Friday, February 17, 2017

Prayer, Our President and Our Nation. Join me?

A NEW DAY 0F PRAYER

Going along with my call to prayer, I have decided to write a prayer to begin my day with. I have had some excellent instruction in prayer beginning with my sweet grandmother, Eunice Jernigan Gillis of Brewton, Alabama. Whenever she came to visit she slept with my sister and me in our big king-sized bed. After we all bathed together (a joyous time with lots of laughter and giggles), we climbed into the bed and waited for her to rub down with Ben Gay and take her teeth out and put them into the little container I had given her personalized with "MUDDIN'S LITTLE CHOMPERS." And then she would begin to pray.

She always began with the President, something I wondered about then, but appreciate now. The security of our country was important to her. My grandfather was killed when the chains on a log truck broke leaving her with five children 13 (my mother) to 6 months old. Those were depression years and times were hard. He had served in the Mexican conflict and then later in World War I. The President was Commander in Chief, one who needed our prayers, and she certainly did so. The prayers continued for those in his service, but more of a blanket covering, and then down to the state. Our governor was prayed for. Then came every child, grandchild, niece and nephew, followed by friends, the sick and suffering.

I must admit that I did not stay awake for the whole thing. And that may have been a part of the method. You must stay still and quiet during prayer and before long we were sound asleep.

My mother had us kneel beside the bed to say our prayers. I did the same with my own children. We sat on the floor beside the bed first. There we would read a book (Berenstein Bears were a favorite, Miss Twiggly's Tree, The Muffin Twins, another, and I read the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to them as well). Then we said our prayers. That was our nightly ritual. The girls sat quietly. Our son, the middle child, climbed over my shoulders onto the bed, down on the other side, up and down throughout the entire process, listening all the time.

Perhaps the most memorable prayer I ever heard was at a prayer breakfast at a black church that I attended when running for the school board. An old gentleman, bent and grey-headed, prayed:
Lord thank you that I woke up this morning
That I had eyes to see,
That I sat up on the bed and could put my feets to the floor,
That I had shoes to put on my feets,
That I had strength to stand
That I had a church to come to
That I had friends
That I could eat breakfast here with those friends
And make new friends.

He went on thanking God for the things we most often take for granted. My husband and I were moved and constantly remind ourselves not to forget to be grateful for ALL of our blessings.

I also had a wonderful Sunday School Teacher (many, truly wonderful Sunday School teachers, but one in particular) in Pat McClendon at First Baptist in Dothan. She was a true prayer warrior. She taught us how to pray. "Imagine," she said, "that Jesus is sitting in the chair opposite you and you are talking directly to Him."

Sarah Gene Johnston was another prayer warrior God granted to me as a friend. She wrote the names of those she prayed for on index cards that she stacked next to her chair. Every day she prayed for those people and marked them when the prayers were answered. Not everyone in that hefty pile got prayed for every day, but by the end of the week, I am assured everyone did get prayed for.

She also had the gift of hospitality, inviting people in for lunch at her very modest little home. And there, together, they would also pray. I am reminded of the Clapham Sect I told you about in one of my previous posts. The world needs more of this.

Jesus instructed us to pray:

Matthew 6:1-13

1  Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2  Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3  But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4  That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
5  ¶And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7  But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8  Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
9  After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11  Give us this day our daily bread.
12  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

This has been our warm up for the rest of our praying. Our eyes are focused and our senses centered on our Lord and Savior.

I learned from the most ardent of prayer warriors that we should be specific in what we pray for, that the prayers of the righteous will be heard and answered, and that it is our obligation to our Lord to pray because he longs to have a relationship with us. 

So, I will continue my prayer and hope you will share this part with me   ....

Father God, our nation is under assault by the enemy. We need your presence in our lives and your mantle of protection over our leaders. Grant our President wisdom, guide him with your presence, please set your angels about him and his family to shield and protect him, his wife, his children, and his grandchildren. Grant him advisors who are loyal to him and guided by You. Please set Your angels about them and their families. Thank you, Lord for his godly Vice President who has given our president his uplifting prayers and advice as they work together with our Congress to do Your will in our land. I ask for angels wings to cover them and protect them from the assault of the enemy. Give them spiritual advisors to encourage and exhort them. Grant our Congress a spirit of purpose and co-operation so that our people in our land can prosper. Open the hearts and minds of world leaders and fellow Americans to Your Words and Your Guidance. 
Set your angels about the schools of our lands that have been so seriously under assault. Grant our little children opportunities to learn outside of the indoctrination of agnostics, mystics, revolutionaries and spiritualists who have gained access through our schools and its curriculum to the hearts and minds of our children. Protect Betsy Devos as she battles not only establishment education but those of the spiritual realm who want to defeat her in freeing our children. Please send her an army of supporters and cast the blinders from the eyes who have refused to see. Guard her family. 
Give us all the courage to do what is right and to seek your Will and your Presence in our lives. 


