Earlier this week, I read a letter written by a UTLA area chair that described this week’s strike in apocalyptic terms: “this is our Armageddon. This strike has slowly developed into the ultimate battle between good and evil…” He argues that if the district were to win this fight, it would be a win for […]
Opinion
The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools is a Media Master. Why isn’t LAUSD?
*All my posts have some opinionated analysis in them, but the ones marked with the category “Opinion” are more based on my personal opinions and perceptions, and less on data. This week, the Partnership for LA Schools pulled off a media coup. They managed to get not one, but two different news outlets to describe […]
- My Classroom
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With MiSIS in hibernation, it is hard to start the year off right
I try to make a phone call to every student’s parents or guardians before school begins. It is a long process – I have 120 students on my rosters, and sometimes I have to call multiple numbers before I get through. Some lines are disconnected, other parents speak Spanish (and my Spanish is very weak), […]
A Few Thoughts on that Executive Order
I usually write about education data in Los Angeles. But after the recent Executive Orders that stop or limit refugees from several countries, I am going to use this platform to talk about a different little hobby of mine: genealogy. This is Rivkah Kotkin, my Great Great Grandmother. She was born in Greater Russia, probably Vitebsk, which […]
2016 Year in Review
It has been just over 300 days since I started this blog, and in that time, I have written 95 posts. I started it as a dinky little Tumblr account, and have grown into a full-on Blog. And while I started by just sharing this with my students and friends, there are now people, whom I have never […]
OPINION: $3.75 Million for LAUSD schools? Tell me more….
*Posts marked as “Opinion” express more opinion than I usually express, and less hard data. Here is another opinion post if you are interested. Yesterday, Great Public Schools Now offered $3.75 million to highly achieving LAUSD schools. GPSN is the initiative funded by Eli Broad to drive reform in LA schools by providing funding to […]
Opinion: Mike Pence and Backing Out of the Common Core Standards
In honor of the Republic National Convention, which starts today, I am going go a bit off topic to talk a bit about Common Core and politics. Over the weekend, Donald Trump picked Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana, as his Vice Presidential running mate. Despite their complete opposite stance on a lot of issues, one […]