Radical Scholarship

Author Kurt Vonnegut quipped, “Novels that leave out technology misrepresent life as badly as Victorians misrepresented life by leaving out sex.” As with novels, so with schools, I believe, but we must take one step beyond “whether schools should address technology” to “how.”

In Walden, Henry David Thoreau offered two warnings that should guide how we approach technology: “We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate,” and, “We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us.”

It's a Book, Lane Smith

VIDEO

Shifting from seeking technology for technology's sake to critical technological awareness

• Caution: Inflated costs (market forces) in state-of-the-art technology

• Caution: Pursuing state-of-the-art technology is self-defeating since "state-of-the-art" is a moving target; teaching students to use state-of-the-art technology fails to recognize that it will be "old" technology once students leave school. Also, state-of-the-art technology has a high risk/reward factor since many "new" gadgets fail and many "new" upgrades fizzle. Consider the storage facilities at schools filled with cables, software, out-dated hardware, and the LaserDisk players that never caught on.

• Caution: New technology has inflated costs AND embedded costs related to repair and upgrades.

• Caution: Adding new technology or upgrading existing technology requires added time spent for teachers (in-service) and students to learn the technology itself, draining time better served on teaching and learning themselves.

• Caution: Research base, although sparse, does not support a positive role for technology in improving teaching/learning, and evidence we have shows teachers rarely use technology provided (EdWeek synthesis of research on technology):

"That study found that most of the schools that have integrated laptops and other digital tools into learning are not maximizing the use of those devices in ways that best make use of their potential."

From "Who really benefits from putting high-tech gadgets in classrooms?" (Los Angeles Times, February 4, 2012):

"Almost every generation has been subjected in its formative years to some 'groundbreaking' pedagogical technology. In the '60s and '70s, 'instructional TV was going to revolutionize everything,' recalls Thomas C. Reeves, an instructional technology expert at the University of Georgia. 'But the notion that a good teacher would be just as effective on videotape is not the case.'

"Many would-be educational innovators treat technology as an end-all and be-all, making no effort to figure out how to integrate it into the classroom. 'Computers, in and of themselves, do very little to aid learning,' Gavriel Salomon of the University of Haifa and David Perkins of Harvard observed in 1996. Placing them in the classroom 'does not automatically inspire teachers to rethink their teaching or students to adopt new modes of learning.'

"...In 2009, the Education Department released a study of whether math and reading software helped student achievement in first, fourth, and sixth grades, based on testing in hundreds of classrooms. The study found that the difference in test scores between the software-using classes and the control group was 'not statistically different from zero.' In sixth-grade math, students who used software got lower test scores — and the effect got significantly worse in the second year of use. "

• Caution: Seeking to close GAPS (equity, achievement, technology) found in the lives of children (children in poverty, disadvantaged; children in affluence, privileged) through education presents a paradox: As Walt Gardner has succinctly explained: "Don't forget that advantaged children are not standing still in the interim. They continue to benefit from travel and other enriching learning experiences. As a result, the gap will persist."

• Caution: Begin with educational (teaching/learning) NEEDS, not the allure of new technology.

References

Thomas, P. L. (2012, January 3). A misguided use of money. Room for Debate. The New York Times.

-----. (2011, December 2). No. At Issue in CQ Researcher, p. 1017. http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/

http://wrestlingwithwriting.blogspot.com/2011/12/cq-researcher-online.html

NOW AVAILABLE: Politics, Participation & Power Relations

2012-02-02T08:06:00.000-05:00

Politics, Participation & Power Relations: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Critical Citizenship in the Classroom and Community

Richard C. Mitchell
Brock University, Canada

and

Shannon A. Moore (Eds.)
Brock University, Canada

Until recently, youth have become the great absence regarding matters of citizenship, justice, and democracy. Rarely are young people taken up with the important discourses of freedom and citizenship, especially discourses that transcend national boundaries and academic disciplines.

Richard Mitchell and Shannon Moore have put together a brilliant book that not only fills this void, but makes one of the most powerful cases I have read for addressing young people in terms that not only allow them to talk back, be heard, but also to enjoy those rights and freedoms that give democracy a real claim on its ideals and promises. Every educator, parent, student, and all those young people now making their voices heard all over the world should read this book.

Henry A. Giroux

This diverse collection will appeal to students in senior undergraduate and graduate courses looking into the new cosmopolitanism in social policy, citizenship or cultural studies, in child and youth studies, and in post-colonial approaches to education, sociology, and political science.

Critical Issues in the Future of Learning and Teaching Volume 4

ISBN 978-94-6091-742-4 hardback USD99/EUR90

ISBN 978-94-6091-741-7 paperback USD39/EUR35

January 2012, 215 pages

Free Preview
Buy this book at Amazon: paperback | hardback
Amazon International
Buy this book at Barnes & Noble: paperback | hardback

Daily Kos: 21st Century Teachers: Easy to Hire, Easy to Fire

2012-01-28T20:50:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: 21st Century Teachers: Easy to Hire, Easy to Fire

Public Intellectuals Project | Public Intellectuals Project

2012-01-27T13:44:00.000-05:00

Public Intellectuals Project | Public Intellectuals Project

Gingrich’s Strategy: Racism | Dailycensored.com

2012-01-25T12:15:00.000-05:00

Gingrich’s Strategy: Racism | Dailycensored.com

The Best Critiques Of Ruby Payne | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

2012-01-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

The Best Critiques Of Ruby Payne | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

Daily Kos: "What You Say about Somebody Else, Anybody Else, Reveals You"

2012-01-24T18:29:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: "What You Say about Somebody Else, Anybody Else, Reveals You"

