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Maria Mahon

Report Questions Duncan's Policy of Closing Failing Schools - NYTimes.com - 2 views

  • Furthermore, the disruptions of routines in schools scheduled to be closed appeared to hurt student learning in the months after the closing was announced, the researchers found.
    • Maria Mahon
       
      The study has shown that the disruption in schools appeared to hurt student learning in the months after the closing was announced. This makes me wonder, of course, about the recent layoffs in DC. While schools have not been closed, there obviously has been a lot of disruption and many classes are most likely behind schedule.
  • Instead of closing schools permanently, or for a year, and then reopening with a new staff, he shifted to the turnaround approach, in which the staff of failing schools was replaced over the summer but the same students returned in the fall. The new report focused only on the elementary schools closed permanently from 2001 to 2006, and thus offers no conclusions about the effectiveness of the turnaround strategy.
    • Maria Mahon
       
      Because of the disruption caused by the school closing, Duncan switchd to a strategy in which the staff was changed over the summer but the same students returned to the school. There are no conclusive studies about the effectiveness of this strategy. But, it does seem to show the danger of mass firings in the middle of the school year.
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    When Arne Duncan presided over Chicago public schools, he closed failings schools. Recent studies show that this did not actually help the students at those schools.
Alan Edwards

Ancient Mesopotamia: This History, Our History - 2 views

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    This website on Mesopotamia and early civilizations is maintained by The Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. It provides a wealth of information about the early civilization between the two rivers and includes great photos of artifacts, teaching materials, and interviews with archaeologists. For students, it might be fun to use this site as a webquest, where they would have to explore the site to answer questions.
jbdrury

America's Reconstruction: People and Politics After the Civil War - 0 views

    • jbdrury
       
      The home page to Digital History contains links to resources for a variety of other curricular units
    • jbdrury
       
      "Eric Foner, the DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University, and Olivia Mahoney, Director of Historical Documentation at the Chicago Historical Society" are cited as the authors of the page.
  • Reconstruction, one of the most turbulent and controversial eras in American history, began during the Civil War and ended in 1877.
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    • jbdrury
       
      Its difficult to sticky note everything you find interesting on an .html site such as this one, but each of these sections has images (many culled from the Library of Congress, which is also an excellent source for images such as these) pertaining to reconstruction, which a teacher could print or make part of a powerpoint presentation to enable students to analyze them.
    • jbdrury
       
      In the "additional resources" section there is also a visual timeline of the Reconstruction period, including many of the images found throughout the rest of this website, but organized chronologically, which may be of use to those students who need to look at history in this way.
  • In time, the North abandoned its commitment to protect the rights of the former slaves, Reconstruction came to an end, and white supremacy was restored throughout the South.
  • Today, as a result of extensive new research and profound changes in American race relations, historians view Reconstruction far more favorably, as a time of genuine progress for former slaves and the South as a whole.
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    This website, while providing a fairly detailed summary of The Reconstruction, I have bookmarked because of the images it contains. I think pictures and images are a useful tool in shaping students perceptions of history; as Erin evidenced in her last lesson plan, providing students with a model for critically examining images could prove very beneficial to building on their critical thinking abilities.
Alan Edwards

"The Public Be Damned" A Thematic and Multiple Intelligences Approach to Teaching the G... - 3 views

    • Alan Edwards
       
      This article and lesson plan was created by two professors (a secondary social studies prof and a history prof) at Ball State University. It was published in The Magazine of History, a publication of the Organization of American Historians. Each edition of the magazine includes a section on educational materials. Often they include websites that are helpful for teachers and students.
    • Alan Edwards
       
      The first part of this website is a brief summary of important themes of American history between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the 20th century. The second half of the page is a 5 lesson plans on the time period. Each of the lesson plans is designed for a different multiple intelligence.
    • Alan Edwards
       
      The mathematical intelligence lesson asks students to compare rents charged to white and black tenants in the late 20th century. This reflects the move to the cities as well as racial discrimination. The information on rents comes from Jacob Riis' How the Other Half Live. Like all the other lesson plans offered, they include procedures, handouts, and possible assessment questions. This is a great resource for teachers who are looking for fresh ideas and methods of incorporating MI into their classrooms.
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  • Urbanization--Logical/Mathematical Intelligence. The first activity allows students to compare the rents charged to white and black tenants during the Gilded Age.
  • Rise of Jim Crow--Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence. Paul Laurence Dunbar's poetry provides an ideal vehicle for students to analyze the various perspectives taken by African Americans toward Jim Crow laws and civil rights. Lyrics of Lowly Life (1895) illustrates one perspective, the accomodationist paradigm adopted by Dunbar and others during this period.
  • V. Immigration--Body/Kinesthetic Intelligence. In his 1890 landmark book, How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Riis discussed the dismal conditions in which thousands of New York immigrants lived. Most of the residential tenements were "unventilated, fever-breeding structures" that housed multiple families. Riis's floor plan of a twelve-family tenement provides an ideal prompt for an activity that illustrates the dark, cramped living quarters germane to these Gilded-Age dwellings.
  • VI. Westward Expansion--Naturalist. Like many Americans during this period, John Wesley Powell was lured by the majestic beauty of the West. Following his service as a Union army soldier (in which he lost his arm at the Battle of Shiloh), Powell ventured westward. In 1869, he initiated the Powell Geographic Expedition, sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution. Powell recorded his experiences in a diary, which today serves as an outstanding resource for students to better understand the transformation the West went through during the Gilded Age.
  • VII. Industrialization--Interpersonal. During the Gilded Age, technological innovations provided an impetus for unprecedented industrial growth and urbanization. While laborers fueled this growth, they certainly did not reap the rewards. Instead, they found themselves economic victims of industrialization and urbanization. In an 1884 study, the Illinois Bureau of Labor Statistics detailed the economic status and living environment of numerous laborers in Chicago, Illinois.
  • VIII. Imperialism--Intrapersonal. Numerous Americans witnessed firsthand the impact of imperialism on indigenous people, through their military service during the Spanish-American War. One particular American soldier, James Miller, discussed what he witnessed during his exposure to the war in Puerto Rico.
  • IV. Politics--Musical/Rhythmic Intelligence. One of the most effective instruments at the disposal of politicians has always been the campaign song. The Populists, perhaps more than any other political party or movement in the late nineteenth century, were prolific songwriters. The Populists were often quite critical of monopolies, railroads, and old party bosses in their songs. The 1890s campaign song My Party Led Me, by S. T. Johnson, provided voters with a rationale for leaving their old political party and joining the Populist cause.
  • III. Populism--Visual/Spatial Intelligence. Political cartoons have always been a popular and powerful means for critiquing society's ills.
jbdrury

