NewsTaco

By Adrian Carrasquillo, NBCLatino

Ana Grace Marquez-Green, the little girl who loved to sing and dance, and was killed in a brutal school shooting at Sandy Hook elementary, was remembered by her mother Thursday on aFacebook tribute page, on what would have been her seventh birthday.

“In honor of Ana’s life, we invite you to celebrate with family or friends today,” she began the post. “Reach out to a neighbor, coworker or classmate. Perform a random act of kindness. Wear something purple or sparkly. Read with a child. Crank up the music, eat second dessert, dance like nobody’s watching. Call your leaders. Pray for our country. Pray for common sense solutions. Pray for a love revolution.”

In USA Today on Thursday, both parents, Jimmy Greene and Nelba Márquez-Greene, talked a bit about their daughter.

“Ana was an infectiously happy child loved by everyone — equal parts her passionate Puerto Rican therapist mother and her African-American jazz musician father, the parents wrote. “She danced rather than walk. She danced from room to room and place to place. She danced to all the music she heard, whether in the air or in her head.”

But the family, which works with “Sandy Hook Promise,” a nonprofit organization asking the country to make a promise a tragedy like Sandy Hook will never happen again, also addressed what they want people to remember on her birthday.

“We somehow missed the connection before, only realizing last week that Ana was born on the anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death,” the parents wrote.

“When we think of all that Dr. King accomplished before he was taken away, we are all the more bereft that Ana’s limitless potential will never be realized. Like the thousands of children we lose every year to gun violence. How many might have grown up to cure a disease, write a symphony, or be the next Dr. King? Our message on Ana’s birthday is simple: Let’s stop squandering this potential. Let love win by valuing human life.”

In the Facebook letter, her mother shared a treasured and tragic possession — the last photo she took with her daughter.

“Seven years ago I gave birth to the most amazing sweet caramel princess. Less than four months ago, she was executed in her classroom. This photo is our final picture together taken at dinner on December 13th,” she wrote.

Her mother concluded her letter thanking everyone around the country for their support and with a final message for her daughter, taken much too soon.

“Thank you for loving and supporting us. Thank you for not letting Ana’s memory fade away. Thank you for your cards and letters both to us and to Washington. Thank you for reminding us that love does win. Happy first birthday in heaven to our princess of peace. Our princess for 6 and 1/2 years. Jesus’ princess for eternity.”

This article was first published in NBCLatino.

A multimedia journalist with a love for (read: obsession with) social media and how it interacts with news. He is of Puerto Rican/Ecuadorian descent and went to Stuyvesant High School before graduating from Stony Brook University’s School of Journalism. He worked at MyFoxNY.com and Fox News Latino before joining NBC Latino. Adrian sought to continue his work in Latino news because he believes there are stories out there asking to be told and a community that deserves a news site that reflects the nuance, richness and depth of the U.S. Latino experience.

[Photo by Connecticut Funeral Directors Association. Courtesy Kate-Orlikow Kineret-Rifkind]

By LatinaLista

The first time a teenage girl gets pregnant it can truthfully be called an accident but a second, third or fourth time?

A new analysis by the Centers for Disease Control reveals that while everyone can celebrate the fact that there’s a decline in teen birth rates, the same can’t be said for repeat birth rates.

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photo by Phoebe !]

By Tony Castro, Voxxi

Are Latino kids being unfairly targeted as study subjects for obesity in youth and the relationship to drinking a lot of sodas?

There is now a growing controversy over the cottage industry of grant money going to study soda-drinking Hispanic kids, with the center of the storm a $30,000 payout from National Institute of Health to a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco.

It sounds like academic overkill to some, particularly the soda beverage lobby, especially the speculation that the final cost of that study might be something like $100,000.

But the fact of the matter is that, these grants aside, obesity among Latino kids—and their soda drinking habits—is a serious national health problem, at least to Hispanic health which already is hard hit by increasing diabetes rates.

