I am surprised at the attention Colin Kaepernick sitting for the National Anthem is getting, but it prompted some reflection: How should I react if a student refuses to say the pledge, stand for the anthem, place his /her hand-over-heart…or participate in any one of the rituals that are supposed to indicate unwavering patriotism and love of […]
Current Events in Education
Posted inHow to Fix Education
Parents have Rights. Really!
Parents have rights. In their efforts to promote charter schools, some education reform activists couch their advocacy in language describing “choice,” parent rights and even sometimes suggest that traditional schools and teachers pose a danger to students while going virtually unaccountable. This skewed and theatrical view of reality may be a reason many parents have […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Teaching Civil Discourse in Toxic Political Times
It is impossible to ignore the downward spiral of discourse and debate in American politics over the last year. Teachers pay special attention to public discourse because they know that what happens at the higher elevations of society always trickles down to their students. How adults in leadership speak to and about each other will […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
Can Teachers Really Be Excellent At Everything?
Imagine this: You’re a beginning teacher, fresh out of college. You’ve done a few weeks (maybe a semester) of teaching on your own. You’re thrilled to be hired to teach in your own classroom. You can disregard the low starting pay and the multiple subjects you need to prepare to teach every day. This is […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
Beyond the Seats in Flexible Seating
Without change, we exist in a stagnant environment. Learning is about persistence, failure, and change. Each summer there are buzz words that emerge and ideas for teachers to think about. However, not everything fits into a neat little package. There is not one boxed program, method, or idea that will work in every classroom. Teaching […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
Are Schools Perpetuating America’s Problems?
Nancy Easton, my pastor, began this week’s sermon (words / audio) with a clip from Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. The man who graced public television from the late ’60s through the early millennium drew full attention from an equally diverse audience that was, at the least, aware of the impact of Fred Rogers, and, at most, daily childhood […]
Posted inOpinion
My AP Scores Were Disappointing. Now What?
I awoke at 5 AM on Tuesday morning to log into the College Board’s website and obtain this year’s AP results for my AP Government and Macroeconomics courses. I spied the remains of a patriotic-looking Americana chocolate cake sitting on my kitchen counter, safely wrapped in aluminum foil. I grabbed a fork and took a […]
Posted inFeatured
Educational Consultants..The Case for More Teachers
We’ve all been there. An educational consultant comes into your school for professional learning and all you get is a glorified PowerPoint Presentation full of strategies you’ve already used that don’t work. You leave the meeting angry that once again forty-five minutes of your time was wasted just to garble up a bunch of acronyms. […]