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DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing

Monthly Archives: November 2015

“We often confuse what we wish for with what is.”

21 Saturday Nov 2015

Posted by David Greene in Uncategorized

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Just as there is no one version of Christianity, there is no single version of Islam. Here in the US how many various Christian religions are there who share Christ and the written word in the Bible, but often not much else? Everything else is subject to interpretation.

 

Much of the history of Europe is littered with the deaths of millions over which version of Christianity was more right or powerful. Many non-Christians also perished in enduring religious wars over centuries, or under a more unified Christian flag as in the Crusades or Russia’s terrorist Pogroms.

 

The almost 1400 year history of Islam itself has been engulfed by a war between two major sects; Sunni and Shi’a, each of which claims different means of maintaining religious authority. Within those two large groups (perhaps a bit parallel to Protestant and Catholic versions of Christianity) are even more sects with their own interpretations of the Quran, Islamic law, the relationship between “church” and state, and to some…. what constitutes their version of the Caliphate (the theocratic political entity led by a Caliph, a person considered a political and religious successor to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad and a leader of the entire Muslim community)?

 

Come to think about it, why start this conversation in the post Mohammad era? How about the battles for control including during pre Mohammad centuries? Hittites? Mitannis? Babylonians, Assyrians? Egyptians? Israelites? ? Phoenicians? Syrians? Persians? Greeks? Romans? Parthians? Who was in power before the word Caliphate was created?

 

During many long stretches of Islamic history, when left alone by Europeans and “westerners”, Caliphates existed for centuries at a time. The Abbasids, the Umayyads, the Fatimids, all fought for control from the 7th to the 16th century. The best known and most powerful Caliphate was the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire that reached from Southeast Europe to the Caucasus to Northern and Western Africa.

 

With it’s fall in the early 20th century… pushed along by colonial aspirations by the British, French, Russians, and yes…oil minded Americans, the modern “political states we now see on the middle eastern map were not formed by the natives of those lands. Both the political borders and the rulers of these new lands were determined by the colonial powers.

 

For the last century we have seen these seemingly unified political nation-states still containing enemy religious camps created by the Treaty of Versailles vie for political and religious domination in the region.

 

Post World War 2, the 4 major political powers in the area were Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran. Each regional “power” (often with “despotic” leaders who may or may not have seen themselves a potential Caliph) was supported by former colonial powers.

 

Except for the Israeli – Palestinian conflicts, we thought all was well, not really understanding what was brewing under the surface. Wahhabism? The Muslim Brotherhood? Were they under control by our despotic allies? But what if under control meant allowed to foment? As long as they didn’t bother our investments, our allies, or us… all was ok.

 

Why are we so surprised by results of the Israeli Palestinian conflicts? The post Russian invasion of Afghanistan? The Iran – Iraq War? The American (Coalition) War in Iraq and the endless war in Afghanistan? All of these destabilized that world we thought was stable.

 

Why are we so surprised by the rise of groups like al Qaeda or I.S.I.S. wanting to restore THEIR version of a caliphate, not an Iranian Shi’a Ayatollah’s? not Saddam’s, not Assad’s, nor Saudi Arabia’s Al Sauds?

 

What makes us so furious and fearful is not the goal or end of these groups, but rather the means they have chosen to achieve their end. If their means was not terrorism that reached outside of their borders to ours, or to France, Spain, or the UK, would we care?

 

Ultimately, to quote a famous former Brooklyn football coach, “The faces may change but the s—t stays the same.”

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/21/opinion/saudi-arabia-an-isis-that-has-made-it.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0

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SHAME ON SARAH D. SPARK’S ED WEEK’S TAKE ON DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION:

05 Thursday Nov 2015

Posted by David Greene in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

@anthonycody, @dianeravitch, achievement gap, children, differentiated instruction, education, Educators

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/01/28/differentiated-instruction-a-primer.html?cmp=eml-eb-diff110515

Kindergarten-CCS_KPCCWe shouldn’t be framing instruction around a pair of words. We frame instruction based on both the population of our classes and the subject matter we teach. Creativity not uniformity of instruction packets is the key.

Those of us who have taught in urban districts, where diversity in the classroom is the norm have known this from “back in the day” when we were students.

Differentiation is not an instructional model. It is instruction. Period. Kids aren’t test tubes with whom researchers experiment.

New York Post PhotoAll learning is personal. All students, even those without special needs of various sorts, have individualized learning styles. My second grade teacher back in 1956-7 knew that.  In fact, the 36 of us from a poor/working class neighborhood in the South Bronx felt it.

