Banned books, warrior librarians, teachers in the trenches

 

Just let teachers teach

 

Brent Walker

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For a group of people who likely haven’t stepped foot on an elementary school campus in decades, there seem to be some strong and very misinformed feelings about what goes on there. Kindergarteners aren’t learning about sexual intercourse, Second Graders aren’t being encouraged to explore different genders, and Fifth Graders aren’t being pitted against each other in some sort of guilt-inducing race war. That’s utter nonsense, and the people peddling it are lying to you for votes and ratings.

Instead of raging over the vile hogwash you are being fed, I’d encourage you to make better use of your time by volunteering an hour of your week reading with struggling students, becoming a business partner to help fund different school projects, or signing up to be a substitute teacher once a month. Find your local elementary school and start putting effort into getting to know the staff and students there. We aren’t evil liberals indoctrinating the neighborhood kids with some leftist agenda; we’re real people with big hearts who choose to spend every day working with kids so they better comprehend what they read, explore the world around them, ask questions so they can more fully understand what they see, and live effectively in a community. We tie shoelaces, give hugs to sad seven-year-olds, talk through conflict between fourth-graders, and provide wet paper towels to soothe boo-boos Kindergarteners swear exist but we can’t actually see. We laugh with our kids, eat lunch with them, and give them a feeling of comfort and stability many are missing at home. Sometimes we might even provide the first smile or kind word they’ve gotten that day. And yes, we occasionally lose our cool and raise our voices because the little boogers have gotten on our last nerve and we’re human, for goodness sake.

But mostly we love.

Stop believing the lies, quit demonizing us, and let us do our jobs. Carve out some time in the coming weeks and and make a visit so you can see what really happens in these weird and beautiful little spaces.

Let's talk about cats, seals, and teachers....

Republican problems

 

Thoughts and prayers apparently don't work

 

Won't somebody please think of the children??!

 

The teacher and students learn together

When education actually educates.

Tucker Carlson TV dinner boy

 

Richard Neal

JtuilfySp 1e2on asaeolrrtm m7:mio4htrS2 oAedcMtf  · 

I'd like to repost this great letter from a teacher in Iowa to a noisy little TV dinner heir in need of some tutoring

Dear Tucker Carlson,

Hey Tuck, I just got done watching a segment of your show. You know, the one where you suggest that there should be a camera in every classroom in order to root out…let me get this accurate…”civilization ending poison.” https://twitter.com/ndrew.../status/1412566208763895810

I’m going to zig where you thought most teachers would zag. I welcome your Orwellian cameras in my classroom. Frankly, I don’t know many teachers who would object to having people watch what we do. As a matter of fact, I hate to tell you this Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson, but most of us spent the last year having video cameras in our classrooms.

See, I think you believe that your suggestion that people see what happens in our classrooms will somehow scare teachers. The truth of it is that we have been begging for years to have people, such as yourself, come into our classrooms. I somewhat famously asked Ms. DeVos to visit a public school before she became Secretary of Education (https://www.huffpost.com/.../an-introduction-from-public...). It’s unclear whether she has yet to set foot in an actual public school classroom, but I digress. I sense that you think you’ll see all of us pinko teachers speaking endlessly about Critical Race Theory leading to…and again, let me get this right, “civilization ending poison.” I’ve been in a lot of classrooms (more than you I am willing to bet) and I think you’re going to be disappointed on that front.

What happens in America’s classrooms is teaching and learning. Your “spy cameras” will see teachers and students working together to be better every day. I’ll tell you what I saw on a tour of classrooms not that long ago. I saw a group of kindergartners trying to create bridges over running water with basic classroom supplies in a lesson about collaboration. I saw a high school literature class talking about the character development in The Glass Menagerie. I saw a middle school history class participating in group project where they had to solve problems in a fictional city, with specifics of how they would utilize resources and build public support for their projects. Anyone watching your cameras will see learning…all day every day.

For those who watch your “nanny cams” carefully, they’ll see a lot of other things as well. They will see teachers working with students who have vastly different life experiences. They will see students who are fluent in multiple languages working with teachers to become proficient in yet one more language. They will see students who are hungry get their one solid meal a day in the cafeteria. They will see students itching for more fine arts, industrial technology, or world languages to be offered in their school. In my classroom, if we’re being honest, they’ll probably hear some sketchy intonation from my saxophones, and I promise we’re working on it. But for sure, they will see learning…all day every day.

To be honest, I’m fascinated by the logistics of your proposal. In a world where school districts are struggling to recruit and maintain teachers, who is going to man your “citizen review boards” (setting aside the fact that public school teachers already answer to publicly elected school boards)? For instance, in my school district I sense you would need well over 500 cameras going every day. Who watches those 500 screens 10 hours a day (I want you watching my 7 am jazz band and my after school lessons)? What qualifications would these “experts” need to know what they were watching for? What happens when they catch a teacher teaching…let me get this right…”civilization ending poison?” Who do they report that to? I’m also curious who will pay for all of this incredible technology. Maybe I missed it, but can you point me to a K-12 institution where Critical Race Theory is being taught? Hell, can you define Critical Race Theory for all of us? I’m sure you’ve got answers to all of these questions.

