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Dec. 8th, 2015 12:04 am* How shitty a human being is Mitch McConell? He is using health care for 9/11 first responders as a political bargaining chip? how shitty a human being is Paul Ryan? He's trying to drain money that should be used for their health care away even though they are literally dying because of their heroism and patriotism. They are happy to pay lip service to them and to wave the bloody shirt come election time, but they will not put their money where their mouths are. Tell Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan to stop blocking the Zadroga Act!
* "GOP Lawmaker: They Shouldn’t Have Gone To Planned Parenthood If They Didn’t Want To Be Shot:" http://freakoutnation.com/2015/12/gop-lawmaker-they-shouldnt-have-gone-to-planned-parenthood-if-they-didnt-want-to-be-shot/
* "Sandy Hook Senator Slams Gun-loving GOP: It’s Not Congress’ Job To Pray:" http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/12/05/sandy-hook-senator-slams-gun-loving-gop-its-not-congress-job-to-pray-image/
* "Wisconsin Begins Drug Testing For Unemployment And Food Stamp Applicants, Which May Be Illegal:" http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/11/09/3720495/wisconsin-begin-drug-tests/
* "Man Accused Of Trashing Florida Mosque Has History Of Anti-Islam Social Media Posts:" http://www.buzzfeed.com/leticiamiranda/man-accused-of-trashing-florida-mosque-has-history-of-anti-i#.dfaLRkYKZ
* "Fox pundit says ‘white privilege is racist’: I confront my whiteness by ‘going to the tanning salon’:" http://www.rawstory.com/2015/12/fox-pundit-says-white-privilege-is-racist-i-confront-my-whiteness-by-going-to-the-tanning-salon/
* "Why So Many U.S. Students Are Learning Lies About America’s Racial Past:" http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/10/the-history-class-dilemma/411601/?utm_source=SFTwitter
* Outside of the obvious issue with Christian Extremists and pro-Confederacy White Supremacists (I have had friends who were fired from Texas or Deep South districts for teaching about things like the north winning the Civil War, Slavery being bad, or Buffalo Soldiers) getting to pick the textbooks for the entire nation, there is the problem that many and in some places most school districts prefer to hire English teachers to teach both English and Social studies instead of hiring English teachers to teach English and Social studies teachers to teach social studies. This has to do with Educational "Reform" incentives that punish schools for "wasting time" on educating Social Studies and Science when the so-called Reformers want them to be teaching to the math and Reading tests. A lot of this has to do with the Republican anti-education agenda. Students who understand science won't go along with Science Denial. Students who understand history and our government are statistically way more likely to vote and the last thing Republicans want is an educate electorate, particularly one of a Socio-Economic status that would have them going to public and private school.
When I taught social studies, I tied what they were learning into current events. I made it about how various events and factors influenced other events and factors. Good history teaching is about teaching students to evaluate evidence and analyze biases. Teaching history well requires not just a knowledge of the material, but a knowledge of historiography and teaching methods, but we've decided as a country that rather than have expert social studies teachers teaching social studies, we should have non-experts make children memorize names and dates. Oh course the children are bored. Sure real historians know key anchor dates, but actual historians look the dates up for the smaller stuff, because what is way more important is to know the relationship between things. The Story matters in History, just like who is telling the story matters. Because we've decided to not hire actual history teachers to teach Social Studies, you lose the Stories. You lose the way the politics and the economics and the social history all effect each other. You lose the nuance and the interesting anecdotes and the way history is a thing that is created out of primary sources and the rule interpretation has in the way we look at both past and current events. You also lose the moments where the students ask really good questions about the material and get answers that aren't in the text book. Some of my best days as a teacher were like that, like the time we were discussing 19th Century reform movements and the kids put that together with things they were learning in science class to ask questions about historical disease epidemics, that time they asked about Anthrax during current events and we talked about rational risk assessments using stuff they knew from math class, that time we were doing Anne Frank in English and they wanted to know about the rise of Hitler and the NAZI party in Germany. (8th grade history ends around the start of the 20th Century and they don't get the 1930's until high school). Because I was Social Studies/English duel certified, with most of my training in history, I could improvise when faced with student curiosity in ways someone relying on the text book likely couldn't. (My policy was I was willing to let student questions "distract me" from the scheduled lesson as long as it was educational. They thought they were winning; I knew they were learning. For example, "Why do we have to learn about the supreme court? I bet you can't even list the members without looking!" Led to me explaining that the Supreme Court was the last defense for their Civil Rights, including who was appointed by whom and why that mattered, topped with several interesting and alarming stories about the Supreme Court Justices and some key cases. It was a very productive ten minute discussion, I thought, and I can only hope it made them more thoughtful voters. Most teachers brush off "Why do we have to learn this" questions. I loved them, because I always had a really good answer tying in what we were learning to things happening in the world right then. My experience was that most middle and high schoolers get why they have to learn math and reading, but don't intuitively grasp why Social studies matter and how it is very relevant to them as citizens. They just think we are torturing them or no good reason. I always had answers that made them think and they were so much less hostile about the whole process when they could see the purpose. Good teaching of social studies is not an impossible goal if you have teachers that love what they are doing; it;s nearly impossible if you hire people to teach it who don't like or understand what they are doing.
