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New Article in School 61 Series Robert King's ADHD creates chaos in class -- and it doesn't have to is the latest in his excellent series about the kindergartners at Indianapolis Public School 61. King follows the day of an out-of-control kindergartner. While the column is heavy on support for using medications to help students with ADHD, it's still a good read. Since the Indy Star inexplicably doesn't index King's series, I have done so on one of our Educators' News archive pages. R-E-S-P-E-C-T Veteran NPR and PBS education reporter, John Merrow, writes in What do teachers want, "I believe that the harsh criticism of teachers and their unions is largely undeserved. I also believe it is hurting public education." He cites a number of surveys and studies while getting to his point with the expected Otis Redding/Aretha Franklin reference, R-E-S-P-E-C-T A New Slogan Paul L. Thomas continues to tell it like it is in his Legend of the Fall series. In Maher’s “Real Time” Education Debate Failure Redux, Thomas relates, "A new slogan has appeared from the ranks of educators who know the new education reform movement to be misguided, uninformed, and powerful: 'Those who can, teach. Those who cannot pass laws about teaching.'"
After several delays over the last 30 days, the space shuttle Endeavour launched this morning without incident on its final trip into space. Bill Turque writes in Advocates accuse D.C. charter schools of excluding the disabled:
Michael Winerip's At School for the Disabled, High Pay Leads to State Pressure and Now Layoffs is a sad story of disabled students being punished for the financial malfeasance of administrators.
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. Merrow notes that teachers want a voice in decisions about how and what their students are taught. He refutes the "wisdom" of the Arne Duncans of the world who extol merit pay to reward teachers for raising test scores in narrowly defined areas, writing that "supportive leadership and collaborative working environments are the most important factors to retaining good teachers." 
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A Few Quick Links Paul Frysh's Teachers give cold shoulder to Obama education chief records the continuing fallout from Secretary Duncan's open letter to teachers earlier this month. Sam Chaltain adds Your education is not an equal opportunity on CNN. And eSchool News has a somewhat disturbing story, PETA pushes for anti-dissection ads in schools. Oh my! Snow Days Heather Hollingsworth does a nice job of exploring the ins and outs of "virtual snow days" in Could the Internet spell the end of snow days? She writes that using online instruction on days school is cancelled has become "more viable for younger students as teachers and administrators grow comfortable with the technology." But she looks at some obstacles to such a practice, too.
I love writing about snow days when it's warm outside and the sun is shining! Of course, some schools that experienced lots of snow this year will be doing makeups on warm, sunny days well into June. Librarians Fighting for their Jobs in LA I think Hector Tobar may have described the situation best in his column last Friday, The disgraceful interrogation of L.A. school librarians.
Hearings for educators who received a RIF notice are being conducted in a makeshift LAUSD courtroom set up on the bare concrete floor of the California Mart building in downtown Los Angeles. LAUSD officials are attempting to RIF librarians "to help close a projected deficit for next year of more than $400 million." The hearings are part of an apparent effort to show that librarians aren't teachers (in the LAUSD admin's view) and should be let go, rather than being allowed to move back into classroom teaching positions or retain their library/media specialist jobs. There's lots to read online about the story, but almost none of it is encouraging, as dedicated educators are unfairly grilled on the witness stand as if they are criminals. Valerie Strauss's Teacher: "My employer has become my enemy" is a good place to start. The anonymous blog Strauss writes of, The Library is Not a Fruit, gives the full narrative Strauss summarizes in her posting. Nora Murphy's op-ed in the Times, L.A. Unified's librarians on trial, adds a bit more to the story. I've not quoted any of the questioning from the hearings here, as you just have to read it for yourself to believe what is going on. I really hadn't planned to do a regular posting today. If the snow day article hadn't caught my eye, along with me just plain getting mad about the treatment of educators in Los Angeles, you'd just be getting a list of links. So as I head out to my daily gardening chores, I'll wind up with some other good articles by some good folks that may interest you.
That Magical Moment "Mrs. Lipstick" tells in the day the magical reading fairy visits... on her Organized Chaos blog of the magical moment when the "light switch [turns] on" for a young student. She tells of a student she calls Pixie reading books with one line of text on each page that follow a pattern.
Witnessing the moment when a child finally comprehends that those black ink splotches on a page are letters with sounds that make words with meaning is one of the true rewards of teaching little kids. Mike Doyle on Charters Mike Doyle's Don't tread on me (or the commons) on his Science Teacher blog is a beautifully written analogy about charters and vouchers siphoning off funding from our public schools (part of "the commons").
Mr. Teachbad on Required AP Testing Mr. Teachbad blew a gasket (again) in his Saturday posting on Mr. Teachbad's Blog of Teacher Disgruntlement, Circus For Grown-Ups. This one isn't one of his humorous postings, as he has a point to make. He writes in part:
I managed to miss this excellent rant because it came out on a Saturday that just happened to be Annie and my seventeenth wedding anniversary. Now you might think we were out on the town, but I actually spent the weekend pulling weeds and such in the garden. Annie was off on a required "true flustercluck of a conversion" for her employer. By the time she got home late Sunday evening, we were both sore from our weekend labors. The difference between us was that I didn't get criticized for a job well done. Pulling weeds and other such manual labor has always been my way of putting unpleasant things (such as missing my wife on our anniversary) out of my mind. I also pulled a lot of weeds while teaching. Maybe Mr. Teachbad has a weedy garden somewhere on which to take out his anger, but then, we wouldn't get to see his incredible postings. Free-Floating Planets Several sources reported yesterday that astronomers "have discovered a new class of Jupiter-sized planets floating alone in the dark of space, away from the light of a star. The team believes these lone worlds were probably ejected from developing planetary systems."
Happy Birthday, Dad The real "Mr. Wood" turns 98 today!
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