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Here are my thoughts on three articles that my smartphone’s Google algorithm fed me on Wednesday, October 11.
1. Teachers of recently arrived immigrant students to get help under new law
According to this article, a teacher named Jenna Hewitt King is having a lot of trouble teaching kids who don’t speak English. And apparently, Mrs. King isn’t alone. A lot of teachers in California are having trouble teaching kids who don’t speak English. But, thankfully, help is on the way. A bill just signed by Governor Newsom…
“will begin to provide much-needed guidance and data for teachers like King, who often don’t have training or experience in how to teach newcomer students — defined as students between 3 and 21 years old who were born in other countries and have attended school in the U.S. for fewer than three years.”
Thoughts: I’m confused. I thought diversity was our strength. Employing teachers who can’t teach our gloriously diverse students strikes me as the embodiment of weakness, not strength. How will these immigrant students, our future, learn to explore the fluidity of their gender and hate white people and our Constitution if their teachers can’t communicate with them in their native tongues? Instead of providing these useless teachers with “much-needed guidance and data,” we need to fire these useless teachers and hire teachers who can speak the language of their students.
2. New York to rethink how teacher prep programs approach literacy instruction
According to this article, our colleges suck at teaching future teachers how they can effectively teach their future students to read. But again, no need to worry. Our vaunted education leaders have this covered. In fact, they just announced…
“a yearlong process to come up with an ‘action plan’ for infusing ‘science-of-reading’ principles into higher education programs that train thousands of new teachers every year.”
And there’s more good news. Our vaunted education leaders have teamed up with The Hunt Institute…
“a nonprofit affiliated with Duke University […that] has worked with a dozen other states to create similar plans.”
Thoughts: I’m encouraged. I know we’ve been trying for at least forty years to turn the average American kid into a kick-ass reader, and every attempt has ended in abject failure. But now we have The Hunt Institute on the case. And it’s affiliated with Duke University, for heaven’s sake. DUKE UNIVERSITY!!! And its CEO, Javaid Siddiqi, has a base salary of $389,770. What does that tell you? They don’t give that kind of money to empty suits. They only give that kind of money to brilliant people. As long as The Hunt Institute’s “action plan” makes sure that the future teachers being “infused with science-of-reading principles” can speak the languages of their gloriously diverse students, I don’t see how our long history of reading instruction futility doesn’t come to an end.
According to this article, nearly half the population of Gaza is under 18 years old. Unsurprisingly, a lot of children are being killed and wounded by Israeli bombs. And it’s only going to get worse since…
“Much of [Gaza] is surrounded by walls and razor wire and guarded by Egypt and Israel, both of which are hostile governments. After the Hamas attacks on Saturday, Israel said it cut deliveries of food, water, electricity, and fuel completely.”
Thoughts: Why did Hamas risk the safety and well-being of Palestinian children by going into Israel and committing Rape-of-Nanking-level atrocities on innocent Israeli men, women, children, and babies? Did they expect Israel to do nothing, to keep the dogs of war firmly tethered? It seems to me that Hamas hates Israelis more than it loves its own children. And why is Egypt hostile to the Palestinians? Are Palestinians that loathsome that even their co-religionists want nothing to do with them?
Okay, groovy freedomist, that’s all I got. Those are my thoughts on the propaganda—er, I mean, news articles that my smartphone’s Google algorithm fed me this past Wednesday. Let me know what you think when you get a chance. Peace.
For the first item, it’s one thing to be instructed for how to teach to 1 new language in the classroom. Some folks go into ESL specifically. My mom once had 6 different languages in a science class. Her district did not provide any specific input, but being resourceful, she leveraged Google translate as needed. It’s not just teaching to 6 students either, everyone in the class is also at different places for learning capacity, and teaching multiple classes a day, with all the unique complications. Enhancing the information available to current educators, rather than suggesting firing them, in the current teacher shortage, is one solution.
I agree. Excellent point.