BlueCerealEducation.NET Limited Time Promo Giveaway and Sellout!

May 26, 2017June 23, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 6 Comments

For those of you who’ve been letting your real lives get in the way of following Blue Cereal as faithfully as you know deep down inside you should, I’ve been rebuilding and reforming the world of Blue Cereal on a new site: BlueCerealEducation.NET.

It’s a bit more legit, less ranting, better editing, more focus on history and pedagogy – in other words, a complete change of style for yours truly.

But here’s the problem with moving away from ranting and accusing and calling out the fallen by name and title – people don’t circulate it for you. They don’t get all worked up and email their friends, favorite your tweets, or quote your pithy wisdom. For a time, I considered doing an entire series of Clickbait Blog Posts with completely derogatory and unfair attacks on pretty much anyone with a little name recognition in edu-bloggery:

What’s Diane Ravitch Really Up To? Common Core, or Common Whore?!
Former Students Reveal the Dark Side of Curmudgucation’s Peter Greene: “He Used… Sarcasm – With Words and Tone and Everything!”
WHY Have We Never Seen Rick Cobb and Mary Fallin in the Same Room? (A Tale of Lost Identity and Bending Genders.)
How Trump’s Appointment of DeVos Will Finally Destroy TFA and Turn YOUR Child Gay and Muslim!
What Did Rob Miller and Claudia Swisher REALLY Say About This Year’s Legislative Session? THE TWEETS THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO SEE!
The Dark Conspiracy Behind Unicorns and Donuts – “For The Love… of Philandering Druid Worshippers!” (NSFW!)
Angela Little: WHO Does She REALLY Work For? WHAT Really Drives Her? And HOW Does She Stay Fresh and Stylin’ As a Busy Mother of Two?! We Have The REAL Story HERE!
Is there a “Rebel Alliance” coordinating behind the scenes to shape social media about #oklaed? One staffer says HE even has the T-Shirt to prove it!
TEN Reasons Ben Felder Will Be The Next Governor of Oklahoma (You Won’t Believe #8!)

Problem is, that’s all just silly. And too much work. I’m still wading through divorce cases which made it to the Supreme Court in the 1890s – I don’t have time to make up stuff about Mindy Dennison: This Teacher STINGS! or that Whistler guy from Twitter. And it’s hard to make fun of the current Legislature because they pretty much top anything I could invent with their own daily actions and press releases.

So I’m going to go with my strengths and do…

The first (and probably ONLY) Blue Cereal Contest of 2017!

It’s pretty straightforward. YOU push any blog post, pedagogy page, or whatever from BlueCerealEducation.net and tag me on FB or Twitter when you do. Multiple pushes go in the proverbial “hat” multiple times, so the more you love me, the more chance I’ll love you back. On Friday, June 2nd, I’ll randomly choose TWO participants from the mix and they’ll receive one of the VERY FEW remaining Blue Cereal #11FF Lunchboxes!

But that’s not all. For the first time ever, each winner will have their choice of a secondary prize as well:

Choice #1: A brand new “Black Lives Matter (More Than White Feelings)” mug from Buy Noir, shipped w/ the Lunchbox.

Choice #2: I will write a post about any topic you like and do my best to make it informative and engaging and credit you with the inspiration. This can be something pedagogical, historical, political, or something personal – a biography of that one child you like better than the others although you try to hide it, a favorite disease, or an extended puff piece on your restaurant or latest boy toy. It will be posted and pushed like any Blue Cereal post.

Choice #3: I’ll send you a copy of one of my favorite teacher books (no, I won’t tell you in advance) as well as one of my favorite non-teacher books. You’ll read them, we’ll talk abou them like intellectuals, and for the rest of our lives we’ll have an inside thing, you and me, making us just a little bit superior to everyone around us in terms of BFF-ness.

Choice #4: Drinks w/ Blue (this one is for winners in Oklahoma only, I’m afraid). At some point before schools starts again, I’ll come to your town, we’ll drink (alcohol, coffee, sodie-pops – your call), talk, laugh, cry, hug, and take pics before we part (no nudes unless you REALLY promote the heck out of the new site). Hopefully you’re not, like, totally creepy or anything – and I, of course, am adorable. {Note: Yes, I hope to move before school starts, but due to my conference commitments, Tulsa will likely remain “home base” for most of the summer either way.}

This is a ONE WEEK ONLY, one-time contest. And it starts NOW.

Come on – you know you want to. Go with it. It feels good.

Blue Cereal Celebration: Hit Me Baby, One More Time

March 18, 2016June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 1 Comment

There’s nothing sadder than not talking about me anymore.

I mean, we can still TALK about me. Often. In glowing terms. But the week devoted specifically TO that purpose is rapidly drawing to a close.