From here I will go on to my own family and friends in my own life as I urge you to do with yours. 

I pray that God will set his angels about all who heed this call, because whenever you step out to fight for what is right, you will come under assault. So, "take heed where ye stand, lest ye fall."

God bless you all, my friends. Remember: "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world."






Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Whole Language Catalog: Teachers as Liberators Produce Students as Revolutionaries: Clippings from the Whole Language Catalog





 "Education is Politics!" So saith Paolo Freire father of Liberation Theology and later Liberation Pedagogy. He is a hero to the Progressive Education movement.

Clippings from the WHOLE LANGUAGE CATALOG.
Whole Language Catalog, p. 222
Whole Language Catalo, p. 346

I post here portions of the Whole Language Catalog with which I became acquainted in the early 1990s when I sought to bring our schools back to the basics so my students black and white might have a real opportunity to read, write and do arithmetic.

I challenge you to read clippings from this manifesto from the educators in charge of teaching our teachers how to teach and tell me that you are in accord. I actually bought Human Capital and The Whole Language Catalogreluctantly because I hate to empower them with my money, just so I could show you the roots of our problems.

Unfortunately some of this nonsense has taken root. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRME3g6xDLc

Do I think the teachers in our elementary schools who taught this method are revolutionaries?

 No.

They were dupes, just as I once was, thinking that what they were receiving from their colleges of education was supported by empirical studies to be the best methods of teaching children. Then they got caught up in the peer pressure of education and administration and dared not speak out.

Ira Shor on Paulo Freire in the Whole Language Catalog, p. 223
"... we reinvent classroom discourse with the students in the hope of reinventing society as well."

Ira Shor on Paulo Freire, Whole Language Catalog, p. 223




This is a Whole Language Classroom. Remember Behavior modifies Attitudes and Beliefs. See the children facing one another. Peer Tutoring and Group Learning do not enhance learning, they do enhance the group being Alpha and the engineer the "democratic" classroom. Please note that some children are playing Dungeons and Dragons, a game some parents might object to. What attitudes and beliefs might the teacher in this classroom be modeling? Direct instruction? NO. Respect for a disciplined environment?
Whole Language Catalog, p. 237

John Dewey's Pedagogical Creed
John Dewey's Pedagogica Creed, Whole Language, p. 245
Austrian scientist/philosopher as well as a mystic, Steiner believed "academic skills are not taught as isolated subjects, but are integrated into a comprehensive curriculum (thematic learning) grounded in the great myths and legends of human history and in the creative arts, it is a curriculum meant to spark the child's imagination and appreciation for the whole scope of human endeavor.
Rudolph Steiner, Whole Language Catalog p. 243

TEACHERS AS LIBERATORS


"No longer was it necessary for the literate to read accurately or to write clearly and expressively..." Patrick Shannon

Patrick Shannon, Whole Language Catalog, p. 222

Ira Shor

"Transforming teachers into dialogic educators preoccupies Paolo Freire, for whom dialog means cultural empowerment, not merely conversation in the Classroom." 

"...Leading the dialogue forward into consciousness change with value judgement and some expert knowledge, opening the classroom to students speech while integrating a critical study of standard usage (the language of power). "
Ira Shor, Whole Language Catalog, p. 223.

You need to see that Progressive teachers do not see their mission as teaching reading, writing, arithmetic, History, Science but as dialoguing toward social change. 
Ira Shor


More Behavior modifying Attitudes and Beliefs


Whole Language Catalog, p. 224

Maria Montesorri


Abraham Maslow later repudiated what he had loosed in the classroom. Secular Humanism is now the religion of our schools. Values clarification is its methodology. Our classrooms are now "therapeutic classrooms" producing what these new world order folks hoped to create. 
Whole Language Catalog, p. 223

Impressed by Marx and Engels? Vogotsky regarded education as not only central to cognitive development, but as the quintessential sociocultural activity. 



