-
Recent Posts
Archives
Categories
Category Archives: Students
Downward Trajectory
Today I was remembering back to my 11th grade year of high school when I placed an ultimatum on my guidance counselor to help me graduate early or I would drop out. How smug I must have sounded! I don’t … Continue reading
Posted in Students, Teachers
7 Comments
Helping Hands
As an adult, I sometimes notice a behavior or response in myself that I can attribute to some passing wisdom one of my parents imparted along the way. When this happens I try to call one of them as soon … Continue reading
Posted in Students, Teachers
Leave a comment
Give Me A Lever…
I am halfway through a week-long teaching experience at a local nature center. My teaching partner and I have 42 of our kids outside, experiencing learning through experiencing nature up close. As expected, it snowed on the first day, rained … Continue reading
Posted in School Reform, Students, Teachers
1 Comment
Self-Organized Learning Environment (SOLE)
I don’t typically watch something again and again, unless it’s involves the Three Stooges or the first season of Scrubs. However, I have watched this video from the 2010 TED Conference, repeatedly over the past year. If you’re interested in … Continue reading
Posted in School Reform, Students, Teachers, Technology
2 Comments
I Get Merit Pay!
For a while I’ve been in limbo about merit pay for teachers, or providing bonuses to enhance teacher salaries based on their professional performance or students’ achievement. I thought I was leaning toward this being a good thing, given my … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Politics, School Reform, Students, Teachers
1 Comment
Playground Politics
Again it played out on television, this time with a backdrop of Libya. It could have been Iraq or Afghanistan, perhaps even Vietnam years before. Either way, we’ve seen it, teachers more than most. The journalist is surrounded by adrenaline-pumped … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Parenting, Politics, Students, Teachers
2 Comments
Ram Pride
Today during the daily 10-minute snack break in the morning at our own Holt High School, as the students were gathered in the Commons, music played and the staff came from all over and joined in a dance routine for … Continue reading
Recess Privilege
Leave it to my neighbor and friend, Mike. He always shows an interest in education and challenges my thinking in a good way. Tonight we chatted ever so briefly about the improving weather as I unloaded the car from work. … Continue reading
Posted in Students, Teachers
3 Comments
Super-Boogeyman: Still Scary, But Nothing New
A few months ago, I wrote a piece for a different blog about the documentary “Waiting for Superman” in which I forecasted how educators should see this movie upon its release to be part of the conversation that I felt … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Politics, School Reform, Students, Teachers
Leave a comment
A Balanced Calendar
I’ve been ruminating for a while on the questionable value of a balanced Pk-12 academic calendar (in other words, year-round school). There are good arguments on both sides of that debate, some more perfunctory than others. FYI – The “outdated, … Continue reading
Posted in School Reform, Students, Teachers
8 Comments