In Texas alone, by 2030, nearly six million Latinos will be obese—a number that could soar to almost nine and a half million by 2040—and adds up to a looming health crisis, with potentially high costs for the state, according to the Lone Star State’s demographer’s office.

In the U.S., the obesity rate among Mexican-Americans is 40.4 percent and almost as high among other American Latinos—and significantly above the national rate in which 35.7 percent of adult Americans are obese.

Latino kids and soda marketing

Part of the problem is that Latino youth have become some of the key targets for soda marketing.

“Hispanic teens were exposed to 99 percent more ads than their white counterparts,” according to a Yale University study on how soda and beverage companies target minorities.

The UC San Francisco study by Anisha Indravadan Patel, entitled “Increasing Water Intake In Lieu of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages among Latino Youth,” confirms as much.

“This issue is of particular significance among Latino youth as they are more likely to drink (Sugar-Sweetened Beverages) and less likely to drink tap water than white and Asian children,” the study reports.

“To date, few interventions have focused on increasing water intake among children and there have been no interventions that have focused on increasing tap water intake among Latino children.”

A new book by New York Times reporter Michael Moss tells the story of former Coca-Cola executive Jeffrey Dunn, who had first-hand knowledge of corporate game plans for marketing sodas to youth in Latin America regardless of consequences.

Dunn tells the author:

“A voice in my head says, ‘These people need a lot of things, but they don’t need a Coke.’ I almost threw up.”

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Los Angeles based writer Tony Castro is the author of the critically-acclaimed “Chicano Power: The Emergence of Mexican America” and the best-selling “Mickey Mantle: America’s Prodigal Son.”

[Photo by Josh Galemore]

By Diana Bohn, Berkeley Daily Planet

Rodrigo was a happy nine-year-old fourth grader at Jefferson Elementary School in Berkeley, where he lived since he was two years old. On January 10, 2013, Rodrigo and his parents, Reyna Diaz Mayida and Javier Ponce Guzman, returning from a trip to Mexico, were detained at the border in Houston, Texas. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities discovered that the father’s visa as well as the visas of Rodrigo and his mother had expired, so the entire family was denied entrance to the U.S. The family was told that they could not re-apply for a visa for five years.

In Berkeley, Rodrigo’s classmates are determined to bring him home. Five of them want to go to Washington D.C. to testify in front of the Senate and Congress to ask for their classmate’s right to return to Berkeley. They are studying the struggles of Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez and Rosa Parks for justice and believe today is their moment to battle for a cause they believe is part of our democracy.

Click on picture top read full story.

[Photo by bringrodrigohome.org]

By Shelley Diaz, School Library Journal

Librarians who serve children in predominantly Latino communities were shocked this past December to read a New York Times article claiming that there is a dearth of Latino characters in books written for young readers—a notion that is at odds with their own experiences. In fact, they tell School Library Journal, there is actually a wealth of resources currently available to these kids, and librarians have the power (and the responsibility) to make those meaningful connections.

“When I first started as a librarian 27 years ago, there was very little out there,” admits Tim Wadham, director of the City of Puyallup Public Library, WA, and its Spanish-language collection as well as author of SLJ’s bi-monthly Libro por libro column of K–12 books and programming centering on the Latino experience. “There were some books available from Spain, but nothing that spoke directly to the kids that I was working with. There weren’t that many Latinos writing at that time.”

However, there has finally been a sea change for this population of readers, Wadham argues. “Now, there’s an explosion of very talented authors, writing in English, Spanish, and bilingually,” he tells SLJ.

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photo by Franklin Park Library]

By Salud Today

San Antonio business officials, educators, residents, and government officials have invested in free preschool for thousands of low-income, mostly Latino children, PolicyLink reports.

Voters approved a one-eighth penny increase in sales tax to pay for four new full-day pre-kindergarten centers, workforce training for early childhood educators, and grants for schools to expand preschool programs.

