Category: politics
-
Pre-Reflections on the April 2018 Oklahoma Teacher Walkout
This past Friday evening, my wife Shelly (@sfryer) and I attended the last half of an evening town hall meeting at Wilson Elementary in Oklahoma City Public Schools (@okcps). Speakers included Representative Cyndi Munson (@CyndiMunson85), Senator Kay Floyd (@KayFloydOK), and Representative Jason Dunningham (@jdunnington). In this post, written on March 31, 2018, I’ll share some reflections…
-
Things I Learned Traveling to Egypt
The past few days I had an opportunity to travel to Cairo, Egypt, to present and participate in the 2017 EduForum Conference and also do a little sightseeing. Since sharing my second TEDx talk in November 2016, “Digital Citizenship in the Surveillance State,” I’ve continued to read and research about data privacy issues especially as…
-
Reflections on Comancheria, Identity and Frontier Terrorism
I never thought much about my own family bloodlines and ancestry until we moved to Oklahoma in 2006. As I got to know teachers and school staff members in my role (at the time) working as an “education advocate” for AT&T, I learned that all public schools in Oklahoma have “Indian Education” programs and students…
-
Rights and Responsibilities in an Age of Surveillance
As surveillance becomes more ubiquitous and “normalized” in our society, I’m wondering if the parable of the boiling frog may apply and how these dynamics should fit into conversations at school with students, teachers and parents about digital citizenship. I’m not arguing we should abandon all the trappings of 21st century modernity and head up to…
-
Bernie Sanders Explains Progressivism in the new Democratic Party
The United States under the leadership of President Donald Trump is politically headed in the wrong direction. Rather than confronting potentially overwhelming and devastating issues like costly health care, climate change, and corruption in federal elections, our nation is poised to make bad situations even worse with misguided policies. I am hopeful the inquiry of…
-
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin Misunderstands Testing and School Quality
On May 4, 2017, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin (@GovMaryFallin) was interviewed by NewsOK.com capitol reporter Dale Denwalt (@denwalt) about the current Oklahoma budget crisis. The full interview is 18.5 minutes long. Near the end of the interview, Dale asked Governor Fallin about her reasons for vetoing a bill which would have eliminated the U.S. history…
-
Staying On Message in the Classroom After the Election
While Trump supporters celebrate the electoral outcome, many others are looking around and asking, “What just happened and why? What do we do now, and what do we say to our children?” In this post, I’ll explore how educators can “stay on message” in the classroom to both inspire and empower students to be informed,…
-
Using 8 Bit Games and Humor to Present Serious Political Messages
The website and political game project “GOP Arcade” (@GOParcade) offers telling insights into not only the issues of the 2016 election in the United States, but also the ways media and gaming can be used to influence voters and communicate serious political messages. The site features 8 bit online games (that means they have very…
-
A Transformed Political Culture in Oklahoma #transformOK #OklaEd
In Oklahoma, our elected officials need our support to pass legislation which will change our tax code and provide adequate funding not only for our public schools but also for a variety of important social services. Our legislative session is almost over, and legislators have not taken steps to address the budget shortfall for next year…