Greetings! Sadly summer vacation is over and it’s time to get back at it. Well only sad because summer vacation is awesome but I have to admit I’m excited to get back to school. I love my job, my colleagues, … Continue reading
Nicholas Kristof, NYTimes columnist, recently published “Professors, We Need You!” This piece argued that academics are essentially irrelevant in the biggest debates in our society because they isolate themselves in the ivory tower and cultivate a culture that values nearly … Continue reading
We’ve been back to work since last Thursday, and we still have a few days before the students show up. This is a good thing because my classrooms aren’t ready and my curriculum bits aren’t finalized and my specific plans … Continue reading
Oooof. The end of the school year is never easy, for me, for the students, for the parents, for anyone. And this one has been particularly tough. I have had some things happen this semester which have been really challenging … Continue reading
A 2007 teacher of the year from Arkansas writes about a view of school reform that relies on the assets that already exist within the system, rather than obsessing on the deficits. Read it here.
My seniors just finished their final for this semester, a formal speech of their research paper argument about a controversial issue in society. We organized these speeches into panel presentations focused on broad topics that unified 2 to 5 individual … Continue reading
First hour: On my way into the building, I stopped off at an IEP meeting to talk about the progress of one of my students with her and her parents. This took most of first hour. I had about five … Continue reading
Strangely enough, some people who study education think that blaming teachers for all the problems isn’t helping. Who could have guessed that?! How Blaming Teachers Shortchanges Students | NEA Today.
The next contribution in our thinking about conferences. See Part 1. Two years ago, in a very Jane Tompkins moment (if you have read A Life in School) you’ll know what I mean, I made a radical change in how I … Continue reading
Over dinner with friends last evening (one of whom is a teacher–she and I went through the same teacher education program together in college back in the mid-90s), we discussed the teacher bashing in our society right now. We discussed … Continue reading
