Courtney Gore, the co-host of a right-wing online talk show, won a seat on a Texas school board on the basis that she would undo leftist indoctrination and get rid of educational materials with inappropriate messages about sexuality and race. Then she took office and actually read the curriculum, finding that the subject matter simply taught children “how to be a good friend, a good human.” The Texas Tribune talked to her about why she ran for office, what she thinks is behind the push to take over school boards, and the backlash she's faced since speaking out against the ultra-right element of the Republican party.
Uncited generative AI use by students in coursework
I teach a course where I allow the use of generative AI. My university rules allow this and the students are instructed that they must cite the use of generative AI. I have set the same Laboratory Report coursework for the last two years. And students submit their work through TurnItIn. so I can see what the TurnItIn Ai checker is reporting.
Something I keep coming back to as a teacher and learner is Papert's concept of "Objects to Think With". In some ways, math for me is simply a collection of objects to think with. The guitar, too. Card games. The Rubik's cube. A basketball. And a simple way to be a lifelong learner is to continually seek out new objects to think with.
I'm teaching a new #class "Solidarity Memory Work"
We'll learn about #solidarity#movements in allied professions (academic history, journalism, etc.) then discuss (1) how to actively #document and #preserve current movements and organizations, and (2) activate that #records already in #collections to motivate and guide contemporary organizers
'Following the successful development of the Black Teacher Archive (BTA), beginning in 2020 with initial funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the BTA’s public unveiling in 2023, a pair of new grants will allow the project to expand its reach and impact in the coming years.'
Today, like many other West Australian teachers, I'm not going to work this morning.
It's interesting that our industrial action is represented in the media as about pay. We're not striking over salary - we're striking because the system is broken.
My son has had no Phys Ed teacher all year. He's had a procession of relief teachers which, for a special needs child, is extremely distressing. He attends an inner city public school, but staffing shortages are statewide.
Speaking of special needs students, I'd like to look after my own without having to skip lunch to ensure their needs are met.
I'd like the Education Department to give me a personal device so I can do my job
(more efficiently). If I want a laptop, I have to lease one.
I'd like an acknowledgement of how teaching has recently become more difficult and demanding, especially during #COVID19, when we kept schools open and tried to keep students safe.
I enforced the mask mandate far more often than a rank-and-file police officer. I've probably been threatened and assaulted more times than many police officers too. And the statewide mobile phone ban? Guess who enforces that every single day.
So many of my colleagues have left teaching: re-trained or resigned due to burnout and stress. Who suffers? The students.
It's not about the pay. We're tired, and we need support. We're underfunded and under-resourced. We need to improve conditions for students. We need to fix the system.
One of my classes has their final projects due at 11:59pm tonight and the ramp-up of more and more frantic student emails is really depressing.
They had to choose topics in February and turn in drafts in March, and yet it seems that most of them didn't actually start until today...not that I was any better as an undergrad, but man it hurts to watch!
Teaching can be a tough, joyless job sometimes, but on other days you get a Yr 8 student who reimagines Much Ado by having Disney-style talking cows for characters and calling it "Much A-Moo About Nothing" and you literally cry with laughter #MuchAMoo#Cows#Shakespeare#Education#Teaching#EduGlow@edutooters