But it’s not over yet. So hit me baby, one more time. (Situations like this are pretty much what that song is about, right? In my naive youthful innocence I can never be sure.)

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I started this week of Blue Cereal Celebration with my 10 Most Viewed Posts/Pages – to great internal accolades, I must say. I’d like to finish with my Top 5 Personal Favorite Posts Not Already On Some Other List This Week^TM. (If this becomes a new thing with the other edu-bloggers, remember that you saw it here first. It’s freakin’ brilliant, if you ask me.)

I’m certain it goes without saying that they’re some of your favorites, too.

My 300 Epiphany (8/10/14) – Teaching can be a noble profession and all that. I mean, we don’t do it for the money or the glory or the clarity of expectations from above. We do it because on some naïve, idealistic, melodramatic level, we want to change the world.

But I don’t think of it that way anymore. I have found great freedom and comfort, actually – and I share this without cynicism or sarcasm – in the fact that I’m pretty sure we’re going to lose. Those who are with us are far, far fewer than those who are against us, and whether you use Common Core math or give up and figure it the old way, we are totally and completely screwed.

But it is a good day to teach.

The Gettysburg Address: Parts I, II, and III (4/14/15+) – Before I committed to focus on Oklahoma politics and legislation during 2016, I loved writing history-related posts. While they didn’t prompt the most views or comments, the responses I did receive were some of the most thoughtful and gratifying.

That’s partly my own briilliance and style, but mostly because I have the smartest, sexiest, most thinkiest readers in the universe.

This little trilogy on Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” came out particularly well. It’s also sparked some great email conversations with other teachers. Maybe now it will spark a few more.

I’d Rather Be Aquaman (9/25/14) – Written during one of the ‘Does AP U.S. History Glorify America Enough?’ crises, this post is about the choices every history teacher, and textbook, and movie, and curriculum-writer, has to make. It’s also about allowing real live dead people the same humanity and complexity we find so compelling in fictional characters.

I particularly liked this line: “We can’t narrow the gap between young people and American ideals by doing a better job bullsh*tting them.”

Don’t tell Jay, He missed this one first time ’round.

A Little Knowledge, Parts I, II, and III (2/21/15+) – Another trilogy – this one about secession, the power of education, and rewriting history to fit our manipulative needs.

Of course you know how history teachers are – when we talk about the past, we’re usually trying to analyze the present. If only there were contemporary situations in which we told one another agreed-upon lies about history and fought enlightenment in others in order to better marginalize and mistreat entire classes of people. Perhaps a current example of some sort will eventually come to mind…

I’m SO deep!

Liberty, Parts I & II (6/1/15+) – A pair dedicated to a topic we spend MUCH time on in my American Government classes…

Most Americans are big fans of “liberty”, just like we love to talk about “justice” and “opportunity” and “heroes” and “high expectations.” The difficulty comes when we try to clarify just what those words mean in practice.

That’s when it sometimes gets ugly.

Does “liberty” simply mean a lack of overt constraints, or does it suggest actual agency and opportunity? What are the limits and necessary supports for liberty – especially the kind that’s supposed to with “justice for all”?

*pause*

And that’s… that’s it for the week of Celebration.

*sniff*

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Now – Let’s Talk About The Way Forward and the Brand New, Classroom-Ready, TLE-Proof, BCE #11FF Pedagogy Protection 5″x7″ High Quality Magnetized Magnet…

How It Works

Administration observing you? New teachers sitting in on your classroom? Parents concerned about a lesson you taught or a strategy you used, or even a grade you gave their little boo-boo?

Just point to the magnet and nod – slowly, but confidently. You pass, all 4’s, discussion over, thanks for coming.

Looking for a new gig somewhere they hate teachers less? Or simply trying to persuade your local legislator that you’re not a complete idiot standing alongside the highway of life with a ‘Will Teach for Food’ sign?

Point to the magnet.

Students challenging your classroom management? Whining about the subject matter or all that thinking you’re making them do? Maybe your principal is trying to interrupt your class for another $#%& assembly?

The magnet.

You’re gonna want one of these. You’re gonna want it bad.

Two Ways To Get It

(1) Push any Blue Cereal post or content page by Tweeting it or sharing on Facebook. Comment or frame it in some way so it seems personalized, not randomly selected and widget-sent.

Sell it with your eyes, baby – sell it with the eyes.

Make sure you tag me or use #11FF or otherwise let me know – my intentions are pure, but my brain is old and my attention span unreliable.

(2) Enlighten others about #OKElections16 – The resources on this website AND in general. Talk to your co-workers, meet with your department, and calmly, rationally explain some of the issues impacting #OklaEd this year and EVERY legislative session. Encourage them to GET INVOLVED.