Universal Public Education Is Dead | Truthout

2012-01-23T15:27:00.000-05:00

Universal Public Education Is Dead | Truthout

Accountability without Autonomy Is Tyranny | National Education Policy Center

2012-01-21T08:33:00.000-05:00

Accountability without Autonomy Is Tyranny | National Education Policy Center

Daily Kos: Revisting (More) Lessons from South Carolina

2012-01-20T18:11:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: Revisting (More) Lessons from South Carolina

Universal Public Education Is Dead (Expanded) | Dailycensored.com

2012-01-20T17:09:00.000-05:00

Universal Public Education Is Dead (Expanded) | Dailycensored.com

Teacher Autonomy

2012-01-17T09:16:00.002-05:00

From Education Week:

Teacher Quality, Status Entwined Among Top-Performing Nations
By Stephen Sawchuk

"'Teaching is a similar career to a lawyer or a medical doctor. It's an academic profession, an independent profession,' says Jari Lavonen, the director of teacher education at the University of Helsinki, in Finland. 'There is lots of decision making at the local level, and teachers enjoy freedom and trust. They work as real experts.'"

Thus, the sham that is accountability and VAM:

Accountability without Autonomy Is Tyranny

The real international comparison:

Finland's Success Is No Miracle

By Pasi Sahlberg

"By rejecting standardized testing and concomitant school and teacher accountability measures, Finland has instead charted its own path by focusing on equity, professionalism, and collaboration [emphasis added]. Much as Finland has learned from the United States, Canada, Germany, England, Sweden, and other nations about pedagogy and curricula, Finland may now be looked to for lessons about educational policy. American educators should look at Finland not to import elements of its school system, but as a place where great American educational theories and inventions are practiced system-wide every day."

Three related pieces: Accountability and U.S. Public Education

2012-01-17T09:06:00.003-05:00

Thomas, P. L. (2012, January 17). Universal public education is dead: The rise of state schools. Daily Kos.

-----. (2012, January 15). Accountability without autonomy is tyranny. Daily Kos.

-----. (2012, January 14). Organizations, no, community, yes: MLK Jr. Day 2012. Daily Kos.

Daily Kos: Universal Public Education Is Dead: The Rise of State Schools

2012-01-17T09:03:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: Universal Public Education Is Dead: The Rise of State Schools

Schools Matter: Accountability without Autonomy Is Tyranny

2012-01-16T09:14:00.000-05:00

Schools Matter: Accountability without Autonomy Is Tyranny

Accountability without Autonomy Is Tyranny | Dailycensored.com

2012-01-16T07:05:00.000-05:00

Accountability without Autonomy Is Tyranny | Dailycensored.com

Daily Kos: Accountability without Autonomy Is Tyranny

2012-01-15T23:14:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: Accountability without Autonomy Is Tyranny

Daily Kos: Organizations, No, Community, Yes: MLK Jr. Day 2012

2012-01-14T15:39:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: Organizations, No, Community, Yes: MLK Jr. Day 2012

'Teach for America' overstates its classroom success | The Post and Courier, Charleston SC - News, Sports, Entertainment

2012-01-13T13:27:00.003-05:00

'Teach for America' overstates its classroom success | The Post and Courier, Charleston SC - News, Sports, Entertainment

Reference

Peske, H. G., & Haycock, K. (2006, June). Teaching inequality: How poor and minority students are shortchanged on teacher quality. Washington DC: The Education Trust, Inc. Retrieved 7 September 2009 from http://www2.edtrust.org/NR/rdonlyres/010DBD9F-CED8-4D2B-9E0D-91B446746ED3/0/TQReportJune2006.pdf

TFA Resources

Teach for America - A Hidden Curriculum?

Teach for America: The Hidden Curriculum of Liberal Do-Gooders

Teach for America: Liberal mission helps conservative agenda

Philip Kovacs: Research Suggests Teach For America Does Not Belong in Huntsville

Philip Kovacs: Teach For America Research Fails the Test

Philip Kovacs: Huntsville Takes a Closer Look at Teach For America's "Research"

Philip Kovacs Takes on TFA in Huntsville

The Dialogue Heats Up over Teach For America

Petition to Change/Reform TfA

Teach For America: A False Promise

Teach For America: A Review of the Evidence

Ravitch: The Problem with Teach For America

Richard Cohen's Teach for America Column Deserves a Failing Grade

MLK Jr.: Poverty and Education

2012-01-12T08:38:00.002-05:00

"Final Words of Advice" and "Where do we go from here?"

Martin Luther King Jr.

"21st Century Segregation: Inverting King's Dream"

P. L. Thomas @ truthout

[with active hyperlinks @ The Daily Censored]

The Corrosive Power of Stereotypes in Politics and Education | National Education Policy Center

2012-01-10T09:11:00.000-05:00

The Corrosive Power of Stereotypes in Politics and Education | National Education Policy Center

The Corrosive Power of Stereotypes in Politics and Education | Dailycensored.com

2012-01-08T13:06:00.001-05:00

The Corrosive Power of Stereotypes in Politics and Education | Dailycensored.com

Daily Kos: The Corrosive Power of Stereotypes in Politics and Education

2012-01-08T13:06:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: The Corrosive Power of Stereotypes in Politics and Education

Borderland » A Decent Education

2012-01-08T12:20:00.000-05:00

Borderland » A Decent Education

See my piece cited here.

Greenville News 8 January 2012: Don't jump from NCLB frying pan to the fire

2012-01-08T08:18:00.001-05:00

Don't jump from NCLB frying pan to the fire

[expanded and cited version at The Daily Kos: "Government "Options": A Contradiction in Terms*"]

[original submission]

The largest federal education initiative, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), has proven in a decade to be the worst federal education initiative as well. Under the Barack Obama administration we are experiencing Orwellian double-speak in more federal programs—Race to the Top (RttT) and opting out of NCLB—that claim to be addressing NCLB flaws but are in fact guaranteed to make bad even worse.