The increase was championed by Mayor Julian Castro to help ensure that all children enter kindergarten ready to learn and succeed. San Antonio schools have one of the lowest spending rates per pupil in the country, along with high dropout rates and low college attainment, according to the report.

Business leaders also supported the initiative:

Business leaders also see the initiative as the foundation for building a workforce pipeline in a city with a growing knowledge-based economy and a need for more high-skilled workers.

“The business community took a long-term view of business success,” said Richard Perez, president and CEO of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. “We have to make long-term investments to be prepared for the next economy.”

Research shows that even small investments in quality early education can yield large benefits later, including increased high school graduation rates, lower rates of incarceration, and higher lifelong incomes. Other programs show returns of over $10 in economic benefit for every $1 invested in early education.

It is not just the students themselves who benefit. Investments that enhance the capabilities of young people increase productivity broadly and stimulate business development, said Timothy J. Bartik, a senior economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute. He believes that early childhood education is a better economic development strategy than conventional approaches, such as tax breaks for businesses.

“Everyone has a huge stake in making sure that a broad range of the population has as many capabilities as possible,” he said.

This article was first published in Salud Today.

[Photo courtesy saheadstart.org]

By Salud Today

Check out this great video about the Hispanic Health Council’s (HHC) comprehensive approach to the prevention of childhood obesity, through promoting healthy eating physical activity and access to healthy affordable food.

HHC uses community-based research, evidence-based direct services and policy advocacy to improve the health and well-being of Latinos and other diverse communities.

The video is among the winners from the Let’s Move! Communities on the Move Video Challenge announced recently by First Lady Michelle Obama.

This article was first published in Salud Today.

[Photo screenshot courtesy Hispanic Health Council]

By Stan Washington, New America Media

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Hispanic parents in this city care about the education of their children just as much as any other ethnic group, declared one Hispanic mother, Marta Lopez, during a recent town hall discussion on education.

Lopez, who works at a local school, said there is a false stereotype that Hispanic parents in Memphis aren’t engaged in their children’s schooling. There are some parents who may be reluctant to involve themselves in school life because of language barriers, she said, but that is changing.

“In the last couple years, I’ve seen a lot more Hispanic parents stepping up and playing more of a role in their children’s education,” said Lopez. “We’re not just sitting back in the corner waiting on someone to do something for our families, for our kids. We are actually stepping forward.”

Lopez was among a number of concerned parents who participated in a recent town hall meeting on education, co-sponsored by New America Media and Latino Memphis, a nonprofit agency that advocates for the Hispanic community in the greater Memphis area. The parents expressed a number of concerns about their children’s education to an audience of local teacher’s groups, PTA organizations, education advocates and local media.

The parents came looking for answers and assistance in navigating a school system that is currently very much in flux.

The majority-white Shelby County schools and the predominantly black, city schools in Memphis are currently in the midst of one of the largest school district consolidations in the nation’s history – one that will shape the course of public education in the Memphis area for generations to come.

So far, it’s been a slow and (according to some) arduous process in merging the larger Memphis City Schools with the smaller, but richer, Shelby County Schools. The county Board of Education still has a number of obstacles to overcome, such as closing schools, reconciling two separate teacher evaluations systems, and managing a district that now includes unionized teachers in Memphis, and non-union county teachers.

Yet the larger problem appears to be a lack of trust between the two districts that dates back to the 1960s, when whites fled Memphis (and the city’s public schools) after federal court orders instituted busing as a way to integrate city schools.

While education matters in the Memphis-area have traditionally been framed in black and white, the Hispanic community has grown in recent decades by a large number. Yet their collective voice has yet to be included fully in the public discourse around schools. According to 2010 Census Bureau data, Hispanics now comprise 6 percent of Shelby County’s population of 935,088. The City of Memphis makes up the bulk of that population at 652,050 residents. Of that group, 63 percent are black, 29 percent are white, and 6.5 percent are Hispanic.