Better yet, ask your building principal for 5 minutes at the next faculty meeting to encourage co-workers to get informed and start voting in state primaries this June. Suggest their spouses or other family members run for office themselves – I’ll help raise the $200 filing fee if need be. Offer to help them GET INVOLVED.

As long as you’re not telling people who to vote for, there’s not even gray area in encouraging teachers to learn more and do more about the issues which impact them and their students.

Oh, and don’t be all wild and frustrated like me – do that calm, wise thing you do so well.

It takes verve to do this, and some of you will start uncomfortable conversations different than those you’d intended. THAT’S OK – you got this. It’s even OK if you don’t know every detail about every bill or every legislator.

This isn’t about what we already know and have already done – it’s about what we’re willing to learn and how much we’re willing to do.

Then, let me know. Email or DM me with your story (short or long – I’m curious, but I know you’re busy). I’ll send you a couple of the BCE Magnets as token thanks and acknowledgement that you’re awesome and Totally Forever #11FF. If you’d like extras for co-workers who responded supportively, I’ll send more – up to a dozen at a time if you believe it’s merited.

I trust you – you’re #11FF. You tell me what’s appropriate.

If you’re not in Oklahoma, but fighting similar battles in your edu-world, that works, too. You just let me know – same offer, modified as YOU see fit.

Know in advance that you amaze me every day, my darlings. I wish I was half the person and a quarter of the teacher most of you can be. Be stubborn but graceful, wise but humble, and keep changing the world.

Illegitimi non carborundum.

Blue Cereal Celebration (3/13/16)

March 11, 2016June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal

It’s my birthday.

Not my person birthday – I’m too old to care about that much anymore. It’s Blue Cereal’s birthday.

Two years ago this week, I started Blue Cereal Education, and – let’s be honest – from that moment, your worlds would never be the same.

For the first six months or so, most of what I wrote was pretty hit’n’miss. The learning curve was steep, as I’d never done anything like this before. Thankfully, Janet Barresi was our State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and while that was horrible for Oklahoma teachers and students, it was GREAT for snarky blogging!

The State Department site alone was a gold mine of edu-horror. *sigh*

In November of 2014, the Russians killed my site. My wife and webgoddess called me with a very concerned voice and told me that while she’d managed to retrieve a zillion pages of text and code, anything I wanted back would have to be completely recreated.

I was SO relieved! What an amazing chance to start over – keeping the parts I liked, editing the stuff that I thought had potential, and tossing the rest.

Dr. Barresi had lost her primary by then and we knew Joy was on the way (in more ways than one), so I didn’t bother with that material. The rest I began wading through, deciding what I liked enough to write again.

It was less than you’d think.

I don’t let myself become too obsessed with analytics and numbers, but of course I check from time to time. (Anyone who says they don’t is fibbing.)

Here are the Top 10 most visited pages on Blue Cereal since that rebuild in November 2014:

(1) End #OklaEd (2/15/16) – This was a blog post from quite recently, as you can see. I assume it’s good news when what you’re writing now is getting more traction than what you wrote back then – otherwise, you quickly become Foghat playing at the state fair.

I’m a bit surprised and pleased at the degree to which this one has surpassed all other posts (it has more than double the page views of the post in second place), since it’s a call for state-wide edu-revolution. You people are a bunch of radicals and trouble-causers… no wonder we get along so well.

(2) Oklahoma Turns Against APUSH? (1/17/15) – This was the first of a series of posts about the attack on AP U.S. History in Oklahoma last year, spearheaded by Sen. Josh Brecheen of Ada, OK, and Rep. Dan Fisher of the largely fictional Black Robed Regiment.

The post is mostly a brief intro – since I knew very little at the time I posted it – followed by the rather extensive text of Brecheen’s bill. So… that’s humbling. I assume it kept the highest hit-count partly because it was first, and partly because it had the most obvious title in reference to the subject matter.

I tend to get a little, um… too ‘creative’ for my own good in naming these things sometimes. It’s a wonder ANYBODY knows what I’m talking about.

(3) Special Election – Senate District 34, January 12th – #OKElections16 (1/4/16) – Another relatively recent post, and another very clear – if not particularly creative – title.

J.J. Dossett won, in case you didn’t know, and while I’m certain there were many, many other factors in play – his campaign, his platform, his timing, his supporters, and the like – I prefer to believe I used my pithy wit and extensive social media influence to annoint the good State Senator as the first of many pro-education types winning office this Election Year.

Return those New Candidate Questionnaires, kids – you don’t wish to offend the king-maker!

