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 »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 »Administrators at my placement school routinely prescribed “engaging lessons” as a remedy for nearly every classroom problem. Yet so many teachers, who were well-liked and regarded as effective, leaned toward accountability or control as the panacea for off-task behavior, disrespect, or low achievement. Sadly, the children I taught were not accustomed to joy in learning,…
read more »I was just looking through an old notebook of mine, and I came across this schedule I wrote out for myself: Daily Schedule 4:30 am get up/quiet time 5:30 breakfast 5:45 board bus 5:30 pm get back/gym/shower 6:30 dinner 7ish plan! BED BY 10:30 12:30
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,…
read more »THIS BLOG POST WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Really. This relevation is earth-shattering, so be prepared. Take a breath. Get ready to have your perspective shifted forever. It all starts with a little something I like to call “megossip.” What is this term, you may ask? As defined by the Bainbridge-Ward Dictionary*, “megossip” is “(n.) information…
read more »“Leave your baggage at the door.” The past few weeks have been grueling for me — professionally and personally. I have been stuck in limbo, frozen just like the computers that my kids have tested on. As EOIs approached, I entered “triage mode,” prioritizing what was most important for my kids to succeed academically and…
read more »Geoffrey Canada recently did a TED talk entitled ‘Our failing schools. Enough is enough.’ Canada is the president and CEO of The Harlem Children’s Zone and star of ‘Waiting For Superman.’ The premise of Harlem Children’s Zone is a good one. It serves to provide school and complete wrap-around services (health, mental health, nutrition, etc.)…
read more »If given the opportunity, would a student hack a teacher’s Facebook profile? The normal Monday morning routine usually begins like this for my 7th graders. Me -> “Good morning class! Happy Monday-” Random Student -> “BOOOO! It’s not a Happy Monday!” or “Whatever Mr. E” It’s also obvious that they are looking to the end…
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