Broadside Press education panel and poetry July 16 At UD-Mercy

Saturday July 16 from 12-2pm, we will have a panel discussion re
Education in Detroit, EMU involvement in EAS; analysis of Broadside
poetry and writing. U of D Mercy Commerce and Finance Bldg rm 238.
Panelists include Chris Rutherford- President of Broadside Press, EMU
MA student; Aurora Harris, MA EMU; Activists Chris White and Sandra
Hines, and others. Please Spread The Word And Support!

Calling all writers, educators, activists, academics, and community
Creating Effective Schools in America - Today, Tomorrow and Beyond-
What we must demand

REGISTER NOW! SUMMER WRITING WORKSHOPS July 9,16, 23, 30

Time: 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m. Theme: The New Education Millennium -
Making it Work for Everyone

Workshops will cover a historical, political, social and economic
review of the struggle for quality education in Detroit and America.
We will examine Broadside Legacy Authors, and their writings on
education, as well as discover the works of education activist from
around the world. The workshops will serve as a basis to develop an
activist approach for civic literacy and engagement in the design of
schools in America.

The Sessions will include
- A community panel discussion, and EMU doctoral student response to
the EM laws -
-  "Struggle Wisdom" understanding struggles past and present.
- Writing for Change - How to engage struggle through words

Instructors: Dr. Gloria Aneb House, Albert M. Ward, Christopher
Rutherford, Aurora Harris, members from the community.

* Explore the works of internationally renowned writers and Educators
as they address the social, political and spiritual realities of
public schools and poor communities.

* Reflect intensely on your own experiences in light of these writings

* Leave with tools for change

All Saturday workshops are held at University of Detroit-Mercy

corner of Livernois and McNichols in Detroit, MI in the

COMMERCE AND FINANCE BUILDING ROOM 238.

·Unemployed and H.S. with school Id free

· Enrolled college students $10.00 per session discounted

· Professionals: $20.00 per session

Please make Checks and Money Orders payable to Broadside Press.

Broadside Press P.O. Box 2011 Detroit, MI 48202

* If the McNichols Entrance is closed, enter at Livernois entrance and
drive around to the Commerce and Finance Building on North side of
campus near the McNichols entrance.

Classes are in the Commerce and Finance Bldg Room CF 238

Time: 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m.

Saturday, July 9: Orientation, intro, and first session.


July 16: 2nd Workshop Session July 23: 3rd Workshop Session

July 30: Last Session
Broadside Press is a nonprofit (501(c)(3) tax exempt) organization. If
you would like to support any of our youth programming, please make
your tax deductible donation today.

Questions? Contact Aurora Harris  @ 313.673.6313 aurora917@gmail.com
Who's invited?
Select Guests



    Anyone can view and RSVP (public even



--
Aurora Harris, M.A. Social Foundations of Education, B.A. Sociology
Published Poet, Educator, Special Ed Advocate, Independent Scholar and
Researcher
http://detroitparentswithspecialedstudents.blogspot.com/
Board Member of Detroit's Broadside Press. http://broadsidepress.org/
http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/ead/mums571.htm  (for archived info)
Producer and Reporter for Encode Entertainment, LLC.
Facebook
313 673-6313

Big Think Interview With Pedro Noguera/Autism/ Parent n Teacher resources

Today's blog contains resources for parents, teachers, and scholars. In the past month, I have been working with parents, teachers, community workers, and a couple of members of the Detroit Public Schools Board to address concerns with the district plans and parents with children that are in Special Education classes and transition programs. Therefore, I decided to make another list of resources that address learning, literacy, special education, and culture. The first entry is a video of Dr. Pedro Noguera. He is a sociologist that tries to understand the social contexts that influences what goes on in schools. In the video, he offers his analysis of what is going on in Detroit, MI and how it has affected our schools and students' ability to learn. Just click on the links! -- Aurora

Big Think Interview With Pedro Noguera | Pedro Noguera | Big Think

Here is a link concerning Autism.

http://www.autismspeaks.org/community/fsdb/state.php?sid=27

Managing disabilities in college and vocational school: http://learningdisabilities.about.com/

About learning disabilities: http://learningdisabilities.about.com/od/behaviorproble/Information_and_Strategies_for_Behavior_Problems.htm 

Cystic Fibrosis Resources: http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/special_ed/disab

