[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”] I’ve thought of Martin Richard often this week. He was the eight year old boy who died in the blast at the Boston Marathon finish line. Eight year old boys were […]
Current Events in Education
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, From the Front Lines, Middle School
Teaching "At Risk" Children: Advanced Placement Classes Saved My Life
I can remember sitting in my Advanced Placement (commonly referred to as AP) classes throughout high school and counting on one hand how many girls who looked like me were in the class. Sometimes there would be one or two, but more than likely it was just me and just maybe one more girl in […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Uncategorized
Junior Year: Ruined by Testing, Testing, Testing
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”] Not so long ago, 11th grade was a great year of high school. The pre-adolescent fog had lifted, and the label of “sophomore,” literally “wise-fool,” gave way to the less insulting “junior.” Academic challenges […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, High School, Recruitment & Retention, Series, Uncategorized
Recruitment and Retention Part 3: Incentivizing the Best to Teach in High Needs Schools
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”] A friend of mine, we will call him Mark, was considering teaching in two different charter schools this past spring. He had a clear first and second choice. However, his second […]
Posted inCommon Core, Current Events in Education, Uncategorized
"TestingTalk" Website Where Teachers Can "Be Brave"
Education historian and activist Diane Ravitch was the keynote speaker at the 86th Saturday Reunion, March 22, 2014, at Teacher’s College in New York City. Introducing Ravitch was the high energy Lucy Calkins, Director of Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project, who took several minutes using her “teacher voice” to address the crowd with a litany of […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, From the Front Lines, Opinion
10 Myths and Facts about Teacher Unions
I admit that I sign up for education haters’ email lists, and one thing that seems to be trending is differentiating truths and myths. Most recently in the cross hairs are teachers’ unions. It’s time you heard from someone in the field about some honest truths. Myth 1: Teachers are forced to join unions Fact: […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Opinion, Uncategorized
Scratching the Wall of a Condemned Cell: Teaching Humanity
“Tastes change; truths become clichés; whole art forms disappear. Even the greatest art’s triumph over death is risibly temporary. A novelist might hope for another generation of readers—two or three if lucky—which may feel like a scorning of death; but it’s really just scratching on the wall of the condemned cell. We do it to […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Middle School, Principals' Corner
Chicago Public Schools: Going too Far
Imagine if an unknown adult came to your classroom to remove a child to question them privately. This happened last week at two Chicago Public Schools. The unknown adults were from the CPS legal department. The classrooms they visited were rooms where the teacher had refused to administer the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT). Students […]