Of all the things I’ve been expected to teach my students over the past several years, none has been more important than to dream big. Whether I’m teaching a novel, an essay, or a movement in history, I’ve always tried to
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My 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
Read MoreEducators: Are you talking about this election?
Dear educators, this is just a quick post to ask the question, “Are you talking about this upcoming election in the community?” If you aren’t, I believe that you should be. The state election of the Superintendent of Public Instruction,
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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
Read MoreI Don’t Use Rewards — But My School Does
When I set up my classroom as a first-year teacher, I created a daily game system where students would compete Jeopardy-style, for intellectual dominance. The winning groups would receive candy bars. I also added a Spencer Store, with photocopied artificial
Read MoreTeacher wellness: On the decline?
Want to know what I’ve been wondering about lately? I want to know if teacher health/wellness is declining amidst the pressure of educational reform today. A few days ago, I was walking behind a colleague and noticed that this person
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When is Enough, Enough?
“Ugh not another test!” That was one of the first things one of my students said to me this morning. In my head, I thought, “You ain’t kidding, kid!” Out loud though, I exclaimed, “This isn’t a test, it’s an
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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
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