NCLB in Michigan/Newspapers

I just put this up on the NING, but I wanted to add a couple more talking heads to the Bill Gates conversation tonight - but obviously no big deal if you don't get a chance to read it in the next few hours. This was a sidebar on bigger article in the Detroit News on No Child Left Behind. Obviously, some of the article focuses on Michigan-specific issues, but it's worth a read for everyone.

The Detroit News tends to lead toward the right, and between that and its often subpar quality, I've never spent much time with it, but it is one of the two major newspapers [barely] surviving in Michigan (the other being The Detroit Free Press). My dad reads four+ newspapers a day, and remains a loyal subscriber, even though he probably gets more out of the usually higher quality journalism of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. The Detroit newspapers can't even afford to be printed dailies anymore, so I suppose they need all the support they can get.

My initial response to the nytimes.com changes was to be bummed, but I do think that its fair. I mean, I haven't paid for a print subscription in years, in lieu of using the online services . . . and I know many others do the same. Allegedly they'll be offering a university discount soon, and right now it's only $0.99 a week (a special offer). In college, my roommates and I split the student-discounted price for the printed version, and it was very reasonable. So I guess either the funding structure of newspapers needs to be changed radically, or we all need to start paying a little more to support our newspapers.

Teens talk about what they'd plan for a museum...

Here is the link to the NYT blog that asked teenagers, "What Would You Plan If a Local Museum Paid You to Attract Teens?" Interesting companion piece to Lindsay's article.

Student Walkouts in L.A.!

The Los Angeles public schools have gotten a lot of press in the last year for their pink-slip and teacher assessment tactics, and today there have been student-led demonstrations and walkouts across the city - exciting stuff! In particular, students are speaking up against drastic cuts to humanities and arts programs.

Here is a video that shows some of the action at a middle school where the students decided to keep their protests on-campus. The awkward tween girl interviewed here is *shocker* not so eloquent, but I love that the students are using their arts education--in this case music--to illustrate what is being taken away from them.

Rahm's Arts & Culture Team

Here's a quick rundown of the members of the Arts & Culture Transition Committee, from Time Out Chicago. Apparently this list is in response to a less-than-flattering reaction from a WBEZ blog.

Cyberped and Revolution!

The director of Al Jazeera points to the roles of participatory cyber-technology in the recent Arab uprisings. He discusses the value of global connections for youth who have come up under repressive dictatorships, as well as how digital technology has been crucial in enabling Al Jazeera to get news and images from citizens in countries where they couldn't get reporters on the ground (like Tunisia). And in another illustration of the power of the internet, this TED talk just happened a couple days ago!

Our harshest critics?

I came across this while *procrastinating* after looking at the Google Art Project lesson plan Kelsey posted:

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/how-important-is-arts-education/

It asked students (13 and up) what they think of arts education. I didn't read every comment (there are a ton), and certainly NYT comment boards are not any kind of empirical study, but there's some really interesting stuff here. Those who responded are generally supportive of arts education--though not always for reasons I would use in a debate--but there are also comments (see #1) which serve as a reminder that we will have students coming through our doors who have already decided that they don't like art, or it's pointless (and so on). And even students who 'like' art can present challenges based on their perceptions of what art class involves. Not always the most comforting thoughts, but important to keep in mind as I develop my approaches to teaching art.

That said, it's fantastic that there's this whole section which asks teens to reflect on contemporary issues, in a pretty nonthreatening (anonymous) way. I know that involving student voice in curriculum can be easier said than done, but this is nice place for a reality check. I'm sure when I'm teaching I'll need to be reminded to really honor my students' reflections and prejudices.

CReATE Forum

I'm glad we were able to attend this forum on public education at UIC last night. It's the kind of event that I always intend to attend more of . . . but don't have a great track record of making it to. I think that with all of our wonderful academic dialogue at SAIC, it's really important to be mindful of our purposes beyond our school walls, and forums like that are a space where the academic and 'real world' meet, ideally to enhance both. And I think several of the speakers addressed that - that it's great for lots of voices to be able to come together and talk about how we want similar things, but a very crucial part of the equation is what we make happen on the ground, outside of those rooms. I'm a little unclear as to how I will continue to navigate these issues as a student, beyond attending events like this and attempting to raise awareness, but I do appreciate getting amped up like that - sometimes it's just what I need to get my head out of my books. And really, it's very exciting to be involved in an arena that so many people care about so deeply.

And on that note, I wanted to share that I think Jon Stewart has been really spot-on with his Wisconsin coverage. I've fallen out of my Daily Show habit in the last couple years, but I've been having a bit of a frienaissance in the last couple weeks, keeping up with the shows the day after (online, if you don't have cable like me). He's been really great about illustrating a lot of the systemic issues with union-busting, and has been an advocate for teachers and bargaining rights in general. Anyways, here is Monday night's episode, which I saw after the forum last night. (The Wisconsin/teacher bits are in the first half.)

This sounds pretty awesome...

There's a warehouse with free art supplies for teachers in New York. Do we have resources like this in Chicago? Jessica says she thinks there's a CPS secret location - anyone have any knowledge?

Bright Shiny Objects!

Look at what graphics can do! I've heard of people making fun of USA Today because of their use of colored graphs--under the snobby assumption that they're a dumbed-down analysis for people who don't want to read. Imagine if newspapers with wide readership like that featured more graphs that "explain everything that's wrong with America."