Angel Island - California's "Immigration Station" - 1 views

  • This document reproduces in its entirety a book published by The Women's American Baptist Home Missionary Society, Chicago, in 1917. It describes the processing of Asian immigrants through Angel Island in San Francisco Bay - the "Ellis Island" of the west.
  • Unrestricted and unregulated immigration would not be wise either on our eastern or western coasts. We need the most careful consideration of the character of our future citizenship. But when we have decided who may be admitted to our land, let us receive all who come with a true Christian courtesy
    • jbdrury
       
      This provides an interesting contemporary description of the Angel Island facility, and under this sub-heading are further descriptions of other immigrants (Indian, Korean, etc.) coming through Angel Island.
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    • jbdrury
       
      This section - on Japanese Picture Brides - describes the missionaries perceptions of these young japanese girls coming to America for the first time, but the pamplet includes "interviews" with some of the women (whether or not these are factual could be debated).
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    This is the second part of my Angel Island posting. I find this document fascinating; it is a complete reproduction of a 1917 pamphlet produced by The Women's American Baptist Home Missionary Society, and includes interesting - and sometimes offensive - first hand accounts of immigrants coming through Angel Island at the time. The non-secular language cannot be denied as well, but it still makes for a fascinating glimpse into the perceptions of asian immigrants during this period of our history.
Joellen Kriss

Education chief calls for teacher prep overhaul - Yahoo! News - 1 views

  • The Obama administration is calling for an overhaul of college programs that prepare teachers, saying they are cash cows that do a mediocre job of preparing teachers for the classroom.
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      Anre Duncan scores in my book once again! He's getting his information from young TEACHERS who've gone through teacher schools!
  • Duncan said he has talked to hundreds of great young teachers while serving as Chicago schools chief and later as President Barack Obama's schools chief. The teachers have two complaints about education schools, he said.
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  • most of them say they did not get the hands-on teacher training about managing the classroom that they needed, especially for high-needs students
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      These are both interesting points. I think the AU program does a lot to give you hands-on training but the second point, is true. We get told a lot about the data and everything, but never really what it means to us and what we can do with it.
  • second, they say there were not taught how to use data to improve instruction and boost student learning
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      Teacher schools make money, but the money they make is spent on different areas of the college...interesting.
  • Their large enrollment and low overhead makes education schools cash cows for their universities
  • profits have been diverted to smaller, more prestigious graduate departments such as physics and have not been spent on research and training for would-be teachers
  • most states and school districts don't link the performance of teachers to their education schools to identify which programs prepare their teachers and which don't
  • administration is using stimulus dollars to reward states that tie student achievement data to the education schools where their teachers had credentials
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      We might get jobs after all everyone!!
  • A third of veteran teachers and principals are Baby Boomers who are poised to retire, which could create a milllion new teaching positions in the next four years, according to the Department of Education.
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    This article is about a speech Arne Duncan gave about the reevaluation of teacher programs in the country. Every time I read something else he's said or written, I like Arne Duncan more. He knows his stuff from a practical standpoint and goes where it matters to get his information: right to teachers and students. This article is small but pretty interesting.
jbdrury

Capital Gains FAQs - DC Public Schools, Washington, DC - 1 views

    • jbdrury
       
      Emery Educational Campus is one of these fifteen participating schools.
    • jbdrury
       
      The assessments done at our school are created by the teachers. The students are also judged considerably based on their classroom behavior. A sort of giveaway is the awards for wearing the proper uniform.
    • jbdrury
       
      I feel this website could have gone into greater detail explaining exactly how much money these students might be earning.
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  • The Capital Gains program is a partnership between DCPS and Dr. Roland Fryer, economics professor at Harvard University and the founder of Harvard’s Education Innovation Laboratory (EdLabs). In addition to Washington, DC, EdLabs and Dr. Fryer work with school districts in Chicago and New York City on similar incentive initiatives.
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    I know we've all heard about the rather controversial Capital Gains program - where DCPS is paying students cash awards for good academic performance and behavior - but I wasn't certain how much anyone really knew about the specifics of the program. I just recently learned that my own school - Emery Educational Campus - is participating in Capital Gains. I can say that my own students do not seem to take the program very seriously, or at the very least not enough to study more to make certain they perform well on the mandatory assessments (said one student: "I don't really care about the extra money").
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    They have "Tech Tickets" at McKinley, it's just a huge joke because the rewards are like breakfast with Mr. Pinder the principal, who they hate. Last Wednesday, they started joking around about starting a black market for tech tickets, at least they are inventive about it. But it doesn't motivate them.
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