[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 […]
High School
Posted inFeatured, High School, Principals' Corner, Recruitment & Retention, Series, Uncategorized
Recruitment and Retention Part 2: To Keep the Best Educators, Focus on School Leadership First
[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’m blessed to work at the Soulsville Charter School. Our parents are fantastic, our facilities first rate and our student’s motivated and hard working. Yet it would all fall apart were […]
Posted inFeatured, High School, Recruitment & Retention, Series, Uncategorized
Recruitment and Retention Part 1: The Need to Retain and Recruit High Quality Educators
[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”] One of my colleagues, we’ll call her Sharon (not her real name), taught for two years in a high performing charter, and she loved it. Whenever we got together, all I’d […]
Posted inClassroom Management, High School, How to Fix Education, Middle School, Opinion
The Student Deserving of an "A" (and Other Grading Policies)
When I was in an interview for the job at the school where I now work, one of the questions they asked me was what I thought about the importance of grades. My answer? Grades are merely a tool. They don’t always represent the heart of a child, or the effort that was put forth or where […]
Posted inFeatured, High School, Literacy, Middle School, Opinion
Trash Can Poetry in Motion: Teaching Outside the Box
I recently watched a segment on “Sixty Minutes” that featured an orchestra from Cateura, Paraguay, whose instruments were made entirely of discarded objects found in the local landfill…trash! The orchestra known as “The Landfill Harmonic,” or “Los Reciclados,” was created by Favio Chaevez and Nicolaes Goemez, and consists of a dozen or more children that […]
Posted inHigh School, How to Fix Education, Uncategorized
Vouchers vs. Charters: Comparing Quality School Choice Policies
I work in a charter school, and unlike a teacher in a traditional district school, the students I see every day are not sent to our school based on their street address. Some live down the street and some drive 30 minutes both directions. We have students that come from both private and public […]
Posted inFeatured, High School, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy, Middle School, Uncategorized
My Son Only Read One Book in Middle School
This morning as I helped my son organize his bookshelf I asked him a question that came over me as I looked over his Diary of a Wimpy Kid series on his shelf, “what books did you enjoy most while in 6th and 7th grade?” He looked up at me like only a middle school […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, From the Front Lines, High School
I Don't Believe in School Choice and Neither Should You
Across the country there was a tour going on named “The School Choice Tour” that’s been hitting cities in the United States touting how important it is for parents to have school choice for their children. I imagine their tour stops are full of parents and students who get up and speak about how their […]