South Carolina created controversy during the RttT application process, and our state is poised for even more controversy as Superintendent Zais plans to pursue opting out of NCLB. The problem with opting out of NCLB is that the Obama administration is using the language of offering states relief from federal education intrusion to insure even greater and more damaging federal education intrusion.

A notable danger in opting out of NCLB is that many states are moving teacher accountability and evaluation toward a test-based system, often referred to as value-added modeling (VAM) and merit pay. SC should find every alternative to the damage being done by NCLB, but we must not fall prey to jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire by embracing the exact elements of NCLB—standards, testing, and accountability—that have caused the legislation to fail students and public education.

Over the past thirty years, we must acknowledge, all fifty states have implemented large-scale experiments in standards, testing, and accountability, resulting in all fifty states claiming today that public schools are failing. The reason for this outcome—one we should have anticipated—is that educational quality is not linked primarily to standards, testing, and accountability, but to the larger social and community characteristics of every child in the U.S. and SC.

The accountability era, then, has failed to improve the education of children across the U.S. and in SC; thus, it makes little sense that the same process will improve teacher quality directly and student outcomes indirectly, simply because we mandate that accountability. But, beyond the shear failure of logic of this next step, teacher accountability and evaluation should not be linked to student test scores for many reasons:

• Standardized testing remains strongly correlated with gender, socio-economic, and racial biases—making them inappropriate for evaluating students and their teachers.

• Every test is designed for a specific reason, and no test should be used for accountability or evaluation of a different population than the one for which the test was designed. A classic example of this mistake is the SAT—a test designed only to predict freshman college success, but mistakenly used each year to rank and evaluate schools and entire state’s education quality. Tests designed to measure student learning are not necessarily valid for evaluating teacher quality.

• Merit pay, even in the free market, has been shown repeatedly through research to be ineffective for increasing quality of worker outcomes; in fact, merit pay proves to be counter-productive—especially when applied to education, where teachers are more interested in the conditions of their teaching assignment than with increased pay.

• Merit pay and linking teacher accountability and evaluation to test scores increase the competitive nature of education, a process deterred by competition and enhanced by collaboration and cooperation.

• The current research on VAM has proven to be highly volatile, meaning that the status of a teacher one year varies significantly over the following years. In other words, the labeling and ranking of teachers—as with the labeling and ranking of students—have more to do with characteristics unrelated to teaching and learning such as the home characteristics of the students.

• Linking teacher accountability and evaluation with student test scores will discourage teachers from working with the most challenging student populations—high-poverty students, special needs students, and English language learners—that need high quality teachers the most.

• Focusing on revamping teacher accountability and evaluation shifts time, resources, and energy on a bureaucratic process that allows our state to ignore the primary source of educational failure—social inequity, poverty. The conditions of a child’s life associated with her/his home—access to health care, food security, eye care, personal safety—remain conditions neither students nor their teachers have any control over but those conditions are the strongest correlation with the tests used to label and judge students and teachers.

A central flaw of NCLB has been a misguided approach to solutions, one that ignores identifying the problems before mandating those solutions. NCLB and now both RttT and opting out of NCLB are all making yet another flaw: Seeking to mandate outcomes by holding students and teachers accountable for situations over which they have little or no control. High-stakes testing, despite our best efforts, remain a reflection of conditions that are not academic.

SC is now best served by opting out of opting out, if the only options we have are to implement more harmful federal mandates cloaked as relief from federal mandates.

English Journal (2012, January)

2012-01-06T14:31:00.004-05:00

“A Richer, Not a Narrower, Aesthetic”: The Rise of New Criticism in English Journal

P. L. Thomas
English Journal, 101(3)
January 2012

Abstract: A teacher and member of the NCTE Task Force on Council History and 2011 uses discussion of New Criticism in EJ to examine how literary criticism has been implemented in classrooms and how it might be developed in the 21st century.

Connecting the Dots: The Picture Is Ugly | Dailycensored.com

2012-01-06T11:32:00.000-05:00

Connecting the Dots: The Picture Is Ugly | Dailycensored.com

Susan Ohanian's Testing Outrages (Susan Ohanian Speaks Out)

2012-01-06T10:08:00.000-05:00

Susan Ohanian's Testing Outrages (Susan Ohanian Speaks Out)

What Disparities in Wealth Say About Society - Bridging Differences - Education Week

2012-01-06T08:18:00.000-05:00

What Disparities in Wealth Say About Society - Bridging Differences - Education Week

See my piece from Schools Matter linked by Deborah.

Student Opinion | Do Your Teachers Use Technology Well? - NYTimes.com

2012-01-05T08:16:00.000-05:00

Student Opinion | Do Your Teachers Use Technology Well? - NYTimes.com

Professor Thomas joins New York Times debate

2012-01-04T11:53:00.000-05:00

Professor Thomas joins New York Times debate

Room for Debate (NYT): A Misguided Use of Money

2012-01-03T23:09:00.000-05:00

A Misguided Use of Money

Paul Thomas, a public high school English teacher for 18 years, is an associate professor of education at Furman University in Greenville, S.C. You can follow his work at Radical Scholarship and on Twitter at @plthomasEdD.

January 3, 2012

[unedited submission]

Reforming education in the U.S. often includes seeking new technology in order to improve teaching and learning. Instead of buying the latest gadgets, however, our schools should provide students with critical technological awareness, achievable at little cost and without the newest hardware.

We rarely consider the negative implications for acquiring the newest “smart” board or providing tablets for every student—chasing the next new technology without evaluating learning needs or how gadgets uniquely address those needs. Ironically, we buy into the consumerism inherent in technology (Gadget 2.0 pales against Gadget 3.0) without taking full account of the tremendous financial investments diverted to technology.

Technology is a tool to assist learning. School closets and storage facilities across the U.S., though, are filled with cables, monitors, and hardware costing millions of dollars, now useless, replaced by the newest gadget. Notably, consider one artifact now covered in dust, the Laserdisc video player (soon to be joined by interactive “smart” boards).