Frankly, I’ve never been able to figure out, instead of dreaming up Orwellian plans to have Big Brother in all of our classrooms, why you don’t round up an army of bright young conservatives to actually step up and teach? Is it because teachers work hard, aren’t paid as much as those with similar educational backgrounds, don’t have support from our elected officials, constantly serve as punching bags for those who don’t understand public education, or is it just because it’s easier to throw rocks at a house than to build one?

Here’s the real deal Tuck, I grew up with my mom making me eat your family’s Salisbury Steaks once every couple of weeks (his family makes Swanson TV dinners) for many years. I struggle to take advice on teaching and learning from a guy who makes a steak that, on its best day, tastes like shoe leather that has been left out in a goat pasture for a few weeks. I get that Critical Race Theory is your latest attempt to scare your easily manipulated demographic, but let’s just admit that you don’t know what you’re talking about.

With all of that being said, count me on the cameras Tucky. Like many teachers, I’m in the early stages of understanding Critical Race Theory (most of us hadn’t heard about it until you and your people started crying about it), but if you find me teaching it, have one of the Tucker Youth watching your surveillance devices let me know. If Critical Race Theory involves talking honestly about American history, I’m probably doing that sometimes. I spent much of the last six years advocating for a way for teaching to become more transparent, and in the dumbest way possible, you are joining that crusade. Let’s make this happen TV Dinner Boy.

Sincerely,

Patrick J. Kearney

Actual Teacher

And a response to the hysteria over 'Critical Race Theory' by teachers' unions:

The president of one of the nation’s largest teachers’ unions on Tuesday pushed back against a nationwide campaign by Republicans and the right-wing media to manufacture controversy around critical race theory and anti-racist education in public schools, pledging to defend members who teach “honest history.”

Teachers hold our society together

Alison Hoeman

July 8 at 7:12 PM · 

Society: In the richest country in the world, between 11 and 13 million children live in food insecure homes.

Schools: We can help..... Kids can eat breakfast and lunch at school, and in many places, teachers will spend their own money on snacks. For the most needy, we will send food home for dinner and weekends.

Society: Over 4 million children in the US do not have health insurance or adequate healthcare.

Schools: We can help..... we will bring doctors to do free physicals, eye exams, and dental treatments right at school. In many places, school nurses will spend their own money on sanitary supplies for girls.

Society: Over 17% of US children live without basic necessities.

Schools: We can help.... we will install washers and dryers in schools. We will hand out clothes, school supplies, shoes, and winter coats for free. Many of these items are purchased by school nurses and teachers.

Society: There are 5.5 million reports annually of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect of minors.

Schools: We can help.... schools will be safe places and teachers will be safe people. We will have some counselors, but not enough.... some therapists, but not enough, right in the schools. Teachers with minimal training in trauma will come to school early and stay late to mentor these children. Teachers will spend more time with their students than with their own children. Teachers will cry and sometimes crumble at the thought of not being able to do more for the innocent children in their care.

Society: Almost 25% of US children have parents that work past school hours.

Schools: We can help.... we will install before and after school programs in thousands of schools where kids can get another meal, get help with their homework, and participate in organized activities.

Society: Almost 14 million children in the US are obese.

Schools: we can help... Physical Education classes will be mandatory and we will incorporate lessons about healthy food choices.

Society: The US averages one school shooting every 77 days.

School: We can help... we will do lock down drills and train our students to hide and be quiet. And if need be, teachers will literally die for their students.

Society: We are in the midst of a global pandemic which our government has failed to control. Almost 130,000 Americans are dead and the numbers are rising, not declining, in many places. Because we have chosen to ignore, for decades, the racism, inequality, and discrimination that is at the root of all the aforementioned problems, we now need schools to reopen so that kids can eat, get healthcare, get clothes, shoes, and school supplies, be safe, be healthy, and be supervised. Oh, and so that they can get an education. It appears that COVID doesn’t affect children, so let’s go back to school.

Teachers: We can help.... of course we will help, that’s what we do. We miss our students and want to be back at school with them.... but what about the 25-30% of us that are over the age of 50? What about those of us who are immunocompromised or live with someone who is? What about those of us who are pregnant... we still have very limited data on what COVID does to unborn children. Will you have PPE for us? Will you have hand sanitizer for us? What if we get sick, and don’t have enough sick days to cover the time that we are out? What if a family member gets sick and we need to care for them?

Society: Wow, why are you suddenly being a bunch of crybabies? Before you were always willing to sacrifice your time, your money, your mental health.... and now when we need you, you aren’t willing to sacrifice your health and possibly your life? But 75% of you are women.... and that’s what we, as a society, expect women to do... sacrifice yourself for others.

*For decades, schools and teachers have been the band-aid on society’s failings, because we care about children.... because we know that in society’s failings, it is almost always the children that suffer the most. Schools and teachers are not responsible for, or capable of, the repair of our broken America. Make no mistake that going back to school has very little to do with education and much more to do with the other social services that schools provide... we need children’s to return to school so that they are fed, cared for, and supervised... so that their parents can go back to work and participate in the economy. While it literally breaks the heart of every teacher in America to think of all of the children that they know who are not eating enough, not being well cared for, and not safe in their home, teachers will not be the lambs sent to slaughter because no one else cared enough to actually address the racism, discrimination, and inequality that is at the root of our problems, while schools and teachers were picking up all the slack and holding it all together with a band-aid that is growing very thin.

