Category Archives: Authors

NC #APUSH Update: State Board of Ed Calls Special Meeting

Posted on November 26, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

At the October meeting of the State School Board, it was promised that APUSH would be getting a debate. This appears to be happening with this special meeting being for Monday, December 1st.

I am glad to see Larry Krieger presenting as suggested by Ms. Oxendine. NC teacher Ted Dickerson was involved in the new and controversial APUSH framework and was originally mentioned to debate Krieger by Mr. Ford. It would appear the College Board is sending in one of their big guns instead – Executive Director, John Williamson.

It is worth noting that on Tuesday, December 2nd, the North Carolina General Assembly’s Education Oversight committee will be hearing APUSH testimony as well.

Text of the special meeting announcement email:

KEEP READING… Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, NC Board Of Education, NCGA | Tagged | 1 Comment

Now Moral Monday Is About Ferguson

Posted on November 25, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Littered all over the #MoralMonday hashtag are tweets like the ones below.

Moral Monday was just another incarnation of Occupy. People were injured, property damaged, buildings burned…and Moral Monday are standing on top of all that. Moral Monday used the turmoil in Ferguson to pull some stunts like closing down Wal-Marts and connecting it to Ferguson just to get some press. That’s ghoulish.

KEEP READING.. SEE SOME OF THE TWEETS Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Moral Monday, Occupy 2.0, Twitter | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

NM US Senate Race: Closer Than You Think

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Liberty Speaks

Now that the dust has settled, the post-election hang over is gone and the votes have been counted I wish to direct your attention to the New Mexico Senate race. Yes, I know it has been decided, but it was closer than you think.

Incumbent Senator Tom Udall (D) faced off against businessman Allen Weh (R) on November 4th and won. The votes were 286,462 (55.56%) to 229,164 (44.44%).

The sitting Democrat really had nothing to worry about in the blue state of New Mexico. However, looking back into history at the 2008 election results shows a different scenario.

In 2008, Senator Tom Udall, then a 5 term Congressman was running for the Senate seat held by retiring incumbent Pete Domenici (R) against incumbent Congressman Steve Pearce. Ultimately Udall won with 505,128 (61.3%) to Pearce’s 318,522 (38.7%).

In 2008, the Democrats swept most the senate seats to gain a super majority. We all know this history. New Mexico would be considered a lost cause in 08. When asked if the NRSC would be walking away from the New Mexico Race (it was heavily favored to flip Democratic), Senator John Ensign stated to the Wall Street Journal:

“You don’t waste money on races that don’t need it or you can’t win.”

KEEP READING… THERE IS MORE… Continue reading →

Posted in ELECTIONS, GOP, Liberty Speaks, Senate 2014 | Tagged | Comments Off on NM US Senate Race: Closer Than You Think

Here Comes The Common Core Curriculum

Posted on November 24, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

“It’s just a set of standards…”

Yeah, right.
The tests are aligned. Now it’s time to align the curriculum…for ‘free’, of course.

So who is going to align the curriculum?

Meet The K-12 Open Educational Resources Collaborative (K-12 OER).

From the K-12 OER Collaborative site:

“The K-12 OER Collaborative is creating comprehensive, high-quality, open educational resources (OER) supporting Mathematics and English Language Arts aligned with state standards.”

“This project is a state-led collaborative, with support provided by many of the leading non-profits in OER and education.”

“Members include eleven state education agencies, CCSSO, Achieve, Creative Commons, The Learning Accelerator, Lumen Learning, SETDA, and more. See the full list of participants.”

Open Education 2014
The K-12 OER recently held an event called Open Education 2014.

KEEP READING… THERE IS A LOT MORE, LIKE THIS QUOTE:

“This project is not creating a national curriculum and steps are being taken to ensure it will not be perceived in this way.”

Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core | Tagged | 3 Comments

#DM7 Article: There’s A Lot Of Weapons Grade Stupid Out There

Posted on November 23, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

This is a repost of my weekly Da Tech Guy column: There’s A Lot Of Weapons Grade Stupid Out There

By A.P. Dillon

Maybe it is age creeping up on me, but I can’t help but feel there as been an increase in the level of dumb stuff going out there in the world. I can’t help but feel at times that the movie Idiocracy is really a documentary — or at least will be treated as one in not so distant the future.

There just seems to be a lot of weapons grade stupid out there these days and I’m not just talking about Common Core math.

There’s all kinds of stupid, mind you.

KEEP READING – HIT THE TIP JAR! Continue reading →

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See What ‘Just standards’ Looks Like for A Second Grader

Posted on November 22, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

The pro-Common Core Mantra: “It’s just a set of standards.”

See what my child has been doing in Common Core math. My kid is good at math, but is being forced to learn multiple strategies regardless of what works best for him. Then he has to ‘explain’ them in writing.

These documents I’m talking about were created by Wake County Schools. This is Common Core aligned curriculum and yes, the kids have to do it the ‘Common Core way’.

KEEP READING – SEE THE DOCUMENTS Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment