If you like what you hear, check out: https://www.spreaker.com/show/left-on-red

This week's Patreon-exclusive episode is the third and final installment of the Teach Like a ________ reading series. We explore Diamond Emerald's "Teach Like a Diamond." To hear the rest of the episode, join us at patreon.com/professionaldevelopment

In today's episode I'm joined once again by Christina Gavin, a librarian, unionist, and self-proclaimed smart-aleck. This is part two of a two-part episode exploring the UF Twilight Zone, a land governed by a single caucus in which the line between fact and fiction is blurry at best. If you haven't heard part 1, which is episode 45 of the show, be sure to go have a listen so we're all on the same page.

>>Christina's conversation with Bill Woodruff: bit.ly/inappropriatebillwoodruffreadalong
>>Play "spot the contradictions" in this false complaint: bit.ly/inappropriatebillwoodruffcomplaint
>>Read and sign an open letter to UFT leadership on Christina's behalf: bit.ly/openuft

>>If you're enjoying what you're hearing, and want to hear more, check out patreon.com/professionaldevelopment

This week, Christina Gavin (school librarian, MORE UFT caucus member, and UFC candidate) makes an appearance on the show to tell us her story from the UFTwilight Zone, where the bureaucracy of a union meant to support educator-members sometimes turns on these very educators if they dare to identify the majority caucus's breeches of UFT election policy and national labor law. This is part 1, which sets the stage for the story and establishes how Christina first became known to Unity's higher-ups. Be sure to tune in next week for some pretty serious evidence of Unity deceit and the thrilling conclusion of the story.

This week's Patreon-exclusive episode is the second part of the Teach Like a ________ reading series. We explore Dave Burgess Consulting's "Teach Like a Pirate." To hear the rest of the episode, join us at patreon.com/professionaldevelopment

My dear friend Oscar joins to review Stand and Deliver (1988), a classic of the films-about-education genre. Oscar Mancinas is a writer, scholar, and educator from Mesa, Arizona. His debut collection of short fiction, To Live and Die in El Valle (2020) was awarded a Southwest Book Prize. He's also the author of the poetry chapbooks Jaula and Roto: A Mex-Tape. He is a doctoral candidate at Arizona State University, and his debut full-length collection of poetry will be published later this year via Tolsun Books.

Here are links to Oscar's work:
>>https://artepublicopress.com/product/to-live-and-die-in-el-valle/
>>https://www.gasherjournal.com/product-page/jaula
>>https://rinkydinkpress.square.site/product/series-seven/14?cs=true&cst=custom
>>https://tolsunbooks.com/authors

And here's a link to an article we reference in the episode:
>>https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-nov-13-mn-53264-story.html

If you're enjoying the show and want to hear more, check out patreon.com/professionaldevelopment for the full back-catalogue of Patreon-exclusive episodes, all of which can be yours for a mere $3

Norm Scott is back for his third appearance on the show and to discuss the results of the UFT election. We get into the numbers and what they mean in terms of the organizing efforts of both Unity and UFC. If you are enjoying what you're hearing, check out the second part, in which we look more towards future elections and other considerations related to organizing around public education. Part 2 can be found at patreon.com/professionaldevelopment

This week's Patreon-exclusive episode is the beginning of a series on Teach Like a ________ books. The first one we explore is Doug Lemov's "Teach Like a Champion," the go-to book for training teachers in no-excuses, zero tolerance classroom management. To hear the rest of the episode, join us at patreon.com/professionaldevelopment

Here is one last episode about the UFT election, featuring a retired teacher and election volunteer, Sheila Zukowsky. This is a spicy one: a firsthand account of broken Chancellor's Regs and undemocratic electioneering.

If you have not yet mailed in your ballot, remember it must be received by Monday, May 9th at 8am. Consider delivering it in person if you are not confident in the speed of the mail: UFT members may hand-deliver their own ballot in person to the AAA by 5 p.m. on Friday, May 6, as long as they present a photo ID; no one is permitted to deliver anyone else’s ballot.

