Category Archive
Making sure our children can soarNov 20, 2008
Along with President-elect Barack Obama and the new Democratic administration, we educators have hard choices to make and a long road ahead of us. That road is about preserving the classroom during uncertain economic times.
It’s all about the classroomNov 06, 2008
My fellow officers and I are guided in all that we do by two core principles: protect and advocate for children and public schools; and protect and advocate for the professional livelihoods of our members. Together, these two principles are the foundation on which all of our work is built. Simply put, it’s all about the classroom.
A teacher's anger: Markets, moral hazards and schoolsOct 23, 2008
The pursuit of greed and excess, the idolatry of unregulated and uncontrolled markets, are no substitute for the pursuit of our common good and the support of our public purpose.
Collaboration the key to making schools workOct 09, 2008
The recent releases of several reports indicate that the lessons learned from the Super Bowl champion Giants’ locker room can be used in our schools as well.
DOE plans five big changes for special educationSep 25, 2008
Just when you thought it was safe to return to the special education classroom, the rules are changing.
Educators’ natural instinctsJun 05, 2008
UFT members have a closed contract that runs another year-and-a-third with solid job security and substantial raises. “So why,” a City Councilmember asked me not long ago, “is the UFT even involved in the budget fight if your members are all taken care of?”
DOE chutzpahJun 05, 2008
In recent days, Chancellor Joel Klein has offered an apology for the budget Mayor Bloomberg and he have provided New York City public schools that could only be described as a bad chutzpah joke.
Pilot DOE autism program can work for all CTT classesMay 22, 2008
One Brooklyn parent of a child with autism wasn’t satisfied that her son would have to grow up to be a dependent adult and she did something about it.
Compelling leadershipMay 08, 2008
Recently I was the proud recipient of the 2008 Not for Ourselves Alone: The Sandy Feldman Outstanding Leadership Award. I never thought of myself as a “female pioneer,” as the award says I am. Yet any leader, female or male, has to be a pioneer.
Bring back playApr 24, 2008
Parents always ask the same question of Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist and host of the PBS show “NOVA Science NOW.” How can they help their kids become scientific geniuses? His answer? Let them play.
Deja vu … all over againApr 10, 2008
A national recession … high oil prices … an unresponsive federal government … state and city budget cuts … sound familiar?
DOE knows, but won’t admit: Class size countsMar 27, 2008
For all of its single-minded focus on quantitative data, there is one hard number that the Department of Education invariably dismisses as relatively insignificant: class size.
Solving the grades 7-12 special ed teachers shortageMar 13, 2008
Just four years ago, the State Education Department’s Board of Regents put in place new certification requirements that it hoped would give special educators the content expertise to teach to the standard at the middle school and high school levels.
Well-deserved recognitionFeb 28, 2008
Art and Design HS’s Anne Buerger (left) was among the Career and Technical Education teachers as well as supporters of the program who were honored on Feb. 7 during the UFT’s annual CTE Awards Recognition Ceremony.
CTE reform a proven successFeb 28, 2008
The definition of reform is to improve, so any real reform must demonstrate tangible improvement. What concerns me is when the phrase “educational reform” is used as the beginning of an attack on public education.
So-called ‘extras’ critical to childhood developmentFeb 14, 2008
If the city axes $100 million now and another $324 million next year from school budgets, then all people ever really need to know sure isn’t going to be learned in kindergarten.
Making accountability countJan 31, 2008
Over the Christmas vacation I took some time off to dip into a new translation of one of my favorite books, “Don Quixote,” a classic that always gets me thinking about life in new and surprising ways.
From isolation to collaboration at IS 59Jan 17, 2008
It started as a familiar visit to IS 59 in District 29, Queens, one that I’ve made a number of times as vice president for middle schools. This time, however, there was a palatable difference.
It takes a villageJan 17, 2008
Change in our schools cannot take place only with the efforts and support of our UFT members.
The redemptive power of public education: A story of a student by her teacherDec 06, 2007
The front page of a recent Sunday New York Times Book Review section brought back some old memories and affirmed some important truths.
Meeting of ‘Generations’Dec 06, 2007
UFT Vice President for Academic High Schools Leo Casey and Brooklyn High Schools District Representative Charles Turner met with staff at Brooklyn Generation School to discuss the unique academic program at the brand-new small school.
Honoring one of their ownNov 15, 2007
UFT Vice President for Special Education Carmen Alvarez was honored by her graduate school alma mater with the Bank Street College Alumni Association Recognition Award for 2007.
Time to get your HOUSSE in orderNov 15, 2007
You’ve probably heard about AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress). But what about HQT (Highly Qualified Teacher) and HOUSSE (High Objective Uniform State Standard of Evaluation)?
Connecting the islandsNov 01, 2007
The English poet John Donne famously said that “no man is an island.” The same is true of schools, the latest reorganization of the New York City Department of Education notwithstanding.
Sound of collaboration is sweet musicOct 18, 2007
Across the city, in all boroughs, I’ve been hearing the sound of collaboration.
Let’s not make data a four-letter wordOct 04, 2007
I’m glad to see the central administration is planning to provide the latest technological support and resources to teachers. I hope it will provide the instructional support, too.
Breaking free from the 'Bermuda Triangle of Education'Sep 20, 2007
Recent literature on middle schools calls them the “Bermuda Triangle of Education” — places where students and teachers get lost and lose their bearings.
A blueprint for higher achievementSep 20, 2007
Recommendations made by the City Council’s Middle School Task Force clearly serve as a blueprint for higher middle school achievement.
In unity and solidarity, there is strengthJun 07, 2007
Today, reactionary forces which would eviscerate public schooling are on the offensive in New Orleans, Philadelphia and elsewhere.
It’s never too early to begin planning for next yearMay 24, 2007
It certainly seems that it’s way too soon to even think about next year, let alone plan for it. But time waits for no one (sigh).
Halsey victory rates our MS FAME AwardMay 10, 2007
In visiting middle schools across the city, we encourage teachers to become involved in the various action plans of the UFT, be it letter-writing campaigns, e-mail drives, petition-signing, rallies and the like. Our members sometimes question the effectiveness of these actions. So, let’s visit Halsey JHS in District 28, where there is tangible proof that, sometimes, hard work really does pay off.
Bottom line ripping off some highly rated veteran teachersMay 10, 2007
On March 10, the Daily News ran an “Exclusive,” noting that hundreds of tenured teachers are working as substitutes, that they have not secured permanent jobs, and that they are drawing higher pay than normal for substitutes. All that is factual yet it gives an entirely false impression.
Principal's principles problematicApr 26, 2007
Schools have a slew of headaches. In one Brooklyn school, it’s the principal who’s responsible for the migraines.
Public television presents teachingApr 12, 2007
The public broadcast stations that cover the city and Long Island did something that’s not done too often these days: They celebrated and showed respect for the hard work that educators do.
CTE is city schools’ best-kept secretMar 29, 2007
The success of students in Career-Technical Education [CTE] programs is one of the unheralded stories of New York City public schools.
DOE’s small/large comparison dishonestMar 15, 2007
Chancellor Klein and the Department of Education seem unable to praise small high schools without also denigrating large, comprehensive high schools.
Closing in on class sizeMar 01, 2007
Imagine your class or classes had five, six or even 10 fewer students. Or if you had 120 students a day instead of 170. Think of what you could do!
There’s never enough timeMar 01, 2007
As more and more time is demanded for assessment, less and less is available for teaching, and what good is that?
Lots missing from latest reorganizationFeb 15, 2007
My last column explored the various issues surrounding real middle school reform. Many of our teachers wrote back with their ideas and suggestions on how to improve student performance.
Second-class citizens once again?Feb 01, 2007
They may not be shunting special ed students into hidden corners, but in a variety of ways, the Department of Education is certainly treating these students, once more, like second-class citizens.
A look aheadJan 18, 2007
In a way, it’s a gift. No, not a holiday gift, but something far more precious: the gift of time — something educators know a thing or two about.
Assessing the assessmentsJan 18, 2007
Over the past decade, efforts to raise academic standards and achievement for all students have consumed public schools throughout the country, and rightfully so.
Beating the oddsDec 07, 2006
Sadly, much of the leadership of New York City public schools seems blissfully ignorant of what a successful commonsense approach to educating our youth would involve.
Collaboration key to making schools workNov 16, 2006
When educators and school administrators don't collaborate, problems problems go far beyond a lack of awareness of good sharing practices.
Quietly, and nicely: At what costNov 02, 2006
As I go from borough to borough visiting schools, I’ve found a wide range of situations. I’ve found schools where decision making is shared, and others that are micromanaged by tyrants.
All in a day’s workNov 02, 2006
UFT President Randi Weingarten writes about a study conducted by a city-based public-policy research group documenting the bureaucratic obstacles that New York City public-school teachers confront every day.
A silver bullet?Oct 19, 2006
The press pays a great deal of attention each year when the results of statewide assessments are released. This year was no exception.
Seize the dayOct 19, 2006
If you needed another reason to get to the polls on Nov. 7, the latest ruling of the Bush administration’s National Labor Relations Board is pretty compelling for anyone who wants a voice at work.
Shame and fame: Principal at IS 227, Brooklyn, can learn from neighboring IS 259Oct 17, 2006
Take a look (if you dare) at IS 227 in Bensonhurst where Leadership Academy graduate Brenda Champion began wreaking havoc on the very first day of school.
