Howard Zinn asks some good questions, in his introduction to Kathy Emery’s new book, Lessons from Freedom Summer: "Can we bring teachers and students together, not through the artificial sieve of certification and examination, but on the basis of their common commitment to an exciting social goal? Can we solve the old educational problem of how to teach children crucial values, while avoiding a blanket imposition of the teacher's ideas?
ACE Tech success
ACE Tech High is a small charter school on Chicago’s south side. I wrote about the school after my visit there a year ago and was impressed by the quality of ACE’s teachers and school leadership as well as with the school’s approach to integrating technical education with an orientation towards social justice. Today’s Sun-Times has a great story about one of ACE Tech’s graduates, Rodney J. Walker.
Teachers tell their stories as mass firings begin in Dallas
One by one, they walked into their principal's office on Thursday, learned their fate and exited into an uncertain world. Some were stripped of the bonds that only teachers and their students can forge. Others packed their lives into cardboard boxes, gave tearful hugs goodbye and awoke the next morning with no place to go. As the week begins, schools in the Dallas Independent School District will have to sort out schedules for thousands of students and teachers – the fallout from several years of accounting and budgeting errors that have left the district with a deficit that could hit $84 million this year.
Living in the Dallas area for nearly 30 years we have watched the DISD stumble from one debacle and scandle to the next. This latest, is, well, the latest. And very sad to watch; teachers with 30 years, some federally funded speceial needs instructors, principles, etc. all looking for new jobs, after most nearby school districts have already filled positions for the school year. On my way to work listening on the radio (NPR) to teachers being interviewed at a job fair, I thought of the stress inside these schools as they try and cope and you know, the sole purpose, educating the youth is suffering greatly.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/102208dnmetdisdjobfair.385f4aa.html
One positive note is that the TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) part of the no child left behind Bush failure may be going away. Then teachers can get back to teaching instead of preparing students for the test.