activism

I’m Angry

Posted by robinclane ⋅ April 8, 2013 ⋅ 9 Comments

It’s Monday, and I’m angry. I’m angry because, after a weekend of careful planning, after differentiating an assignment for students who have mastered skills at different levels, after catching up on all of my grading, after getting my lesson plans in on time with the TEKS and the Reading Comprehension standards and the ELPS, I … Continue reading »

Those kids should be in school!

Posted by Brent Snavely ⋅ February 11, 2013 ⋅ 3 Comments

They should be in school, but are instead out taking a walk. Seven of them started and now, ages ranging from 11 to 21, there are 26 of them. Truants! They should be in school — that is, a “normal” students-in-a-box a school where they can be kept safe from undue influences. Instead, they are … Continue reading »

The Revolution Will Not Be Quantified (Seattle boycott solidarity)

Posted by iteach4change ⋅ February 6, 2013 ⋅ Leave a Comment

This post was a submission to my local Patch news site as part of the national Garfield solidarity day today. Also I would like to thank Katie Strom for some of the information and wording on high stakes tests. Revolutions are rarely, if ever, sudden. They are a final breaking point – the product of … Continue reading »

Teachers as Activists Part One: Little “p” politics

Posted by robinclane ⋅ January 29, 2013 ⋅ 2 Comments

Recently, I attend a meeting of the Austin Social Justice Teachers Inquiry Group, during which we talked about… politics. A scary word in a school. Big “P” Politics referred to ways teachers can be involved politically beyond the walls of their classroom; little “p” politics meant bringing current events and social justice into lessons and … Continue reading »

The Third Way

Posted by iteach4change ⋅ October 25, 2012 ⋅ 6 Comments

“The Third Way” is a phrase sometimes used to describe a new, third alternative after two somewhat opposite alternatives are explored and found wanting or inadequate. For example, the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, founded a way of life, an eightfold path, that was a “third way” after he rejected the excesses of indulgence on the … Continue reading »

Real Reform: What we DO want (?)

Posted by iteach4change ⋅ June 10, 2012 ⋅ 9 Comments

Easy way to get a new post – paste your treatise from another blog… Yesterday (Sat. 6/9) this was posted on BlueJersey: “There’s a lot written here about what we don’t like about the right wing education “reform” agenda – the attack on unions, privatization, etc. I’m at an education panel at Netroots Nation, and … Continue reading »

The Power of Humane Education

Posted by zoeweil ⋅ January 27, 2012 ⋅ 1 Comment

I wanted to share a recent post I wrote for Care2.com, an online community for people passionate about creating a better world. Here’s an excerpt from “The Power of Humane Education”: “It really doesn’t take much to ignite a passion for good among youth and adults alike. A week of [teaching humane education] classes turned … Continue reading »

An Eighth Grader’s Letter to Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook

Posted by zoeweil ⋅ January 24, 2012 ⋅ 4 Comments

I wanted to share a recent post I wrote for Care2.com, an online community for people passionate about creating a better world. Here’s an excerpt from “An Eighth-Grader’s Letter to Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook”: This past week, I taught a humane education course to an eighth grade class in Blue Hill, Maine. The course focused … Continue reading »

Making It Real…and Making a Difference!

Posted by Paula White ⋅ December 24, 2011 ⋅ Leave a Comment

Why did any of us go into education? I would suspect that for many of us it was all about making a difference in the world…the thought of making learning irresistible to kids and having the opportunity to change a life through inciting a love of learning certainly enticed me to the field. I’m in … Continue reading »

What if…

Posted by Paula White ⋅ December 21, 2011 ⋅ Leave a Comment

every classroom you knew gave these Gifts of Opportunity? Do YOU give them regularly? While this blog post was written for business, it is SO True for education! What opportunities would you add? *thanks to @kariweston for the link on Twitter.

Cooperative Catalyst Presents: Dream School Commons

Posted by daretheschool ⋅ November 7, 2011 ⋅ 3 Comments

Jaime R. Wood is founder of Dream School Commons, a nonprofit organization with the mission of starting innovative low-cost or no-cost schools that serve populations in need. She is also the author of Living Voices: Multicultural Poetry in the Middle School Classroom (NCTE 2006). She started her teaching career working with middle school students in an alternative charter school … Continue reading »

Occupy Wall Street: The Education Edition (Part 1)

Posted by daretheschool ⋅ October 10, 2011 ⋅ 17 Comments

I am very happy to say that I spent my weekend occupying Wall Street. During this time, I had the amazing opportunity to speak with people who are not only angry, but hopeful. They are individuals who protest our country’s economic policies not out of hatred, but out of love for our country. They see … Continue reading »

Building Bridges

Posted by ambersk ⋅ August 30, 2011 ⋅ 10 Comments

I have been thinking a lot about what it means to lead. As an Executive Director I am always asking myself what am I trying to do? What do I want to inspire and how do I do that? Recently having attended two education conferences, the NW Holistic Education Conference on Orcas Island at Salmonberry … Continue reading »

Free Schools Revisited: Revolution vs. Transformation

Posted by daretheschool ⋅ August 18, 2011 ⋅ 5 Comments

“The public school exists to turn out manageable workers, obedient consumers, manipulable voters, and if need be willing killers” -Jonathan Kozol author of Free Schools The most notable and recent movement for alternative education occurred in 1960’s to the early 1970’s, and was known as the “free school” movement. The free school movement was an … Continue reading »

Back to their future – together!

Posted by kima ⋅ August 12, 2011 ⋅ 3 Comments

This was part of my speech on August 7 at Portland, Oregon during the 8th Annual AERO Conference — Transforming Education & Our World and was originally posted at the TEDxKids@BC website. I hope you will enjoy the video I made for the occasion – bear in mind that this was my first attempt at video editing! I am … Continue reading »

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