With discussions still ongoing over how the school district merger will take shape, Hispanic activists and parents have not been content to sit on the sidelines and wait to see how it all unfolds.

“I know that if you want your kids to succeed, you must be involved at all levels – at home, at school and at the district level,” Lopez said.

Many of the parents at the town hall spoke little English and were more than pleased to see that an interpreter was provided. Their concerns were not very different than those of other parents – school safety, student opportunities and academic requirements, aid for special needs students, and more communication with teachers.

The parents did express a desire to see more bilingual forms and instructions coming from the schools. Because the literacy level of many immigrant Hispanic parents is low, said one, they need more instruction from the schools on how to help their children with homework.

Cheryl Floyd, regional director of the Tennessee PTA, informed the parents that they would feel less intimidated if they joined forces with other parents when meeting with teachers or other school officials.

“One of the biggest things we try to do is bring parents together to collaborate in their voice to advocate for their children,” Floyd said. “If you have an issue at your school like getting regular progress reports or getting information in Spanish, then we are the voice to help you get that.”

“We are a culturally diverse organization and all-inclusive. Wherever you are from or wherever your needs are, we want to be able to help address them,” she added.

She encouraged the parents to utilize the PTA website which is bilingual.

A consistent homework schedule would be a great help, pointed out one mother. At her child’s school, she’s not sure when her second-grade daughter is supposed to be doing homework: “One week they have homework. The next week, nothing. The week after that, nothing.”

“I work in a restaurant and it is difficult for me to take time off on short notice to make meetings. Sometimes I only get a 24-hour notice. I need to know what’s going on ahead of time,” she added.

Local organization representatives and parents both agreed that Memphis area teachers need more cultural diversity training, to better understand and communicate with the various ethnic communities that have children attending the area schools.

“That is something we need to look at. Hopefully, we can address those needs,” responded Tammie McCarter, director of Parent and Community Engagement for Memphis City Schools.

“When you have any concerns about your child, it is your right to call the principal or, with a staff person, to make an appointment to address those needs,” McCarter said.

By the end of the 90-minute meeting, the air of anxiety and uncertainty that had permeated the meeting earlier appeared to be replaced by a general sense of optimism and hope. The community organizations encouraged the parents to never stop pushing to get their concerns met, and reminded them that they don’t have to fight alone.

Andrew Duck, a bilingual teacher in the Memphis City Schools, pointed out that, culturally, Hispanic and other immigrants tend to hold teachers in a higher regard than parents typically do in the United States — where teachers are blamed for nearly everything that is wrong with the educational system.

He commended those who hosted and participated in the town hall meeting, which he felt was a step in the right direction for the soon-to-be unified district.

“It was a great first effort,” Duck said. “I think of all of the issues that we talked about today, the key to everything is communication. We need more people today to understand to communicate their worries and their desires to school leaders.”

This article was first published in New America Media.

[Photo by Stan Washington, New America Media]

By Khalil Abdullah, New America Media

WASHINGTON, D.C.–Thousands of unborn Americans have no say on whether the process of across-the-board federal budget cuts – the so-called “sequestration” — should move forward after officially going into effect today.

Although still in the womb, those infants will be among the Americans most affected by the sequestered loss of close to $700 million to the federal Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program for lower-income families, compared to 2012 funding levels, according to a report released this week by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).

The reduction in WIC funding will have an immediate impact on new African American mothers because they breastfeed less frequently than many of their peers from other groups. Latino families are also likely to be hard hit, the report said.

“Cuts to postpartum women who are not breastfeeding will fall disproportionately on African American women,” the report notes. “Cuts to children will fall disproportionately on Latino families. Latinos represent 38 percent of infants participating in WIC and 39 percent of women, but 45 percent of children.”

Unborn and Breast-Feeding Infants

Unborn and breast-feeding infants are even more dependent on nourishment from their low-income mothers than the very young children that WIC is also designed to serve, but all rely on the program to stretch meager household food budgets.

Administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, WIC (formally called the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) is a $7 billion program serving an estimated 9 million individuals nationwide.

The report from CBPP, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C., explains that states may vary in how they choose to downsize their eligibility rolls to offset the loss of federal money. Some states may make gradual changes in managing their caseloads; others may take immediate and more dramatic actions.

Should Congress not restore funds by Sept. 30 (the end of the current fiscal year), according to the report, “based on the ways in which states are most likely to institute the cuts, we estimate that by the end of the fiscal year, the number of participants whom WIC is serving would have to be 600,000 to 775,000 women and children fewer than the program served in an average month of fiscal year 2012.”

WIC, a program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is usually touted as being one of the most successful intervention programs to target low-income mothers and their children. The program, however, has not been without its critics, some of whom consider it to be a corporate subsidy program for manufacturers and marketers of WIC-approved products.

The CBPP report does not address those controversies, but it does summarize 2012 USDA research showing that “WIC participation contributes to healthier births, higher intake of key nutrients, less consumption of sugar and fats, and a stronger connection to preventive health care.”

Misinformation Could Spread

The downsizing of WIC funding was not the CBPP report’s only concern. The public’s reaction to learning about changes to WIC, depending on how each state chooses to adjust to the loss of funds, could have negative repercussions with serious health consequences.

The report states, “To be sure, most states should be able to achieve the necessary spending cuts without denying benefits to…pregnant women and infants.”

The study’s authors caution, “Once states begin denying benefits to other families, however — including non-breastfeeding women who have just given birth and children as young as one or two — misinformation is likely to spread. Some eligible women who are pregnant or have an infant may come to believe they can no longer get benefits either, and may not apply for them.”

A woman’s physical health is not only adversely affected by the lack of sufficient nutrition for herself and/or her children, but stress induces negative health consequences of its own.

“Programs like WIC that help poor families with pregnant women or very young children afford the basics,” the report states, “may help improve longer-term outcomes for children by reducing the added stress that parents or children may experience if they cannot pay their bills or do not know if there will be adequate food.”

This article was first published in New America Media.

[Photo by Francesco Rachello]

By Mike Cassidy, San Jose Mercury News

This divide isn’t about who has computers and who doesn’t; or who does and doesn’t have Internet access. This divide is between kids whose families have the means and know-how to layer an extra helping of education on their children and those who don’t.

The old divide is closing with the wide adoption of smartphones and the growth of free access to the Internet through public Wi-Fi and, of course, public libraries. But the new gap has to do with how kids are using the Internet and who is available to guide them along their digital journey.

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photo by woodleywonderworks]

By Colleen Flaherty, Education Votes

In a small town in northern Wisconsin, Spanish teacher Scott Ellingson has two students in his class who traveled a long way to be there.

When their mother heard about the incident, she paid $15,000 to have a coyote smuggle them across the border. The coyote never showed, and they were detained by the Texas Border Patrol for two months. They were released to their mother, who was living in Wisconsin, where they began attending school.

Last year, an immigration judge issued an order that they must voluntarily depart the United States by December 13, 2012, or be deported back to El Salvador.

“December 13 has passed and they now risk being deported,” said Ellingson. “In their village back home, young men either join what is considered to be the world’s most ruthless and dangerous gang or they are killed. The family believes that going back to El Salvador would be a virtual death sentence for their boys.”

Ellingson has done what he can to help. He drove the family six hours to Chicago to a political asylum hearing. They were turned down. He has helped raised money to cover extensive legal fees and assisted in hiring a new lawyer.

They are good-hearted young men who just want to have a chance in this country. Jorge, the eldest, has confided to our Hispanic custodian that he wants to be a teacher one day so that he can help students just as his teacher has helped his family, said Ellingson.

Currently, 72 percent of Americans support a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million aspiring citizens living in the United States. Increasingly, there is bipartisan support for DREAMer students and comprehensive immigration reform from congressional Democrats and prominent Republicans, including Sens. John McCain and Marco Rubio. Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who opposed the DREAM Act three years ago, has also come on board.

