Andrea Elliot - journalist for the New York Times - followed the life of an 11 year old homeless child, Dasani, for a year. According to the article there are a staggering amount of homeless children in New York City - 22,091 this month. To put that in perspective, if all of the city's homeless children were to file into Madison Square Garden for a hockey game, more than 4,800 would not have a seat. The article chronichles both Dasani's home and academic life. It is discouraging to think that even though this child has so much potential, the obstacles she will face in life make success extremely difficult (even with all the support she recieves at school). I know we have at least one homeless child on our team this year, and this article really helped put what her life might be lke into perspective for me. Eventhough the article is legnthy, I would encourage everyone to spend some time reading it. It was well worth the read.

I'll be presenting at the Blue Ribbon Confernece next week (along with several other people in our cohort). For part of our presentation, I asked my sixth graders questions about their thoughts on our classroom iPads and other technology we use in the classroom. I was happy to see that all of my students seemed to be enthusiastic about and enjoying some of the changes I've made this year! Some of the topics included are apps students find helpful, how we've been using Google Drive, and now having a set of iPads on our team has enhanced learning in all their classes - not just ELA.

I've been a big fan of Diane Ravitch ever since reading her book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education. Here, she maintains that the recent NAEP reports on reading and math that indicate the success of "carrot and stick" reforms are just not accurate. I think she makes some good points that align well with our class readings and discussions. If this is a topic that interests you, you might also want to check on Diane Ravitch on Dan Pink's Office Hours where she discusses the detriments of merit pay http://bit.ly/1b8Spl7

The NYTimes' new feature, the Text to Text series, matches Times content with excerpts from often-taught literary, cultural, historical or scientific material. Their goal is, "to show students how relevant what they study in school can be to the real world." The series is an excellent resource for teachers who are trying to add more nonfiction texts to their classroom and also has links to graphic organizers for comparing texts, close reading and analyzing primary sources. From what I've seen so far, the topics are a little advanced for sixth graders and are probably better suited for high school students. That being said, the Times is encouraging teachers to submit ideas for new editions!

Team Tap Jam aka Team AMERICA) (Created using the PhotoLayers App)

According to this blog from Education Week, the Department of Education gives states the option of suspending their current tests if they choose to adminster the PARCC field test instead. I wondered whether MA and/or Reading would be interested in this option or whether we'd be adminstering the MCAS again this year. According to the article, when California expressed that they'd like to use only field tests this spring, they were threatened with losing Title 1 funding. It will be interesting to see what states and districts across the country decide to do!