As the year comes to a close I begin to inventory and pack curriculum and materials away for the summer. During the school year, I have crates of books from when I was in the classroom out for teachers
Read More
How Do Ya Like Them Apples? (And Oranges?)
Here’s a quiz for you. Who was a better player: Michael Jordan or Babe Ruth? Joe Montana or Wayne Gretzky? Ali or Pele? I’m sure this would be a fantastic discussion starter at your local sports bar, particularly if
Read MoreNo Prom For You!!!!
"Student banned from prom for romantic gesture." This was the headline I read earlier this week. Of course, like the rest of America who read an article covering this topic, I was outraged. How could a boy be suspended from
Read More
Melody and Rhythm
Sometimes in the mundane haze of daily routines there is a spark. Thursday after work I drove to pick up my daughter. I was excited to see Maya. She had spent two nights in a row with my mom as
Read MoreValue Added Part III
Tests are easy to graph. I’d like to find a psychometrician who can take the camping, the PB&J, and the Pacific Ocean and show how THOSE things have forever impacted the sophomores on their four-day trip.
Read More
Two Fronts and Many Voices
The climate is toxic and the vultures are circling. Union partnerships are being used against educators in the court of public opinion in a way that shifts the conversation from exemplary teaching to benefits and bargaining. They are important topics
Read MoreValue Added Part II
I wonder what, in recent history, has suggested that the world of business has anything to even offer the world of education. In just the past couple of years, business models have messed up the economy as well as the gulf of Mexico. Why on earth would we be looking to business to help us figure out how to better educate our kids?
Read More“You can’t do anything to me!”
A 6 year old screamed that at me on Wednesday when I got on to him for running around a classroom, jumping on furniture, and yelling. His classroom was three rooms away from mine and I heard the commotion. That
Read More
Are you a Cupcake or a Muffin?
Last week a 5th grade student came up to me at recess and said, “I’d like to share a letter with you between a cupcake and a muffin.” The letter is as follows: Dear Cupcake, That frosting you smear all
Read More