Literacy Center: The  Early Childhood Education Network  http://www.literacycenter.net/

Read Today ! Net   Reading worksheets in English, Spanish, German, and French

http://www.readtoday.net/en/

National Capital Language Resource Center  (NCLRC)  Teaching materials by language: http://nclrc.org/teaching_materials/materials_by_language/universal.html

The National Capital Language September 2010 Newsletter http://www.nclrc.org/newsletter.html

International Children’s Digital Library  http://en.childrenslibrary.org/

Metropolitan Center for Urban Education https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/metrocenter/newsletters/sbetac

Dr. Pedro Noguera  guest editor to The Nation article on education 

https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/metrocenter/announcements/nation_special_issue

 http://bigthink.com/ideas/18759

Poetry: Metro Times - Arts: Remembering Ron Allen with the poem

An article about my friend, poet, and playwright Ron Allen. The poem that I wrote for him and read at the African World Festival at his tribute is in the article- click the link

Metro Times - Arts: Remembering Ron Allen


On September 26, 2010   Sunday, from 1 p.m.- 4  p.m. at the Cass Cafe on Cass Avenue at Forest in Detroit, another poetry, music, and theatrical tribute will be had. Light snacks will be served, you may bring a potluck dish, and the bar will be open.


Here is the poem that was published. Some of the lines were edited out:
=============
From Inside the 6
For poet Ron Allen, 1947-2010
by Aurora Harris

I - August 8, 2010 8:24 a.m.
Outside looked summer hazy gray
Reading poem from 1999 poetry workshop
I said she is the snowstorm then
Eight twenty three three tones
I hear three electronic Buddhist tones
Three quick high pitched Buddhist tones
Eeeee eeeee eeeeee
A technological bell warning through ether
Through window into my left ear
Communication of the OneOne tone
I know what time it is
We know what time it is
We were talking about violence peace
The Up From City’s Devastation Here
Coq a vin in moderation man
With his toe-less dancing feet
Craving Temple Bar two-step heat
That you talking tones to me?
Everything you said you don’t want
Virgo to Virgo I’m handlin’ it
Just found list of Buddhist Temples
Just called Peter phone is ringing
Just called Peter it’s only 6
Even the text message is Buddhist
call buddhist temple for ron please
Buddhism - Wilshire Center & Los Angeles Area
I found list of numbers Ron
I’m throat singer saying it Ron

So you can be Laughing Buddah
Remember I told you about books
Books of dead titles not so?
Egyptians, Tibetans, titles have different meanings
Western words changes meanings and understanding
I will break the six now
It was all about ether
It is all about nonviolence
It was all about peace
It is all about peace

II - August 21-22, 2010 9:43 a.m.
Speak to me
Speak through rising chronic tears
Speak through velvet nights awakening sound
Gray, rainy morning haze
Polish my ears with shattering tropes
Speak into a semblance of light
Broken patterns of woven night sky
Speak to me
Speak through uninterrupted street words
Speak inherited heartbeats
Speak into the secret sauce of jazzy dreams
Spit shine planets with stone washed fingers leaking poems
Speak a stack of verbs walking surreal sky
Speak dialogues of twisted friction in frameworks of truth
Speak to me straight like a wall of ocean’s waves
Speak through genies in cactus needles
Rub a peyote trip out of penny in your pocket
Speak into rhythmic grinding of ego into bone dust
Speak a deluded soul into blue streaks of meditation
Taste molecules of your existences
Speak to me, brother
Float past graffiti rainbows talking backwards
Float past the Bhardo of Dharmata into pure Buddhahood
Float on the luminous path of the Wisdom of Discernment
Speak to me, Speak to me
Black birds gather on telephone wires for 11:00 a.m. morning music
Black birds’ bodies dotting the sky/ are simple notes / of this morning’s beauty
You appearing as 4/4 time/ treble clef 8th notes / F B D E with/ rests in between
You speaking vibrational bird song on electric currents of chatter
You speaking through memories of erratic streams
You who milked the nipple of being
You who blows through a thighbone trumpet
You who appears as a swarm of fireflies
Speak to me, brother Speak to me

Note: The Egyptian Book of the Dead is known as the "Spells of Coming (or Going) Forth By Day"
The Tibetan Book of the Dead is known as the "Bardo Thodol" ... a guide for the dead and dying.
Aurora Harris is a Detroit poet and educator who blogs at auroraharris.blogspot.com.