"Whole Language Teachers do not teach phonics..." And so they raised a generation of functional illiterates that raised the alarm to what was going on in the classroom. Phonics won out and Whole Language Classrooms now admit to an "eclectic approach" still using other Whole Language "best practices." Many parents came to see the true difference between the WL classroom and the traditional type of education and removed their children from these public schools bound by dollars from the Department of Education to continue on with this Progressive agenda. 
The uproar you hear from the Unions to Betsy Devos is over their fear of losing control of your children's minds and therefore the socialist revolution their philosophers envision, the credentialing of teachers and government dollars. 




We become literate to reclaim our voices,  experiences, and histories to interpret the world and change it." Giroux
Henry Giroux, Whole Language, p. 417. 
THE TEACHER IS A LIBERATOR

"Risk taking is not simply tolerated, it is celebrated."

"They must see learning, including literacy and language development, a part of the process of liberation."

"Cutting themselves loose from the bonds of tests, texts and mandates, teachers can utilize their professional knowledge, their personal strengths and their inventive intuitions to create exciting and inviting situations and contexts for their pupil's growth. This may take the form of stimulating interest in a thematic unit that has its roots in a current news event or a well chosen field trip. 
... It may show in the wisdom of the teacher bringing pupils together in social groups for particular purpose. 

Ken Goodman, editor of Whole Language Catalog, p. 207.

TEACHERS AS LIBERATORS

Patrick Shannon "no longer was it sufficient for the literate to read accurately or to write clearly and expressively, what was needed to reconstruct society was the ability to read beyond the text to understand how the author and the ideas connected with the various political, economic and social arguments concerning the future of America. In short, community centered educators (or social deconstructionists as they were called) were less concerned with how students learned to be literate than they were concerned with how citizens used their literacy after they learned to read and write." ..

Patrick Shannon, Whole Language Catalog, p. 222

Whole Language teachers do not teach phonics per se ..... and now we know why we have so many functional illiterates in America.

Bess Altwerger, Whole Language Catalog, p.

Bess Altwerger, Whole Language Catalog, p. 407.

So now you know what produced this...

I first heard of Whole Language in my own hometown of Dothan, Alabama, when I discovered such a large percentage (30% at least) of my 7th and 8th grade students were unable to read and had no clue what I was talking about when I told them to "sound out" the word. I went to the Troy State University Dothan to look at the books the teachers used to teach reading and discovered the professors were using Whole Language and some books had only one mention of phonics. Later a group of parents flew an expert on a phonics method that had produced amazing results to present to the Dothan City Board of Education. Unfortunately, that group was shouted down by the professor of reading instruction and her proselytes in the community. As you can see, Dr. Fritchie was "very active" and served on the State of Alabama textbook committee.

One course I vividly remember seeing in the course catalog was "Photography in Teaching Reading." Really? We have a SERIOUS problem with literacy and the course is Photography in Teaching Reading?



She also served on the Board of Trustees, Administration and Faculty for Troy State University. Can you imagine the impact of her vision of Reading Instruction on her students?





 Dr. Mary Jo Pollman was a colleague of Dr. Fritchie. I remember seeing the Whole Language Catalog tucked snugly under her arm as she walked the hall of Troy State University. That was what led me to the library to read the book myself! Dr. Pollman began her career as a Kindergarten through 3rd grade teacher. Unfortunately, as a Secondary teacher, I saw the consequence of her and Dr. Fritchie's instruction that they never got to see. Those students who could not read never made it through the doors at TSUD. Or they constituted the 60% of fist time entering freshmen at Wallace Community College that had to take Remedial Reading (probably more of the same that caused the problem in the first place).






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRME3g6xDLc

And why teachers want to block Betsy DeVos from the schools. Our children need an education not an

 indoctrination



Education


Parents have rights Against Intrusive Surveys PROTECTION OF PUPIL RIGHTS AMENDMENT and SEL (Social Emotional Learning)



If I Ruled the Schools

THE BIGOTRY OF LOW EXPECTATIONS: PROFITS, POSITION, POWER, POLITICS PRODUCE A CIVIL WAR IN EDUCATION
https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-bigotry-of-low-expectations-profits.html 
  
FREE OUR CHILDREN FROM THE OPPRESSION OF COLLEGES OF EDUCATION. CHICAGO. TWO DIFFERENT PHILOSOPHIES.  

Common Core, Sylvia Plath, and Death Education

Tales from the Crypt. True stories of our Dead Schools. 

The Truth about Phonics that will Help You Help Your Child! Whole Language: A Fraud Perpetrated upon Our Students. One of Many?

