Tales From The Trenches: Classroom Teachers Speak

In another installment of what has become a regular Sunday Feature, we present some voices from those that serve in the classroom. The writers that we selected hold a variety of educational/political viewpoints.

Polski3 is concerned that his union local is spending funds on a new building even though the building that they own isn't fully utilized. Polski points out that an organization that forces folks to pay dues should be accountable to the membership when it comes to expenditures of those funds. Our favorite quote: "GREAT, another car added to the gravy train of UNION DUES INCREASES."

Jack F. teaches in Juneau, Alaska. His site, No NCLB.org shows us how recent changes in the No Child Left Behind Act will make little practical difference in his school. He also alerts us to the fact that one California School District is seeking to file a lawsuit over enforcement of those parts of the Act that pertain to the assessment of those that are in the process of learning English.

Darren, over at Right on the Left Coast, offers his take on the recent sex scandals involving teachers that sleep with their students. (There must be some way to reverse this awful trend.)

English teacher Jay B., works in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and writes Folkbum's rambles and rants. He is offering his readers his "only weighing-in" on the subject of shooting feral cats. (Jay's state is currently contemplating a law that would permit the killing of feral cats as vermin.)

Melinama teaches music in North Carolina. She is letting us know that The Royal Hawaiian Band has sacked its last full-blooded Native Hawaiian. Apparently, it's the first time in the band's 169 year history that the group hasn't had any Native Hawaiians.

A classroom teacher in Texas, Precinct Chair has been providing us with comprehensive coverage of the issues surrounding the death of Pope John Paul II as well as the election of his successor. In a recent post, Chair reports on one Latin-American candidate-for-the-papacy (known as a papibile) who has gotten into some trouble and will likely be eliminated from serious contention.

Education at the Brink is written by yet another classroom teacher in Texas. Brink has written a series of posts that we find to be interesting as well as informative about the No Child Left Behind Act. The latest post, however, deals with the apparent unwillingness of U.S. Department of Education Secretary Spellings' to fully disclose all information that is related to the scandal involving "Pundit for Hire" Armstrong Williams. (We agree with Brink that the administration must be completely forthcoming. To do anything less would be a disservice to parents, students, and educators.)

Moebius Stripper, over at Tall, dark, & mysterious, has developed a peculiarly entertaining method for assigning the "predictably bad grades" of her students. It's called Precalculus Bingo, and Moebius had invited folks to participate in the design of a multi-player edition. See part I here, and part II there.

At Instructivist, it has been noticed that the notion of Academic Freedom is hotly defended when it comes to Ward Churchill, but is abandoned when the individual in the cross-fire doesn't hold politically correct opinions.

Finally, here at The Education Wonks, we offer our own take on two very different types of student protests: The Day Silence as well as The Day of Truth. --------------------------An Invitation: All writers and readers of education-related posts are invited to contribute to the eleventh edition of The Carnival of Education. Please send your submissions to: owlshome [at] earthlink [dot] net. We should receive your contributions no later than 10:00 PM (Pacific) Tuesday, April 19, 2005. The Carnival midway will open here at the 'Wonks Wednesday morning. Get our easy-to-follow entry guidelines here. View the latest edition of the Carnival there.

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