This week's episode features some musings on podcasting as a medium for use in the classroom as well as a behind-the-scenes look into how Professional Development is made. To hear the full episode, head over to patreon.com/professionaldevelopment

This week Lydia Howrilka joins us to discuss practical steps in transferring schools for the teacher looking to find a new position within the DOE before the start of next school year. Hint: don't keep hitting refresh at the Open Market site. We get into her history in the DOE (which includes some successful transfers), her work with the Solidarity Caucus of the UFT, and how she went about putting together this collection of job hunting resources: https://solidarityuft.org/?page_id=6206

Matt Driscoll, an 18-year veteran teacher, chapter leader, and at-large candidate for executive board with the UFC slate joins us this week to discuss the newest iteration of e4e's shadowy anti-union activities within the UFT. For more background on e4e, check out episode 19 of the show.
***To active UFT members: be sure to listen carefully to the part at the very beginning if you have yet to receive your ballot as of today, April 18th, 2022!***

Good news, folks; Norm is back! In this episode, we talk trends in the data from previous UFT elections and what we might glean from developments in other teachers' unions across the country, non-teachers' unions, and New York City politics in the present day.

This week, Rebecca makes another appearance on the show to discuss the overlap in endurance sports and teaching. Be sure to check out part 2 at patreon.com/professionaldevelopment

This week I am joined by Jane Rubio, a New York City public school teacher in the Bronx and first-year chapter leader. We discuss what generally goes on at the UFT chapter leader training weekends, and more specifically what happened this past weekend when she asked Michael Mulgrew a question following his presidential address.

This week’s episode features a conversation with Sean Ahern and Daniel Alicea, two leading opponents to the mayoral control of NYC public schools from within the educator community. Sean is a recently retired NYC public school teacher organizing with the NYC Coalition to Finally End Mayoral Control (nycmayoralcontrolnot.org) and Daniel is a current public school teacher in Queens, co-host of Talk Out of School (talk-out-of-school.simplecast.com), and a Middle School Executive Board candidate running with UFC in this year’s UFT elections. We discuss the many problems with mayoral control and what our next steps are in bringing the system to an end.

This newly-unlocked former Patreon-exclusive episode is a primer on mayoral control. What does it mean that Eric Adams is in charge of schools? What did it mean for Michael Bloomberg, under whom mayoral control first took effect? For further reading/viewing on the subject:

>>https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2020/12/understanding-mayoral-control/175347/

>>https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2019/12/16/21055594/state-lawmakers-begin-examining-mayoral-control-of-nyc-schools

>>https://www.city-journal.org/de-blasio-retains-control-nyc-schools

>>https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2022/1/2/22838729/albany-2022-education-agenda-foundation-aid-cte-mental-health-vaccines-mayoral-control

>>https://www.nycmayoralcontrolnot.org/

>>https://www.gothamgazette.com/index.php/archives/377-seven-years-of-mayoral-control

>>https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/23/nyregion/new-york-school-control.html

>>https://progressive.org/public-schools-advocate/bloombergtrashedpubliced/

>>https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/education-michael-bloomberg/

>>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snt7KONSelk

>>https://www.edweek.org/leadership/n-y-c-mayor-gains-control-over-schools/2002/06

>>https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/eric-adams-press-conference/971205543?fbclid=IwAR3CIZEqXDXuhlHYL6CApC1edg1FBalTBa-Zcn8YrKe-PwquHeaDeNinxIw

>>https://www.qchron.com/editions/queenswide/school-reform-putting-kids-first/article_e2f0ca31-3cb5-5816-9ff6-1383a70e73f5.html

>>https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/30/nyregion/report-says-city-is-paying-too-much-to-build-schools.html

This week Tyree Alexander (of episode 5 fame) stops by to take us behind the scenes on the award-winning computer science program he started at his public school in the South Bronx. We discuss the conditions that lend themselves most favorably to starting and sustaining exciting new programs at school that go above and beyond what is required of teachers but support some of students' most pressing needs. This is part 1 of a two-part episode: to hear the second part, meet us at patreon.com/professionaldevelopment

This week Norm Scott, a retired NYC DOE teacher, long-time unionist, and blogger, stops by to tell us all about Mulgrewcare, a foiled (or is it?) attempt by the UFT leadership to deprive retirees of their proper, hard-earned benefits OR balance the books after a poorly-executed contract negotiation by collecting their hard-earned money in the form of new, illegal premiums for the same coverage they have always had. We discuss the parallels between Unity's willingness to privatize healthcare and the neoliberal drive to privatize schools, most notably via the charter movement, and much more!

Read more of Norm's work at ednotesonline.com