* Today the stolen sleep was not Hector's fault, as he was being very good. Instead it was multiple phone calls waking me and a whole hour of surprise emergency phone bureaucracy mid sleep cycle. Fun! So in person bureaucracy has been added to my Wednesday to do list and I get to do a document hunt in the mean time. Extra fun! I was meant to do a cat supply and lightbulb run today, but the pain was terrible, so I just got toothpaste and a half off string of light for the livingroom from a shop a couple blocks away. (The lighting design in the apartment is terrible. There is enough light for the kitchen and my office area, but the livingroom requires supplemental light and the standing lamp is dead. Replacing it is on the list with supplemental shelving as long term goals requiring both money and multiple trips to good will to find the right object for the space, so waaaaay long term at this point. Half off emergency lighting is an attractive stop gap at this point, this being the season for it). Anyway, I then spent a couple hours doing various things around the house in between long rests.
Tomorrow I'm short sleeped for a scheduled scene and Dhraegon's Stag Party. Wednesday is bureaucracy, forage, cat supplies, and present making, so no proper sleep then. There are people Thurday, and friday starts the wedding stuff for my character. So next proper sleep is a whole week away! *headdesk*
* Happy Chanukkah to those of you celebrating!
* "Introducing Stannis: Book 1 vs. Season 1:" http://turtle-paced.tumblr.com/post/126247067372/introducing-stannis-book-1-vs-season-1
* "Famous Poems Rewritten as Limericks:" http://seananmcguire.tumblr.com/post/134667752325/famous-poems-rewritten-as-limericks#notes
* EBAY:
NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY 2010 (LE, Halloweenie): (Company says: Dewy green leaves colored by Moroccan amber, ginseng, and rooibos.) Just Below Label. http://www.ebay.com/itm/301814539367?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
* Donate to help refugees "UN Refugee Agency:" http://donate.unhcr.org/international/general
* Organizations helping with the refugee crisis: http://captainofalltheships.tumblr.com/post/128790538169/an-updated-list-of-organizations-to-donate-to-help
* A list of LGBTQA Charities: http://awkward0w1.tumblr.com/post/126399233673
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We desperately need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com
* "GOP Lawmaker: They Shouldn’t Have Gone To Planned Parenthood If They Didn’t Want To Be Shot:" http://freakoutnation.com/2015/12/gop-lawmaker-they-shouldnt-have-gone-to-planned-parenthood-if-they-didnt-want-to-be-shot/
* "Sandy Hook Senator Slams Gun-loving GOP: It’s Not Congress’ Job To Pray:" http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/12/05/sandy-hook-senator-slams-gun-loving-gop-its-not-congress-job-to-pray-image/
* "Wisconsin Begins Drug Testing For Unemployment And Food Stamp Applicants, Which May Be Illegal:" http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/11/09/3720495/wisconsin-begin-drug-tests/
* "Man Accused Of Trashing Florida Mosque Has History Of Anti-Islam Social Media Posts:" http://www.buzzfeed.com/leticiamiranda/man-accused-of-trashing-florida-mosque-has-history-of-anti-i#.dfaLRkYKZ
* "Fox pundit says ‘white privilege is racist’: I confront my whiteness by ‘going to the tanning salon’:" http://www.rawstory.com/2015/12/fox-pundit-says-white-privilege-is-racist-i-confront-my-whiteness-by-going-to-the-tanning-salon/
* "Why So Many U.S. Students Are Learning Lies About America’s Racial Past:" http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/10/the-history-class-dilemma/411601/?utm_source=SFTwitter
* Outside of the obvious issue with Christian Extremists and pro-Confederacy White Supremacists (I have had friends who were fired from Texas or Deep South districts for teaching about things like the north winning the Civil War, Slavery being bad, or Buffalo Soldiers) getting to pick the textbooks for the entire nation, there is the problem that many and in some places most school districts prefer to hire English teachers to teach both English and Social studies instead of hiring English teachers to teach English and Social studies teachers to teach social studies. This has to do with Educational "Reform" incentives that punish schools for "wasting time" on educating Social Studies and Science when the so-called Reformers want them to be teaching to the math and Reading tests. A lot of this has to do with the Republican anti-education agenda. Students who understand science won't go along with Science Denial. Students who understand history and our government are statistically way more likely to vote and the last thing Republicans want is an educate electorate, particularly one of a Socio-Economic status that would have them going to public and private school.
