For the last 40 years, ALEC has helped legislators draft conservative legislation and they claim that 18% of their bills end up as law. One recent victory was the controversial anti-immigration bill in Arizona. Cronon was curious to see if this group was also behind the recent anti-public-worker and anti-teacher legislation that has been cropping up throughout the country. Judging by the reaction of the GOP of Wisconsin, he seems to be on to something.

Following his post on ALEC, the Republican Party of Wisconsin made a request for access to Cronon’s emails, listing a number of politically-charged topics. Prof. Cronon explains it in this post, which is long but well worth the read. As a union-dues-paying faculty member at a public university in a state that also has strong Freedom of Information laws, I find this attempt by the Republican Party of Wisconsin to intimidate Prof. Cronon despicable. The anti-academic-freedom bias is troubling and quite hypocritical, coming from a group purportedly supporting individual liberty.

I’m not sure exactly how I would use this with students, but Prof. Cronon’s initial post on ALEC is presented as a study guide. It’s pretty high-level, but I would absolutely consider introducing these topics to a unit on politics or democracy. International students sometimes come to America with an idealized understanding of our democracy, without having considered the profound influence of corporate money. This would fit well with a look at the Tea Party and other astroturf organizations. It would also work alongside the video Corporations vs. Democracy.

Thanks USF-UFF

Like the Story of Stuff, this information is presented fairly simply, with an explanatory cartoon. Thus, I think it could be comprehensible to many English language learners. They also offer captions and an annotated script so students can read along. The video isn’t too long, either, at just over 8 minutes. Another nice thing about it is that, despite the fairly bleak picture, the tone remains mostly positive.

Next on the Republican agenda of environmental retro moves? Lightbulbs. House Republicans introduced a bill last week to repeal the government’s decision to phase out the old energy-inefficient bulbs, which was due to start in 2012.

One interesting way to use this article might be to do a unit about being on the wrong side of history. You could have students read old articles defending the losing side of previously controversial issues. For example, you could have something explaining why women shouldn’t vote or why slavery should remain legal. Obviously, the language would probably need to be simplified and updated, but I think it would be interesting to look at the logic and at how our perception of what is ethically defensible has changed over time. We don’t always remember that much of what we currently find “controversial” will be seen as obvious (in one way or another) by future generations.

Thanks Khalid!

This new research-based teacher’s guide helps students develop English language skills through highly engaging real-world investigations of current global issues. Designed for intermediate-level English language learners and striving readers, Making Connections combines language learning with opportunities for students to think critically about sustainable solutions for community development, environmental issues, quality of life, and more. Aligned with education standards, this 352-page guide includes nine chapters with lessons that have been reviewed and field tested by content experts, teachers, and students. Throughout the teacher’s guide, ideas for differentiated instruction make this text applicable for student levels ranging from beginner to advanced.

The table of contents, chapter 1, and chapter 3 are available to download if you’re interested in checking it out.

Recently, Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change launched the Zinn Education Project, a collection of resources for teaching A People’s History of the United States. There are tons of great materials here for introducing issues of race, war and labor rights. I’ve used excerpts from this book in my classes over the years, and I’ve always found it to be a welcome contrast to typical history books.