Chalk board, marker board, “smart” board—this sequence has not improved teaching or learning, but has created increased costs for schools and profits for manufacturers. Little research exists showing positive outcomes from technology—although we do have this caution: One “study found that most of the schools that have integrated laptops and other digital tools into learning are not maximizing the use of those devices in ways that best make use of their potential.”

Access to technology reflects and contributes to the growing income inequity plaguing society and schools. As technology blossoms, access to it expands the gap between the affluent and impoverished. Even when we introduce technology into schools, affluent students’ having more experience with it in their full lives leaves impoverished students always behind.

Viewing The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian on a Kindle, on an iPad, or as a paperback proves irrelevant if children do not want to read, struggle to comprehend text, or lack the critical literacy to interact with text in complex and meaningful ways that are personal and communal.

Schools should not invest in the newest technology, or the inflated cost of cutting-edge gadgets. Students deserve, though, technological awareness and critical understanding of the role of technology in their lives and society. Empowered teachers and students will choose to use technology, or not, instead of being blinded by the newness of the next gadget release.

Today, we’d do well to heed Henry David Thoreau: “We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.”

Daily Kos: Government "Options": A Contradiction in Terms*

2012-01-03T09:15:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: Government "Options": A Contradiction in Terms*

Daily Kos: Education and Ranking: More Lessons from South Carolina

2012-01-02T12:47:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: Education and Ranking: More Lessons from South Carolina

Schools Matter: Education and Ranking: More Lessons from South Carolina

2012-01-02T12:04:00.000-05:00

Schools Matter: Education and Ranking: More Lessons from South Carolina

2011 @ The Daily Censored: P. L. Thomas

2012-01-01T09:02:00.002-05:00

-----. (2011, January 10). Supermen or kryptonite?—Legend of the fall, pt. V. The Daily Censored. http://dailycensored.com/2011/01/10/superman-or-kryptonite%E2%80%94legend-of-the-fall-pt-v/

-----. (2011, January12). 21st century segregation: Inverting King's dream. The Daily Censored. http://dailycensored.com/2011/01/12/21st-century-segregation-inverting-kings-dream/ also @ truthout 21st Century Segregation: Inverting King's Dream

-----. (2011, January 23). "Top level kids" and accountability—A radical response. The Daily Censored. http://dailycensored.com/2011/01/23/top-level-kids-and-accountability%E2%80%94a-radical-response/

-----. (2011, February 16). The great accountability and "world-class workforce" scam. The Daily Censored. http://dailycensored.com/2011/02/16/the-great-accountability-and-world-class-workforce-scam/

-----. (2011, February 8). Lessons in education from South Carolina? The Daily Censored. http://dailycensored.com/2011/02/08/lessons-in-education-from-south-carolina/

-----. (2011, February 27). Celebrity "common sense" reform for education--Legend of the fall pt. VI. The Daily Censored. http://dailycensored.com/2011/02/27/celebrity-common-sense-reform-for-education-legend-of-the-fall-pt-vi/

-----. (2011, March 7). My challenge to the false prophets of education reform. The Daily Censored. http://dailycensored.com/2011/03/07/my-challenge-to-the-false-prophets-of-education-reform/

-----. (2011, March 18). Test scores fail students, teachers, but remain a political prop. The Daily Censored. http://dailycensored.com/2011/03/18/test-scores-fail-students-teachers-but-remain-a-political-prop/
Reposted at The Answer Sheet/Washington Post: How test scores are used as a political prop

-----. (2011, April 6). Meritocracy myth v. the advantages of privilege (A tale of hubris). The Daily Censored. http://dailycensored.com/2011/04/06/meritocracy-myth-v-the-advantages-of-privilege-a-tale-of-hubris/

-----. (2011, April 19). Standardized students, silenced teachers: The Un-American education agenda. The Daily Censored. http://dailycensored.com/2011/04/19/standardized-students-silenced-teachers-the-un-american-education-agenda/

-----. (2011, May 14). Maher’s “Real Time” education debate failure redux: Legend of the Fall, pt. VII. The Daily Censored.

-----. (2011, May 27). How do teachers matter? Not as change agents but as learning opportunities. The Daily Censored.

-----. (2011, July 7). Test-based accountability and international comparisons—Lessons ignored. The Daily Censored.

-----. (2011, August 8). Poverty and testing in education: “The present scientifico-legal complex" pts. 1 and 2. The Daily Censored.

-----. (2011, August 31). Michael Vick's America: Redemption of the pawns. The Daily Censored.

-----. (2011, September 26). "We hold these truths to be self-evident. . ."? Daily Kos. Reposted at The Daily Censored.

-----. (2011, October 5). Top student crisis!: A call for trickle-down education reform. Daily Kos. Reposted at Schools Matter. Reposted at The Daily Censored.

-----. (2011, October 30). Le Guin's "The ones who walk away from Omelas”: Allegory of privilege. Daily Kos. Reposted at The Daily Censored (2011, November 3).

-----. (2011, November 15). Diversity and the rise of majority-minority schools. Daily Kos. Reposted at Schools Matter and The Daily Censored. Reposted at truthout.

-----. (2011, December 22). Poverty matters!: Part 1 and Part 2. The Daily Censored. Reposted at truthout.

2011 @ Room for Debate/NYT: P. L. Thomas

2012-01-01T09:01:00.001-05:00

-----. (2011, May 30). Avoiding the poverty issue. Room for Debate. The New York Times.

-----. (2011, July 10). Breaking with tradition. Room for Debate. The New York Times.

2011 @ The Answe Sheet/WaPo: P. L. Thomas

2012-01-01T09:00:00.003-05:00

-----. (2011, March 2). The Bill Gates problem in school reform. The Answer Sheet/Washington Post.