Congressman Cantor, in a recent speech, said:

It is time to provide an opportunity for legal residence and citizenship for those who were brought to this country as children and who know no other home.

More than 50,000 DREAMers graduate from U.S. high schools each year.

Ellingson said that before immigration reform passes, there are many things people can do to reach out and help families like Jorge and Miguel’s. He’s noticed that in his community, which he describes as “pretty conservative and pretty homogenous,” putting a human face on the issue drives people to look beyond their political identity.

“When they actually meet these people and get to know them, they see that these are good people. They work hard and they want better things for their families, just like everybody else in this country. It’s amazing how people who are normally conservative can put politics aside and fight for these families.”Ellingson also maintains that education is essential, and he starts with his own students. He asks them to research their own family histories, where their families are from and when they emigrated to the United States.

“The point of the project is that we’re all immigrants or descendants of immigrants, and the stories are roughly similar to immigrants coming here today.”

Ellingson said he is hopeful for immigration reform, and that it will mean so much to students all over the country like Jorge and Miguel.

“These are children, these are human beings, and they long for what we all want. They want to get an education, get good jobs, and they want to eventually have their own families. They deserve to,” said Ellingson. “We as educators do whatever we can do to help out students in class, to continue to be here and to be successful.”

This article was first pubished in EdVotes.org.

[Photo courtesy EdVotes.org]

By Ray Salazar, NewsTaco

On Wednesday, one of Chicago Public Radio’s reporters published a piece that criticized Chicago Public Schools leaders for refusing to confirm if shooting victims attended Chicago Public Schools.  Because my students and I have been studying subtext and the gun-control debate, I took advantage of this teachable moment.  It was an opportunity to reflect on the public portrayal and perception of public schools.  While my students and I focused on a brief, specific news piece, I hope this can help others consider the implications of including a student’s school name when reporting a student’s death.

Becky Vevea reports that “there may be up to eight current and former students killed already in 2013, but CPS officials will not confirm any of those victims, citing a decades-old federal privacy law to withhold the information. It’s a practice they say they’ve followed since Mayor Rahm Emanuel took office.”

The piece includes the views of a national expert who says CPS is not restricted from confirming this information and the parent of a shooting victim who says the school’s name should be shared.  The piece ends with the reporter paraphrasing this parent who says that sharing the school’s name will lead to community efforts that support schools, communities, and families.

My students and I listened to this piece. Then I asked them what was missing. They mentioned that CPS’s perspective is not included. They also mentioned that students’ views were not mentioned. Some suggested that it would be a good idea to ask students what they thought about mentioning their school with the victim’s name.

Then I showed them the list of students included at the end of the piece, which was preceded with a disclaimer that “these are unconfirmed by CPS.”

Octavius Lamb, 20, graduated from Wells Community Academy
Devonta Grisson, 19, attended Gage Park High School
Rey Dorantes, 14, student at Clemente Community Academy
Tyrone Lawson, 17, student at Morgan Park High School
Antonio Fenner, 16, freshman at Manley Career Academy
Hadiya Pendleton, 15, sophomore at King College Prep
Frances Colon, 18, senior at Clemente Community Academy
Oscar Marquez, 17, junior at Marine Military Academy

We observed that two of the students in the list no longer attended CPS schools when they were shot.

We then discussed the advantages and disadvantages of including the school’s name.  Finally, students had to decide which subtext was coming through stronger:

1. WBEZ really cares about the effect of shootings on communities.

2. WBEZ is suggesting that CPS is somehow responsible for or associated with these shootings.

35% (23 students) chose subtext 1.  These are some of the explanations they gave:

• “We can get a better idea of where these ‘problem’ communities lie.  We can also come together for a safer public school system.”
• “WBEZ implies that it really cares by using a clip from a distressed parent.  The troubled woman sees her son’s death as an opportunity to change Chicago communities.”
• “The parents and students have to be informed of what is happening.”
• “We live in Chicago but we don’t always hear about everything that occurs in Chicago.”
• “CPS is not responsible for shootings but it’s wrong for withholding information.”
• “WBEZ wants people to feel as if nothing is being hidden from them.”

