Postal Workers and locals helps out mother with stage 4 Cancer

Working as a broadcast reporter for the Oakland Press and Digital First since 2010, I have gotten to cover plenty of human interest stories. I am back to teaching now but still have the pleasure of helping out my community. For Tanya Hutchinson and her two children, this Christmas could be the last one for a mother of two kids who has stage four breast cancer.  So did not only local postal workers, but the Oakland County Sheriff's Department and a local church. Tanya Harris-Curry, a Pontiac postal carrier took the family of Tisha Hutchinson under her wings and along with East Side Church of Christ took over presents, food and Christmas cheer. Hutchinson and her family are in great spirits but they certainly need your prayers. I will be setting up a crowdfunding account on behalf of her family with 100% of the benefits going to her family in their time of need. 
 Indiegogo money donation link is here>>>. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tisha-hutchinson/x/9269944

The photo album is below
http://media.theoaklandpress.com/2014/12/24/photos-postal-workers-help-out-with-familys-christmas/#1

Selma offers teaching lessons to today's protests and gives a glimpse into MLK's legacy

          Presenting current historical information to students is tricky. This is especially true when it involves race and does not teach the standards you are supposed to teach in the classroom. What I really like is the movie Selma. Taken from Ava DuVernay and her research into speaking with members of Dr. King's family speaking with US Rep. John Lewis and Andrew Young who are were confidants of King and were there, the movie gives a first hand accounting of what happened in the moment of history that sprung the Civil Rights Act of 1965. This type of movie has become popular. Made as a snippett, it does not look at King's full life but like Spielberg's look at Lincoln, it takes a deep look at one aspect of what made his work so important and can allow viewers a chance to 'incubate' on what they have just seen. In the article below by Jennifer Brett of the AJC, she looks at DuVernay's journey into making the movie and working around paraphrasing everything MLK said as there are still intellectual property disputes among the King children. As for teaching as a social studies teacher, the content is not a part of my curriculum but using primary sources from people who where at Selma deserves a mention to the principal.

www.selmamovie.com/
WSB Video with John Lewis Link 

CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT  ‘Selma’ a nod to past, present

MLK biopic filmed in metro Atlanta has growing Oscar buzz.

By Jennifer Brett jbrett@ajc.com       
 
The day the Ferguson grand jury’s decision was announced , actor David Oyelowo was in Atlanta to discuss his portrayal of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in “Selma.” In a matter of hours, the St. Louis suburb would be rocked by protests and a spasm of violence that gave way to more peaceful demonstrations around the country, including Atlanta, following the decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown.    “Selma,” filmed largely in metro Atlanta with key scenes shot in the Alabama town made infamous when hundreds of peaceful civil rights marchers bound for Montgomery were attacked by state and local police officers in 1965, opens today in New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles and at two Atlanta theaters, AMC Phipps and Regal Atlantic Station. It will be released nationwide on Jan. 9.   A powerful work already nominated for a best picture Golden Globe and highly expected to pick up an Academy Award nod, it tells the story of the Selma-to-Montgomery march and the movement that ultimately led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In addition to Martin and Coretta King, the movie prominently includes characters playing Atlantans such as U.S. Rep. John Lewis, Andrew Young and the late Hosea Williams.    Oyelowo prepared to march in Martin Luther King Jr.’s shoes with prayer. “When I first read the script in 2007 I literally felt God telling me I was going to play this role,” he said. “I wrote it down in my prayer diary. I took a gamble and said, ‘Dear God, I pray that something will come through me that is not of me.’”    Shortly before filming began at locations including the Georgia State Capitol and the Marietta-Cobb Museum of Art, Oyelowo visited the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and met with the Rev. Bernice King, the center’s CEO and daughter of the civil rights icon.
To read the rest, go to  http://www.ajc.com/     December 25th 2014

Clayton County students take to the streets to learn about helping their communities

When it comes to making an education practical, kids learn best in a number of ways from being fed properly and feeling safe. In this story from the AJC's H.M. Cauley, students in a county where safety is an issue, students are taking to the streets to show how to keep their neighborhoods safe. Everyone needs to play a part and this is something all communities can learn and grow from.

