Koonlaba: My Biggest Takeaway From the First-ever ECET2MS

Y???all. Seriously, the only way that I can think of starting this post is by saying ???Y???all.??? Southerners almost always start serious conversations with ???Y???all.??? I can???t think of a thing much more serious than what I am about to tell you. Y???all, Mississippi???s teachers have been beat down the past few years. We???ve heard […]

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Koonlaba: An Eventful, Maddening Year…

I am a DreamTeacher Fellow with an organization called DreamWakers. This organization connects classrooms to professionals around the country. Then, the students in the classroom are able to video chat with that professional. My students have been chatting with professionals who use the skills that accompany art and creativity in their careers. This is a […]

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Koonlaba: What do you think about visual art and poetry (aka arts integration)?

I just read a blog post by Alycia Zimmerman??titled, Ekphrasis: Poetry About Art, and I really learned something new. I had no idea what ekphrasis meant before reading. The post??defines this word as “writing about any art form, but in its modern usage, ekphrasis generally refers to poetry that reflects on visual art, and most […]

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Darein C. Spann: We are the ones we have been waiting for!!!

The following is the text of a speech given by Darein C. Spann at the??It All Starts with Education Forum , which was held in July in Jackson, MS. The event was organized by MS Representative Jay Hughes. Several teachers were invited to give TedX-style power speeches to the audience of several hundred educators and […]

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Amanda Koonlaba: We are the ones we’ve been waiting for!

The following is the text of a speech given by??Amanda Koonlaba at the??It All Starts with Education Forum??, which was held in July in Jackson, MS. The event was organized by??MS Representative Jay Hughes. Several teachers were invited to give TedX-style power speeches to the audience of several hundred educators and public education supporters. These […]

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Koonlaba: Mississippi, What do you think you are doing?

I’ve just read the most depressing article this morning from back in the spring about Detroit’s schools. It tells about how much some families struggle to get their children to school in a??place where school choice policy has run rampant for many years. I can’t imagine having to do any of the things described in […]

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Koonlaba: Mississippi Whole Schools Initiative Hosts Successful Summer Institute

Last week, I attended the Mississippi Whole Schools Initiative???s Summer Institute, appropriately titled Believe in Something Big. The Mississippi Whole Schools Initiative is a ???comprehensive statewide arts education program, that uses the arts as a vehicle for promoting high-quality instruction and learning for students in all disciplines. This unique program goes far beyond ???art for […]

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Loudermouth: Bryant outlines plan to have public school teachers exterminated

Filed under Satire, for some reason. By Jackson Loudermouth, Reporter for MSEdBlog Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, fresh off signing into law the controversial ???religious freedom??? bill HB 1523, turned his cross hairs from the LGBT community to the public school system. ???We???ve got to do something about the teachers, ok???? Bryant said to the media […]

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Hughes: MS Education Campaign Promises: Fiction vs. Reality

By Representative Jay Hughes, special to the blog MS Education Campaign Promises: Fiction vs. Reality: (Disclaimer: Independent thoughts and opinions follow) FICTION: During the battle over Initiative 42 vs. 42A, the incumbent politicians and majority leadership claimed: ???We are for public education ??? We just don???t want ???a single judge in Hinds County??? telling us […]

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