From the files in my head: My food research for today, August 31.. for teachers and folks i care about

This started on facebook, when someone posted an article on Chinese babies growing breasts from the milk they drank. This is the response that I posted in my "notes" page:

From the files in my head: My food research for today, August 31.. for teachers and folks i care about

by Aurora Harris on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 11:17pm

my reseach info for today includes:

POV: Point of View PBS Docs

1. Notes on Milk... a documentary about the US milk industry
http://www.pbs.org/pov/notesonmilk/photo_gallery_watch.php

2. Swill Milk: stuff whiskey distilleries fed cows during whiskey-milk wars
http://brooklynology.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/post/2010/01/20/Brooklyn-Distilleries.aspx

3. Chernobyl nuclear explosion ( cuz the radiated milk was sent to the Philippines)
http://www.pbs.org/pov/englishsurgeon/background.php

and ..."The 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was one of the worst nuclear accidents in history, and the efforts of the Soviet government to conceal the accident and its fallout led to the contamination of about 8 percent of Ukraine's land mass, contributing to significantly higher cancer rates, particularly thyroid, in the region. According to the World Health Organization, there is no evidence that the Chernobyl incident contributed to a higher incidence of brain tumors. . The tumors Marsh sees in Kyiv are the same as those he sees in London, except they are often larger due to a lack of early diagnosis. The disaster did add to Ukraine's environmental woes, as did the country's role as an industrial center in the Soviet era, when lax regulation allowed extensive pollution to build up."

4. From years ago,  when I was following WTO presentations and scientifically grown seeds that were pushed on Asian rice farmers (Transnational Institute, 1999)
http://www.tni.org/article/asia-asian-farmers-and-wto    also:

http://www.pbs.org/pov/borders/2004/earth/earth_int_game.html

"Seed saving is an age-old tradition amongst farmers. Seeds are collected every harvest and saved for planting the following year. Some farmers also crossbreed different varieties to produce hybrid crops that flourish in the conditions that exist on that particular farm.

The "Seed Stewards" game illustrates the experience of 73-year-old Saskatchewan farmer, Percy Schmeiser, who contends that genetically-modified seeds contaminated his fields. In 1998, Monsanto investigators found evidence that Schmeiser was illegally growing patented seeds in his fields. Schmeiser, a conventional canola farmer and seed saver, claimed that the patented "Round-Up Ready" seeds blew into his fields from the nearby road and a neighboring farm. He refused to pay the licensing fee. The company sued Schmeiser shortly thereafter to protect its patent."

4. Genetically altered seeds in Africa:
http://www.africanagricultureblog.com/2010/01/seed-giant-dominates-genetically.html

peace
Aurora

Charter schools: Finding out the facts: At a glance - Center for Public Education

July 13, 2010 8:30 a.m.

From The Center For Public Education web site


Charter schools: Finding out the facts: At a glance - Center for Public Education


From the article above:

...Charter schools across the nation

While charter school students enrolled just 3 percent of all public school students in 2008, the number of students (and schools) has risen dramatically in the past decade. In 1999, there were 1,542 charter schools with 349,642 students. By 2008, there were 4,618 charter schools with 1,407,817 students (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools 2009b).

As the enrollment numbers have grown, some in the education community have become concerned. The RAND Corporation’s study (Zimmer et al 2009) attempted to evaluate whether charter schools are “skimming” the best students from local traditional public schools or re-segregating urban schools. RAND analyzed the academic achievement and demographic characteristics of students transferring into charter schools and found:

Charter schools generally are not drawing the best students away from local traditional public schools. For example, previous test scores for students transferring into charter schools were near or below the averages for every location in the study. Only among white students did researchers find slightly higher test scores among those moving to charter schools.
The racial composition of charter schools was similar to that of the traditional public schools the students previously attended.
A recent report by the Civil Rights Project (CRP) compared the percent of black students in racially isolated charter schools (charters schools enrolling 90 to 100 percent of black students) to the percent of black students attending racially isolated schools nationwide, with the conclusion that black charter school students were twice as likely to attend racially isolated schools. However, the majority of charter schools are in large urban districts, which are more racially isolated than other districts. So it cannot be determined from the CRP report whether charter schools lead to more racially isolated schools; the RAND study remains the best research available.

