Snow Days
Growing up in Western Washington, we always hoped for snow. Snow was fleeting, and it brought with it the potential for school to be canceled. But as the rain would inevitably wash away any chance for icy roads, we learned to wish for snow that may or may not come and may or may not ever stick to the ground long enough for ...
The Myth of U.S. School’s Lagging Behind Other Countries
You see it almost everywhere. "New data shows that India has more honors students than the US has students" and other such warnings of the educational apocalypse. We are reminded of the flattened world and global competition on an almost daily basis in education. For most of the 20th century there was an "other" country who's education system was going to see it ...
Neo-Conservative Views of School Funding
The class I'm teaching this semester ends with students in groups facilitating half of the course time for the final two weeks of the semester. One of the groups chose to look at school funding and opted for the text Does Money Matter?: The Effect of School Resources on Student Achievement and Adult Success edited by Gary Burtless. The answer to the question posed ...
My Comments on Quam’s Response
The following is taken from the Star Tribune's online comment section for Jean Quam's American Dream lives on at the U
I'd like to begin by pointing out what we, in education research and teacher education, refer to as the "demographic imperative." Currently, 86% of all elementary and secondary teachers are white. Of these, most are women, from middle class backgrounds, and are mono-lingual speakers of ...
Teacher Education Redesign Initiative
The University of Minnesota is currently undergoing a redesign of its teacher education program. Part of this process saw the formation of several committees, each charged with addressing a particular piece of teacher education that graduates of the program saw as lacking in their own teacher education training. Among those groups formed was one on Race, Culture, Class, and Gender.
The group ...
About Lived Reality
While my aim is for this blog to become a joint effort, including many voices from colleagues, friends, and students, for now this blog is the work of Zachary Casey, a PhD student in Culture and Teaching at the University of Minnesota.
The name stems from many progressive and critical educators' insistence on education that takes both students' and teachers' lived realities as its starting place. ...