Twinkle Teachers Demand Personal Happiness as Nuclear Power Goal in Classroom. Welcome to Whole Brain Teaching.

Hand gestures and the "ten-fingered whoohoo" imperative in Whole Brain Teaching.

 

Is the goal of education to make your "dear teacher happy"?

This is a "nuclear" goal if your school district using "Whole Brain Teaching".  Several Missouri districts are using this method focusing on making students more engaged in the learning process:

I was ready to quit teaching for good. The stress and apathy of the students and parents had worn me down, robbed me of my love for teaching, and left me completely disillusioned with the career I loved. It was almost too much. 

The thing that saved me is Whole Brain Teaching. This is an approach that began about ten years ago in Southern California.

 

Chris Biffle, a philosophy professor at Crafton Hills College, engaged the support of two former students, Jay Vanderfin, and Chris Reksted, both former students, who are now elementary teachers.

The three of them realized that a they all had the common problem of flagging student engagement, and worse, it was becoming epidemic. Everywhere they looked, everyone they talked to, the story was the same. Something had to be done.

They decided a radical change in approach was warranted. They set out to learn more about how students should learn as opposed to the traditional ways teachers typically use. Research into whole brain learning, and applying what they learned was the answer

.

Whole Brain Teaching was the result. Whole Brain Teaching is a method that integrates an effective classroom management system with learning approaches that tap the way your brain learns best. This approach is amazingly effective, and fun for both you the teacher, and the students.

Let's look at an "effective classroom management system" with the goal of making the "dear teacher happy".  From wholebrainteaching.com:

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The following are five classroom rules that will make your life amazingly easier. One of them is nuclear power in your hands!

If rules are only posted on your board they are not really a part of your class. You must have the rules running around in your students’ heads for them to be effective. It will also help you quiet extra talking in the class. Look for that as you read.

Teach them as follows:

Rule One: Follow directions quickly! (the gesture: make your hand shoot forward like a fish)

Rule Two: Raise your hand for permission to speak (the gesture: raise your hand, then pull it down next to your head and make a talking motion. This rule will be the most commonly violated. See below for how you stop this without criticism or negativity.)

Rule Three: Raise your hand for permission to leave your seat. (the gesture: raise your hand, and then make a little walking figure with your index and middle finger.)

Rule Four: Make smart choices! (the gesture: tap one finger to your temple as you say each word.

Rule Five: Keep your dear teacher happy! (the gesture: hold up each thumb and index finger out like an “L” framing your face; bob your head back and forth with each word and smile really big!)

In elementary school, rehearse the rules first thing in the morning, after lunch and after each recess. When you call out the rule number, your students respond with the rule itself and the correct gesture. Make the rehearsals as entertaining as possible; use a variety of voices (happy, robot, froggy) and tempos, fast, slow, super fast. For additional fun, ask of your liveliest students to lead the rules rehearsal.

Rule Two will be the most commonly violated, duh. You do not have to call anyone down; you do not have to mention names. If you are addressing the class and some kids are talking, you stop, hold up two fingers and loudly say “RULE TWO!”

Every kid in your class should repeat rule two energetically with gestures. This signals the violators to stop talking ... without you needing to scold them.

Rule Five is nuclear power. Think about it- keep your dear teacher happy. THERE IS NO LOOPHOLE! No student can convince you that they are making you happy. You are the world's greatest authority on what makes you happy. If they try to convince you they are making you happy, immediately inform them that does not make you happy.

If a student complains that they don’t know how to make you happy, tell them that following the first four rules will be just dandy.

Rule Five has no loophole.  (MEW note: Does this smack of emotional blackmail?)

If parents ask why their child should worry about making you happy, respond that you have the responsibility to teach their child and every other child in that class. The happier you are, the better you can do your job. (MEW note: Since when is it the student's responsibility to create and maintain teacher happiness?  Why should teacher happiness be a prerequisite to perform his/her job?)

Now, let's think briefly, about how these five classroom rules relate to brain structure.  The brain learns in five ways, by seeing, saying, hearing, doing and feeling.  When you teach the rules with the Whole Brain signs, your students' brains are maximally operative.  They see the signs, hear the rules, say the rules and make the gestures.  If you are upbeat and entertaining in your presentation, and of course you are!, your students will also have the lovely feeling of having fun.  Also note that for all five modes of brain learning to take place for your students, you have to engage in all five modes yourself.  Whole Brain Teaching is as great for the instructor's brain as the students'!

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If you have a child in the Union, Sullivan, Silex or Joplin School Districts you might want to sit in on a class and watch the techniques.  Contrived hand signals are to be done with certain movements.  Did you watch any of the encounters in the OWS movement?  Do you think "uptwinkles" and "downtwinkles" are effective means of communication or are you concerned about the "groupthink" mentality present in this movement?  Is this a version of "groupthink" mentality in both of these movements?

Watch this youtube presentation of whole brain teaching taught in a kindergarten class.  Make note of the "ten-fingered whoohoo" (around 3:20):

If a teacher's main goal is to control the classroom and receive rote answers, this is an example of how to accomplish these goals.  If a teacher's goal is to create learning that is creative and allowing the child to learn intrinsic self-discipline, this is not the program to use.  

If you as a parent disagree about this type of learning going on in your school district, take a deep breath and understand you might incur the wrath of the "dear teacher".  But, unlike your 5 year old who doesn't have any idea what makes "the dear teacher happy", you are an adult and understand the teacher has a professional job to perform, regardless of his/her emotional state.  His/her happiness is not the most important goal in your child's education.

Comments from the video:

I can't stand this method of teaching...the kids are acting like robots and are they really learning or just doing what the teacher says. this sucks :(

WOAH! Rule number 5! If students are taught to "please" their teacher they are not developing intrinsic self control. I wonder how they act when the dear teacher is not present? I guess this is the difference between teacher centered, and student centered education.

Where is the relationship with your individual and unique students? This is depressing and makes me sick.

I have omitted the comments from the teachers wanting to try it in their classrooms.  They believe the students are engaged via "sing song" speech and uptwinkles.   Welcome to Whole Brain Teaching.

For your viewing pleasure, here are OWS hand signals explained:

We'll have more on Whole Brain Teaching methods to older students in a subsequent post.

Schoolchildren Used Once Again for Adult Agendas: OWS & Common Core State Standards Initiative

You may have read last week about 3rd grade children singing a pro-occupy Wall Street song in a Virginia public school. It was named "Part of the 99" and the Daily Mail listed the words to the song:

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Some people have it all
But they still don’t think they have enough
They want more money
A faster ride
They’re not content
Never satisfied
Yes — they’re the 1 percent


I used to be one of the 1 percent
I worked all the time
Never saw my family
Couldn’t make life rhyme
Then the bubble burst
It really, really hurt
I lost my money
Lost my pride
Lost my home
Now I’m part of the 99


Some people have it all
But they still don’t think they have enough
They want more money
A faster ride
They’re not content
Never satisfied
Yes — they’re the 1 percent


I used to be sad, now I’m satisfied
’Cause I really have enough
Though I lost my yacht and plane
Didn’t need that extra stuff
Could have been much worse
You don’t need to be first
’Cause I’ve got my friends
Here by my side
Don’t need it all
I’m so happy to be part of the 99
*********************************

There is some question whether or not 3rd graders could come up with such lyrics, life experiences and knowledge of the Occupy Movement to sing such a song, or whether they were provided with the words and idea by adults with a pro-Occupy agenda.

Below is a video from middle school students extolling the virtues of common core standards.  We've provided videos of teachers singing Common Core praises, but this is the first we've seen of children being excited about being part of an expensive experiment that is:

• untested
• unproven
• unconstitutional
• underfunded

Do you think 8th grade students know what common core standards are or are they furthering an adult agenda?  Do you think these children wrote the script for Common Core or were they provided with a script and props by the adults? 


The students hold up flash cards for the camera and are great looking kids.  Ask yourself as you read through the common core talking points if you truly believe these kids know what they are flashing on the screen.  Do they believe the reason students are having dismal test results is because the country doesn't have national standards?  Do they believe their high school success depends on standards set by a consortia?  Do they know these standards are underfunded and will impact their future economic lives?  Are they aware they are entering a "one size fits all" education which does not foster creativity or innovation on behalf of the teachers or the students?


Watch the video on the  Cocopah Middle School website:

  An introduction to the Common Core Standards, presented by students of Cocopah Middle School

High Schoolers Want to be Economic Billionaires! The Occupiers Won't like this Video.

This is a video from two high school economic students at Knightstown High School in Knightstown, Indiana detailing their plans in becoming billionaires.  It is a project for a class assignment and adapted from Travie McCoy's song "Billionaire": 

 

Here are the adapted lyrics from students Josh Sorrell and Jon Jordan referring to economic theories learned at school:


I wanna be a billionaire so freaking bad
Import all those things i never had
I wanna be on the cover of Surplus magazine
Smiling next to Nielson and his rings


Oh everytime demand shifts right
My favorite product raises its price
It's the only product that i like, i swear
The market better prepare for when i'm a bilionaire


Yeah i would be at the top of the market
I would buy all the stocks
Everyday is business so give me your stock list
I'd determine the best time to buy and make a bunch of money without losing a dime
Not just anyone could understand the market like me
There to busy keeping there businesses away from me
Been a couple months since I shown up but you can see me running the money.
I'd probably run you out of business
You can't forget about your only competition.
Everywhere I go imma have my own show
So you better watch out yo


Oh everytime demand shifts right
My favorite product raise it's price but it's alright
Yeah because it's the only product that I like, alright i swear
The market better prepare for when i'm a billionaire.
Oh oh oh oh when i'm a billionaire.
Oh oh oh oh.


I'll be trading with the president.
Bartering for his delegates
Then I compliment on his political endeavorates.
Toss a couple milli in the air just for the heck of it
But keep the twentys, tens, and bens completely separate
And yeah be in a whole new tax bracket
We in a recession but let me take a crack at it
Because I'm the only one that can make my MR equal to my MC
But I will make sure my TR is always bigger than my TC
They better not tax me
I'll lower my quantity
Just to make a profit
Then pull out my wallet and put it in the air
And sing



I wanna be a billionaire so freaking bad
Import all of the things I never had
Uh, I wanna be on the cover of Surplus magazine
Smiling next to Nielson and his diamond rings


Oh everytime demand shifts right
My favorite product raise it's price
It's the only product that I like, alright I swear
The market better prepare for when i'm a billionaire.
Oh oh oh oh when i'm a billionaire.
Oh oh oh oh.
I wanna be a billionaire so freaking bad.
THE END

The teacher, Mr. Nielsen, is  teaching these young men economic theories of free market capitalism and the chance for them to own their own life...they have a dream of financial freedom and innovation instead of waiting on the government for a handout or redistribution of wealth.  This video is quite different than the 99% 'Occupy Now' message of shared suffering and "fairness".  

Mr. McCoy declares his desire to become a billionaire but doesn't give us an idea on how he will accomplish the goal.  Mr. Nielsen is helping these students establish goals based upon their desires,  then teaching them how to develop plans to make it happen.  He's providing the tools students will use to shape their adult lives.  These tools or lessons will allow them to pursue and create opportunities to become self-sufficient...and perhaps billionaires.













 

Sunday Education Weekly Reader for 12.18.11.

Welcome to the Sunday Education Weekly Reader for 12.18.11.  This week's highlights:

• Readers in Charlotte NC are smarter than the Charlotte Observer editorial board in educational matters
• Do you agree with Arne Duncan's job performance?
• A follow up to our previous posting about 'Occupy North Pole' at the George School

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Charlotte, NC readers take the editorial board to task and educate the writers on the scam operated on taxpayers and the push to spend even more federal money in Pre-K public education:

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that if a parent works with their child from birth to 4 years old and teaches them their colors and some words, they will be better off starting kindergarten than if they had not.
The stupidity lies with government getting more involved in the lives of those entitled - just let the government handle it and not the parents.
I feel very sad for our country and our kids and grandkids, because the America as we knew it will be dead and gone very soon.
Welcome to Europe. 

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 Here's your chance to vote in an Arne Duncan poll.  (No fair peeking at the results before you vote!)  As the author of the poll states:


Don't underestimate the power of my polls. The last one I did was on Michelle Rhee. A year later, DC Mayor Fenty was defeated and Rhee was gone. Okay. It took a year. I'm just sayin' ...

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We reported about the Quaker sponsored George School's Christmas play based on 'Occupy North Pole' and questioned what Christmas tradition the occupiers represented.  Perhaps the school is beginning a new tradition of supporting violent protests.  Check out the events the school had scheduled for December 3:


  

10:00 a.m.

Go with Tom and Becky Hutchins to see Occupy Philly and to the Friends Center to learn about the Quaker/Occupy connection

 
 A reader alerted us to the tuition charged for this Occupy friendly school:

Boarding Students — $45,710
Includes tuition, room and board, and some materials/lab fees. 

Day Students — $31,780
Includes tuition, all meals, and some materials/lab fees. 

These students certainly know what's it's like to be part of the 1%...right?





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Educational quote for the week:

Christmas gift suggestions: to your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.

Oren Arnold

The George School Christmas Program Promotes the Christmas Tradition 'Occupy the North Pole'

The  Quaker based George School in Newton, PA sponsored an annual Holiday Dance Performance this past weekend.  As one boarding student from South Africa stated:


“The holiday dance is our opportunity, as dancers, to really get everyone in the spirit of Christmas for holiday weekend....we kick off with a fun performance on Friday that always has exciting costumes. We create a story centered on a Christmas tradition.”

So what hallowed Christmas tradition did the school center its celebration on this year?  This year's selection was the well known and beloved tale of Santa's workshop being taken over by eminent domain for oil and the resulting 'Occupy North Pole' movement helping Santa regain his workshop:

Here is the storyline of the 'Occupy North Pole' saga:

This year’s dance theme is based on an original story written by Barbara Kibler, who has been a George School dance teacher for twenty-eight years. The action takes place in the North Pole with Santa Claus and his elves losing their workshop as a result of eminent domain. Soon, the elves’ work is outsourced and the workshop is taken over by a new corporate conglomerate, whose acronym is GREED. The sad and unfulfilled executive in charge begins using background checks to determine if children have been naughty or nice.

From this plight, Occupy North Pole is born. 




This is an interesting interpretative program based on a Christmas tradition.  Aren't Christmas traditions usually centered on tales of peace, love, joy, compassion, giving and worship?    The revisionist Christmas tradition in this school centers on a story of greed, evil capitalists, outsourcing, and revolution. 

Ho Ho Ho.  The Occupiers have rescued Santa and his elves from the evil doers.  Whatever would Christmas be without these protesters?  The Occupiers are the "saviors" and have allowed Santa to open once again to make toys for children world wide.  Hallelujah. 

Brainwashing Youth via Education is More Effective than Bombs. Is that why Bill Ayers went into Education?

What ARE your children learning in public school (and perhaps some private schools) about OWS? Are they talking about the sentiment behind the photo above from a Zucotti Park protestor?  Are they learning this is a movement that can be summed up: "Everything for Everybody and Everything for Free"?

Are they learning about the violence that occurred in several cities including rape, stabbings, overdoses, and theft?  Not if your student has access to Scholastic material about the OWS movement.  From Hotair:

A Michelle Malkin reader was understandably concerned when his child brought home the December edition of Scholastic News, one of many offerings from the venerable publishing company. The issue tackled the Occupy Wall Street movement — with notable finesse. Read the article and you’d come away with the impression that the 99 percent are a pretty peaceable plugged-in bunch.

It’s not necessarily that what the author of the article wrote was wrong so much as it was incomplete. Nowhere, for example, does the article mention the rampant misbehavior of the Occupiers, even though the tally of the various incidents of violence and vandalism has reached 417. The closest to a mention was the final paragraph of the article: “All Americans have the right to speak out. But as these protests continue, mayors in some cities are worried about the strain on their cities’ resources. For example, extra police officers and cleanup crews are needed to make sure the gatherings remain peaceful and orderly.”

HillBuzz weighed in on this portrayal about the one-sided reporting on OWS and followed up on a suggestion of Malkin's:

Malkin has asked readers to call Scholastic and complain about this Leftist indoctrination in the classroom (since Scholastic has chosen to heap praise on the Occupoopers, while repeatedly showing scorn for Tea Party Americans):  the email and number she gave for Scholastic is: bookclubs@scholastic.com or toll-free at 1-800-SCHOLASTIC (800-724-6527). They are available Monday – Friday: 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Central Time, and on Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m

However, I called Scholastic and went through their Customer Service and found a better way to voice complaint about this indoctrination in Scholastic News.

What you really need to do is to ask to speak to a Customer Service Supervisor and have that person write an internal “Editorial” to Scholastic management in their customer complaint computer system.

I spoke with Supervisor Nicole Whittington on the phone, who was very courteous and professional to deal with — her direct line is 417-455-8421.  She has the ability to create an “Editorial” in the Scholastic system that would register your complaint about this matter.

It's time to call Scholastic and state your viewpoint.  It's indoctrination not to report on the facts of a situation.  That's one action you can take.  Hotair readers have other actions available to you and your children:

I love to use incidents like this to show my daughter and her friends how bad journalism and reporting has gotten.

When they ask me about these issues and refer to reading material like this…it is easy to take them to several different news sites to show them what is being left out of the reports.

My daughter had several friends over recently and OWS was brought up.

I took them to Hot Air….Verum Serum…Instapundit….Big Government…and showed them videos of the violence,racism,and attacks against the police.

The looks of astonishment and comments of “we’re being lied to” coming from young kids (democrat and Republican) concerning the MSM show just how badly the media is hurting itself with their bias.

Not only did the kids get a better understanding of the issue….they see just how pathetic and agenda driven news reporting has become.

I don’t make the mistake of pushing my conservative views on them…I merely tell them to research for themselves today’s issues because the MSM will leave you woefully uninformed.

and

This isn’t an example of the primary reason we homeschool but avoiding this type of propaganda is a great benefit. My decision to homeschool was made easier when my son became insistent, almost to the point of tears, to pray for the Earth after a day of preschool that included curriculum about “caring” for the Earth.

The lessons learned from the Scholastic dustup?  Don't leave it up to the schools to educate your children with the facts.  Parents must review what information their children are being presented...and how.   Otherwise, your child might just might be holding up a sign similar to the OWS protestor demanding entitlements the country can't possibly afford.

(Thanks to a Hotair reader for the title!)
 



 
 

The Sunday Education Weekly Reader: 11.20.11

Welcome to the Sunday Weekly Education Reader for 11.20.11. This week in review includes stories reporting on:

• Lessons for OWSers from Monty Python and a university professor
• Tracking kids from kindergarten to college in Washington state
  
• An unintended consequence of Common Core standards for school districts
• Educators thumbing their noses at NCLB and state accountability measures for one student

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What Have the Romans Done for Us? is a piece combining the meaning and contributions of capitalism via Monty Python and Gary Wolfram from Hillsdale College.

These are good lessons for OWSers on the benefits of capitalism.



Wolfram writes:

Whenever I watch media coverage of another Occupy Wall Street event I am reminded of an exchange between Jewish protesters in the 1979 Monte Python movie Life of Brian. One of the protesters asks another what the Romans have brought to the area and the conversation goes like this:

Question: All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Answer: Brought peace?
Response: Oh, peace – shut up!

The point is that the Roman institutions brought a good deal to the area that was being overlooked by the protesters. The Wall Street protesters, in their hatred of capitalism, overlook things including the fact that over the last 100 years capitalism has reduced poverty more and increased life expectancy more than in the 100,000 years prior.

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Washington state education officials know a lot more about your kids than they ever knew about you. They can now track a child from kindergarten through college enrollment and soon will be able to tell you everything about every kid who has gone to school in Washington from preschool through their first job.

How did the US ever put a man on the moon, did entrepreneurs create new industries and other countless Americans live fulfilling lives without the government tracking student achievements? Look at the excerpt above from the article: officials...soon will be able to tell you everything about every kid who has gone to school...

That unfortunately will include such information as eye color, gestational age at birth, political affiliation, family income and over 300 other data sets.

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Missouri's Superintendent of Education stated last year the implementation of Common Core standards would cost the state $0. That's right, $0. One of the most "transformational" changes in education would be free! From DESE in a previous posting on MEW and our analysis:

"No additional costs are anticipated for revising and maintaining the standards in Missouri".

The new system will include assessments for grades 3‐8 (much like our current MAP), end‐of‐course tests (again, the same or similar to those we are currently using), and tools that all teachers can use to improve classroom instruction. The plan also calls for the system to include an end‐of‐high‐school assessment which will measure mastery of elementary and secondary content and assure that every child is ready to go on to post‐secondary training, education or employment. There is no cost to Missouri associated with the SMARTER‐development assessment system.

Pay attention to the last sentence. The new assessment system relies heavily on computer generated assessment answers from the students. This means districts will need computers for each student, or expanded computer labs at every school. We believe these assessments will be very different from the ShowMe standards and WILL require extensive professional and software development for districts. Again, who is going to pay for the computers needed by students required by the mandates? Where is the money to train the persons necessary to score these new on line assessments?

Perhaps Nicastro was partially correct in stating the implemenation of Common Core is $0 if she is talking about the cost to the state. To the districts, however, it's a different story. They are the ones particularly hard hit and stuck with these unfunded mandates. More computers are necessary to comply with the common core assessments. With more computers mandated to be compliant, districts face the responsibility for not only paying for them, they must also pay for their repairs.

How are districts to pay for laptop repairs with shrinking budgets? Will this be happening in your district?

William Shuttleworth, superintendent of the Maine School Administrative District No. 28, said he “shivered” when he recently wrote out a check for $56,000 in repairs to laptops at the district’s Camden Hills Regional High School. He added: “I don’t want to write another one.”

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Failing students take a toll on NCLB and AYP reporting in school districts and can impact funding and adminstrators' jobs.

This superintendent takes a chance with a struggling student and remembers why he has the job. It's not for test scores; it's to help students.

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Educational thought for the week:

" Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. " --George Orwell

Teachers Leave the Classroom to Occupy Wall Street in NYC

The video is entitled: Educators use Occupy Movement to Empower Students, Defend Public Education.

Questions:

• What do you think of this video and the actions of the teachers?
  
• Do these protests empower students?
  
• Do we have a public system of education that needs an overhaul or should Americans be happy with the taxes paid for the education delivered in the present system?
• Are all the problems experienced in public education due to the 1%?
• Where do the unions' influence in the 1% lie?
• How much of this frustration shown have to do with policies set by the Department of Education vs private influence?
  
• How much influence does a school board have any longer in setting school policies? Have school boards become ineffective since they can no longer set standards and assessments?
  

Missouri DESE Social Studies Standards and OWS Lesson Plans Have A lot in Common. What Happened to our Republican form of Government?

Yesterday we wrote about the lessons learned from OWSers. These lessons included violence is socially and legally acceptable when a person wants to ascertain his/her voice is heard for whatever issue he/she believes others should know about. These lessons included shoving elderly people to the ground, blocking traffic to impede folks from driving to their intended destinations, and shouting obscenities to those and about those who don't agree with their point of view.

This is to be celebrated, because after all, we live in a democracy and "all" voices should be heard. I use the word "all" loosely, because the OWSers don't want the voices that don't believe what they believe to be heard or respected.

Why should we be writing about the OWSers on an education blog? Surely this doesn't include schoolchildren does it? It does concern schoolchildren and in a very troubling way.

From Education Revolution:

Ahead of their General Strike and Day of Action on Wednesday, Occupy Oakland has put together a really nice set of lesson plans, for students of all ages, about a variety of Occupy Oakland and Occupy Wall Street related topics, everything from democracy in society and the classroom to the history of strikes in political movements. It’s a great resource for radical educators, so I thought I’d share it here.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en_US&hl=en_US&key=0AjEzv5-ybPvFdEJoSWlBYjNncmRSNEpTVE1VNzl0VFE&output=html

It's worth your time to link to the google document to determine what is in store for Oakland students (and perhaps other students nationwide) and their studies about the OWS movement.

Look at a few of the columns on what they want to teach and how they will teach it. One lesson plan that caught my eye for elementary through high school students was to teach:

Occupy Movement, Possibilities for change this movement is part of envisioning

The goal is to teach children how democracy is illustrated in the OWS movement. How will this be accomplished?

On the Elementary and Middle School level:

* Students will learn the definition of democracy
* Students will identify some ways democracy is practiced in the country, city/town and school and classroom
* Students will learn how the protesters at Occupy Wall Street are using democratic principles
* Students will consider ideas for making their classroom more democratic
* Students will determine the feasibility of their democratic ideas

On the High School level:

Students will:
* define democracy
* explore democracy by "doing" democracy
* read about and discuss democracy and the Occupy Wall Street movement
Social and Emotional Skills:
* active listening
* democracy: having all voices are heard
* compromise
* choose leadership/representation
* explore the idea of leadership

How exciting! And even math skills are covered for middle school students using the 99% mantra:

* Students will learn the meaning of 99% and do math problems calculating 99%
* Students will learn about the Occupy Wall Street Protest
* Students will learn about wealth and wealth disparity
* Students will learn what some of the protesters want and need and why they are angry
* Students will learn how to make an infographic

Will this sort of Math make our kids STEM ready? Are the OWSers lessons of "wants and needs and why they are angry" appropriate for math lessons? Are you feeling confident this nation will become globally competitive with these type of lesson plans? When did the chant of we "want and need and why we are angry" supplant the goal of what we as citizens and individuals could do to contribute to society and our families?

These lessons may be taking place in Oakland with "radical educators" but in many of these exercises, we might seeing this in Missouri as well. Remember what the standard in Missouri is for social studies? Our students learn they live in a "constitutional democracy". Nowhere in the standards does it teach students they live in a republic. Nowhere in the teaching resources listed in the above google document does it mention a republican form of government. Could Missouri DESE consist of "radical educators" as well?

If you have children or grandchildren in the public school system, it's up to you to teach them how America was set up to operate. America is not supposed to be what "democracy looks like". America was set up to operate as a republic, not a democratic form of government.

DESE in Missouri and apparently teachers in Oakland aren't teaching the constitutional version of history. America was not founded on OWS lesson plans, Missouri DESE bureaucrats, and teachers who support OWSer demands.

An Education in how OWSers Operate. They Push Down Elderly Women who are Attending a Dinner and Impede the Movement of Other Citizens.

Picture this scenario. You are attending a dinner honoring a President. You are 78 years old. You pay your money and are excited because you remember this now deceased President. You attend the dinner and are met by folks with the OWS movement who are angry because you apparently represent what they hate. They don't respect your right to attend the dinner you had paid for and is a legal right of yours to attend.

They block your way (and other attendees) because they have determined you are misguided, or evil, or just have different views than they do. They have decided they will control your movements, your evening plans, and want to disrupt your freedom of thought and actions.

Is this what democracy looks like? Maybe that's why we are founded as a republic. Your children and the Department of Secondary and Elementary Education (DESE) in Missouri need to understand that extremely important distinction. Children here in Missouri are taught we live in a constitutional democracy, NOT a republic. Is this a peek in future accepted social behavior for our children with this type of teaching?

Two elderly women were injured in the melee begun by the OWSers in Washington, DC at a dinner honoring President Ronald Reagan. You can read about it here in the Daily Caller. (Warning: some strong language.) The title of the article states it perfectly: "chaos-video". You can also see how the intimidate other people trying to drive home from work and attend the dinner. Elderly women are not the only targets.

Here is the video showing one woman hurt in the melee. Below is a video of that injured woman (who could be your friend, mother, aunt, grandmother, etc). This is an education on thuggery and anarchy. Your children should watch this video. This woman's story and experience puts a face on hate and repression. Your children should understand this is intolerable. This is democracy in its rawest and ugliest form.

The Sunday Education Weekly Reader: 11.06.11

Welcome to the Sunday Education Weekly Reader for 11.06.11. This week we will delve into:

• The explanation of the ups and down in twinkles of OWSers via Stephen Colbert
• Why local control is being swallowed up by the consortia
• The continuing debacle of the student loan industry
• What "is" the meaning of "is" revisited in education

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Stephen Colbert asks two young OWS participants to explain the movement and the twinkles from the fingers. You might also want to watch to understand that a "female bodied person" is not necessarily a woman.

It's quite an education.

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Read Arne Duncan's educational proposals and the "reforms". It's all global. We're told again and again Americans are not global enough in our competitiveness and preparation. International standards are being sought and states are becoming irrelevant in their existence except to fund the federal government's wish to nationalize curriculum.

This editorial from nj.com wants us to give money to the continuing call for global education, even as America's school district budgets are cut. Be sure to read the two readers' comments.

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Not only are student loans and the high cost of higher education crippling students, the new regulations for loaning money to these same students are creating unemployment as the federal government once again monopolizes a private industry.

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Here is a tweet from the mayor of St. Louis regarding the failing Kansas City Schools.

Doesn't this sound like the failed busing experiment in the 1970's? Did that "fix" education? Is this tweet just another attempt at busing? Why does he think it will work 40 years later?

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Are we are giving the message below to students today as we hurdle toward a nationalized curriculum? The federal government is providing no voice in our local schools from parents, school boards and taxpayers. Will a student's data driven education supersede his/her decisions to a workforce committee?

Educational thought for the week:

"You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
And you are the guy
Who'll decide where you go." -- Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

"And you are the guy
Who'll decide where you go".

Maybe not.

OWS and Public Education Teachers Protesting. What Lessons Are Teachers Teaching Students?

We present two opposing articles on teachers joining OWS and their participation resulting in the closing of banks and schools. Both state teachers are teaching students lessons. After that agreement, the writers diverge in whether they believe teachers taking time from class to teach these lessons are helpful to students, the teaching profession, and the use of taxpayer money to teach these lessons.

From Seattle Education:

Occupy Seattle Teach-In at Chase Bank and Seattle Central Community College Welcoming Occupy Seattle for the Long Haul

Posted on October 31, 2011

Jesse Hagopian, a founder of Seattle Equality Educators and a teacher in the Seattle Public School system, introduces the Teach-In in front of Chase Bank in Seattle that was held on October 29th.

There is a lot to learn from these teachers.

The following video shows Occupy Seattle completing a march to its’ new home at Seattle Central Community College and being welcomed by faculty members on Oct 29, 2011.

See OS Welcome to SCCC.

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Here is an opposing view on teachers joining the protest from Education Action Group:

School will be cancelled in Oakland because the teachers don't like U.S. tax policy! By Steve Gunn EAG Communications OAKLAND, Calif. - Apparently we've reached a new low in public education. School children, parents and taxpayers can only count on classes being taught if the teachers don't have some political cause to march for that day.

It was sickening enough last winter, when the teachers in dozens of districts in Wisconsin left their students hanging while they fled to Madison for several days of public whining. The students had nothing to do with the legislature's decision to tighten the terms of collective bargaining. Neither did their parents or the taxpayers at large. But the students had to pay the price. Now we have Oakland, California, where a group of radical teachers plan to shut down three schools that we know of Wednesday (and quite possibly more) because they want the day off to join a general national strike called for by the Occupy people. If you recall, the Occupy people are largely motivated by their belief that the wealthiest one percent of Americans should pay more taxes. That means at least some students of Oakland will miss a day of school because their teachers don't like U.S. tax policy! "Evening all," read an email from Steve Neat, communications chairman of the Oakland Education Association. "I've been talking to Caitlin Esch from KQED radio and she's enquiring [sic] which schools are honoring the one-day general strike Nov. 2 as an entire staff. At this point I am aware of Bridges Academy and Maxwell Park. I know Oakland High is working on it. Any others that we know of?" We hope the teachers of Oakland spell better than Mr. Neat. We're sure he meant to spell 'inquiring' rather than 'enquiring'. This statement came from a flier distributed to the parents of students who attend Oakland's Bridges Academy: "We, the teachers at Bridges, are joining the Occupy Oakland protest on Wednesday, Nov. 2. We will not be in our classrooms that day, all day. We are the 99%!!" Apparently some teachers will use personal days, which means their schools will have to hire substitute teachers. Substitutes cost districts extra money, and are only supposed to work when teachers legitimately need time off. One school apparently has a shortage of subs, so its having a lottery to determine which teachers will be allowed to leave and protest. What about the taxpayers who have already coughed up hard-earned money for classes to take place on Wednesday? Shouldn't they they have a say in this, or at least get a refund? And what type of precedent is this setting? Will the teachers be allowed to walk out later if they're upset about foreign policy, interstate commerce regulations or the price of license plates in California? What if, to the teachers' great horror, the Republican nominee for president is elected in 2012? Should they have the right to take a month off from work? Public school students have an absolute right to an education uninterrupted by adult political concerns, whether those concerns are related to collective bargaining or government policies that the teachers find objectionable. Any teacher who is willing to sacrifice five minutes of student instruction time over any political issue does not deserve to call himself or herself an educator. If political issues are more important to these people than their students, they should go find a job in the political world and make room for new teachers who actually want to teach.

Teaching is a public service, and public service comes with a degree of self-restraint and sacrifice. In this case, the obvious sacrifice would be to save political activities until after school, so the students get the instruction that taxpayers have funded. The law in every state should allow local school boards to immediately fire any teacher who fails to show up for work for any type of political cause, including collective bargaining issues. The students of America should never be second priority to politics. Unions will only have it their way The Oakland Education Association has released a position paper, outlining its reasons for endorsing the Occupy general strike. Their main point is that "On Wednesday, Oct. 26 the OUSD School Board voted to shutter five schools in Oakland. Unless we build a movement to demand that the top one percent pay their fair share, more school closures will follow." When school districts raise taxes, it affects far more than the top one percent. The teachers fail to understand that many taxpayers are either unemployed or underemployed at the moment, and many of them make a lot less than school employees. Meanwhile, the school employees keep swamping their local districts with unsustainable labor costs that were created through irresponsible collective bargaining. A typical public school in America spends about 75 percent of its overall budget on labor. When it comes time to cut costs, you would think the local labor unions (particularly the teachers) would be willing to make a few temporary sacrifices to keep younger teachers on the job and student programs intact. But in hundreds of districts across the nation, teachers unions have refused to sacrifice anything for the common good. Many unions continue to insist on automatic, annual step raises (regardless of performance), free or low-cost health insurance, free or low-cost pensions, seniority bonuses, retirement bonuses, extra pay for having a few extra kids in their classrooms, full salaries and benefits for union presidents who don't teach, and reimbursement for unused sick days. Meanwhile their school boards are forced to lay off dozens of low-seniority teachers and cancel the tennis, cross country and debate programs for students. And it gets sicker than that. Instead of leaving their political viewpoints in the street, pro-Occupy teachers are insisting on indoctrinating their young, impressionable students with their political beliefs. "In the union stronghold of California, teachers have begun to take the fight into the classroom with a lesson plan titled 'Who are the 99 percent? Ways to teach about Occupy Wall Street,' " one report said. Way to go, teachers. Don't give the kids a balanced look at the Occupy movement and present all sides of the debate. That would be too fair and downright educational. Instead you're going to present your point of view as the correct point of view, and allow students to leave your classroom believing your words are gospel. How would the unions react if a public school teacher gave daily lessons about Dick Cheney's plan for America, and how he was right about every issue? Do you think labor leaders would object to that? Parents send their children to school to learn the fundamentals - not to be indoctrinated into any political movement. Lawmakers in states around the nation must put their foot down and make one thing clear: If politics are going to be allowed in the classroom, they must be presented in a balanced, educational way that allows students to view issues from all perspectives and make up their own minds. And under no circumstances should teachers be allowed to miss school to participate in any sort of political demonstration. If they do, they should automatically sacrifice their right to teach in any public school ever again.

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Welcome to the state of public education today. Is this a conflict between "this is what democracy looks like" vs living in a republic? Will this time taken to protest help our kids become STEM ready, an urgent need according to Arne Duncan?

What do you think?

Hey OWS protestors: Investigate This! A Halloween Trick on Illinois Taxpayers that is Anything But a Treat.

This story comes from Illinois but could it be happening in your state? It's a great gig if you can get it but Illinois taxpayers are being "treated" to paying teacher union officials potentially millions of dollars in pension for one day of work...as substitute teachers. It seems more of a "trick" than a "treat" for those taxpayers paying lobbyists from the teacher pension system.

Perhaps the Occupy Wall Street protesters might want to turn their attention away from Wall Street for a bit and focus on union shenanigans made possible by Illinois lawmakers.

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From Matt Larsen at The Foundry:

No such thing as a free lunch? Not if you’re a union lobbyist in Illinois.

As the Chicago Tribune reported: Two lobbyists with no prior teaching experience were allowed to count their years as union employees toward a state teacher pension once they served a single day of subbing in 2007…. Steven Preckwinkle, the political director for the Illinois Federation of Teachers, and fellow union lobbyist David Piccioli…took advantage of a small window opened by lawmakers…. [which allowed the two men] to get into the state teachers pension fund and count their previous years as union employees after quickly obtaining teaching certificates and working in a classroom.

The Tribune reports that based on his salary, Preckwinkle “could earn a pension of about $108,000 a year, more than double what the average teacher receives.” Furthermore, “over the course of their lifetimes, both men stand to receive more than a million dollars each from a state pension fund that has less than half of the assets it needs to cover promises made to tens of thousands of public school teachers.”

While a story like Preckwinkle and Piccioli’s may be rare, it represents the self-interest of unions that far too often stands in the way of the needs of teachers and students.

A September Education Week article reported that teachers are joining a growing number of non-union professional associations. Dissatisfied with unions’ failures to listen to their voices on policy matters, teachers see these organizations as a place where their opinions can be heard.

Evan Stone, co-founder of the New York-based Educators for Excellence, a non-union teacher advocacy group, related his experience working with New York City’s United Federation of Teachers: “We didn’t feel that on the issues where we disagreed [with the union] there was room for debate, or discussion, or dialogue.”

In 28 states, teachers must either join a union or pay union dues. Yet funding frequently fails to represent teachers’ interests. For example, in the 2008 national elections, the National Education Association (NEA) made 91 percent of its political contributions to Democrats, but a survey conducted just three years earlier showed that 50 percent of NEA members said they were “conservative” or “tend conservative.”

Furthermore, teachers’ union fees frequently go to support causes that have little or nothing to do with educating children. Among the non-education issues on the NEA’s legislative agenda for 2009 were support for “family planning, including the right to reproductive freedom; development and implementation of a long-range national energy policy,” and even “legislation to preserve and expand Native Hawaiian land ownership.”

Beyond failing to represent educators’ viewpoints, unions also stand in the way of much-needed reforms, such as tenure reform, merit pay for teachers, school choice, charter schools, homeschooling, and virtual learning.

Illinois cannot afford to pad the pocketbooks of two union lobbyists who played the system for personal gain. And U.S. schools cannot afford to cater to union demands at the expense of students and teachers. At a time when schools are in great need of reform, it is especially critical that education institutions are able to focus on supporting quality educators and promoting the academic success of children.