September 19, 2023 by Gregg M. Amore
Courtesy of the Albert Shanker Institute
https://www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/civic-education-classroom-polling-...
On National Voter Registration Day, our special guest author is Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg M. Amore.
For immediate release:
August 16, 2023
Contact:
Frank Flynn, President
401.273.9800
fflynn@rifthp.org
On June 3 over 100 volunteers sorted, labeled, and boxed more than 30,000 books from United Way of Rhode Island's 11th Children's Book Drive — a partnership with our Women United group and Books Are Wings. These books are already on the way to Rhode Island kids taking part in afterschool and summer learning programs.
Through this project, we have put more than 300,000 books in the hands of kids over 11 years. Thank you to our dedicated partners and volunteers!
Artificial intelligence, or AI, is already pervasive in our lives. But the introduction of platforms like OpenAI/ChatGPT has the education world questioning how it should be used or if it should be used at all. In the AFT TEACH workshop “Use It or Block It? Using OpenAI in the Classroom,” presenters Peter Guyon and Kathleen Torregrossa addressed this question in front of a group of educators—some of whom were already using AI in the classroom, while others were curious about its potential.
Despite the science of reading being clear—and despite decades of the AFT sharing that science—for too long, many state and local policies on reading instruction have promoted less-effective practices.
During the workshop “Literacy for Leaders: What Locals Can Do to Support Student Literacy” at AFT TEACH, a state union leader and the Albert Shanker Institute presented research on teaching reading and a new Shanker Institute analysis of recent state laws on literacy.
The opening session of the 87th national convention of the American Federation of Teachers features AFT leaders from across the country, guest speakers such as Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and AFL-CIO Massachusetts President Steven Tolman, and the State of the Union address by AFT President Randi Weingarten.
Dr. Jessica Saint-Paul is an adjunct faculty member in the Los Angeles Community College District. She had been trying to work toward PSLF since 2008 and believed she was on track until she learned at an AFT student debt clinic that none of the payments she had made to Navient, her student loan servicer, would qualify. She agreed to become a plaintiff in AFT’s Navient lawsuit to fight for justice for borrowers who were lied to by Navient.
AFT convention delegates hear from Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Senator Elizabeth Warren, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, Amazon Labor Union President Chris Smalls, Workers United Senior Advisor Richard Bensinger with Starbucks organizers and First Lady of the United States Dr. Jill Biden on the importance of the labor movement.
The Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, a minister and civil rights leader, shared his grandfather’s astounding determination to vote, which he has captured in a compelling—and free—short film, Otis’ Dream. He moved AFT delegates to tears on Saturday, July 16, then had them cheering as he rallied everyone to the cause of fighting today’s rampant voter suppression.
07/16/2022
by Randi Weingarten
President, American Federation of Teachers
PTU prepares 10,000 books for book drive for Providence students.
— with Colleen Callahan and Maribeth Reynolds-Calabro at Providence Teachers Union Community Outreach.
