|
|
"The time has come, the Walrus said, to speak of many things..."
July 2008 - Posts
-
Since the 1970s some aspects of students and their lives are relatively unchanged according to a study by the Foundation for Child Development.
Reading abilities, graduation rates, and suicide rates have basically remained the same for teenagers since Read More...
|
|
|
-
Today’s op-ed piece by David Brooks in the NY Times uses two studies to explain the widening gap between the haves and have nots.
The first study is titled “The Race Between Education and Technology” and was written by Claudia Goldin Read More...
|
|
|
-
According to a cited study in an LA Times article, overweight students average a half point lower grade point average and score almost 10 percentile points below their peers on other tests. Other findings are that overweight students: are five times more Read More...
|
-
Two of my favorite teachers, both journalism instructors, are admittedly not the typical readers. One reads only non-fiction books, newspaper and magazine articles, and online list serves while the other contends he’s “not the typical English Read More...
|
-
I composed a post over at Joel’s So You Want To Teach. I updated an old post, so please check it out and let me know what you think. Read More...
|
-
Recently, numerous articles (here and here and here) have explained or editorialized about the Washington State Board of Education’s likely approval of a proposal to require students to complete 24 credits to graduate instead of the current 19. Read More...
|
-
I think I have a tentative plan for my College in the High School course. We are required to go through the writing periods and to follow (roughly) the AP History classes’ progress. This is quite an ambitious list of readings; this past year I would Read More...
|
-
One aspect of teaching, which can be quite difficult, is how to make what we teach relevant to students today. Kids seem to think they cannot possibly connect the writings of yesteryear with the hectic, technological, global lives led today; however, Read More...
|
-
My wife and I attended a hockey game in Tacoma featuring the now non-existent Sabre Cats, and a little boy of about 3 or 4 years old cheered the entire game for the Sabre Cats. He had a little jersey on and waved his pennant the whole game. He also had Read More...
|
-
When handing back papers, especially among my honors students, I often run into some emotion. I tend to be a tough grader. fair but tough. My students realize this after their first writings are returned to them. For many students it’s the first Read More...
|
-
Just as some teachers feel their authority is usurped by unsupportive leaders and parents, coaches often feel the same way. I have frequently heard from coaches that parents wield their power like a sword, a weapon to brandish when they disagree with Read More...
|
-
Joel, an excellent blogger, over at So You Want to Teach? posed some interesting questions regarding absences and make-up work for students, and I thought I’d post my ideas here.
1. How do you handle make-up work for students?
I have a couple systems Read More...
|
-
At a meeting in June my principal discussed the efforts of our school in narrowing the achievement gap (such a cliched term nowadays). Specifically, the gains of the lower end students were highlighted. An obvious upward trend could be seen. But, the Read More...
|
-
One worry I have while working in my high school is the continuing trend to silence the students. Just because the students disagree with the teachers or the administration, their rights should not be parsed and their speech silenced. An article in the Read More...
|
-
A new requirement in California forces every 8th grader to enroll in Algebra and take a proficiency exam. This will be the first time students must take an upper-level math test prior to entering high school.
The hope is that “the new policy will Read More...
|
-
Yesterday I posted about how to attract teachers to the profession. That answer was simple; however, according to studies, how to keep teachers in the profession does not necessarily center on money, and I would agree.
Numerous reports, including one Read More...
|
-
I’m normally quite patient. However, I tire of the continuing questions surrounding how to attract new teachers to the profession: incentive pay, merit pay, favorable schedules, allowances, priority housing, signing bonuses, and more.
Pay them more! Read More...
|
-
During my student teaching my mentor teacher asked a seemingly straight-forward and simple question: why did you give a test after reading that novel?
My response, an obviously silly and meaningless one (even after some thought), was “because it Read More...
|
-
While away at the NEA-RA convention, I ignored pop culture news and the sporting world for a bit. What an amazing cleansing of the mind!
However, the major story dominating headlines the day I picked up a newspaper detailed the affair between Alex Rodriguez Read More...
|
-
When I received an e-mail stating that teachers work only “part-time” because of their “summers off,” I immediately chuckled and shook my head. How about we play a game I like to call Teacher Math?
First, I will take the average Read More...
|
-
While at the NEA-RA convention I met Ms. Teacher. Even though we only spoke for a few minutes, her kindness and her passion for teaching was evident. If you haven’t done so (and shame on you if have not), check out Ms. Teacher’s blog. Read More...
|
-
When people say that attending the NEA-RA can be invigorating, believe them! Seeing over 17,000 people advocate for education in one place sure sent a charge through me, and I’d love to attend again.
Interesting stats I got from the Washington State Read More...
|
|
|
|
|