MAKING THE GRADE SCHOOL SUCCESS STORIES

Students take their studies to streets

Clayton students cover neighborhood to offer residents safety tips.

By H.M. Cauley For the AJC

   Kenny Glisch may be a freshman at Drew High in Riverdale, but he’s already thinking about the future. The 14-year-old is getting a head-start on exploring a career in law and justice through the Clayton County system’s Career, Technology and Agricultural Education initiative.    “This program spoke to me the most since my dad was a cop for 25 years,” said Glisch. “It’s one of the few classes where you can go right into the field out of high school while working on a post-secondary education.”    Clayton’s CTAE program offers 23 courses in topics ranging from culinary arts and carpentry to financial services and technology. Glish’s law enforcement class is part of a cluster that gives students insight into what it’s like to be a security or police officer.    “The idea is to prepare students for a skill or train them so they can continue their education at a 2- or 4-year college or university,” said Eboni Chillis, the CTAE coordinator for the school system. “Or they can obtain an entry-level position in the field of their choice. And they can take different programs at our nine high schools and open campus.”    The law and justice area is popular due to what Chillis dubs “the ‘CSI’ effect.”    “Students are so interested in ‘CSI’ that they believe the field is as fun and exciting as it is on television,” she said. “This program gives them the opportunity to delve into the curriculum and study the skills needed for public safety, corrections and security fields. It helps them visualize what they might do in a particular field.”    One of the important elements of the CTAE program is its hands-on approach. Through internships and projects with local business and organizations, they get to see the subject as it operates in the real world.    Glisch and about 20 fellow students from Drew, Riverdale and Forest Park high schools got a taste of community policing on De. 11 when they took part in Shining Light, an event organized by the school system.    In the early evening, students and members of the Clayton Neighborhood Revitalization Coalition, the school district, Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity and the county police department walked the streets of the Normandy neighborhood in College Park. They talked with residents about safety issues, particularly those that arise around the holiday season.    Toting flashlights donated by Lowe’s and led by police cruisers with lights flashing, the teens passed out flyers offering tips on crime prevention that they had designed themselves.    “I loved it,” said Glisch. “At first, when people saw cop cars with lights on coming through the neighborhood, I think they were wary. But as they came out to see what was happening, we told them it was a safety-related event, and we talked about security measures, like leaving lights on and not posting your whereabouts on social media. I think they really appreciated what we were doing.”    The event also fulfilled research and reporting requirements students must meet for the class. And it gave neighborhood residents a chance to interact positively with students who might be the next generation of uniformed officers.

Drew High School freshman Kenny Glisch (left center) and fellow law and justice students on Dec. 11 fanned out through a College Park neighborhood offering seasonal safety tips. CONTRIBUTED

It's a Kahoot If your using Kahoot.it

   When I first heard about Kahoot.it at the Fulton County Schools teacher induction program, I had no idea what to think. But using a kid/adult friendly program where you use technology whether it be phone, I-Pad or computer could show students that learning is fun. For educators you know you cannot keep phones out of the classroom and if you work for an employer that encourages technology and using cell phones, this is a great way to go. So what is it? Its a free program where teachers create questions on quizzes, surveys or start conversations and students simply answer them. The rest is really a blast.

Great reasons to use it.

1. Students go nuts! Watching students go crazy in a positive way when learning is a tremendous teaching tool. Please set ground rules. Everyone needs to be seated and not walking around the class.I stop the game if students violate this unless they cannot read a question which is pretty rare.

2. You can use data depending on the device. These days, its all about the data. Data is somewhat reliable when every student has their own device and uses what they know and answers questions the quickest becomes the new leader. Teachers can look at data afterward to drive instruction. They key is making sure students do not share answers unless you want them to in a group setting. You can see where you need to reteach or where student mastery has occurred.

3. Students can create questions- When a student takes ownership and they see their name next to a question being asked. Have students research a question from material based on the standards and you have students teaching students.
4. Teachers create questions- It's a big duh but use questions from your pre and post tests. Its a great ticket in or out the door.
5. Competitive atmosphere- Students love to compete and they realize time is just as important as mastery in order to win.

1. Downsides- There are a few. Data works best when students have their own device. Believe it or not, not all students will have a cell phone in middle and even high school. Elementary teachers will certainly have to use laptops or I-Pads or even the media center.