She, along with her husband went on to research and train teachers in that for years, before anyone mandated it.

https://dcgmentor.wordpress.com/2014/08/20/this-bears-repeating-i-am-the-seed-she-planted/

(http://wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/863/884633/Volume_medialib/dunn.pdf, http://www.learningstyles.net)

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?pid=131050944

Frankly I am tired of researchers and journalists telling us what differentiation is via a “primer” like this article.

From the article:

Differentiation tailors instruction by presentation. A teacher may vary the method and assignments covering the material to adjust to students’ strengths, needs, and interests. For example, a teacher may allow an introverted student to write an essay on a historical topic while a more outgoing student gives an oral presentation on the same subject. That distinction is accepted by some, though far from all, in the field.

The ambiguity has led to widespread confusion and debate over what differentiated instruction looks like in practice, and how its effectiveness can be evaluated.

Presentation? Who uses that word while teaching?  Right there one knows the author never taught.

Ambiguity? Of course it is ambiguous. It is individualized differentiation. There is no timed solution. Kids don’t fit into little prescribed boxes so effectiveness can be evaluated.

Shame on Ed Week.

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TEACHER BURN OUT HAS BECOME EARLY TEACHER RESIGNATION

04 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by David Greene in Uncategorized

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

@anthonycody, @dianeravitch, @valeriestrauss, burn out, Educators, teachers

1380999265447Back in the 1970’s there was a far more optimistic climate about teaching. By 1974, in my 4th year of teaching at a NYC high school with over 150 colleagues and by contacting many teachers in other schools regardless of level I found, way back then, that many teachers had already “burnt out” approximately by year 5. So for my Masters thesis in 1974 I decided to look at teacher burn out, a very common term to describe a big drop off of energy, involvement, and in some cases competency.

There were a variety of reasons but a sizable percentage just started to go along to get along…. go through the motions. Given the more pro union (although that didn’t necessarily equate to pro teacher) sentiments at the time, it is easy to see why so many stayed in the profession then, even though they weren’t as highly motivated as  when they started. Many stayed more for the job security than the low income  and little positive reinforcement.

What’s changed?

Increased anti Union sentiments.

Less job security.

High Stakes Testing that unfairly determines job security and school closings.

Uniform CCSS.

Anti teacher policies and scapegoating.

Less teaching, more obedience.

Far less security.

The list goes on and on. What has remained?

Low income and little positive reinforcement.

So, it isn’t surprising to me that over the past 15 years more and more teachers leave earlier and earlier in their careers. I have witnessed some of the bravest and most dedicated teachers just throw up their hands and say, it’s time. Instead of working far past the earliest retirement opportunity, as was once the norm, they left as soon as they could. It also isn’t surprising that fewer teachers want their kids (both biological and their “in class” kids) to grow up to be teachers. The number of college students who see teaching as a long term career is at its lowest point.

I dont know what to tell you. I agree withTim Stelar’s premise. (http://bustedpencils.com/2015/11/no-more-teacher-resignation-letters/)

If teachers don’t stay and fight, the reformers have increased their winning ways, but I for one, through both observation and research (going all the way back to the 1970s), have found that teachers as a whole are not the most courageous of people. They are as a group more docile, and passive. They are not likely to do as Tim asks.

The bigger question to me is how do we change the system to get more and more smart, creative, inspiring, and maybe even more assertive college kids to dive into these shark infested teaching waters we once did.

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David Greene has spent 58 of his 66 years in Public Schools. He taught high school social studies and coached football for 38 years. He was an adjunct and field supervisor for Fordham University mentoring new teachers in the Bronx and formertreasurer of Save Our Schools. He is presently a program consultant for WISE Services. David Greene’s book, DOING THE RIGHT THING: A Teacher Speaks is a result of his experiences and his desire to pay forward what he has learned over the years as he continues to fight for students and quality education in PUBLIC schools. His essays have appeared in Diane Ravitch's website, Education Weekly, US News and World Report, and the Washington Post. He wrote the most responded-to Sunday Dialogue letter in the New York Times entitled, “A Talent For Teaching”. He has appeared on radio, local TV, Lo-Hud newspaper articles, and has given several talks about Common Core, APPR, TFA, teacher preparation, the teaching profession, and other issues regarding education. Most recently he appeared on: The growing movement against Teach For America, December 11, 2014 11:00PM ET, by Lisa Binns & Christof Putzel He is presently a contributor to Ed Circuit: Powering The Global Education Conversation.

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