After reading the answers from Bell Work, I feel confident that my students know the causes of World War II.  We engage in a dodge ball type game that enables them to see imperialism and colonialism.  I allow them to break into alliances to teach the alliance system.  We discuss this and then move onto the Treaty of Versailles ...

Yesterday I wrote a blog where I vented.  To my surprise, fellow teachers offered positive feedback and encouraging words.  I think that's a sign that it is slowly emerging as an online community for teachers.  I'm not sure what to think of this.  I feel ambivalent about the notion that community can exist online. On one ...

I am a big fan of movies.  Though I don't watch many, I think they are the legends, the myths and the folktales that we pass on from generation to generation.  Often the scripts contain profound insights about life.  So, I am listing movies that have had a strong connection to the way that I teach.  1. Goodwill ...

Will we lose our ability to red, I mean reed, I mean read Technology has a profound impact upon societies in ways that are often unforseen unintended.  Despite the goal of technocrats to integrate technology, there are always social and political consequences that few can predict. Technology is not a simple, neutral tool for the ...

I flip through the newspaper and notice an article about a meeting between the CEOs and founders of huge technology firms and governors of various states.  The goal was for these corporate leaders to instruct the politicians about how schools need to change.  At first, this seems like an arrogant move.  After all, I would not tell ...

In watching movies, it is interesting to see how teachers are portrayed.  Movies such as Ferris Bueller's Day Off or a more recent A Cinderella Story apply the stereotypes of a bland, dull, geeky teacher.  The classic role of Ben Stein fits this notion of the teacher who burns out and continues to show up regardless of whether students ...

I often rail against standardized education, holding a fist out at the McGraw Hill Company, speaking out against No Child Left Behind and publicly blasting the AIMS test.  For me, the best metaphor for standardized education is McDonalds.  Students shuffle through quickly driven by the value of effecienecy.  Teachers are ...

Like many Americans, I am not looking foward to Bonds breaking Hank Aaron's home run record. There is something else beyond the steroid use that bothers people about Barry Bonds. After all, Americans could overlook the steroid use in Mark McGuire as he chased after the single season record. Perhaps it is his arrogance. Yet arrogance is common ...

Growing up, the show was controversial.  Parents hated it.  Groups boycotted it.  Kids reveled in it, because it was real.  Unlike the plastic, pollyana Cosby show or the TGIF line-up, The Simpsons spoke to a generation of youth who loved the satire on childhood.  Nowadays, its shock value pales in comparison to ...

I rarely watch television, not so much out of moral obligation, but out of a lack of time. I find most shows to be trite and annoying. Yet, the other day, I saw a show called ''Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?'' It's an innovative idea, pitting adults against ten year olds. I can't help but laugh when an adult can't remember the Order of ...