Ten Documentaries On Champions of Social Justice. Social activism has always been a popular subject for documentarians because it presents stories of both cause and characters. The 10 powerful films below are not a complete list of films about social activists, but certainly proof enough that social change is possible, even under the most challenging conditions. Feel free to suggest your own films in the comments below. Freedom Riders (2011) Stanley Nelson’s film about the Freedom Riders, a group of more that 400 black and white civil rights activists who rode together on buses and trains through the Deep South in 1961, violating Jim Crow laws. The Lord Is Not On Trial Here Today (2011) The story of Vashti McCollum, a young housewife from central Illinois who filed a lawsuit that led to the U.S.
The Interrupters (2011) Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz’s film about former gang members in Chicago working to stop the kind of violence they once perpetrated. To Foster Productivity and Creativity in Class, Ditch the Desks! By Leslie Harris O’Hanlon When elementary school teacher Erin Klein sat in one of her students’ desks last year, she noticed a few things about her classroom space. For one, the room itself was long and narrow, and the space was awkward. Large, clunky student desks crowded the classroom. And the desks themselves got in the way of students being able to comfortably work together. Even though Klein had the desks in groups of four, her second-grade students were far from each other because the compartments in the desks for student supplies were large, forcing the kids to communicate and work together over a vast span of desk space.
“The desks didn’t allow for much collaboration or comfort,” said Klein, who teaches at an independent elementary school in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. What she wanted was a classroom where students could move around freely, sit comfortably, and work together. “So I decided that the desks were in our way,” she said. “They love comfy places to sit. The Major Disadvantage Facing Black Students, Even In Kindergarten. 15 Charts That Prove We're Far From Post-Racial. On July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Act was signed into law, officially banning discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
It also ended racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and in general public facilities. Fifty years removed from that milestone, it's apparently easy to think that we're over racism. Here are 15 facts that prove that's not the case. 1) Affluent blacks and Hispanics still live in poorer neighborhoods than whites with working class incomes. An analysis of census data conducted by researchers at Brown University found that income isn't the main driving factor in the segregation of U.S. cities. "With only one exception (the most affluent Asians), minorities at every income level live in poorer neighborhoods than do whites with comparable incomes," the researchers found. "We cannot escape the conclusion that more is at work here than simple market processes that place people according to their means," their report stated.
Apps That Rise to the Top: Tested and Approved By Teachers. Michelle Luhtala/Edshelf With the thousands of educational apps vying for the attention of busy teachers, it can be hard to sift for the gold. Michelle Luhtala, a savvy librarian from New Canaan High School in Connecticut has crowd-sourced the best, most extensive list of apps voted on by educators around the country. “I wanted to make sure we had some flexibility because there’s no one app that’s better than all the others,” Luhtala said. Some apps are best for younger students, others are more complicated, better suited for high school students.
Many apps do one thing really well, but aren’t great at everything. Still others are bought, redesigned or just disappear — so it’s always good to know about an array of tools to suit the need at hand. 30Hands allows a user to make pictures, annotate them, record a voice explainer and then packages it all into a video. Tellagami is a tool to share quick animated messages. ExplainEverything is another tool for creating video like tutorials. 18 Things White People Should Know/Do Before Discussing Racism.
Discussions about racism should be all-inclusive and open to people of all skin colors. However, to put it simply, sometimes White people lack the experience or education that can provide a rudimentary foundation from which a productive conversation can be built. This is not necessarily the fault of the individual, but pervasive myths and misinformation have dominated mainstream racial discourse and often times, the important issues are never highlighted. For that reason, The Frisky has decided to publish this handy list that has some basic rules and information to better prepare anyone for a worthwhile discussion about racism. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
About your neighborhood again: Displacing people of color much? 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. How Bill Gates pulled off the swift Common Core revolution. Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates is taking heat from education groups, which say the Gates Foundation’s philanthropic support comes with strings attached. Here, he responds to his critics in an interview with The Washington Post’s Lyndsey Layton. Lyndsey Layton E-mail the writer The pair of education advocates had a big idea, a new approach to transform every public-school classroom in America.