The Tragedy of the Math Mess and Another Way

MATH WARS. ONCE AGAIN INTO THE FRAY

COMMON CORE MATH

The Reality of Bay District Schools. Only Fifty Percent Read Proficiently. Is there hope?

The Four Period Day: Students as Guinea Pigs and Professional advancement for "innovators"

The Tale of Last Hope for Local Control

DEMONIC ROOTS TO COMMON CORE? VISIT YOUR CHILD'S THERAPEUTIC CLASSROOM.

THE GENEALOGY OF COMMON CORE: BILL GATES/UNESCO/ROBERT MULLER//ALICE BAILEY/LUCIS TRUST 

THE CHICAGO CONNECTION TO COMMON CORE

does anybody really believe anymore? does anybody really care?https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/does-anybody-really-believe-anymore.html

Sounding the Alarm! Today's Therapeutic Classroom. What are you going to do about it?

Spalding Writing Road to Reading and John Winston of Parks Elementary Natchitoches, Louisiana
https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/spalding-writing-road-to-reading-and.html

RETARDING AMERICA THE IMPRISONMENT OF POTENTIAL

NOTE FROM ROBERT SWEET OF THE NATIONAL RIGHT TO READ FOUNDATION

The DARE PROGRAM 20 years later.
https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-dare-program-20-years-later-more.html

Merry Christmas! Meet Alliwishus, The Elf Mother Met at the Battle of the Bulge

My Mother. My hero who won a Battle Ribbon at the Battle of the Bulge. December 16, 1944. A SCRAPBOOK LOOK FROM JEAN BRONSON GILLIS BURSON.

LEONARD COHEN HALLELUJAH PROJECT AT BAY HIGH SCHOOL AND ESTABLISHMENT RELIGION, SECULAR HUMANISM, IN OUR SCHOOLS
https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/leonard-cohen-hallelujah-project-at-bay.html

WHY SHOULD CONSERVATIVES, CHRISTIANS AND THE THE FAITH COMMUNITY BE CONCERNED ABOUT THIS? SUBSCRIBE TO THE PANAMA CITY NEWS HERALD AND GET WASHINGTON POST FREE

PEACE EDUCATION? CONFLICT RESOLUTION? TEACHING TOLERANCE? COMMON CORE 

TRADITIONAL OR PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION. DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE? HAS POLITICS AFFECTED YOUR CHILD'S MATH EDUCATION?


RETARDING AMERICA THE IMPRISONMENT OF POTENTIAL

NOTE FROM ROBERT SWEET OF THE NATIONAL RIGHT TO READ FOUNDATION
DELPHI TECHNIQUE, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND THE EDUCATION ESTABLISHMENT CONVINCED A GULLIBLE PUBLIC TO BUY INTO COMMON CORE

COMMON CORE: PORNOGRAPHY 101

MIDDLE SCHOOL AGENDA FOR SEXUAL ORIENTATION AS A PART OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION

BEHAVIOR MODELS ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS

CULTURE WAR AND COMMON CORE

SOCIAL STUDIES AND COMMON CORE

TEACHERS AS LIBERATORS PRODUCE STUDENTS AS REVOLUTIONARIES: Whole Language Live On!

RADICAL POSSIBILITIES: YOUR CHILDREN 
https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/radical-possibilities-your-children.html

Response to AL.Com article "Alabama Superintendent Proposal to Raise Academic Standards."
SECULAR HUMANISM IS NOW THE RELIGION OF OUR SCHOOLS

COMMON CORE: THE EMPEROR IS WEARING NO CLOTHES

COMMON CORE=PETRI DISH FOR RADICALS
https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/common-core-petri-dish-for-radicals.html

REVOLUTIONARY PEDAGOGY

Revolutionary Pedagogy: Or, so you thought reading, writing and calculating were why you sent your child to school?
EDUCATION TODAY:

Politics, Profits, Position, Power, and Prejudice published 1995

CAPSTONE EDUCATION (UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA) AND MY CONCERNS

CONFLICT RESOLUTION OR POLITICAL INDOCTRINATION?

DELPHI TECHNIQUE, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, AND THE EDUCATION ESTABLISHMENT CONVINCED THE GULLIBLE NATION TO BUY INTO COMMON CORE

WHO DO WE HOLD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE FAILURE OF OUR SCHOOLS?

PUBLIC EDUCATION SHOULD EMPOWER PARENTS

CONSPIRACY THEORIES IN EDUCATION

THE CIVIL WAR IN EDUCATION 

SOLVE THE PROBLEMS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS

TAKE A KNEE