65% (43 students) chose subtext 2.  These are some of their explanations:

• “CPS is just responsible for the students during school time.  The schools can’t control everything the students do outside of school.”
• “When WBEZ mentions that CPS isn’t obligated to share this information then at the end they state that CPS hasn’t confirmed this, they are clearly trying to make CPS look bad.  Also, not taking the communities’ or students’ views into account is suggesting that their opinions don’t matter.”
• “The murder was not done in the school so why ruin the reputation of the school if the students no longer attend?  WBEZ should only report information that is logical to the shooting.”
• “In the recordings, WBEZ only showed their side and only interviewed those who support their opinion.”
• “CPS doesn’t have to let that info out because the students weren’t in the school when they were shot.  They were in the community, so the community should still stand up and help.”
• “Attending a CPS doesn’t mean you are going to be a a victim of violence.”
• “The point of informative articles is to gather facts, not tie them together to influence an opinion from the reader.”
• “If WBEZ truly cared, they would have included more personal stories and more possible solutions to attempt and create change.”
• “It seemed that WBEZ is emphasizing the schools instead of focusing on improving the community. “
• “Although some would argue that WBEZ wouldn’t do this piece if they didn’t care, radio stations need listeners and for this they need a story that is relevant to their areas.  I see this as getting more airtime from locals.”
• “WBEZ: if a killing was done at a higher ranked or private school would you go and do the same research over there?”
• “WBEZ should interview students to find out if the shootings are happening because of problems inside or outside of the school.”

While the lesson is action-based research and not scientifically based research, I am motivated by my students’ abilities to think critically about the information they hear.

I know that WBEZ education reporters did a lengthy piece on the violence affecting Harper High School, a struggling school on Chicago’s South side.  If we have an opportunity, I’d like my students to hear this and predict the implications of this reporting.  Will it educate and motivate residents to improve these troubled neighborhoods so young people can succeed or will it contribute to the disdain and skepticism of young people in these troubled neighborhoods?

This article was first published in The White Rhino.

[Photo by benkersey]

By Hispanically Speaking News

Babies as young as seven months can distinguish between, and begin to learn, two languages with vastly different grammatical structures, according to new research from the University of British Columbia and Université Paris Descartes.

Published today in the journal Nature Communications and presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston, the study shows that infants in bilingual environments use pitch and duration cues to discriminate between languages – such as English and Japanese – with opposite word orders.

In English, a function word comes before a content word (the dog, his hat, with friends, for example) and the duration of the content word is longer, while in Japanese or Hindi, the order is reversed, and the pitch of the content word higher.

“By as early as seven months, babies are sensitive to these differences and use these as cues to tell the languages apart,” says UBC psychologist Janet Werker, co-author of the study.

Previous research by Werker and Judit Gervain, a linguist at the Université Paris Descartes and co-author of the new study, showed that babies use frequency of words in speech to discern their significance.

This article was first published in Hispanically Speaking News.

[Photo by Theodore Scott]

By Ray Salazar, CNN

During Tuesday’s State of the Union address, President Barack Obama spoke about gun violence, and he continues the discussion in Chicago today. He recognized in his speech, “our actions will not prevent every senseless act of violence in this country.”

As a high school teacher in Chicago, I want to hear more than an acknowledgment that shootings are happening, that young people are dying violently and unfairly.  I want to hear his determination to push through Second Amendment politics and assure us his leadership will make our streets safer. We might not be able to prevent every senseless act, but we must decrease the desensitization that encourages only one-word reactions to shootings: “Again?”

My first teaching job in 1995 focused on troubled teens at an alternative high school on Chicago’s Southwest side.

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photo by The White House]