-----. (2011, March 21). Reposted at The Answer Sheet/Washington Post: How test scores are used as a political prop

-----. (2011, April 5). A case against standards. The Answer Sheet/Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/2011/04/04/AFgXSFgC_blog.html

-----. (2011, May 14). Bill Maher’s “Real Time” education debate failure.

Re-posted at The Answer Sheet/ The Washington Post.

-----. (2011, June 4). Reposted at The Answer Sheet: NBA finals and ‘no excuses’ charter schools

-----. (2011, September 13). A primer on navigating education claims. Reposted at The Answer Sheet.

-----. (2011, October 6). Idealism that blinds: Facing social and educational inequity. Daily Kos. Reposted at The Answer Sheet as Are top students being shortchanged? (2011, October 21).

-----. (2011, December 21). Christmas miracle 2011: Poverty matters! Daily Kos. Reposted (December 23, 2011) at The Answer Sheet.

2011 @ truthout: P. L. Thomas

2012-01-01T08:59:00.002-05:00

-----. (2011, January 26). Belief culture: "We don't need no education." truthout. http://www.truth-out.org/belief-culture-we-dont-need-no-education67154

-----. (2011, April 22). Why advocacy and market forces fail education reform. truthout.

-----. (2011, July 13). High-stakes testing: Lessons ignored. truthout.

-----. (2011, September 1). Poverty and testing in education: “The present scientifico-legal complex" pts. 1 and 2. truthout.

-----. (2011, October 18). Click, Clack, Moo: Why the 1% always wins. Daily Kos. Reposted at truthout (2011, November 3).

-----. (2011, November 15). Diversity and the rise of majority-minority schools. Daily Kos. Reposted at Schools Matter and The Daily Censored. Reposted at truthout.

-----. (2011, November 21). "[N]ot the time...to follow the line of least resistance." Daily Kos. Reposted at Schools Matter and truthout.

-----. (2011, December 22). Poverty matters!: Part 1 and Part 2. The Daily Censored. Reposted at truthout.

Obama and Corporate Education Reform

2011-12-31T07:27:00.000-05:00

Obama and Corporate Education Reform

Journal of Inquiry & Action in Education

Vol 4, No 1 (2011)

Poverty Matters!: A Christmas Miracle | Truthout

2011-12-30T16:22:00.000-05:00

Poverty Matters!: A Christmas Miracle | Truthout

Schools Matter: Unpacking TFA Support: Twisted Logic and Assumptions

2011-12-30T09:43:00.000-05:00

Schools Matter: Unpacking TFA Support: Twisted Logic and Assumptions

Teach for America has supporters, critics | The Post and Courier, Charleston SC - News, Sports, Entertainment

2011-12-28T10:49:00.000-05:00

Teach for America has supporters, critics | The Post and Courier, Charleston SC - News, Sports, Entertainment

Daily Kos: Kurt Vonnegut Reborn (Well, Maybe)

2011-12-27T10:53:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: Kurt Vonnegut Reborn (Well, Maybe)

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: CHRISTMAS QUOTABLES

2011-12-26T11:37:00.000-05:00

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: CHRISTMAS QUOTABLES

Daily Kos: Social Context Reform: Where to Start

2011-12-26T10:27:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: Social Context Reform: Where to Start

Is there a Christmas miracle in school reform debate? - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

2011-12-23T08:30:00.000-05:00

Is there a Christmas miracle in school reform debate? - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

“Round-Up” Of Recent Good Posts & Articles On School Reform | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

2011-12-23T08:23:00.000-05:00

“Round-Up” Of Recent Good Posts & Articles On School Reform | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

Poverty Matters!: Questions Needing Answers pt. 2 | Dailycensored.com

2011-12-22T11:38:00.000-05:00

Poverty Matters!: Questions Needing Answers pt. 2 | Dailycensored.com

Poverty Matters!: A Christmas Miracle pt. 1 | Dailycensored.com

2011-12-22T10:19:00.000-05:00

Poverty Matters!: A Christmas Miracle pt. 1 | Dailycensored.com

Why "Evidence-Based" Education Fails | Truthout

2011-12-21T15:11:00.000-05:00

Why "Evidence-Based" Education Fails | Truthout

Daily Kos: Christmas Miracle 2011: Poverty Matters!

2011-12-21T10:26:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: Christmas Miracle 2011: Poverty Matters!

Why Evidence Based Education Fails | National Education Policy Center

2011-12-21T07:58:00.000-05:00

Why Evidence Based Education Fails | National Education Policy Center

Daily Kos: Why "Evidence-Based" Education Fails

2011-12-19T11:33:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: Why "Evidence-Based" Education Fails

Daily Kos: Confessions of an Outlier

2011-12-16T10:41:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: Confessions of an Outlier

“I Don’t Believe That”: Reforming the Debate to Reform Education | Dailycensored.com

2011-12-14T17:02:00.000-05:00

“I Don’t Believe That”: Reforming the Debate to Reform Education | Dailycensored.com

Daily Kos: “I Don’t Believe That”: Reforming the Debate to Reform Education

2011-12-14T12:44:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: “I Don’t Believe That”: Reforming the Debate to Reform Education

Daily Kos: Tebow-mania and America's Rose-Colored Glasses

2011-12-12T20:59:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: Tebow-mania and America's Rose-Colored Glasses

Schools Matter: Yes, CLASS Matters

2011-12-12T09:30:00.000-05:00

Schools Matter: Yes, CLASS Matters

Daily Kos: Misrepresenting Finland: Seeing What We Want to See, Saying What We Want to Say

2011-12-11T11:26:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: Misrepresenting Finland: Seeing What We Want to See, Saying What We Want to Say

Forthcoming: Politics, Participation and Power Relations (Sense)

2011-12-09T12:23:00.002-05:00

Forthcoming from Sense:

Politics, Participation and Power Relations: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Critical Citizenship in the Classroom and Community, R.C. Mitchell and S.A. Moore, Eds.

from intro:

"A contribution from US-based Paul Thomas of Furman University in South Carolina presents his theoretical reflection from the standpoint of growing up and teaching in the rural south arguing for the need of critical literacy, specifically in the writing curriculum, to foster critical citizenship."

