Think that there’s a lot on the line for kids taking tests? Plenty of pressure? Stress? Difficulties? Mess? Welcome to New York City Public Schools, says writer, producer, and director Curtis Chin in his film Tested. His story line follows twelve 8th grade students who are wrangling over the decision to take the Specialized High School […]
Current Events in Education
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
NY Assembly Seeking Better Education Policy
Contact your N.Y. Assembly representative! Recently, four bills were sponsored in our N.Y. State Assembly, and I have no idea how the legislative process works in great detail, but the spirit behind and purpose of these bills is encouraging. It certainly could be part of what has some of the lobbyist/wealth-funded school privatizers running around […]
Posted inParents
“RAK” Up Teacher Appreciation Week
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to our fellow educators! While they’ll hopefully be showered with gifts and praise this week by their school board, community, administrators, students, and parents – we have a project to pitch. We want to make this week not so much about teachers but about the currency of teachers: We want to […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
4 Unusual Gift Ideas For Teacher Appreciation Week
I walked into my classroom the first morning of Teacher Appreciation Week a bit groggy and bleary-eyed from a terrific weekend – a weekend not spent grading or lesson planning, but instead, spent taking long walks, baking, and digging in my garden. There’s nothing easy about teaching first period English in junior high school – […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
10 Reasons Why Teachers Should Host Political Debates
A few weeks back, I examined a hotly contested election for State Senate, and I remarked to a few friends and colleagues that it would be great to host a debate for these candidates seeking the post – and I should be the one to organize it. While all of those folks thought it was a good […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
EFL Earth Day Lesson in Kinmen, Taiwan
I teach English in Kinmen, Taiwan, a rural island home to beautiful natural beaches, large evergreen pastures of land, tropical birds, and lots of cows—lots and lots of cows. Literally a million miles from celebrating Earth Day the way the United States honors nature. Kinmen’s nature is very well preserved, and when I want to […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Elementary School, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy
Bringing Kids Together
Each teacher has a favorite. Favorite subject, favorite activity, favorite lesson. Three years ago I started one of my favorites. Each year we start January with “Where I’m From”. The students reflect on where they are from and what makes them who they are. While reflecting on themselves and where they are from, students can focus […]
Posted inUncategorized
Who Will Care for the Teachers?
When I sat down to write this piece, my purpose was to scribe a thinly veiled, autobiographical accounting of my own experience of surviving the middle school classroom while I struggled with depression. However, wanting to avoid the cathartic-memoir trope, I planned to include information on the prevalence of depressive disorders among classroom teachers .I […]