Leonie Haimson speaks to Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, on what’s happening to schools, teachers and families during the coronavirus crisis, and Randi’s proposal that students should be engaging in completing a meaningful “capstone” project. A link to her essay describing her idea in more detail is below. We also discussed the threat to schools from looming budget cuts, the risk to student privacy by the rapid adoption of unvetted ed tech programs, the Governor’s elimination of spring break in New York state, and more.
AFT links:
Randi Weingarten’s essay, On how teachers and students should cap this unprecedented school year
Share My Lesson with teacher resources.
Colorín Colorado! A bilingual site for educators and families of English language learners
Privacy links:
The Educator Toolkit for Student and Teacher Privacy – written by the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy and Badass Teachers Association (with support from the AFT )
The ACLU recommendations on what should be demanded of ed tech companies at this critical time
Advice to parents from the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy on maximizing privacy and minimizing screen time
A model privacy-protective Google contract negotiated by NYS administrators that other districts could adopt