Writing community: Composing as transformation and realization

Paul L. Thomas

Daily Kos: CALL FOR ACTION: EDUCATORS UNITE!

2011-12-05T16:54:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: CALL FOR ACTION: EDUCATORS UNITE!

The CQ Researcher Online

2011-12-04T19:06:00.004-05:00

The CQ Researcher Online

Should schools use as much digital technology as they can afford?

"No"

PAUL THOMAS

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION,

FURMAN UNIVERSITY

WRITTEN FOR CQ RESEARCHER, NOVEMBER 2011

Technology represents the essence of American consumerism by feeding our popular clamor for acquiring the current hot thing. Yet the ever-increasing significance of technology in our daily lives and its contribution to powerful advances as well as a widening equity gap place education in a complex paradox.

Two experiences from my 18 years teaching high school English inform my belief that schools should not incorporate as much digital technology as finances allow. I began teaching in the 1980s during the rise of MTV and witnessed my field make a claim that text was dead, and thus English teaching had to shift to the brave new video world-failing to anticipate instant messaging, email, texting, blogging and the text-rich social-media boom.

The intersection of technology’s unknowable future, its inflated costs, and its inevitable obsolescence must give us pause as we spend public funds. Let me suggest simply looking into the closets and storage facilities at schools across the United States, where cables, monitors and other artifacts costing millions of dollars lie useless, replaced by the next-best thing we then had to acquire. In fact, just think of one thing, the Laserdisc video player (soon to be joined by interactive “smart” whiteboards in those closets).

Chalk board, marker board, interactive board-this sequence has not insured better teaching or learning, but has guaranteed greater costs for schools and profits for manufacturers.

The foundational principles of public education for democracy and human agency must not fall prey to preparing children for the future by perpetually acquiring new technology because we can never know that future. Thus, we must not squander public funds on ever-changing technology but instead focus on the human interaction that is teaching and learning as well as the critical literacy and numeracy every child needs. We can anticipate only one fact of our futures — change.

Teacher Quality and Accountability: A Failed Debate | Dailycensored.com

2011-12-01T13:46:00.000-05:00

Teacher Quality and Accountability: A Failed Debate | Dailycensored.com

Daily Kos: "Paddle Your Own Canoe"?: A Case for Education

2011-11-30T14:23:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: "Paddle Your Own Canoe"?: A Case for Education

NEW at Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics

2011-11-29T06:55:00.003-05:00

Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics

------. (2011, December). Adventures in genre!: Rethinking genre through comics/graphic novels. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 2(2), 187-201.

"Not the Time . . . to Follow the Line of Least Resistance” | Truthout

2011-11-28T15:57:00.000-05:00

"Not the Time . . . to Follow the Line of Least Resistance” | Truthout

"[N]ot the Time. . .to Follow the Line of Least Resistance" | National Education Policy Center

2011-11-23T08:53:00.000-05:00

"[N]ot the Time. . .to Follow the Line of Least Resistance" | National Education Policy Center

New volume under contract at Sense

2011-11-23T08:31:00.001-05:00

My next volume in my series at Sense will be:

-----. (under contract). Challenging genres: Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction. Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

Details (draft/updated):

Series: Critical Literacy Teaching Series: Challenging Authors and Genres

Volume: Challenging Genres: Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction

P. L. Thomas

Final draft submission: December 15, 2012

Introduction

This introduction addresses the value of critical pedagogy and critical literacy for all students in any courses addressing literacy as a foundational introduction for both the series and this volume. Further, I will explore our assumptions about genre—how we assign and teach genre in our literature study, and how we assign and teach genre in our writing instruction. Finally, I will briefly introduce sci-fi/speculative fiction as a marginalized genre in comparison to literary fiction. In this introduction, I will define sci-fi, speculative fiction, and dystopian fiction along with confronting the problems posed by genre and medium

Chapter One

“A Case for Sci-Fi and Speculative Fiction: A Brief History”

Sci-fi as a genre of fiction has often been marginalized, with a few works and writers allowed into the official canon, almost begrudgingly—Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegut, Margaret Atwood. But those sci-fi works tend to be embraced when the writers are also considered literary, leaving works and writers dedicated exclusively to sci-fi to a second-class status. This chapter examines what constitutes sci-fi as a genre and discusses the complex debate surrounding that classification, focusing on Atwood’s arguments about sci-fi, speculative fiction, and dystopian fiction. This chapter will also introduce a consideration of sci-fi/speculative fiction across several mediums—novels, short stories, film, and graphic novels.

Chapter Two

“Sci-Fi and Speculative Novels”

This chapter will discuss sci-fi/speculative fiction novels by focusing on major works representing the genre: Orwell’s 1984, Huxley’s Brave New World, Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451,Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. I will examine both how these major works represent the genre as well as how to utilize these works in classrooms focusing on critical literacy and exploring multigenre/multimedium texts.

Chapter Three

“Sci-Fi and Speculative Short Fiction”

This chapter will discuss sci-fi/speculative fiction short stories by focusing on major works representing the genre—such as LeGuin’s “The Ones Who Walk away from Omelas” and Vonneguts short stories, such as “Harrison Bergeron”—and works often taught in ELA courses. I will examine both how these major works represent the genre as well as how to utilize these works in classrooms focusing on critical literacy and exploring multigenre/multimedium texts. I will present and discuss how to use sci-fi short stories to build multigenre units of study.

