Oops! We scheduled this to post on Saturday, but something went awry. Now we’re a few days late, but we think these links are still worth a look.
We like sharing interesting news, insightful opinions, activist victories, and actionable curriculum via Facebook, Twitter, and of course through our magazine and books.
We thought why not collect some of our favorites ideas, opinions, and stories in one place each week. It gives you a peek at what piques our interest, and gives us the opportunity to revisit the news that’s shaping our profession and the public debate about education.
Let us know what you think of this idea in the comments, and feel free to add to our list there as well.
Speaking “Mexican” and the use of “Mock Spanish” in Children’s Books (or Do Not Read Skippyjon Jones) by Dolores Inés Casillas via Sounding Out! Librarian and Rethinking Schools contributor Rachel Cloues alerted us to this thoughtful critique of the Skippyjon Jones series.
Post-patriarchy? We Still Have Much to Learn (and Teach) by Jody Sokolower via Common Dreams. What started as a post here on our blog ended up at one of our favorite news and opinion sites.
Charter Schools Fail: New Report Calls Their ‘Magic’ Into Question, by Jeff Bryant, via Common Dreams. Bryant writes “In even the most casual treatments of education, charter schools are now regarded by many as a given “improvement.” (For those of you who watch NBC’s “Parenthood,” you saw that in this season’s episodes.) Bryant calls this glib pro-charter propaganda into question.
Teaching Untold Stories About Asian Pacific American Heritage Month by Moé Yonamine via Zinn Education Project. By now, many of us have heard of the Japanese American internment in the US during World War II. But very few of us know anything about the U.S.-ordered internment of Japanese Latin Americans — 2,300 individuals from 13 Latin American countries who were forcibly brought to the US and imprisoned during the war.
Pearson Wins Major Contract From Common Core Testing Consortium by Sean Cavanaugh via Education Week. We want to make clear that we don’t really “like” this link, but include it because it unfortunately confirmed our beliefs about the CCSS. For those who think the CCSS is an earnest and sincere attempt to improve schools, think again.
Rethinking Cinco de Mayo, by Sudie Hofmann via Zinn Education Project. As one person commented on our Facebook page after seeing this article, “Less beer. More truth.” Need we say more? Read it.
Louis C.K. Takes Aim at Common Core… And We’re All Smarter for It, by Diane Ravitch via Common Dreams. Even we can’t resist pop culture sometimes. “My kids used to love math. Now it makes them cry. Thanks standardized testing and common core!”
Whitewash: How ‘The New York Times’ Just Rewrote the History of Sports, by Dave Zirin via The Nation. “From boxer Muhammad Ali to the Donald Sterling saga, Timothy Egan’s recent New York Times op-ed is a whitewash of the progressive history of sports.”
Last year, 25 hedge fund managers earned more than double every kindergarten teacher combined by Matthew Yglesias, via Vox. Who doesn’t love an occasional interesting factoid? Can you say ‘Capitalism run amok?’
Chicago Teachers Union votes to oppose Common Core Standards by Becky Schlikerman via Chicago Sun-Times. New York teachers have taken this bold step as well (and need our support, by the way). Who’s next?