politics

Just When Post-Racial Educators Thought It Was Safe

September 23, 2009 Jose

This is one of 2009′s most censored stories. I know race is such a touchy subject for some of the readers of my blog, but … just read: According to a new Civil Rights report published at the University of California, Los Angeles, schools in the US are 44 percent non-white, and minorities are rapidly [...]

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Dear Barack Obama: A Letter from an Urban Math Teacher to His President

September 14, 2009 Jose

Dear President Obama, First, I’d like to thank you for your speech on education last weekend in Arlington, VA to high schoolers. I actually found it rather informative and refreshing to hear a current President talk about topics such as responsibility and effort in school. Your life stories as they pertain to school give a [...]

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Short Notes: The Imperfect Death

August 30, 2009 Short Notes

A few notes: Following TeachPaperless’ blog has been a godsend of sorts. This is probably the best argument I’ve seen against using rubrics for student work. JD highlights a documentary about NYC teachers and unions, and how they relate to McCarthyism. Here are some talks from TED (Teaching, Entertainment, Design) that might inspire some of [...]

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Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Pa’lante Pa’lante

August 6, 2009 Jose

A few minutes ago, Al Franken, who himself went through a few months of struggle attaining his position as senator of Minnesota, confirmed Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court Justice, 68-31. We all know the biography: products of hard-working Puerto-Rican parents, Bronx-native, came through Catholic education and through the Ivy Leagues, rose up the ranks [...]

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Letters: No, Your Hips Aren’t Enough

June 22, 2009 Jose

Dear Political Volunteer: I’m going to say it: there’s no situation under which, when you have a serious proposition for me, you can nudge me with your hips while I’m trying to drink a rum and coke. None. I know who’s reading, and I can’t say I care much who it offends, or even if [...]

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The True Power of Literacy (or Another Reason I’m Not Feeling Charter Schools)

March 23, 2009 Jose

How many times have you heard the following sentence? “That’s not what I said. Listen / read clearly.” This statement usually comes about when, either out of sheer emotional attachment to the subject or their own obstinance, they ignore what someone’s saying and it becomes a discussion about something that’s closer to their hearts rather [...]

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How’s That Postracial Thing Working Out For You?

February 18, 2009 Jose

O, humans. After Barack Obama was elected, some of you seriously thought that the color barrier had officially collapsed. Some of you were grinning extra hard since you thought all the problems of the world were laid off your shoulders, as if we were only one John Hancock away from true world peace. Evidently, someone [...]

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Success Is A Process, Not An Event

January 21, 2009 Jose

The following is an excerpt from CNN’s Wolf Blitzer interviewing Former Gen. Colin Powell, who commemorated the inauguration of Barack Obama, our 44th President. BLITZER: Did you ever think, Gen. Powell, that you would be alive to witness this day? POWELL: I didn’t know if I would or I would not. I knew the day [...]

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It’s Pretty Much Your Fault

January 18, 2009 Jose

The Buffalo Beast dropped their 50 Most Loathsome People of 2008, and listed everyone from Barack Obama (#50) to … well you can figure it out (I’ll give you a hint: rhymes with nail-in), and everyone in between. As always, they take particular interest in everyone around them and the social trends that makes us [...]

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Peace In The Middle East (2009 Edition)

January 5, 2009 Jose

Back in the early 90s, when A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul were rap de jour for the people who actually went to high school (at least from what I could remember), the prominent “P.E.A.C.E.”, first popularized by Rakim, turned into “Peace in the Middle East,” a homage to those suffering as casualties [...]

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