The war to end all wars seems to be never ending...

Pro-gun myths told about guns.

Noam Chomsky discusses the latest phase on the War on Terror.

Kevin Spacey discusses the need to protect the rain forests.

Teachers are the best.

When you can't think of how to get a greenhouse next to your home.... build the greenhouse OVER your home.  And then grow veggies right in your home!

2005-2015 memes explained.

There's no war on women, Ted Cruz, there's a war on families.

Silly cats for the cat tax.

Life goes on...

Undelivered letters shed light on 17th-century society: Thousands of pieces of correspondence, many still unopened, were stored away by Dutch postmaster and are now being examined by academics

Dispersants didn't disperse the BP oil spill in the Gulf.  The chemicals just hid the mess from people and poisoned all the sea creatures.....

Global climate change is a hoax... or the hoax is a hoax.

What teachers do.

Edible water containers?

Richard Scarry's books for children are keeping up with the times!

Energy for free?!  Oh the humanity!!... I mean, O the corporations!!

From turbines to sniper rifles... what's not to love?

Wind turbine trees.

The 9 teachers who just received awards from the White House were all in the U.S. illegally.

Earthquake preparedness.

Earth from space.

That useless liberal arts degree is needed in the tech business.

Jimmy Carter says we're not a democracy anymore.  We're an oligarchy. (h/t to Steve Bates.)

Hacking a self-aiming sniper rifle.

We're all gonna die!

High-fructose corn syrup will kill you.

The ozone hole is reacting to more chemicals.

President McCain.

AIDS and where it actually came from.

Never say these things to a teacher unless you want to be cut up for the next craft project.

How shocking. I never would have imagined....

I am shocked — shocked— to find that gambling is going on in here!



Denial-of-service tool targeting Healthcare.gov site discovered

Dad Calls Cops on Son to Teach Him a Lesson, Cops Shoot Son Dead

Fracking Victim Sued for Defamation After Proving Drinking Water Flammable

Republicans don't speak for women's rights when they try and deny abortion access.

Teachers aren't actually the problem.

It must be the language that divides us.  And our totally different ways of life and histories across our nation.

Bathing Birds, Bugs, and Bees...

How to take a proper bath... if you are a bird.

Do teachers work hard enough?

Paul Krugman discusses the good ol' days.

Those who pay (or don't pay) income tax.

Margaret Atwood interview.

Fantastic views of the lions of the Serengeti.

What is really causing heart disease.  (Hint: our crappy diets and what we're being fed by the food industry.)

Bugs, toilets and mushrooms will save the world!

Musical mobs in subways!!

Bach on a mobius strip.

Studying the bee deaths in detail.

The condition of China's farm land.

Wednesday whiffles

Hunting the mysterious hum.

Planting false memories in mice.  Where could this possibly lead?

What teachers make.

Flying Spaghetti Monster statue in front of Tennessee courthouse.

Genetically altering oranges in order to save them.  Not all GMO food is bad.  Chipotle restaurants first ones to try and not serve any GMO food.

Fascism on the rise around the world.

9th Grade Science Project Finds Plants Don’t Grow Near Wi-Fi

Short and sweet

Or bitter, depending...

Iowa Anti-Choicers Admit They Want to Imprison Women for Abortion

James Hansen: Why I must speak out about climate change and Bernie Sanders comes over the hill with the cavalry.... or maybe just a cattle prod to try and activate Congress.

Drano plastic bottle bombs.

Russian dashboard cams.  I don't think I'll ever want to drive in Russia....

Teachers.

Our daily bread may be killing us.  Obviously all we can eat now is dirt mixed with a few leaves...

Wal Mart is distressed that the poor are not buying enough of their stuff.  Nice that they had time to climb down from that pile of money they're sitting on.

Squirrel pie

Somebody got my blog when they googled "can you work as a military contractor with bipolor (sic) disorder?" ... the scary thing is, probably yes.

Australia observes the emperor has no clothes.  And he lies.

Four years and the Arctic ice will be gone in the summer months...

Romney shuts up a teacher he had asked for advice.  And Daily Kos exposes the real Romney.

Squirrel in the kitchen!

This way and that way....

Americans v Brits.

Any discussion of Richard III needs this photo:



Speaking of evil villains:  Karl Rove.

WWII as seen today.  (a long gif.)

Romney v truth.

It's MAN talkin' time!  ... about rape.

Electronic voting machines ... have 'sleepovers' at poll-workers' houses.

Public education isn't being helped by all the testing... but the testing companies sure are making money!  And if you aren't in it for the money... you obviously are a loser.

Not an oxymoron:  a gay Christian, Matthew Vines.

Alzheimer's could be the most catastrophic impact of junk food

There is evidence that poor diet is one cause of Alzheimer's. If ever there was a case for the precautionary principle, this is it

And of course, cats

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