
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »