Susan's Saturday Morning Special

The weekly weekend reading list from Susan Ohanian.

We have a few new cartoons:

Classic New Yorker Cover Using Apple Maps app
http://susanohanian.org/cartoon_fetch.php?id=861

http://susanohanian.org/cartoon_fetch.php?id=860
Buy! Buy! Buy! Reading Comprehension Activity for ESL Students

One of the Great Openings in Literature
http://susanohanian.org/cartoon_fetch.php?id=859

Future Worker in the Global Economy
http://susanohanian.org/cartoon_fetch.php?id=858

Listen to Children
http://susanohanian.org/cartoon_fetch.php?id=857

Preparing tomorrow's critical thinkers for corporate America
http://susanohanian.org/cartoon_fetch.php?id=856

Greedy
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_cartoons.php?id=988

Note to Control Freaks
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_cartoons.php?id=986

 I've tried to choose news items and commentaries that matter today and will still matter a year from now.

Susan

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Little learners need better curriculum
Michael Petrilli with Ohanian Comment
New York Daily News
2013-12-12
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=639

Petrilli delivers the joke of the week: the state of New York, under Commissioner John King, has developed a wonderful content-rich curriculum, aligned with the new Common Core standards

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Data Flood Outpaces Ethics
Paul Basken
Chronicle of Higher Education
2013-12-12
http://susanohanian.org/data.php?id=530

It's good to see comment and concern about the ethics associated with the flood of medical-research data. Schools need to start connecting these two words: ethics and data.

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A critique of Common Core math standards
Valerie Strauss and Michael Goldenberg
Washington Post Answer Sheet
2013-12-12
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=638

Michael Goldenberg speaks to the importance of mathematics education that is not geared to those who will take advanced math in college.

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The Exaggeration of Exceptional Children
Nathan Heller with Ohanian comments

2013-12-09
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=637

This book is about having exceptional children. As the author points out, having exceptional children exaggerates parental tendencies; those who would be bad parents become awful parents, but those who would be good parents often become extraordinary. I suspect that what's true for parents is also true for teachers.

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Children Giving Clues
Susan Ohanian

2013-12-07
http://susanohanian.org/show_commentary.php?id=1142

The issue is not how to parse out fiction and
nonfiction. The issue is in a democracy is Who
decides?


'Refuse all cooperation with the heart's death.'

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Give Teachers Some Time
 Susan McWethy

2013-12-04
http://susanohanian.org/show_commentary.php?id=1141

A Georgia librarian speaks out.

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Holiday by the Numbers--Reading Comprehension Quiz
Susan Ohanian
blog
2013-12-13
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=1748

I'm just steamed by a wretched reading comprehension activity based on holiday spending.

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Educational Publisher’s Charity, Accused of Seeking Profits, Will Pay Millions
Javier C. Hernandez
New York Times
2013-12-13
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=1747

The Pearson Foundation, so-called charitable arm  of the corporation, gets fined for 'assisting in for-profit ventures.'

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More parents want their children to skip CT standardized tests
Jacqueline Rabe Thomas
CT Mirror: Political Mirror
2013-12-11
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=1746

I don't believe Connecticut parents will allow themselves to be bullied by the State.

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‘Revolving Door’ Between SD Unified, Contractors Still Open Despite Warnings
Will Carless
Voice of San Diego
2013-12-11
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=1745

The Common Core requires truckloads of expenditures to get schools online with technological capability. Truckloads of money involved

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Invisible Child: Girl in the Shadows: Disani's Homeless Life
Andrea Elliott with Ohanian Comment
New York Times
2013-12-08
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=1744

One in five American children is now living in poverty, giving the United States the highest child poverty rate of any developed nation except for Romania, and here is close-up portrait of one, a remarkable child named Disani.

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Paul Krugman column 'Obama Gets Real,' misses boat by ignoring failed ed deform factor
Paul Krugman with Norm Scott commentary
 Ed Notes Online & New York Times
2013-12-06
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=1743

A longtime New York teacher explains why President Obama--and Paul Krugman--are wrong.

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'PISA Day'--An Ideological and Hyperventilated Exercise
Richard Rothstein and Martin Carnoy
Economic Policy Institute blog
2013-12-01
http://susanohanian.org/show_research.php?id=540

The US Department of Education gives an advance look at the PISA scores to outfits like the Business Roundtable--but not to EPI.  Our tax dollars at work.


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Streets For America
Dave Eggers
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
0000-00-00
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_news.php?id=904

Here's a program. based on a senior thesis at Harvard,  designed to reinvigorate America's police force.
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Order the CD of the resistance:
"No Child Left Behind? Bring Back the Joy."
To order online (and hear samples from the songs)
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/dhbdrake4
Other orders: Send $15 to
Susan Ohanian
P. O. Box 26
Charlotte, VT 05445