One of the most annoying phrases uttered in ed reform is some version of ‘poverty is not destiny.’ Occasionally they mix it up a little with something like ‘zip code is not destiny.’ The implication is that there are some people out there who think that every person born into poverty or born in a…
read more »On August 2nd, 2006 before tip-off of an NBA game, Natalie Gilbert was scheduled to sing the national anthem. She had the flu that day but she still decided to sing before the Blazers and Mavericks played to determine who would advance to the Western Conference Semifinals. The anthem began and it seemed like all…
read more »Dear Gary, I’ve often heard teachers complain about the latest reform “fad.” It’s understandable insofar as veteran teachers have been around for many rounds of “reform,” only to see each and every one swept abashedly into a locked closet in the back of the class (right next to where I surreptitiously put those pre-tests I…
read more »Finally, my long overdue video blog! Here I talk about the poetry club I started at Homestead Senior High and how it has been such an amazing platform on which students can stand and be heard. Towards the end, there is a video link to watch the spoken word piece my students inspired me to…
read more »StudentsFirst has raised tens of millions of dollars on the lie that they, alone, care about students who need to be defended from all the teachers who only care about themselves. The biggest distortion of their numbers is their claim that they have 1.3 million members. Many of these ‘members’ are people who are completely…
read more »As I returned to my classroom today, after a long day of testing, I noticed for the first time in a long time, “Our Big Goal” bulletin board that I put up on the very first day of school. It says “100% of students will pass the EOC exam”. I meant to add 2 more…
read more »“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—” On January 7th, I received an e-mail from Teach for America informing me that…
read more »Tomorrow, this time, I will be on my way to Memphis. I will be completely done with my first year of law school and completely free for five beautiful summer days in a city that still, inexplicably yet somehow predictably, has my heart. I think it might have something to do with the idea behind…
read more »Quick blog post to brag about my Physics students and to grovel on the ground and beg you to vote for them. I think I mentioned before that they are in the top ten in the nationwide Raytheon competition. Voting is live to see who wins the fame and the fortune (and by fortune I…
read more »On Letterman the other day, the top 10 category was: Top 10 reasons I’ve decided to become a teacher. Reading the reasons were ten brand new 2013 corps members. So of course it is pretty ironic that out of all the perspective teachers in the country who could have been chosen from various education programs,…
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