Fred Klonsky’s PREA Prez Blog

BAGHDAD — A major hospital in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum was damaged Saturday when an American military strike targeted a militia command center just a few yards away, the U.S. military said. The rocket strike near Sadr Hospital injured 30 people, shattered the windows of ambulances and sent doctors and hospital staff fleeing the scene, hospital officials said.

Bored by those endless replays of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright? If so, go directly to YouTube, search for “John Hagee Roman Church Hitler,” and be recharged by a fresh jolt of clerical jive.

What you’ll find is a white televangelist, the Rev. John Hagee, lecturing in front of an enormous diorama. Wielding a pointer, he pokes at the image of a woman with Pamela Anderson-sized breasts, her hand raising a golden chalice. The woman is “the Great Whore,” Mr. Hagee explains, and she is drinking “the blood of the Jewish people.” That’s because the Great Whore represents “the Roman Church,” which, in his view, has thirsted for Jewish blood throughout history, from the Crusades to the Holocaust.

Mr. Hagee is not a fringe kook but the pastor of a Texas megachurch. On Feb. 27, he stood with John McCain and endorsed him over the religious conservatives’ favorite, Mike Huckabee, who was then still in the race. Frank Rich

Schools should have someone, maybe a few people, who can handle data well. But it doesn’t need to be the teacher who wonderfully draws students into discussion of Beowulf, the teacher who makes participatory government come alive, and certainly not the teacher who wipes noses, doles out hugs while teaching the alphabet, counting by tens, and indoor voices.

Those jobs need to be filled by people who can teach. JD2718

You have to read to be better at reading. It really doesn’t matter how you do it. But programs like Reading First or Whole Language or whatever else will come down the pike will ALL fail since they try to turn the process of reading into a mechanical procedure divorced from utility, entertainment, or fascination. Shrewdness of Apes

School district leaders have a critical choice to make: Will their schools pro-actively model and teach the safe and appropriate use of these digital tools or will they reactively block them out and leave students and families to fend for themselves? Unfortunately, many schools are choosing to do the latter. . . . I can think of no better way to highlight organizational unimportance than to block out the tools that are transforming the rest of society. Schools whose default stance is to prohibit rather than enable might as well plant a sign in front of their buildings that says, “Irrelevant to children’s futures.” Dangerously Irrelevant

I first heard of Deborah Meier in the early 1970’s at a time I was struggling with an attempt to try an open classroom style of teaching. There were rumors of a master teacher who was actually doing it in a public school. For progressive teachers looking for new ways, Deborah became almost mythical. I wish I had been able to meet her then, as I gave up the attempt after a year and a half and went back to running my classroom in a traditional way.

I finally got to meet her back last fall at NYU, where Sally and I approached her about speaking at the TU forums. Deborah was on the panel discussing Kahlenberg’s “Tough Liberal” book on Shanker. With all the Al gushing going on, Deborah did one of the most effective jobs I’ve ever heard taking Shanker’s policies apart – without rancor. Ed Notes Online

NYC Educator tagged me.

First, a rant. I hate being tagged. I publish my blog openly. I use my real name. I share my views and encourage readers to read the views of others. That should be enough.

But OK. One more time and that’s it. And I’m not tagging anyone else.

Those are my rules.

Here are the others:

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What was I doing 10 years ago?

Anne and I turned 50. I bought a Sebring (middle-aged crazy) convertible. Changed schools for the fun of it.

What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

1. Doing the NY Times crossword puzzle with Anne.

2. Making eggplant parmesan.

3. Helping my niece put together a slide show for her parents 40th wedding anniversary.

4. Taking Ulysses for a walk.

5. Going to a fund raiser for Latino Union.

Snacks I enjoy:

What snacks don’t I enjoy?

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

How come there are billionaires?

Three of my bad habits:

1. Watching American Idol and Top Chef.

2. Eating McDonald’s filet o’ fish.

3. If I told you I would have to kill you.

5 places I have lived:

1. Philadelphia.

2. L.A.

3. San Francisco.

4. Oakland.

5. Chicago.

5 jobs I have had:

1. Steelworker.

2. Tire maker.

3. soda jerk.

4. Made Schwinn bicycles.

5. Welder.

6 peeps I want to know more about:

1. Frederick Douglass.

2. Vermeer.

3. My grandparents when they were young (that’s 4 people).

Ed Sector’s Kevin Carey complains that the NY Post called the crooked, useless Reading First boondoggle a “$6 billion program”:

The Post story on the Reading First study begins: “Students enrolled in a $6 billion federal reading program that is at the heart of the No Child Behind law…”

Wait. It’s only a $6 billion program if you add up the total funding over six years (I think, I’m writing this on a plane). That’s a completely non-standard way of reporting federal budget numbers. Nobody says the Pentagon has a $2.4 trillion budget. And reading first isn’t “at the heart” of NCLB. The accountability provisions are.

Why exaggerate to sell the story? It’s an interesting study — play it straight.

But how interesting to Carey is it? Do a search on his site for “Reading First,” a story that has been around for over a year, and you won’t find much.