Opinion: Since when is being patriotic racist?

I am absolutely appalled a high school basketball team would be called out for a “U.S.A.” chant. Being patriotic is not being insensitive. In fact, America needs more patriots, but apparently, some folks in Texas don’t agree, says S.L. Carroll for Yahoo! News. As reported by KENS5 in San Antonio, Alamo Heights High School students have had a complaint filed against them for chanting “U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A.” The problem, according to San Antonio Independent School District athletic director Gil Garza, apparently stems from the fact that the Alamo Heights High School students are predominantly white while the Edison students are predominantly minorities. The chant was stopped almost as soon as it started by Alamo Heights coach Andrew Brewer, and the incident should have ended there. High school students are rambunctious and teachers are not mind-readers. Of course, the students may simply have been as tired of the anti-American propaganda as I am. While the chant may have been insensitive, it is sending a deeper message to those high school students and to Americans. Being American is racist…

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Teensy micro-computer goes on sale for $35

Sneaking by just in time to make its delayed end of February launch window, the $35 computing wonder known as the Raspberry Pi is on sale at long last, Yahoo! News reports. The teensy machines went up for an eBay pre-sale auction for charity in January, and fetched as much as $3,000 for a single unit. Now curious members of the public with not-so-deep pockets can get in on the fun—if they can squeeze in an order on the overwhelmed sales sites that is. Due to overwhelming demand, the two sites retailing the micro-computers have both been overloaded, and many would-be Raspberry Pi owners have reported that orders aren’t going through. While a $25 version of the tiny device will go on sale later, the first Raspberry Pi round is the $35 “Model B.” What does that extra $10 net you on such a tiny, bare-bones computer?

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Opinion: Are virtual academies better than traditional public schools?

Are virtual or e-schools better than traditional brick and mortar public schools? In many ways the answer would be a resounding yes, says Tara Dodrill for Yahoo! News. More states are offering alternatives to the typical public education, according to PBS. Until recently learning from your kitchen table evoked stereotypical images of a home-school environment fueled by strictly religious beliefs. Modern parents are not intimidated by technology and most children by the age of 8 can type as quickly as an accomplished secretary. Virtual academies allow children to work at their own pace, an aspect which offers the above average student the chance to excel. Public school teachers must create lesson plans which can be readily accomplished by a classroom of diverse learners. Such a scenario inevitably hampers those who are forced to wait for their average and below-average peers to master the curriculum. High school students attending a public virtual academy also have far more opportunities to complete school early, earn dual credit, college credit and flexible credit. A student can participate in internships and workshops geared to a future career interest to earn elective credit or advanced credit in core subjects…

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NYC schools will use third-party observers in evaluating teachers

New York City Schools recently agreed to begin using third-party observers, known as independent validators, to monitor teachers who received an ineffective rating under the new evaluation system during the previous school year, Yahoo! News reports. The observers, who will be contracted through a company, are to be licensed teachers, former administrators and principals. They will spend three days a year monitoring each teacher, and they will be responsible for approximately 50 to 80 teachers total. If the validator agrees with the administrator’s findings, and a teacher is deemed ineffective for a second year in a row, an expedited termination process of the teacher can begin…

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Lawmakers in Arizona look to put controls on teachers’ speech

In a story in Sunday’s Arizona Republic, Alia Beard Rau described efforts by lawmakers to pass a law that would limit teachers’ words in their classrooms. The story was reprinted in  USA Today. A group of legislators is trying to pass a law that would make teachers abide by FCC rules regarding profanity, says Brad Boeker for Yahoo! News. Really? This is such a problem in Arizona schools that elected officials in Phoenix need to use their valuable time shutting down all of the potty-mouthed teachers? Are students from Yuma to Flagstaff running home every day and telling mom and dad that their teachers are telling them to shut the, er, heck up? The bill even spells out the penalties teachers would face if the law passes, which range from a one-week suspension for the first offense to firing the third time…

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Churches banned from using NYC school buildings on weekends

In a direct confrontation between church and state, the New York Department of Education has enacted a ban upon local church congregations utilizing space in the state’s public schools for services, says Tammy Lee Morris for Yahoo! News. The fight between churches and the DOE has gone on for several years and went into effect on Feb. 12, meaning that next weekend, churches that have rented space in public schools in NYC will be homeless. The Blaze reported on the ban taking effect and the outcry from local pastors and churchgoers who have maintained that the eviction will leave thousands of people in the city without a place to worship. On the flip side, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a spokeswoman from the Department of Education have stated that allowing the churches to rent public school space is a conflict between church and state and is a use of taxpayer dollars to “subsidize religion.”