2. Use it no more than once per week. After that, you are taking a fun activity and taking the edge off of something fun. We always want our students looking forward to doing whatever we do.
Here is the link to the free signup
https://getkahoot.com/

Crowdfunding is a great way to get classroom projects paid for

Scott: These Chicago fifth graders are getting a hands-on lesson in engineering by launching catapults.

Amani Abuhabsah is their teacher and says the catapults kits weren't purchased by the school system. And she couldn’t afford the materials on her own. But she got them as a gift through a site called DonorsChoose.org, where teachers post requests for classroom materials they need and anyone can help cover the cost.

Basically like crowdfunding, which is a new online trend in charity. 

Charles Best started Donors Choose fourteen years ago when he began teaching.

Charles: My colleagues and I would spend a lot of our own money on copy, paper, and pencils. And we just figured there were people out there who would want to help teachers like us if they could see exactly where their money was going.

Scott: Today more than half of all public schools in America have at least one teacher who has created a project on Donors Choose. And in response, 1.5 million people have given more than 250 million dollars.

Charles: People not only want to support public schools, but people warm to this idea of being a philanthropist, even though they might have only have five dollars to spare.

Scott: Best hopes Donors Choose will help change policies around school funding by shedding light on the needs of teachers.

Charles: We think that there's nothing like sunlight to mobilize and energize citizens to demand change of their elected officials.

Scott: To do that, Donors Choose is making all of their information public. Now anyone can see what teacher requests come from which schools.

Charles: If we can show the world that there are students in all sorts of communities who don't have the material they need for a great education, that’s going to be the first major step to doing something about it.

Scott: Scott Evans, Channel One News.

Maggie: After a project gets fulfilled on Donor's Choose, the class writes the donors thank you notes telling them all about their project. That way people can actually hear about all the good that comes from their donation. Pretty cool right?

Alright guys, that's going to do it for us. I am Maggie Rulli and we cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

Georgia School Rankings- How did your school do?

Georgia School Rankings- How did your school do

http://www.myajc.com/news/local-education/metro-atlanta-ccrpi-scores-2014/#cf38958d.3899403.735583



 The state's report card grades on a scale of 0 to 110. The overall score is made up of four components: Achievement points are based on results of CRCT tests in grades 3-8 and end-of-course tests in grades 9-12, readiness for the next academic level, and graduation rates. Schools can earn up to 60 points. Progress points are based on students' academic growth on state tests. Worth up to 25 points. Achievement gap points are awarded to schools for closing achievement gaps. Worth up to 15 points. Challenge points are awarded to schools with significant number of economically disadvantaged students, English learners and students with disabilities meeting expectations, or if they exceed the state targets in college-ready programs. Worth up to 10 extra points.  

One teacher helps his students tweet their way to a Revolution

The Revolution Will Be Tweeted

      It is nice when students can have their voice be heard through a Twitter account. For Xian Barrett and his middle school students, they had enough time to share their feelings through a classroom account of the historical implications ranging from Emmitt Till to Eric Garner. For students that do not feel like they have a voice, using a teachers twitter account where he posts the account and they link to other like minded sites gives them a voice. In the article posted by Teaching Tolerance, Barrett uses classroom conversations (I do not know if it is standards based)and students give personal accounts of their experiences with police.

