The College Dropout Compares Self to Shakespeare Play, Hilarity Ensues

Kanye West took to the airwaves to express his undying devotion to the walking punchline that is Kim Kardashian:

“I felt like our love story is a love story for the ages. I felt like when we first got together it was like a Romeo and Juliet kind of thing where it’s like she’s a reality star and I’m a rapper.”

Capulets. Montagues. Reality stars. Rappers. Obvious correlation, right? 

Stay in school, kids. 

All In The Game – “The Wire” Poster Project

 

 

File under: Way. Too. Cool. Archival prints of all sixty epigrams that preceded episodes of the best TV show. Ever. Proceeds benefit the Baltimore Urban Debate League. Omar comin’. Come at the king, you best not miss.

Learn the Address

Yesterday was the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Lincoln wrote five versions of this simple, eloquent speech. Documentarian Ken Burns (who else?) asked a number of well-known Americans to contribute their recordings of the address. You can, too. Visit Learn the Address for details.

Ten Reasons to Resist/Refuse Common Core

Anthony Cody, Education Week blogger (and definitely not a white suburban mom, Arne Duncan), offers a phenomenal take on the major faults of the Common Core State Standards. To sum up:

• CCSS were not developed in a democratic manner.
• No one who knows anything about early childhood development was consulted.
• It’s meant to encourage “market-driven innovation,” valuing profit for Pearson over teacher collaboration
• It claims to be rigorous, but it’s terribly rigid
• CCSS is all about high stakes testing
• Student scores will plummet – by design
• You think the NSA wants your info? Hah! CCSS is all about collecting info about your kids.
• It’s never been field tested. NEVER.
• CCSS centers around the misguided belief that an education is about “college and career readiness.”
• The biggest problem in education isn’t the curriculum; it’s the obscene level of poverty that our elected leaders choose to ignore.

Perhaps someone should call Arne Duncan’s mother. Her son’s not as brilliant as she thought he was.

NEXT: Why CCSS is making this blogger/AP teacher rethink his association with the College Board.

Arne Duncan Opens Mouth, Neglects To Engage Brain

You’ve got to give him this: he’s terribly consistent. And tone deaf.

Captain Clueless of the USS Common Core, Arne Duncan, thinks criticism of Common Core State Standards can be summed up as follows:

 “(W)hite suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were.”

Valerie Strauss has more in her invaluable blog, The Answer Sheet.

More Common Stories from an Uncommon Corps

This week’s musings from the best job in the world:

• My runaway student has returned. No chance of passing this trimester, but at least he’s safe and sound.
• One student presented me with a “Hump Day” t-shirt: “I saw it, and I knew you’d like it!” I do. And I’ll wear it tomorrow.
• Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and increases the likelihood of Saturday School. I’ve never had so many miss school so often as I have this year.
• One of my college students showed up this week in tears. She’s missed class the week before because her appendix burst. Afraid she’d lose credit, she forced herself to class just days after surgery. That wasn’t all, she told me. They had to remove her ovaries as well. When my students face problems like this, having them write a problem-solution essay isn’t all that important.

But today, just when the Teaching Gods knew I’d been contemplating a career change, this email arrived:

Jeff.

It was a delight this past week to see (our daughter’s) face as she waltzed into the house bearing the certificate for November Student of the Month.  She was so pleased to have gotten the recognition amid so many great students and caring kids.

Thank you from my wife and I for your role in our daughter’s life and for the professional attentiveness in not only appropriately challenging her academically, but also for respecting her abilities as a caring and honorable young woman.  You took a step forward in nominating her and I respect the faith and judgement which you entrusted to her.  Thank you.

Extending our support to you again as an example, leader and teacher in the trenches every day.  You are valued and to be encouraged by these simple words as well as our frequent prayers.

Teachers will tell you they don’t teach for the money. We don’t. It’s for moments like this. Just a little validation.

Calling all Teachers! Time to Step Up – Our Champ Is Sidelined!

Just read on Diane Ravitch’s blog that she’s been forced to cancel upcoming appearances due to a blood clot in her leg and walking pneumonia. There is NO ONE fighting more to end privatization and stop the insane education reformers than our 75-year old champion.

It’s up to us to pick up the slack while Diane’s sidelined. Start a blog, get a Twitter account, pester your Facebook friends with the truth about what’s happening in our public schools. Buy a copy of Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools.

In Michissippi, hit Lansing with everything you’ve got. Email One Tough Nerd and his minions, especially Rep. Lisa Lyons. Let them know we’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore.

Diane Ravitch’s tireless efforts have helped change the conversation about public education. Keep the conversation going.

And while you’re at it, drop by her blog and wish Diane a speedy recovery.

Today in Tone Deaf: Arne Duncan Visits Haiti

Coach Arne shows Haitian kids the pick and roll, similar to his educational bait and switch.

Coach Arne D. hit the streets of Haiti for a pickup game of b-ball, then regurgitated his standard stump speech on what the US is doing to improve education:

One of the many needs here are clear data systems, having transparency, knowing basic things, like how many children we have, how many schools there are, how many teachers we have.  I think it’s so important that everybody be transparent and honest on the good, the bad and the ugly.

Yep, all that transparency, all that data, knowing how many teachers we have (too few) and how many children we have in poverty (waaaay too many) keeps Coach Arne focused. On all the wrong solutions. At least he’s still got mad hoops skillz.

 

57 (give or take a couple hundred) Channels and Nothin’ On

Bruce Springsteen was right when he penned “57 Channels and Nothin’ On” a couple decades ago. Fast forward 20+ years, and we have hundreds of channels to choose from, whether we watch them via cable, streaming, or DVR. More choices, right? Better for the consumer, yes?

Not so fast. Ninety percent of what we read, watch, or listen to is provided by a whopping SIX corporations. Check it out.

What’s more complex, Steinbeck or Mr. Popper’s Penguins?

If your child’s fifth-grade teacher tells you she’s reading at a lexile of over 1000, you should be impressed. After all, that means you daughter is reading at an eighth-grade level, right?

Not quite. Lexile scores analyze sentence length and vocabulary to determine the complexity of a text. Lexile scores are a key factor in determining which book are appropriate for each grade level in the Common Core State Standards. Lexile scores, however, cannot measure the complexity of the ideas within a text, or for that matter, whether a book is age-appropriate in terms of content.

CCSS will measure your child’s ability to read based on lexile scores. Why should you be concerned? Because according to this type of analysis, John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath is less complicated than The Hunger Games series or Mr. Popper’s Penguins. The Sun Also Rises is less complex than Charlotte’s Web (see chart below). The New Republic published a great piece on this, and it’s lexile level is one you’ll be able to comprehend.