Monday's Extra Credit Reading

Joanne Jacobs has the latest on students repeating a grade. Some are now saying that retaining students can be beneficial if done for the right reasons.

A teachers strike in Mexico has turned into open rebellion. Things are so bad that educators have taken to the barricades, the police have fled, and the governor is in hiding. (According to the source, teachers only earn about $500 per month, which doesn't go very far.)

After their strike was broken through a judge's intervention, Detroit's teachers (who haven't had any type of pay increase since 2003) have gone back to the classroom and will be getting "raises" of about 1 percent over the next three years.

The California junior high school where Polski3 teaches is being overrun by the Skateboard Set.

With Christmas merchandise nowadays being put on the shelves side-by-side with Halloween-related items, Mamacita just wishes that the stores would impose offer Things for Sale on a one-holiday-at-a-time basis.

Did you hear the one about the Kentucky high school teacher who was fired for making a porno movie some 11 years ago? Superintendent Tim Heller indicated that he fired Tericka Dye because her presence in the classroom would be a "distraction." (Heh. We have to wonder if Mr. Heller has any skeletons of his own... or if he is the one who is too "distracted.")

KDeRosa's D-Ed Reckoning doesn't like "Everyday Math" and is pleased that the Pendulum has swung back to a more traditional approach in the teaching of math and Things Mathematical.

U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings recently visited an elementary school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and has put together a photo album for her friends and family. After so much international travel, (our coverage of her international globe-trotting junkets journeys here) we like the fact that she's visiting more American public schools. (Disc. We do think that something is going on with those glasses and her stereotypical "school-marm look," but we're just not sure what it is or why.) --------------------------See our latest EduPosts.