This is a cross-post from EdGator.com. [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”] Argumentation today consists of little more than two people taking turns misrepresenting one another’s positions. Gone are the days of Socrates, when the point of […]
Opinion
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured, Instruction & Curriculum, Opinion, Parents
Being a Parent and a Teacher…an Impossible Combination?
For the past 9 years, I have been a full-time mother, wife, teacher, student, psychologist, therapist, maid, taxi driver, personal planner, party planner, reminder service caller (is there such a thing?), etc. Â The list goes on and on. Â There is not a minute in the day where I am free to do what I please. […]
Posted inFeatured, How to Fix Education, Opinion, Uncategorized
Charters: They're not all KIPP
This is a cross-post from EdGator.com. Several recent articles deal with charter school applications that contain copied passages. Since one of the main tasks of a democratic education is to produce ethical leaders, I have a visceral reaction to questionable shortcuts, especially academic dishonesty like potential plagiarism, being employed in setting up a school. I […]
Posted inElementary School, Featured, Kindergarten, Opinion, Uncategorized
Education Reform- Nefarious Motives?
It’s easy to ascribe nefarious motives to those with whom we disagree. As I read headlines about school reform, I often find myself wondering if the reformers I am reading about are “white hat” reformers who truly care about the plight of poor children whose only hope for a better future will come through education, […]
Posted inFeatured, From the Front Lines, How to Fix Education, Opinion, Principals' Corner, Uncategorized
Circling the Wagons in Educational Reform
This is a cross-post from EdGator.com Several recent headlines have to do with the just-released MetLife Survey of the American Teacher. Reformers like Eduwonk are desperately trying to dissemble that the survey doesn’t hint strongly at the hostility of reform policies that are making tons of teachers love their jobs less and less. (Value-added ratings […]
Posted inOpinion, Uncategorized
Sunburned in February
[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”] If you watch the awesome YouTube video of Dan Pink’s presentation of the motivational theory espoused his book Drive, you’ll understand something thrilling: that when people are intrinsically motivated, they will […]
Posted inElementary School, Featured, Instruction & Curriculum, Kindergarten, Opinion, Uncategorized
"White Hat" and "Black Hat" Reformers
This is a cross-post from EdGator.com. In one of the articles linked today, Alexander Russo tells of a “former reformer” who is now, as a parent, on the receiving end of a harsh reform measure: the forced consolidation of his child’s school. I’m sympathetic. I’m also reminded that, despite the eager cruelty of some, all […]
Posted inFeatured, From the Front Lines, Opinion
We Believe: An Open Letter on Behalf of Every Teacher
Many Americans live in an era where their jobs present new daily challenges: so many of us are expected to do more with less; others feel underpaid and overworked, while many wish the government would get out of their profession. We take heat when we don’t perform, and we go home soured by the work […]