Submitted by Teaching Tolerance Staff on December 11, 2014"There are some things that we can never change it seems...#racism #EricGarner #TrayvonMartin #EmmettTill #RekiaBoyd #Ferguson "-DS 8th
"This makes youth of color feel threatened in our own communities because even eye contact w/an officer could mean death #EricGarner"-TG 8th
"I don't feel anything. It's a misfortune he died, but things like this happen all the time, which is pretty sad to say. #EricGarner"-MG 7th
These are just a few tweets from seventh- and eighth-graders who were doing more than expressing their views on the killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and others: They were completing a classroom assignment.
Last week, Chicago middle school teacher Xian Barrett had his students insert their voices into conversations about these cases by creating a special activity: After reviewing and discussing the details of each case in class, tweet about them. He then shared these tweets on his own Twitter feed (while maintaining students’ anonymity).
Barrett recently shared with Teaching Tolerance his inspiration for the project and the most meaningful takeaways for him and his students.
What inspired you to document your students’ thoughts on #Ferguson and #EricGarner, and why through Twitter? 
Personally, what drives me on the violence issue is that I’ve had to bury too many students. It’s seven now from my classes, but there have been a lot more young people lost from the communities I’ve taught in. That’s the worst thing that can happen to a teacher. They should be putting us in the ground 40 years from now, not vice versa.
But that’s not all. When I did peace circles with my high school students, they would describe being stopped by police 10, 15, 20 times over three-month periods. At the same time, they were terrified of the violence in the neighborhood. I mean, I just heard shots down the block as I’m typing this. …
… I’m angry like much of America about the #EricGarner and #MikeBrown cases, but this has been happening forever. It’s part of the same culture that had police working with white supremacist groups to lynch and terrorize people of color for most of our nation’s history. I teach that history, and now that mainstream America is finally discussing these issues more, I want my students to be part of that discussion. How can we hope to address deep institutional criminalization of black and brown youth if we don’t respect them to lead these discussions?
Barrett said, "I want to make sure [my students] are thinking deeply and using their voices. I think long-form writing is still important—we will do several longer papers this year—but I want them to get used to using platforms for power, not just to get a grade for a class."
What was the classroom context for this project? Was it an assignment?
Yes, we studied the background details. It’s important to acknowledge the nuances and the differing perspectives.
In all this work, I try to refrain from sharing my perspective until after they share theirs. In this latest project, some of the students (as you can see in the tweets, it was just a couple) were very sympathetic to the officers. But most were not—as has been my experience in the three settings I’ve taught at in Chicago. Even those with relatives in law enforcement tended to focus on the need for all police to act ethically and de-escalate violence so their colleagues could be safer rather than justifying deadly force.
After reviewing the facts (and the details, like how a grand jury works, etc.), they spoke in groups and then individually wrote their tweets.
How do you teach about Twitter?
It is definitely a teaching tool. I think most of the youth can see that an essay they write gets seen by one or maybe 30 people if you do peer sharing, but a tweet can be seen by thousands. That motivates them. We talk about what makes a good tweet in the same way we discuss what a good persuasive essay looks like. We have looked at other tweets on the hashtags where organizers are using them to rally people and run on-the-ground logistics. But it’s still something we are developing. We’ll see where they want to take it. 
As of now, I do a lot of modeling. As you can see, only a few of my students got parental permission and tweeted their own tweets [@OldSpiceManny, @SebasOrtiz17 and @Tiristaran]. [T]he logistics are difficult—especially with the younger voices.
What were your goals for this activity? What were you hoping the result(s) would be?
I want them to be able to analyze difficult situations and have big takeaways. The youth who linked Emmett Till to Michael Brown or Eric Garner in a short thoughtful sentence are already making the deep connections that transform the study of history from a trivial pursuit to work that transforms the present and future.

That said, there’s going to be a wide spectrum, but I saw growth in all of the students, including those with big obstacles in their normal schooling. They in particular engaged far beyond my expectations. I think it’s worth remembering that, in addition to race, the students with disabilities are far more likely to run into trouble with the police, so I’m very hopeful that they’ll find this work useful.
What have you learned from this experience, as a teacher?
There’s a weird dynamic these days where everyone talks about “having high standards” and what they mean is that you attack the young people if they don’t conform to very narrowly defined standards. I find it to be particularly damaging to youth of color—many of whom aren’t likely to want to conform to standards defined by affluent white communities [and pushed] onto them. I learned that if you break down those high expectations from “Hit this test score” to “Dream some stuff that you are passionate about and make it real,” they do a lot better.
I said that losing a student to violence is the worst thing that can happen to a teacher and it’s true; it’s absolutely awful.
That said, I think probably the worst thing that a teacher can do is to be complicit with the forces hurting and killing our students. I can’t say that I am able to avoid that entirely—we are all complicit in some way—but through projects like this one, I firmly believe that my students teach me to support them better in their struggles for justice in this unjust society.
Editor's note: For more resources on similar topics, visit our Web package Teaching About Ferguson: Race and Racism in the United States.