Laura's Links, June 26, 2024
Fun, Serious, and Weird
Election 2024
Nate Silver says that Trump has a 66 percent chance of winning. Gagging.
A whole lotta people are cheering Jamaal Bowman’s loss, because of his anti-Israel statements, positions on school closures, and more. Even AOC kept her distance at the end, especially after getting mocked for her last appearance.
Van Jones had a good response to the folks who are protesting outside of synagogues.
Education News
The 74 reports on two new studies that tracked the impact of $200b in covid relief funds on students. They found small improvements in math and English, but not huge enough to erase covid learning loss. It's not clear how districts spent their ESSR funds.
Students learn more when reading real books, as opposed to online texts. But school districts have tried to save money by going digital, and invested tons of money in Chromebooks. It will be really hard to go backwards.
Books
Vintage textbooks are among my most popular items in my Etsy book store. Actually, I’ve sold so many that I need to refresh the inventory. They make great gifts for teachers.
Vintage textbooks are fairly easy to find at estate sales, along with old bibles. Even people, who aren’t big readers, always keep their own textbooks and readers from their grandparents. Often in bad condition, these books were clearly treasured. It’s sad that kids don't get hard copies of textbooks anymore. Some pictures of my textbooks in my stacks:
One of the Finest Private Libraries in America, Assembled By William A. Strutz, To Be Offered at Heritage Beginning June 27. Great pictures.
Travel
Rick Steves points out that 99 percent of Europe isn’t crowded, so seek out the untouristy places of Europe. In August, we’re going to Barcelona, Zaragoza, Valencia, and Peniscola. I think we’ll be okay.
I posted pictures of our latest trip to the Catskill Mountains and filled in blog readers about the latest events in the former Apt. 11D.
ICYMI
The Autism and ADHD Tsunami
Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash Living in Northern New Jersey about 30 minutes from midtown Manhattan means that I reside in the nation’s capital for pizza and bagels. (Don’t even talk to me, Chicago People, about your pizza.) We also have the best medical care. If you have a serious problem, like colon cancer or a bum ticker, you come her…
Outsourcing the Government Safety Net
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash “Hi, Miss Laura. Did you sign that Adobe contract?” Rene asked. My service coordinator called to see if I signed the Service Detail Report regarding my CBS SDE form for DDD, so I can get paid by PPL. Got that? Shall I translate that for you?
Two installments of the autism book for parents.
Oh my gosh! I collect 19th century primers and readers. I likewise enjoy the historical pedagogy aspect.
As a middle school English teacher, I would gladly scrap all of my materials for a few readers from the 1890s. What wonderful historical treasures!