Chapter Four

“Sci-Fi and Speculative Films and TV”

This chapter will discuss sci-fi/speculative fiction films and TV by focusing on major works representing the genre: Star Trek, Star Wars series, Blade Runner, Solaris, Alien series. I will examine both how these major works represent the genre as well as how to utilize these works in classrooms focusing on critical literacy and exploring multigenre/multimedium texts. Film and TV series as elements of adaptation of texts will also be examined.

Chapter Five

“Sci-Fi and Speculative Graphic Novels/Comics and Young Adult Literature”

This chapter will discuss sci-fi/speculative fiction graphic novels/comics by focusing on major works representing the genre: superhero comics (Superman, Batman, Spider Man, X-Men), American Flagg!, Ronin, V for Vendetta, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I will examine both how these major works represent the genre as well as how to utilize these works in classrooms focusing on critical literacy and exploring multigenre/multimedium texts. Graphic novels/comics as elements of adaptation of texts will also be examined.

Then, I will explore the sci-fi/speculative fiction works within the broader young adult fiction genre, focusing on YA classics and the more recent rise of the Hunger Games trilogy.

Chapter Six

“The Enduring Power of Sc-Fi, Speculative Fiction, and Dystopian Fiction”

Drawing from Atwood’s In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination (2011), I will discuss contemporary works of sci-fi/speculative fiction such as Atwood’s Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood, Perrotta’s The Leftovers, and Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go to detail the enduring power of the genre.

Conclusion

Sci-fi/speculative fiction as adaptation units will be the final discussion of the book, discussing the use of mutltigenre units in courses focusing on literacy and composition instruction.

Working References

Atwood, M. (2011). In other worlds: SF and the human imagination. New York: Nan A. Talese/ Doubleday.

Thomas, P. L. (2011, October 30). Le Guin's "The ones who walk away from Omelas”: Allegory of privilege. Daily Kos. Reposted at The Daily Censored (2011, November 3).

-----. (2011, October 20). Whence come The Leftovers?: Speculative fiction and the human condition. Daily Kos.

-----. (2011, January 3). Calculating the Corporate States of America: Revisiting Vonnegut's Player Piano. OpEdNews. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Calculating-the-Corporate-by-Paul-Thomas-110103-130.html

-----. (2007). Reading, learning, teaching Margaret Atwood. New York: Peter Lang USA.

-----. (2006). Reading, learning, teaching Kurt Vonnegut. New York: Peter Lang USA.

Vonnegut, K. (1974). Wampeters, foma & granfalloons. New York: Delta.

CQ Researcher: December 2, 2011

2011-11-23T08:18:00.002-05:00

See my commentary on technology in education (direct link posted when available):

Thomas, P. L. (2011, December 2). No. At Issue in CQ Researcher. http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/

“[N]ot the Time. . .to Follow the Line of Least Resistance” | Dailycensored.com

2011-11-22T07:47:00.000-05:00

“[N]ot the Time. . .to Follow the Line of Least Resistance” | Dailycensored.com

Daily Kos: "[N]ot the Time. . .to Follow the Line of Least Resistance"

2011-11-21T22:04:00.001-05:00

Daily Kos: "[N]ot the Time. . .to Follow the Line of Least Resistance"

Also at Schools Matter

Diversity and the Rise of Majority-Minority Schools | Truthout

2011-11-18T08:22:00.000-05:00

Diversity and the Rise of Majority-Minority Schools | Truthout

Peter Lang Children’s Trust

2011-11-16T16:34:00.000-05:00

Peter Lang Children’s Trust

Classroom Q&A with Larry Ferlazzo

2011-11-16T09:05:00.002-05:00

Several Ways To Tell The Difference Between Good & Bad Education Research

See my contribution to a great blog topic.

Daily Kos: Diversity and the Rise of Majority-Minority Schools

2011-11-15T10:21:00.001-05:00

Daily Kos: Diversity and the Rise of Majority-Minority Schools

Diversity and the Rise of Majority-Minority Schools
Schools Matter

Diversity and the Rise of Majority-Minority Schools
The Daily Censored

Write Your Own Academic Sentence

2011-11-14T17:27:00.000-05:00

Write Your Own Academic Sentence

The Public Intellectual Project | Truthout

2011-11-13T08:30:00.000-05:00

The Public Intellectual Project | Truthout

Poverty Not Destiny?: Masking Corporate Agendas | National Education Policy Center

2011-11-12T07:59:00.000-05:00

Poverty Not Destiny?: Masking Corporate Agendas | National Education Policy Center

Daily Kos: Action v. Inaction: The Scholar-Teacher Imperative

2011-11-10T14:57:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: Action v. Inaction: The Scholar-Teacher Imperative

CALL for submissions: Adventures with Text and Beyond (EJ)

2011-11-10T11:43:00.000-05:00

Adventures with Text and Beyond

English Journal

Editor: P. L. Thomas

The New London Group (Cazden et al. 1996) “"argue[d] that literacy pedagogy now must account for the burgeoning variety of text forms associated with information and multimedia technologies." While the real world of “text” has expanded and challenged us with a variety of media, format, and genres beyond print text, our classrooms have remained relatively static in terms of the texts we challenge and the explanations we offer for “text,” “medium,” and “genre.”

This column will explore avenues to challenging both the texts we bring into the classroom and our collective assumptions about what counts as text by expanding the works we invite our students to explore and experience. Within a critical literacy context, contributors should confront and share classroom practices that address questions such as, What constitutes “text,” “medium,” and “genre” (what conventions lie beneath these labels)? How do comics, graphic novels, film, and electronic media challenge and inform our traditional assumptions about print-only text?

Submit an electronic Word file attached to your email to the column editor, P. L. Thomas, at paul.thomas@furman.edu. Contributors are encouraged to query the column editor and share drafts of column ideas as part of the submission process.

Poverty Not Destiny?: Masking Corporate Agendas | Dailycensored.com

2011-11-08T16:34:00.000-05:00

Poverty Not Destiny?: Masking Corporate Agendas | Dailycensored.com

Daily Kos: Poverty Not Destiny?: Masking Corporate Agendas

2011-11-08T09:32:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: Poverty Not Destiny?: Masking Corporate Agendas

Is Capitalism Losing the Debate? | Truthout

2011-11-07T09:55:00.000-05:00

Is Capitalism Losing the Debate? | Truthout

Call For Manuscript Proposals: Critical Literacy Teaching Series

2011-11-07T09:02:00.006-05:00

Call For Manuscripts

Critical Literacy Teaching Series:

Challenging Authors and Genres

Series Editor: P. L. Thomas, EdD, Furman University

Publisher: Sense

Kincheloe (2005) offers a foundational argument about the role of critical pedagogy in our classrooms:

[P]roponents of critical pedagogy understand that every dimension of schooling and every form of educational practice are politically contested spaces. Shaped by history and challenged by a wide range of interest groups, educational practice is a fuzzy concept as it takes place in numerous settings, is shaped by a plethora of often-invisible forces, and can operate even in the name of democracy and justice to be totalitarian and oppressive. (p. 2)

This series will explore major authors and genres through a critical literacy lens that seeks to offer students opportunities as readers and writers to embrace and act upon their own empowerment. Further, the volumes in this series are guided by Freire (2005) as well:

One of the violences perpetuated by illiteracy is the suffocation of the consciousness and the expressiveness of men and women who are forbidden from reading and writing, thus limiting their capacity to write about their reading of the world so they can rethink about their original reading of it. (p. 2)

We are seeking book-length manuscript proposals for volumes in this new series. Volumes may address individual authors or genres of literature.

Volume ideas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

Authors:
Sandra Cisneros
Louise Erdrich
Rachel Carson
Alice Walker

Genres:
Children’s literature
Poetry
Novels
Nonfiction

Send proposal ideas or questions about potential volumes to the series editor, P. L. Thomas, by email
(paul.thomas[at]furman.edu).

Series Editorial Board:
Karen Stein, PhD, University of Rhode Island
Shirley Steinberg, PhD, McGill University
Jeanne Gerlach, EdD, University of Texas-Arlington
Leila Christenbury, PhD, Virginia Commonwealth University
Renita Schmidt, PhD, University of Iowa
Ken Lindblom, PhD, Stony Brook University

Schools Matter: Our Problem Is Civil Obedience

2011-11-07T08:39:00.001-05:00

Schools Matter: Our Problem Is Civil Obedience

Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”: Allegory of Privilege | Dailycensored.com

2011-11-05T20:54:00.000-04:00

Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”: Allegory of Privilege | Dailycensored.com

CALL for proposals: De-Testing and De-Grading Schools (IAP)

2011-11-03T09:28:00.012-04:00

De-Testing and De-Grading Schools: Authentic Alternatives to Accountability and Standardization

Joe Bower and P. L. Thomas, editors

Information Age Publishing (IAP)

Contact:
P. L. Thomas

Education

Furman University

3300 Poinsett Hwy

Greenville SC 29369

864-294-3368 (o)

864-590-5458 (c)

paul.thomas@furman.edu

UPDATE

Contributors:

Alfie Kohn, Foreward and essay

Richard Mora, Occidental College

Julie A. Gorlewski, SUNY-New Paltz; David A. Gorlewski, D'Youville College

Focus:

The most recent century of education and education reform along with the last three decades of high-stakes testing and accountability reveals a disturbing paradox: Education has a steadfast commitment to testing and grading despite decades of research, theory, and philosophy that reveal the corrosive consequences of both testing and grading within an education system designed to support human agency and democratic principles.

This edited volume brings together a collection of essays that confronts the failure of testing and grading and then offers practical and detailed examinations of implementing at the macro and micro levels of education teaching and learning free of the weight of testing and grading. The book explores the following topics and themes:

• The historical failure of testing and grading at all levels of education.

• The theoretical and philosophical arguments against testing and grading, grounded in work by Paulo Freire, Michel Foucault, Alfie Kohn, and others.

• The negative influence of testing and grading on social justice, race, class, and gender.

• The role of testing and grading in perpetuating a deficit perspective of children, learning, race, and class.

• The traditional and current commitment to selected-response testing as a pursuit of efficiency—while ignoring the cultural, racial, and gender biases of “objective” testing and the instructional power of authentic assessment.

• The thirty-year accountability experiment and its failure.

• International examinations of different approaches to testing, grading, and assessment.

• Shifting classrooms from places of measurement, labeling, and ranking to authentic student performances and teacher feedback designed to encourage rich and deep learning.

The volume will include a foreword and contribution by Alfie Kohn.

The essays will fall under two broad sections:

“Part I: Detesting and Degrading Schools: How Tests and Grades Have Failed Public Education” includes essays on the historical, theoretical, and philosophical arguments against testing and grading.

“Part II: De-testing and De-grading Schools: Realizing Emancipatory Schools without Tests and Grades” presents practical experiments in de-testing and de-grading classrooms for authentic learning experiences.

Timeline:

Proposals due by January 15, 2012. Submit proposals and author(s) information [Word file] to paul.thomas[at]furman.edu; proposals should be 200-300 word abstracts for proposed essays of up to approx. 8000 words (a variety of lengths encouraged). Feel free to work within the parameters above or suggest options that stretch the focus we have envisioned.

Essay proposals accepted by February 15, 2012

Essay drafts due by June 15, 2012. Submissions should follow APA citation format.

Manuscript delivered to publisher by August 15, 2012

BBC News - Newsnight - REM: Why we decided to split after 31 years

2011-11-03T08:00:00.000-04:00

Radical Musicians. . .

BBC News - Newsnight - REM: Why we decided to split after 31 years