Be the Spark!

contribute now

Wagnearo's comments:

on Views of Afghanistan: The Wahab Brothers

I was privileged to have Zaher as a prof at Lewis and Clark several years ago, and I thought of him when I saw a recent Time magazine cover.  On it was a photo of a woman with her nose cut off, and the headline implied that this was what Afghanistan would look like if the U.S. left.  I felt manipulated.....    Wondered if the brothers saw this cover and what they thought of it?

I really appreciate this topic and these guests!

posted 2 years, 9 months ago
view in context

on Paying for Special Ed

I appreciate what you are saying here.  The question is how will this ruling actually help special ed kids?  Money will be pulled out of public schools to pay for private schools and the kids of socially privileged parents who can work the system will benefit while others are given even fewer supports.

posted 3 years, 11 months ago
view in context

on Paying for Special Ed

I agree with momoftwo.  The idea that some children deserve an adequate education while others should be left behind is inhumane and counter to a healthy society.  Compare how much it costs society to jail a person than educate them. 

I have brilliant, caring, and wonderful kids who qualify for "special ed" because they have different needs in their education.  The question is not "should we educate these children?" but HOW can we best do so?

posted 3 years, 11 months ago
view in context

on Paying for Special Ed

Districts are being burdened with more responsibilities and fewer and fewer resources with which to meet them.  Special Ed teachers, English-Language-Learner teachers, and regular classroom teachers are being run ragged, trying to meet the needs of all our students.  Meenwhile the numbers of "sped" kids are ever-increasing as more and more difficulties are recognized as learning disabilities.  Pulling the money away from struggling districts into private schools is NOT the answer.  We should fund public schools sufficiently so that they are able to meet their responsibilities.

posted 3 years, 11 months ago
view in context

on Sam Scandal

I think this is well-put. We in the queer community want to hold up the best of us for public scrutiny, and Adam's relationship with this young man may have been legal, but it certainly wasn't anywhere near a moral high-ground. We spend so much time explaining that being a gay man IS NOT being a pedophile; anything like this that blurs the difference takes us two steps back. And then some.

A female politician must appear tougher and stronger than the men that surround her. A black politician must seem warmer and fuzzier than the white faces that surround him. A gay politician must be purer than the driven snow. It is a double-standard, but that's how it is.

That being said, I'm inclined to forgive Mayor Adams his damnable humanness. This once.

posted 4 years, 4 months ago
view in context

on Measure 58: English as a Second Language

Okay, it's me again. I just went and actually read the measure, and I was wrong. This measure is farther-reaching than I thought, and it really does limit ELL classes, not just home-language-acquisition. This is a bad measure!

posted 4 years, 7 months ago
view in context

on Measure 58: English as a Second Language

I enjoyed reading your story. For students like you, who alreay knew how to read and write in your home language, I agree that it makes sense to push them toward immersion. My concern is for the students who are trying to learn to read, write, AND speak in a 2nd or 3rd language without any academic background. Imagine trying to learn English--how to speak it, read it, AND write it--if you hadn't built those skills originally in Swedish.

posted 4 years, 7 months ago
view in context

on Measure 58: English as a Second Language

Most people writing in are laboring under misinformation. My understanding is that this measure won't limit ELL education to two years. It will limit the amount of teaching ELL students receive in their HOME LANGUAGE. That being said, I am a Portland-area teacher with a high percentage of ELL students. The kids coming in who already know how to read and write in their home languages are at an incomparable advantage to those who do not. Reading and writing is extremely difficult business; I teach some students for whom Standard English is their home language, and in 8th grade they are still far from mastering it. We can give elementary students reading and writing skills in Spanish or Vietnamese and then they can transfer those developed skills to English literacy. This is all WHILE they are learning to speak English. Please don't take this tool out of a teacher's tool-box!

posted 4 years, 7 months ago
view in context

on Chronic Divisions

I have a relative who works at a local Planned Parenthood. She informs me that many procedures and types of care at the clinics require that the patient present either their social security card, birth certificate, or passport. Who has these things easily at hand? The economically privileged. Under-resourced communities have less access to Planned Parenthood's services. I believe this to be a good example of the inequality that WE can work to take down.

Thanks for the excellent discussion!
Aaron

posted 4 years, 11 months ago
view in context

on TAG, You're It!

As an 8th grade classroom teacher, I have two recommendations for helping teach TAG kids.

1) Lower classroom sizes. I can't give my TAG kids enough attention if there are 30 children in my class.

2) We have to identify TAG kids accurately. Testing tends to identify TAG students who have access to the dominant culture and hear and speak"standard" English at home. Testing doesn't necessarily identify our truly brilliant students who don't have those things.

I'm glad we're having this conversation at the state level, and I support the Parkrose administrator that said we need "individual plans to meet individual needs."

posted 5 years, 3 months ago
view in context

Thanks to our Sponsor:
become a sponsor
Web Analytics