But that wasn’t enough. So they turned to the richest man in the world. On a summer day in 2008, Gene Wilhoit, director of a national group of state school chiefs, and David Coleman, an emerging evangelist for the standards movement, spent hours in Bill Gates’s sleek headquarters near Seattle, trying to persuade him and his wife, Melinda, to turn their idea into reality. The pair also argued that a fragmented education system stifled innovation because textbook publishers and software developers were catering to a large number of small markets instead of exploring breakthrough products. Jay P. How Millennials Perpetuate Racism By Pretending It Doesn't Exist. Photo illustration by Slate. Photos by Shutterstock. When you hear MTV, you don’t think “research.” But, for the last few years, the music television channel has been building a public affairs campaign to address bias called “Look Different.” Aimed at millennials, it seeks to help them deal with prejudice and discrimination in their lives.
And as part of the project, MTV has worked with pollsters to survey a nationally representative sample of people ages 14 to 24 to measure how young people are “experiencing, affected by, and responding to issues associated with bias.” Jamelle Bouie is a Slate staff writer covering politics, policy, and race. Overall, MTV confirms the general view of millennials: Compared with previous generations, they’re more tolerant and diverse and profess a deeper commitment to equality and fairness.
All of this is apparent in the findings. A Slate Plus Special Feature: Slate Plus members can listen to Jamelle Bouie read this article! 5 Tips for Avoiding Teacher Burnout. I've read a lot of articles about preventing teacher burnout, so a new list is probably not that unique. However, as I reflected on what causes burnout, on times when I came pretty close to feeling burnout, and on times when I watched my colleagues burn out around me, I realized that many internal and external factors can lead to teacher burnout -- some that teachers themselves can control and some that they can't.
Here are five big factors that play a part in teacher burnout, along with tips on how to prevent these factors from burning you out. 1) Maintain Your "Other" Life It's OK if teaching is your life as long as you have a life outside of your classroom. I see this a lot in new teachers, especially if they are in their early 20s and just starting out. You want to be the best teacher you can. You've been dreaming of this moment for years. 2) Be a Stakeholder When Changes Are Made Too much change stretches teachers thin and leads to burnout. 4) Nurture Peer Connections 5) Keep It Light.
You think you know what teachers do. Right? Wrong. (By Charles Rex Arbogast/ AP) You went to school so you think you know what teachers do, right? You are wrong. Here’s a piece explaining all of this from Sarah Blaine, a mom, former teacher and full-time practicing attorney in New Jersey who writes at her parentingthecore blog, where this first appeared. By Sarah Blaine We all know what teachers do, right? So we know teachers. We know. Teaching as a profession has no mystery. We were students, and therefore we know teachers. We are wrong. We need to honor teachers. Most of all, we need to stop thinking that we know anything about teaching merely by virtue of having once been students.
We don’t know. I spent a little over a year earning a master of arts in teaching degree. I didn’t stay. I passed the bar. I worked hard in my first year of practicing law. But I continued to practice. New teachers take on full responsibility the day they set foot in their first classrooms. You did not design lessons that succeeded. You did not. ‘The Procedure’ and how it is harming education.
(Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post) Do you know what “The Procedure” is and why it is a problem for education? Here to explain is Marion Brady, a veteran classroom teacher, who has written history and world culture textbooks (Prentice-Hall), professional books, numerous nationally distributed columns (many are available here), and courses of study. His 2011 book, “What’s Worth Learning,” asks and answers this question: What knowledge is absolutely essential for every learner?
His course of study for secondary-level students, called “Connections: Investigating Reality,” is free for downloading here. By Marion Brady In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, high-profile education reformer Lou Gerstner, Jr., wrote, “We must start with the recognition that, despite decade after decade of reform efforts, our public K-12 schools have not improved.” And it hasn’t worked.
I come to the reform problem from a simpler, more direct perspective. What will happen? Everybody except John. The Procedure: 1. INBOX. Happy 450th Birthday, William Shakespeare! Affirmative Action Ban Upheld The Supreme Court upholds the right of a state to decide whether or not it will use race in admissions decisions at public institutions of higher education.
