Betsy DeVos tries to shame teachers on Twitter, gets taken to school instead.

Does this look familiar? Students lined up in rows. A teacher in front of a blackboard. Sit down; don’t talk; eyes up front. Wait for the bell. Walk to the next class. Everything about our lives has moved beyond the industrial era. But American education largely hasn’t. #SXSWEDU pic.twitter.com/kyy2r7bTud

— Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) March 6, 2018

Okay now those images look exactly like the classrooms that I sat in while I attended elementary school way back in the 1960's.

However I also fairly recently worked in public schools and I know something that apparently Betsy DeVos, the actual Secretary of Education, does not.

Here let some real teachers do a little educating.

Don’t you know that stock photos aren’t real? How many classrooms have you visited in the past year? Classrooms don’t look like that anymore. Students don’t work like that anymore. I would think that as Sec of Edu you would be celebrating us, not putting us down. #Bye pic.twitter.com/GPDr1aS7vp

— Teresa Hurtado (@MissHurtad0KISD) March 6, 2018

Ok, first of all, give Stock Photo teacher some credit, she has the whole class eager to share. (Her biggest problem, tbh, is the lack of decorations. Put a poster up on your stock photo walls!) Secondly, this is a real, public school classroom right here: pic.twitter.com/sU8hYnn7SY

— PostMalonialism (@Mr_Orlopp) March 7, 2018

No. It doesn't look familiar. THIS is what public school looks like. pic.twitter.com/OYYrXvIRq2

— LPG (@puckettgarcia) March 7, 2018

Damn teachers do not play when you insult the progress they have made in their teaching methods and classroom atmospheres.

But this last tweet really put the nail in Miss Betsy's coffin.

Meanwhile at the DeVos funded West Michigan Aviation School... pic.twitter.com/8Dutpd43iZ

— Kristen Famiano (@kfam) March 6, 2018

Now THAT is the kind of burn which leaves a lasting mark right there.

So it appears that Trump's Education Secretary not only got school by the Parkland students, but our amazing public school teachers as well.

Good choice there Donnie!

School teachers report from the front lines about what they are seeing in Trump's America.

Courtesy of NPR: 

Previous surveys we've reported on, including one from the Southern Poverty Law Center, also found increases in school bullying related to overheated political rhetoric. 

The UCLA survey, unlike those, relies on a nationally representative sample: 1,535 teachers at schools whose demographics reflect those of U.S. schools as a whole, rather than pulling from self-selecting volunteers. Also, the survey was conducted after President Trump took office. Along with the survey, researchers at the UCLA Institute for Democracy, Education and Access conducted 35 follow-up interviews by phone. 

Here are some of the key findings: 

• 79 percent of teachers reported that students have expressed concerns for their well-being or the well-being of their families because of what is in the news. Most commonly mentioned was immigration, but the list also included the much-publicized travel ban, restrictions on LGBTQ rights, threats to the Affordable Care Act and threats to the environment. 
• 51 percent of teachers reported more students experiencing "high levels of stress and anxiety." 
• 44 percent of teachers reported that students' concerns were affecting learning. In interviews, they spoke about students who seemed stressed, distracted and who were contributing less to class discussion for fear of drawing attention to themselves. 
• 41 percent of teachers reported that students were more likely than in previous years to introduce unfounded claims in class discussions, such as from Facebook or talk radio. 
• 27 percent of teachers reported an increase in students making derogatory remarks about other groups during class discussions. This included sexist as well as racist and anti-Muslim comments. 
• 20 percent of teachers reported heightened polarization on campus and incivility in their classrooms. 

These last two figures were higher for teachers at predominantly white schools, says John Rogers, lead author of the report and a professor at UCLA's graduate school of education. He noted that teachers in eight states used the word "emboldened" to describe some white students' increasingly racist and offensive behavior. 

The report is not comprehensive, and there's no easy way to compare its results with those during any previous administration. But it speaks to an ongoing national discussion about civil discourse and civic engagement inside and outside the classroom.

When I say in the headline that teachers are on the "front line" I mean that literally as they are often the ones who first recognize shifts in how young people respond to the mood of a country, or how attitudes are evolving concerning racism, sexism, or tolerance of "the other."

During the Obama Administration it seemed that the country was moving rapidly toward more progressive attitudes, hope for the future, and acceptance of others.

But now with Trump in the White House it appears that we returned to intolerance and divisiveness almost overnight.

You'd think he'd at least grade on a curve.

Source

Food for thought in a high school science classroom.

Clearly this is in a science classroom NOT located in the deep south.