I get it. Reading scores are low in my district. And it’s not just the scores. Kids are struggling to read. They’re struggling to answer questions based upon what they read. They’re struggling to think critically about what they read.
Read MoreThe Principalship: Noble Attempt, Daffy Model
You know the expression. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. No matter how many times the duck says it’s a swan, or those around the unnecessarily insecure creature agree with him… It’s still a duck. Not that many
Read MoreStaying Mindful
Lately it has been easy to let the days and weeks slip away. October seems like it was months ago. November is just a few days from becoming December. Student-led conferences, report cards and progress notes, IEP and 504 meetings,
Read MoreGuest Teaching as Civic Duty
Like jurors, substitute teachers should be drawn from the public as part of one’s civic duty, at least according to a colleague. Among other things, pulling subs from the public could create more awareness of life in our public schools, get
Read MoreMy Quiet Rage: Against Objectives
I’ll just say it: I resent writing objectives. For those of you who may not teach, I offer a brief primer. Teachers are required to teach to the standards. Teachers generally plan units which target specific standards. Within each daily
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A Neglected Anniversary in Science Education
We didn’t light the autumn sky with homemade rockets or harness the wind to electrify remote villages. But in 1974 a group of juniors sitting in the back of biology hung on every word our teacher said, because we never knew when
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Connected Educator Month
Did you know that October was “Connected Educator Month”? On Saturday in an effort to avoid the work I initially sat down to complete I decided to look into this Connected Educator thing a bit closer. I initially came across
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From, “Arggghhhhh!” to “Awesome!”
A few months ago bloggers argued about a parent who complained that the Common Core had needlessly complicated subtraction. The controversial techniques involve deconstructing “hard” numbers into “easy” numbers and working on the parts to get the answer. Most the teachers commented that
Read MoreTime to Grow: To Grade or to Kick Butt?
Today, a student resentfully announced in class that there was no grade in the gradebook for an essay he wrote. A month ago. I couldn’t argue. It has been sitting in the “Speedgrader” of my digital classroom for several weeks.
Read MoreMake It Work
RuPaul tells us to work it. Britney sings that we better work if we want something. However, Tim Gunn says it best. “Make it work.” He tells all his designers to take their tools, fabrics, and various odds and ends
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