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Opening access to YouTube right move for Chicago Public Schools

The Chicago Tribune recently reported that the Chicago Public Schools system has changed its position on the website YouTube, write Brad Boeker for Yahoo! News. Teachers, previously blocked from using YouTube, now have access to the ubiquitous video site. This is the right move for the district. Technology offers unlimited ways to engage and challenge students, and districts would be foolish to take away such valuable tools for its teaching staffs. There are valid concerns about using YouTube in schools. The district where I teach briefly shut down student access to the site last year when our technology director did a study and discovered that student use of YouTube was hogging an inordinate amount of the school’s available bandwidth, causing other online applications to bog down. Similarly, many videos (or more specially the ads accompanying those videos) aren’t appropriate for use in schools…

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Do California teachers know they’re investing in Keystone?

According to the Daily Ticker, the California State Teachers Retirement System has sent a letter to Facebook as a potential investor in the company complaining about how much voting control founder Mark Zuckerberg has, writes Susan Graybeal for Yahoo! News. While Zuckerberg’s control of Facebook is what The Daily Ticker’s post is about, I found myself fascinated more about the notion of the California State Teachers Retirement System and who it invests in. According to CalSTRS website, it is the nation’s second-largest pension fund and it has assets of more than 144.8 billion. CalSTRS membership and beneficiaries as of 2010 were 852,316 and its total benefit payments were $9.4 billion. $67.06 billion was invested in global equity in 2010. The list of companies those investments involve is massive. And there are some very familiar names. Perhaps what is most interesting is the teachers’ seemingly large interest in oil…

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Florida ‘Trigger bills’ ready to start power battle with educators

I’m a mom. I’m also a teacher. I have taught thousands of kids over the last 20 years of my career. When I walk into a school or a classroom I know what’s going on, and how to judge effective and ineffective instruction. I’m highly qualified, says Jennifer Wolfe for Yahoo! News. I’m a mom. I’m not a doctor. I have treated thousands of scrapes, rashes, fevers, itches, lumps and bumps. But when I walk into a hospital I have no idea what’s going on, or how to provide effective care for patients. I’m not qualified. So when I read about the so-called “parent trigger bill” I get pretty fired up. Currently, there are two bills in the Florida legislature that would turn over power to parents . The idea behind this baffles me. The first bill, House Bill 1191 or the Parent Empowerment Act, would allow parents to have the power to fire staff. That means that someone who has a grudge, or wishes to place blame for their child’s poor performance, would have the means to remove principals, vice-principals, and teachers like me from jobs that they are highly trained for…

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Opinion: ‘Gilded Cage’ of bureaucracy affixes stereotypes to teachers

The Daily Caller reports a millionaire public school teacher in New York is keeping his lucrative paychecks and adding to his pension despite being kicked out of the classroom, Owen Rust for Yahoo! News reports. Even worse: The man could have retired four years ago at age 62 but is keeping his “job” to mess up the school system. The “iron cage of bureaucracy” that often seems to doom teachers everywhere to a life of state-mandated drudgery, consisting of lack of academic freedom and rigid bureaucratic oversight, can also pay off big for a few lucky bad apples. According to the New Yorker in 2009, there were over 600 teachers languishing in New York’s controversial “rubber rooms,” officially known as Temporary Reassignment Centers. The school district’s teachers’ union, United Federation of Teachers, requires teachers accused of all manner of inappropriate or incompetent behavior be allowed to defend themselves in arbitration. This expensive and time-consuming process gums up the works and keeps bad teachers from getting the boot…

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Opinion: Teachers should use social networks to inform, not socialize

On the question of students, teachers, and social networking, CNN’s Schools of Thought blog posed this question on Jan. 20: Do you think there are more benefits or downsides to this kind of communication? As a public high school teacher, it’s a question I have pondered often, says Brad Boeker for Yahoo! News. How do schools make sure communication between students and teachers stays appropriate without placing outright bans on many useful, instant forms of communication? I think the answer lies in identifying the purpose of the communication and defining the word social in social networking. The easy approach would be for school boards to ban all communication outside of school between teachers and students. After all, isn’t the primary job of a school to look after the safety of its students? The problem with that knee-jerk solution is that it automatically cuts off many legitimate and creative uses of electronic communication. My former colleague, Joe Chianakas, now a professor at Illinois Central College, used a Twitter feed to deliver homework assignments and reminders about upcoming quizzes and tests. To me that is a terrific use of technology that helps engage students…

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U.S. Department of Education announces teacher ambassador fellowship openings

The U.S. Department of Education announced its acceptance of 2012 Teaching Ambassador Fellows applications in a Jan. 23 post on its official blog, Homeroom, Yahoo! News reports. The Department is seeking education leaders interested in fulfilling both full and part-time positions for the 2012-2013 school year. Interested applicants may apply for one of three year-long positions through February 22, 2012: the full-time Washington Fellowship position, the part-time Classroom Fellowship position and the full-time Regional Fellowship position. This program, first introduced in 2008, was created as a platform for expert teachers to share their experiences and unique understanding of effective teaching practices with policy makers, fellow educators and community members…

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