government
Posts That Shimmy & Shake: Paul Johnson & Leanne Shirtliffe
I have two favorite posts that you simply must read this weekend if you missed them the first time around….
The Giver: Is It A Happy Ending?
My son finished reading The Giver in his sixth grade English class many months ago, and I forgot to post the follow-up to his reading. Here it is now. Better late than never, no?…
I Could Not Celebrate: So Kill Me
Sunday was YomHashoah, a day commemorating the six million Jews (and others) who were murdered in the Holocaust. I know Osama bin Laden wasn’t a leader who shared a western worldview, but he had his followers. Mostly, I’m uncomfortable with all this celebration over another person’s murder. Aren’t we taught not to be joyful when blood is shed?…
Guest Post by Clay Morgan: Lessons From a Pop Teacher & a Few Zombies
Just the other day I was giving a lecture on Europe after World War II. Many of the students were fading and staring blankly in my general direction. I was about to explain one of the most important parts of the entire course and needed them alert and free of mental paralysis.
Good thing I know so much about zombies….
Does Size Matter?
For the first time in my life, I plan to attend a Budget meeting for my local school district, set for March 14, 2011. Why? It is my understanding that in my district no one attends these meetings, and I’d like to understand the process by which these cuts will be made….
Lessons From Jon Stewart
I friggin’ love Jon Stewart. He does snarky right. Instead of ending tax cuts to the top two percent, America – apparently – needs to get money from teachers….
Lessons on Slowing Down
People often ask me, as a person who has spent nearly twenty years in the classroom, what I think about AP classes. Should their child take this AP or that AP? And they are often surprised by my my response that nobody gives a shit about AP classes. Really….
NYS Grads Ain't Reddy For College
This is the kind of news story that makes me sad. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: It’s a rough time to be in education….
The Giver: Thirteen Years Later
It’s happening. My son is currently reading the first piece of literature that I ever taught. He is reading Lois Lowry’s The Giver, the story of a young boy named Jonas living in a highly controlled community some time in the future. The novel fits into a larger genre of cautionary tales called “dystopian literature.” If a utopia is a society in which everything is perfect, a dystopia is the opposite: everything has gone wrong. But my son doesn’t get this. Yet….
If My Kid Writes One More Book Report…
I get it. My school district clearly wants our kids to pass the standardized test.
They want a slice of the pie.
But our kids are dying of boredom….