When I taught social studies, I tied what they were learning into current events. I made it about how various events and factors influenced other events and factors. Good history teaching is about teaching students to evaluate evidence and analyze biases. Teaching history well requires not just a knowledge of the material, but a knowledge of historiography and teaching methods, but we've decided as a country that rather than have expert social studies teachers teaching social studies, we should have non-experts make children memorize names and dates. Oh course the children are bored. Sure real historians know key anchor dates, but actual historians look the dates up for the smaller stuff, because what is way more important is to know the relationship between things. The Story matters in History, just like who is telling the story matters. Because we've decided to not hire actual history teachers to teach Social Studies, you lose the Stories. You lose the way the politics and the economics and the social history all effect each other. You lose the nuance and the interesting anecdotes and the way history is a thing that is created out of primary sources and the rule interpretation has in the way we look at both past and current events. You also lose the moments where the students ask really good questions about the material and get answers that aren't in the text book. Some of my best days as a teacher were like that, like the time we were discussing 19th Century reform movements and the kids put that together with things they were learning in science class to ask questions about historical disease epidemics, that time they asked about Anthrax during current events and we talked about rational risk assessments using stuff they knew from math class, that time we were doing Anne Frank in English and they wanted to know about the rise of Hitler and the NAZI party in Germany. (8th grade history ends around the start of the 20th Century and they don't get the 1930's until high school). Because I was Social Studies/English duel certified, with most of my training in history, I could improvise when faced with student curiosity in ways someone relying on the text book likely couldn't. (My policy was I was willing to let student questions "distract me" from the scheduled lesson as long as it was educational. They thought they were winning; I knew they were learning. For example, "Why do we have to learn about the supreme court? I bet you can't even list the members without looking!" Led to me explaining that the Supreme Court was the last defense for their Civil Rights, including who was appointed by whom and why that mattered, topped with several interesting and alarming stories about the Supreme Court Justices and some key cases. It was a very productive ten minute discussion, I thought, and I can only hope it made them more thoughtful voters. Most teachers brush off "Why do we have to learn this" questions. I loved them, because I always had a really good answer tying in what we were learning to things happening in the world right then. My experience was that most middle and high schoolers get why they have to learn math and reading, but don't intuitively grasp why Social studies matter and how it is very relevant to them as citizens. They just think we are torturing them or no good reason. I always had answers that made them think and they were so much less hostile about the whole process when they could see the purpose. Good teaching of social studies is not an impossible goal if you have teachers that love what they are doing; it;s nearly impossible if you hire people to teach it who don't like or understand what they are doing.
* Today the stolen sleep was not Hector's fault, as he was being very good. Instead it was multiple phone calls waking me and a whole hour of surprise emergency phone bureaucracy mid sleep cycle. Fun! So in person bureaucracy has been added to my Wednesday to do list and I get to do a document hunt in the mean time. Extra fun! I was meant to do a cat supply and lightbulb run today, but the pain was terrible, so I just got toothpaste and a half off string of light for the livingroom from a shop a couple blocks away. (The lighting design in the apartment is terrible. There is enough light for the kitchen and my office area, but the livingroom requires supplemental light and the standing lamp is dead. Replacing it is on the list with supplemental shelving as long term goals requiring both money and multiple trips to good will to find the right object for the space, so waaaaay long term at this point. Half off emergency lighting is an attractive stop gap at this point, this being the season for it). Anyway, I then spent a couple hours doing various things around the house in between long rests.
Tomorrow I'm short sleeped for a scheduled scene and Dhraegon's Stag Party. Wednesday is bureaucracy, forage, cat supplies, and present making, so no proper sleep then. There are people Thurday, and friday starts the wedding stuff for my character. So next proper sleep is a whole week away! *headdesk*
* Happy Chanukkah to those of you celebrating!
* "Introducing Stannis: Book 1 vs. Season 1:" http://turtle-paced.tumblr.com/post/126247067372/introducing-stannis-book-1-vs-season-1
* "Famous Poems Rewritten as Limericks:" http://seananmcguire.tumblr.com/post/134667752325/famous-poems-rewritten-as-limericks#notes
* EBAY:
NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY 2010 (LE, Halloweenie): (Company says: Dewy green leaves colored by Moroccan amber, ginseng, and rooibos.) Just Below Label. http://www.ebay.com/itm/301814539367?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
* Donate to help refugees "UN Refugee Agency:" http://donate.unhcr.org/international/general
* Organizations helping with the refugee crisis: http://captainofalltheships.tumblr.com/post/128790538169/an-updated-list-of-organizations-to-donate-to-help
* A list of LGBTQA Charities: http://awkward0w1.tumblr.com/post/126399233673
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We desperately need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com
