By Michelle Gunderson. A picket line is sacred ground. As a labor organizer and teacher unionist, I do not say this lightly. Workers have fought and died on picket lines fighting for work conditions that respect the inherent dignity of human life. A picket line is hallowed ground sanctified by sacrifice. I am …
This is the second in a series of blog posts focused on the value of art in our lives, and the role art can play in resisting the test and punish model of education. See the intro and links to other posts in the series here. By Michelle Gunderson. My first grade class was sitting in front of me gathered at our …
Chicago Public School Teacher Michelle Gunderson discusses Common Core Standards and standardized education. Thanks to Bill Baykan for this clip from his new documentary “The Public School Wars”.
I attended the Occupy Department of Education 2.0 protest in Washington, DC, in 2013, and had a chance to spend some time with Chicago elementary teacher Michelle Gunderson. Michelle has become concerned about the myriad ways in which student data is now being used, and she shared with me this Personal Pledge for …
By John Thompson. The theme of my previous post on the 2018 Network for Public Education conference was: How Was I Wrong? Let Me Count Some Ways. As I explained, the 2014 NPE conference in Austin hit a nice balance in terms of messaging and research that allowed us Davids to defeat the corporate reform Goliath. I …
By Michelle Gunderson. I want to paint a picture of teaching in Chicago for you. Ten years ago I was teaching music in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago. Many of our children were impoverished and over 30 languages were spoken in our school. I had 847 students. I did not round the number to 850 for a purpose – …
By Michelle Gunderson. The children in my first grade classroom play. There are no academic centers where a teacher rings a bell and children move from activity to activity. That might look like play, but it is not. We have body breaks where we sing and dance, but we do not call it play because it is not. We play …
By Anthony Cody. There is less than a month to go before the third annual Network for Public Education conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. These are always special events, but this year will be especially significant because of the focus on civil rights. The full conference schedule is online now here. Here are …
By Susan DuFresne. This is the third post in a series about childhood trauma. In my first post I tell readers how childhood trauma is personal. In the second post, I tell the stories of many voiceless children I have worked to support in my classroom. I question whether school reformers are “safe …
By Michelle Gunderson. One of the things you learn as an elementary teacher in the Chicago Public Schools is to always have materials available and an extra desk or space for new students. You learn to expect the unexpected and that a child can show up on your doorstep at any minute of any day. And usually it …
