Buried in this article full of great statics, I found this image: Does this classroom look much different? As a visual learner, I appreciate the graphic, but I am not sure that it looks that much different than the classroom I attended school. For me, that’s disappointing. With the innovation that surrounds us every day, …
I just read Princess Academy, a young adult novel, recommended by one of my youth. As a teacher, I read it through different eyes and I was amazed at the way it described literacy development in a mountain village. The desire and passion in one student then transfered to the rest of the village. Literacy might …
And yet another podcast on the same idea: Confidence is knowing you can do something well. Courage is trying something that you aren’t sure what the outcome will be. If the Cowardly Lion can sing in a costume with curls and ribbons, then surely I can face the possibility of the uncertainty of what lies …
I needed this reminder this morning. Thanks to Michael Smith, for posting it on his blog so that others like me who are heading into the second month of summer wondering and waiting for something to break for next school year. I needed the reminder that it’s not impossible to change. I needed the reminder …
It does seem that teaching is a secret clubhouse of experiences that you can only understand if you have lived them. I am shocked by the number of people who say things like, “I think I’ll go into teaching because those students could certainly use my experiences in business.” Teaching isn’t something you can pick …
You’re right technology is ruining students: The students threw away their notebooks and started blogs. These blogs became, in essence, open notebooks in which students were willing to learn in public. Students in one class put together a blog that was read by more than 8,000 people around the world. (How many people read your …
Home schoolers are students too: “Because you choose a different academic path for your child, you should not be prevented from participating in the athletic side,” said Rep. Phil Owens Although this might seem like a natural progression, the issue of having home school students participate in extracurricular activities at the public school they are …
A novel approach: We address these two questions by analyzing school-district data from grades 3–8 for 2.5 million children, linked to information on their outcomes as young adults and the characteristics of their parents. We find that teacher VA measures both work and matter. Actually evaluating teachers based on their students effectiveness of success in …
Value-Added teacher evaluation is not the only option Read More »
I know I talk (or rather type) a lot about the shift occurring in education and it’s hard to comprehend until you are in the midst of it or someone close to you who is experiencing it. I heard on NPR’s Morning Edition that the unemployment rate nationwide is down to 8.1%, but that doesn’t …
It’s easy to get caught up and confused when reading about educational policy: The report is a mishmash of misleading statistics and incoherent arguments, intended to exaggerate the failure of public education. Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, introduces the report with this claim: “It will come as no surprise to …