Inside Higher Ed April 22, 2014 Ideas from NCTE for Teaching All Our Students: • Culturally relevant teaching is a term created by Gloria Ladson-Billings who, in this interview explores the implications of what it means to develop a culturally relevant pedagogy, how we might think about community in our teaching, and more. • The authors of Writing Instruction in the Culturally Relevant Classroom suggest that culturally relevant pedagogy can help us reach all of our students—especially those who have been ignored and underserved in America’s classrooms. Celebrating El día de los niños/El día de los libros Children's Day/Book Day Is April 30 See these ideas for celebrating Día! • Are you a Día advocate or do you aspire to be one? . . . Tons of Google Forms for Teachers, Administrators and Students. January31, 2014 I came across this wonderful resource a couple of days ago through TechChef4u and after checking the forms it has I decided to share it with you.
This is basically a treasure trove packed full of handy Google forms you can use with your students in the classroom. There are also forms for administrators and another selection for professional development. So those of you who do not have time to design their own forms, this page is a must bookmark for future reference. If you are not yet familiar with how to use Google Forms and want a head start, check out the resources below. Below is a screenshot of the forms created by Molly. Molly is a technology integration specialist, Google certified teacher, and Google Apps for Education trainer. Below are some of her works : Click HERE to access source page. 21stcenturylearning. Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children. Kate DiCamillo wins Newbery Medal, "Locomotive" wins Caldecott.
Looking for great reads for young people? "Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures," written by Kate DiCamillo, is the 2014 Newbery Medal winner. Click through the gallery to see the rest of the American Library Association's Youth Media Award 2014 winners for children's and young adult literature. "Locomotive," illustrated by Brian Floca, is the 2014 Caldecott Medal winner. Authors Patricia and Fredrick McKissack are the winners of the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. "P.S. "Knock Knock: My Dad's Dream for Me," illustrated by Bryan Collier, is the Coretta Scott King illustrator award winner. "When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop," illustrated by Theodore Taylor III, is the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award winner. "Midwinterblood," written by Marcus Sedgwick, is the 2014 Printz Award winner. "Rose under Fire," written by Elizabeth Wein, is the winner of the Schneider Family Book Award for teens.
Paul R. "Mr. 45 Books to Teach Children About Black History. Black History Month presents a wonderful opportunity to teach your children about the incredible accomplishments of Black men and women in America and abroad. Here's a collection of non-fiction and historical fiction books to help children learn about a past that should be highlighted far beyond these 28 days each year. 4 to 8-years-old Ever since Barack Obama was young, Hope has lived inside him. From the beaches of Hawaii to the streets of Chicago, from the jungles of Indonesia to the plains of Kenya, he has held on to Hope. Even as a boy, Barack knew he wasn't quite like anybody else, but through his journeys he found the ability to listen to Hope and become what he was meant to be: a bridge to bring people together. Even though she can’t afford a ticket to see the great blues singer Bessie Smith perform, Emmarene listens outside Bessie’s tent—that is, until she bursts into the show to warn the crowd:The Night Riders have come!
Born into slavery, young Booker T. Zora and Langston. Rosa. Notable Children’s Books of 2013. 28 Books That Affirm Black Boys | Baby & Blog. I love reading all kinds of stories to my children, but I especially love reading books that feature African American characters, because I know that it affirms them. I previously wrote about books that affirm African American girls that I love to read to my daughter.
Now, I would like to share some books that I have read to my son that he really enjoys, as well as books that I plan on reading with him as he gets older. These books feature African American boys as the main character, and include some historical figures, but mainly are stories about every day happenings that boys are sure to enjoy! What better way to begin fostering a young boy’s love of reading than reading stories that he can relate to, with the added bonus of having characters that are a reflection of him.
Preschool age group (2-5): Daddy Calls Me Man by Angela JohnsonBippity Bop Barbershop by Natasha Anastasia TarpleyPeter’s Chair by Ezra Jack KeatsWhose Knees are These? Age 4-7 Age 8-12. LA0914Childrens. Diversity in young adult literature: Where's the 'Mexican Katniss'? Chalkbeat. Everything you need to know about Common Core — Ravitch. The Problems with the Common Core. State Legislators Advance Legislation to Halt Common Core. Coming Out as Biracial — Human Parts. "How I Met Your Mother" Puts A Character In Yellowface. Why Can’t We Talk About Race? Reddit Users Can’t Deal With a Black Kid Getting Into All 8 Ivy League Schools. For tongues tired of dancing.
American Schools Are STILL Racist, Government Report Finds. Black Children Face The Most Barriers To Success In America, Asians The Least. Teaching tolerance: How white parents should talk to their kids about race.