(And can we, um… can we NOT tell Dossett that I kinda just claimed credit for his election, even in jest? I, er… I think it’s important he feel like he contributed. It’s good for his self-esteem.)

(4) Roster Villification (11/19/14) – This one surprised me a bit. I was having a bad day, and unlike most of my posts, this was a one-and-done. (Well, I may have edited it once for about 10 minutes.) Then again, the angry and frustrated stuff generally does MUCH better overall than the thoughtful, reflective bits. In fact, you may have already noticed how few of the deep, thoughtful bits made the Top 10. Hmmm…

But I was right about the idiocy of the process. So there’s that.

(5) #OKElections16 – This is the main page for all things related to Oklahoma Elections this year. It’s only been up since the start of the calendar year, and I can’t tell you how gratifying it is that people are accessing it as a resource.

I try to keep the Candidate Profiles interesting, get my Pending Legislation straight, and stay current with the Issues, but this part is not as fun and doesn’t come as easily for me as the bloggery or the lessony stuff. Now that people actually read this site, however, I kinda wanted to make myself useful, and this seemed like something that needed to be done.

I’ll be better at it next election cycle, I have to think. Maybe. If I’m still around…

(6) #11FF – I did NOT see this one coming, but of course it’s SO appropriate that it ranks this high.

When I was writing during that first year, I was all too aware that my numbers were abysmal compared to the legit blogs. But I’m all about the sauce and the inside joke, so from the start I determined that here, and on Twitters, and the Facebooking, I’d always proceed as if the adoring masses were a given.

The thing is, although I didn’t get tons of comments or emails or messages, the ones I DID get were SO good! I don’t mean merely in terms of praising me (although that’s essential and appropriate), but rather… the quality of what you write to me, and how well you write it, and the questions and comments and insights and suggestions… I was a bit taken aback, and deeply gratified. I still am.

This was much better than having adoring masses. These were witty, insightful peers. Booyah – internet gold.

At some point I began referring to regular readers as my Eleven Faithful Followers. When it was time for the first Blue Cereal long-sleeve shirts, the hashtag #11FF was contrived.

I’ll be carrying on more about you guys soon, but for now let me just say – all tone and schmaltz aside – you are some quality peeps. I wouldn’t trade you for ten times the numbers, or a hundred times the money.

(7) Who Killed Avery Chase? Document Activity (4/21/15) – Consistently in the Top 10 each month, I have yet to receive a single comment about whether it’s being used, if it’s working, or how it’s being changed to make it better. I hope the numbers mean someone’s finding it helpful – seriously. I’m pretty proud of these.

(8) State Testing: The Ultimate Solution (7/10/15) – This one is a personal favorite of mine. I thought it struck a nice balance of genuine frustration and teacher-y passion for *sniff*… THE CHILDREN. I’m still like this one quite a bit – go figure.

(9) My Response to Alfie Kohn’s Attack on ‘Growth Mindset’ (8/18/15) – Like I said, conflict gets page views. That’s not why I wrote this one, of course – I’m too pure to be swayed by such logistics. I really hated the piece Kohn wrote and to which I’m responding here.

I was somewhat surprised by how many messages and tweets and such I received which not only supported my post, but wanted to share mutual loathing of Alfie Kohn. I don’t agree with the man on everything, but neither do I consider him a charlatan or a moron or any other bad words which were used in an effort to secure my solidarity. I just thought he was wrong on this one. Really, really wrong.

So, I’m glad all of those people love me, but I was unable to share their vitriol towards A.K. I hope that didn’t ruin the moment for them.

(10) Welcome to Atheist School (2/26/16) – Another recent post, which suggests that my page views are benefitting from the kerfuffle over this session of the OK State Legislature. (In Oklahoma, the legislature meets from February – May each year. The bulk of the damage they do has to happen in this window, so they’re intense months.)

It’s unfortunate that so many posts have to be written about the state of our state, but we’re a mess. At least shining some light on the assumptions of our elected leaders has some small chance of shaping the upcoming elections. In this post, Rep. Dunlap says what many of his peers wouldn’t, but which they THINK anyway – that public schools are godless, decadent places, and the only way young people can possibly learn to be decent human beings is through taking the two mites remaining in public education and giving it to upper middle class white parents so they can rescue their precious darlings from yucky poor people.

I cringe, but I’m also glad it’s out there. It’s not quite as good as legislators this past week reading the Bible on the floor of the State Senate to prove Jesus is against regulating firearms, but it’s part of that same mindset – that it’s their job to put the Old Testament into state law, and that they alone are fit to arbitrate the true meaning of Christian faith on our behalf.

So This Week Is Blue Cereal Celebration Week.

Who better to focus on me than ME, after all?

Thanks for coming along for the ride. You are daring and wise to do so.

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