Posts By : “Donnie Dicus”

I'm sure everyone has heard someone whine this! "That's the way we've always done it! Why change!" My fellow blogger, Mike Lee, wrote a great piece about hunting these TTWWADI's! You can read it at  http://www.storiesfromschoolaz.org/2010/08/ttwwadis-exposed.html My district has been

Imagine going to a parent-teacher conference with a report for the student AND the parent! Well, one Florida school district is proposing just that. http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/19/report-card-day-could-include-grades-for-parents-under-proposed/  Parents will be graded on responses to requests for meetings, attendance at conferences, completion of homework,

Seriously, why does anyone still teach!? There have been many great posts these past few weeks that answers the question, "Why I teach?" (You can see some on this site and also on www.storiesfromschool.org from our partners in Washington.) However, I

Well, the winner wasn't me! I got my rejection letter in the mail. "Dear Mr. Dicus, Thank you for letting us observe your classroom and meeting with you. You're nomination for this award is a huge accomplishment. Unfortunately, ……" (I

Over the past few years, I have had the opportunities to attend workshops and various meetings and meet many teachers that were neither at my school site nor even in my district or city.  It was interesting and intellectually stimulating

My school has finally adopted a new primary grade level report!  The new report cards are standards based!  Students will get either a 1, 2, 3, or 4.  A 4 means that the student exceeds the standard. A 3 means