An *Educator* for Chancellor! "As absurd as that sounds."

[Smarmie Doofus]

"May amateur hour be finally and mercifully over."

Perhaps this will reverberate beyond the five boroughs. Perhaps the Amateur-in-Chief will notice. Perhaps even the Secretary of Amateur Hour.

Anyway... it's a good day around this house.

>>>After weeks of hopes and fears and endless internet speculation, it now appears that Mayor Elect Bill De Blasio has selected Carmen Farina, an experienced educator to lead the New York City Department of Education out of the debacle created by twelve years of the reckless experimentation, ceaseless union busting and privatization efforts by Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

She has her work cut out for her. Farina is very well thought of by many activist teachers. The mere fact that she is an educator — not a former federal prosecutor (Joel Klein ) or a magazine publisher
( Cathy Black) or a political appointee ( Dennis Walcott) — is, as absurd as it sounds, a major move in the right direction.

It is, I think,
impossible for someone who has not taught in the NYC public school system in the past decade or so, to grasp how deeply and insidiously Bloomberg ( with help from his fellow “reformers” up to and including Obama ) has degraded the lives of students and cheapened, almost beyond recognition, the noble and ancient vocation of teaching and the very idea of education itself.

May amateur hour be finally and mercifully over.

Godspeed, Carmen. You’ll need it. And the teachers and the kids and their parents need a real leader who knows of what she speaks and what she does.>>>>>>

http://raginghorse.wordpress.com/2013/12/30/we-have-a-chancellor-press-announces-that-de-blasio-has-chosen-carmen-farina/

[Squinch]

1. Oh, YAY! It was looking like she didn't want the job. I am so glad she took it!

Here's to a sea change back to kids learning and teachers teaching!

I am interested to see how they deal with the testing and the evaluations now.

As I have often said, I am not a teacher but I work in the schools in a related service. It has been devastating to watch the demoralization and abuse of my teacher friends.

Thanks for posting. It's going to be a much better year.

[Smarmie Doofus]

2. For future reference, this is my "Happy Dance":

[Squinch]

3. I am with you!

[Squinch]

4. What is the first thing you'd like to see changed?

I know this is never going to happen, but because I work with disabled kids, I saw that when the disabilities were grouped, back in the MIS and SCI days, when they attempted to group kids with similar disabilities and cognitive levels, the kids did much better. I'd love to see that come back.

[Smarmie Doofus]

5. Without a doubt, this:

http://paulvhogan.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/the-district-75-danielson-pilot-crash-burn-fizzle/

And we are TOTALLY on the same page re. education of special needs kids. The "amateurs" just dropped down from another planet and don't understand why "all children" can't do the same curriculum.

Hello! Their NEEDS are not the SAME!!!! That's why they're called... all together now, and *verrrry* slowly:

"EX-CEP-TION-AL".

Now say it again.

And again.

And one more time.

But the above is just the most blatant example of the catastrophic assumptions that corporate reformers and the idiot pols that they "influence" have rolling around in their otherwise empty noggins. Tip of the iceberg. Their whole ed agenda is based on false assumptions that grow from a complete lack of familiarity w. public education... in any of its forms.

That's what class privilege will bring ya. You do NOT learn this stuff at mega-bucks prep schools. You do NOT learn it by NOT teaching professionally. So go pick junk bonds or whatever it is you guys like to do and do well.

Don't get involved... in even the remotest way... w. public ed. It is terra incognito for you and , alas, will always remain so.

Gotta run. Happy Day!

[Squinch]

6. Absolutely! It forces the teachers to do all this weird play acting,

that has NOTHING to do with the kids, some of whose time would be better spent learning how to get their hands to their Johnson boards so they can indicate that they have to go to the bathroom or they are thirsty. But no, they have to watch the teacher teach a lesson in fractions!

Let's check back with each other in a few months and talk about whether we see some good changes.

[Voice for Peace]

7. this video, I think, is powerful -- NY kids talking about school and testing

http://www.upworthy.com/students-of-new-york-city-tell-their-new-mayor-how-standardized-testing-squashes-the-learning-bug-2

edit I think this has been posted before on DU but not everybody sees everything and it is worth seeing. Gave me hope for the future of education. Sane kids talking to a mayor who (hopefully) listens to kids.

[Squinch]

10. That actually made me very sad, because it was true.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Don't state regs determine those groupings?

They do in my state.

[Squinch]

9. There aren't any groupings for the last few years.

So a teacher might have a few autistic kids, a few cognitively impaired kids, and a few ED kids, and a few kids who have other specific learning disabilities, all in the same special ed class. So for each lesson the teacher is expected to make modifications for all these groups, while keeping up with the core curriculum that is designed for kids in general ed.

I am guessing the people who came up with that terrific plan have great references from Teacher's College, and no experience in a classroom.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Same here.

And it's the state that mandates this, not the district. The state controls the funding and dictates the way classes are organized.