Inequality in education exists. I have observed it from the beginning of my career in a relatively poor area of Philadelphia. It is real and it has gotten worse over the years. I began teaching about a decade after President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society was implemented. The middle school where I taught had its cornerstone […]
poverty
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
Race-Conscious Reading For Preschool
Guest Writer: Marisa Lark Wallin Initiating conversations about race and culture in your regular reading can help young children resist being socialized into white supremacy. Black Lives Matter At School national week of action will happen this February 3-7, 2020. There are many things you can do to participate in the movement individually or with […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Teaching: Taking on the Moral Imperatives (Part II)
So now you’re fierce, are you? Fierce like, how? For Part II, I want to talk more about being fierce. It’s not just standing up against the onslaught of union-bashing and data mashing designed to demean teachers. It’s being unafraid to fight for what kids really need And it’s about actively pursuing greater understanding in order […]
Posted inSocial Justice
Teaching: Taking on the Moral Imperatives (Part I)
What moral imperatives? I have been thinking more about the moral imperatives of teaching. These imperatives can hinder instruction and progress. That’s why the only option is to address and hopefully resolve them. They are moral imperatives because it’s wrong to not handle them. Preparing students academically-now that’s the job, a duty. Consultants, education experts/leaders (folks who travel around and talk about […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Yes, Failure IS An Option
We’d be hard pressed to find an innovation that has changed our modern living as much as the light bulb. When Thomas Edison and his employees experimented with methods to bring about an incandescent light, they finally arrived – almost by accident – on using a cardboard filament. After its success, he famously quipped “I […]
Posted inSocial Justice
Failing our Poor Students: A Crisis of Morality and Character
Our schools aren’t failing, we all are. When outcomes for our poorest students are the concern, education reform advocates like to point to”failing schools”, but it’s not just about schools. It isn’t out-of-touch middle class parents, teachers and their unions, or civil rights organizations willing to challenge the “school choice” narrative. Those are only convenient scapegoats […]
Posted inBook Review
‘Hillbilly Elegy’ and the Blight of Rural Schools
“I was one of those kids with a grim future,” author J.D. Vance begins in his book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. “I almost failed out of high school. I nearly gave in to the deep anger and resentment harbored by everyone around me. Today people look at me, […]
Posted inCommon Core
Poverty, Parents, Homework and Kitchen Tables
Poverty is more than just an excuse Policymakers and mainstream education reformers have been chronically unwilling to acknowledge education research and evidence indicating the impact of poverty on school children and the need for social and economic reforms. Yet at the same time they demand attention to and respect for the test data they believe […]