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"The time has come, the Walrus said, to speak of many things..."
March 2008 - Posts
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I read this article about a teenager killed basically for being gay, and I continue to be amazed at the lack of support within schools for gay, ***, transgender, and bisexual students.
My school recently started a group to support all students of diversity, Read More...
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With the popularity of the internet and the ever-increasing access to it, students are using it for less than honest reasons. Although a great many students remain honest and complete their own work, a growing number have resorted to cheating by using Read More...
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Everyone deserves a dance. And, everyone deserves a chance to dance. This story is one of those which reinforces why I love working with educators and why I have faith in our youth. Students, alongside teachers and parents, made an often overlooked group Read More...
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A recent article and a wonderful blog both focused on a middle school in Arlington where students receive some credit for not doing an assignment. Missing assignments are given a 50% instead of a zero grade.
The logic behind this is that in a GPA scale, Read More...
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The Grapes of Wrath
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar Read More...
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I came upon another article about class size and student success. According to the article’s author,
“Small classes are more engaging places for students because they’re able to have a more personal connection with teachers, simply by Read More...
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While reading The Grapes of Wrath with my class this month, I introduced the idea of pragmatism to the students. I used the two primary facets of this philosophy to help analyze the novel. These two characteristics of pragmatism are: 1) truth is mutable, Read More...
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According to a new study in a Washington Post article:
At a time when more authors are writing more books for young people, fewer children are reading for pleasure. A recent study by the National Endowment for the Arts showed that the percentage of 13- Read More...
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I sometimes feel this way about standardized testing and class sizes in my school. Read More...
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Are we pseudo-Shakespeares spreading our own literature of the era? Read More...
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“If I ran my business the way you people operate your schools, I wouldn’t be in business very long!”
I stood before an auditorium filled with outraged teachers who were becoming angrier by the minute. My speech had entirely consumed Read More...
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In a study researchers found:
Students who receive comprehensive sex education are half as likely to become teen parents as those who get none or abstinence-only sex education, according to researchers at the University of Washington. What’s more, Read More...
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I sat in a three-hour union meeting with ESPN’s updating scoreboard open in the background of my computer. Even though the meeting was a good one, I just couldn’t keep myself from keeping track of March Madness. I’m just as bad as my Read More...
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Maybe he’ll catch Rama. Or touch the Monolith. Or become a part of Foundation. No matter what he does next–in the next world or during the next life–Arthur C. Clarke will be missed.
I remember discovering Clarke’s works just after Read More...
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How about this allusion (scroll to the bottom) to the Last Supper? Not only do I love the allusion itself, but I love that sci-fi show. April 4 can’t get here soon enough for the final installments of Battlestar Galactica! Read More...
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The Repairman tagged me with this meme, and I’ve been quite slow to respond but here is mine.
THE RULES: Post a picture or make/take/create your own that captures what YOU are most passionate for kids to learn about.
Give your picture a short title. Read More...
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Today an article explained how the state Supreme Court deemed random drug tests for athletes unconstitutional. One portion of the article reads:
“We cannot countenance random searches of public school student athletes,” under the Washington Read More...
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Think about this: according to a new study, approximately 26% of teen girls–that’s 3 million of them–have an STD.
This is on the heels of the JagWire getting lambasted for pointing out what others deny ignore: teens are sexually active, Read More...
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My American Literature class is still giving me grief. Only 19 of 32 students initially turned in the summary (that number is now 27 out of 32), and now only 18 of 32 turned in the thesis paragraph assigned two weeks ago. Grrr!
After I call all the parents, Read More...
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I read an article today about high school seniors who are trying to pass the WASL in order to graduate. While I believe a minimum standard is acceptable for students to reach, I also feel that the credits earned should be the standard. However, that is Read More...
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This week is my state’s standardized testing week. David Horsey (in a March 5, 2004, cartoon) and I feel quite similar when it comes to standardized testing, especially as indicator of school and student success. Here is his great cartoon: Read More...
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I thought I’d post some updates on the goings on I’ve discussed previously.
When my class created bulletin boards about the 1920s for The Great Gatsby, things did not go exactly as planned. Being literal-minded students, almost everyone basically Read More...
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Is it possible to create a culture of failure?
My school is currently being asked to discover why the Freshman failure rate is so high. 1/3 of the Freshmen failed a class during their first semester in high school, and statistically speaking 30% of Freshmen Read More...
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Emerald Ridge High School’s student newspaper, the JagWire, recently published a set of featured articles centering on oral sex, and now the newspaper is under fire. Having read the four pages of material, I feel the students attempted to shed light Read More...
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