Yet charter schools remain primarily an urban strategy. The National Charter School Research Project reports that 89 percent of U.S. school districts “have no charter schools within their boundaries, perhaps in large measure because so many school districts are so very small." (Lake, 2010)

Conclusion

It is clear that charters are poised for another growth spurt. Through its Race to the Top competition, the U.S. Department of Education is providing a powerful incentive for states to boost their support for charters.

Consequently, it’s imperative that more research and education be done. Charters are largely misunderstood – only 41 percent of voters even know that charter schools are in fact public schools. The incomplete research base behind charters means that many states may be heading into a reform strategy without a clear understanding of how charter schools work best, or how they interact with and affect traditional public schools. Charter schools need more research, oversight, and true evaluation to fulfill their purpose of being laboratories that traditional public schools can learn from.


Questions for researchers

What are the ingredients that contribute to charter school success? Do smaller class size, longer days, parent involvement, or freedom from collective bargaining and other regulations play a part? What about the local school district role? What variables count most?
What effects do different governance models have on positive charter school outcomes?
What interaction exists between traditional and charter public schools? Is there any evidence of shared ideas and information? Innovation? Does the charter’s authorizer affect the results?
How do charter schools affect traditional public school funding?
What are charter schools’ effects on local school districts in terms of funding, governance, logistics and accountability, as well as performance?
Questions for school boards

The emphasis on charter schools by the current administration means that this particular strategy is not going away. However, considering the lack of a research base, school boards need to be careful in implementing or considering this strategy. Some questions to consider are:

Which agencies does our state empower to authorize charter schools? How does the local school board fit into the authorizing process?
What is our opinion of, and relationship with, EMOs?
What is the state process for evaluating whether local charter schools are in fact improving achievement? What is the local role?
Is there a process for closing underperforming charter schools prior to their renewal date? How long is the timespan before renewing a school’s charter? What is the local school district role?
Does our state have caps or an appeals process for the creation or removal of charter schools?
What is the interaction between charter and traditional public schools? Does it matter if the local school board was the authorizer, or if there was another authorizer?
What lessons could we apply from local or national charter schools about school size, instruction, etc. to our traditional public schools?

Jazz: July 11 -Why I Love and Write About Jazz Part. 3. Charmaine Clamor

Sunday July 11, 2010 10:00 a.m.

Last week, I wrote about why I started listening to jazz, collecting jazz, and documenting jazz in my poetry. I also posted jazz videos of some of the people I listen to. As a continuation of that blog, I am posting a video by Charmaine Clamor, a Filipina jazz singer who has done a tremendous job of promoting Filipino songs and jazz in the Philippines and the US. The video below is one of my favorites.

For students and teachers: On Standards of Beauty and Low self esteem of women of color-

In the bilingual video, Ms Clamor not only sings beautifully but she also makes a statement that is important to the self esteem of Filipina women and girls... a historical and cultural statement that challenges what is considered beautiful and ugly...the notion that having white skin or having white features is "better" than being born with brown skin or flat nose. She gives a brief history of the 500 year colonization of the Philippines by Spain.

My Funny Brown Pinay (sung to the tune of My Funny Valentine) Sung in English and Tagalog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCzIj4VhmGg

Teaching about Ella Baker for the Broadside Press Institute of Cultural Studies

As a board member and co-founder of the Broadside Press Institute of Cultural Studies, I will be teaching a workshop about Ella Baker at the University of Detroit-Mercy in July. This year's summer workshop theme is "Intellectual Leadership." We will be discussing the lives of African American leaders, film makers, the portrayal of African American families in film, and writing poetry and reflections.

Click on the blue or gray words to go to the links.

Resources for Students:

Ella Baker Bio: http://www.ellabakercenter.org/page.php?pageid=19&contentid=9


The Ella Baker Center http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E7CWAOrl9M




Mississippi Freedom School
http://www.educationanddemocracy.org/ED_FSC.html

Freedom School Curriculum:
http://www.educationanddemocracy.org/FSCfiles/A_03_Index.htm

University of North Carolina Press: Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement
A Radical Democratic Vision By Barbara Ransby

http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/book_detail?title_id=270

Click this for Books About Ella Baker (google page)