Giving Back

Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that four Minnesota businesses announced a collaboration that holds promise to make an even greater impact on Minneapolis kids. For the first time, Cargill, General Mills, Medtronic and Target wisely joined forces to provide a total of more than $13 million in grants to the Minneapolis district.

Donors worked with Minneapolis school district leaders to identify areas that are known to expedite student achievement. Speeding that progress is crucial for Minneapolis schools; 70 percent of the district's 32,000 students are of color, and 65 percent are lower-income. Like many urban districts, Minneapolis has large learning disparities between many minority and white students.

The grants are part of the general trend among Minnesota foundations to refocus their education, giving with an eye on producing better results for students.

Learn more . . .  

Professor James A. Banks

James A. Banks has been a researcher and leader in efforts to increase educational equality for all students in the United States and the world for more than three decades. As a fifth grade teacher in Chicago, then as a graduate student at Michigan State University, as a professor at the University of Washington beginning in 1969, Banks has pursued questions related to education, racial inequality, and social justice in more than 100 journal articles and 20 books. James Banks is at UW's Center for Multicultural Education. On March 3, he gave an address on his latest work: Democracy, Diversity and Social Justice: Education in a Global Age.

Stop Bullying

Did you know that 56% of students have personally witnessed some type of bullying at school? StopBullying.gov provides information from various government agencies on how students, parents, educators and others in the community can prevent or stop bullying.

Risk Factors of LGBT Bullying

Young LGBT people may be more at-risk for bullying. Compared to their heterosexual peers, some LGBT kids, teens and young adults are at increased risk for bullying, teasing, harassment, physical assault, and suicide-related behaviors.

Over a ten-year period more than 7,000 LGBT middle and high school students (aged 13-21), were surveyed. The results were published in The 2009 National School Climate Survey. The survey found that in the preceding year, because of their sexual orientation:

• Eight in ten LGBT students had been verbally harassed at school
• Four in ten had been physically harassed at school
• Six in ten felt unsafe at school
• One in five had been the victim of a physical assault at school

Unfortunately, these types of experiences with violence also occur outside of school and may continue into young adulthood.

Young LGBT people may be more at-risk for sexual discrimination and bias. Young LGBT individuals may be bullied as a part of sexual/gender discrimination and bias by their schoolmates, ethnic or religious groups or by other societal concerns related to sexual orientation and gender identity.

More information is available at: StopBullying.gov

Video Math Revolution!

Salman Khan is using the web to teach math and science to millions.

The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing a world-class education to anyone, anywhere. The free website allows visitors to browse 2000 instructional videos by topic. Khan's videos are simple, straight-forward and fun, and if you don't get something -- just rewind.

Obama Keeps Focus on Education & Technology

This week, President Obama took his case for investing in education and innovation out west, where he toured Intel's semiconductor manufacturing facility and met with student scientists.

"We can't win the future if we lose the race to educate our children," the President said in a speech. "In today's economy, the quality of nation's education is one of the biggest predictors of a nation's success. It is what will determine whether the American Dream survives."

Insulted by Natalie Munroe

Natalie Munroe, a teacher at Central Bucks East High School in Doylestown, Pa., was suspended last week after posting profanity-laced rants online which called her students "out of control" and "disengaged, lazy whiners."

"I don't think I did anything wrong," Monroe told ABC news.

The school's superintendent told reporters the comments were "very egregious" and "certainly could result in termination." The 30-year-old, who started teaching in 2006, began blogging in 2009 using the name "Natalie M." Although she did not identify students or staff by name, her photo appeared on the website.

• "I'm being a renegade right now, living on the edge and, um, blogging AT work."
• "I'm in the process of entering grades, and also need to enter comments for the grades. . . . I used to put a lot of time and effort into the comments because I felt it was a great way to communicate the students' efforts. Then it got to be a complete pain in the %$$, just one more thing standing between me and being done with the report cards."
• “whiny simpering grade-grubbers with an unrealisti­cally high perception of own ability level.”
• "A complete and utter jerk in all ways. Although academically ok, your child has no other redeeming qualities."
• "Asked too many questions and took too long to ask them."
• "One of the most annoying students I've had the displeasur­e of being locked in a room with for an extended time."
• "dresses like a streetwalker"
• "frightfully dim"
• "Rude, beligerent (SP), argumentative %$#$.”

Teachers' personal beliefs shape their professional practice. That's where the concept of a "self-fulf­illing prophecy" comes into play.

Here this teacher was -- going to work every day -- looking for "lazy" students and "out of control" behavior so she could keep her blog going. She was, consciously or unconsciou­sly, creating the bad behavior she was complaining about.

Munroe had only been teaching for a few years when she started openly blogging about how dim-witted and worthless the children were. Clearly, she entered the profession with these horrifying attitudes. Of course the children rebelled and misbehaved. Amazingly, it never crossed this adult's mind that she was responsible -- not the "worthless" children.

This teacher -- and many, many others just like her -- are completely unaware of the research which shows that a teacher's belief that a student will succeed plays a critical role in student achievement.

"The students are rude and dim-witted" she rudely announced in a blog with her own picture and first name attached. Well that wasn't very smart, was it teacher?

"The trash company is hiring" she notes about her students -- so why doesn't Natalie Munroe opt out of the suspension with pay and go put in an application?