On this suggested school boycott-let’s be serious. In The Atlantic, former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan suggested a massive nationwide school boycott to pressure our leaders into action to address gun violence. But a boycott of schools is not the way to pressure unwilling establishment leaders for better gun laws, and it is a shame that people considered to […]
Common Core
Posted inAdult Learning
The Royal Wedding: Why Should We Care? One American Teacher’s Perspective
The news broke this morning: another school shooting, this time in Santa Fe, Texas. I don’t want to think about it. I don’t want to entertain the thought that this most recent massacre is the 22nd school shooting this year. I can’t bear to think that ten more families will be planning funerals and that […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
Teaching The Legacy of Dr. King: Fifty Years Later
I sit to write on the waning hours of April 4, 2018, fifty years after the assassination and death of Martin Luther King, Jr. I was seven when we all heard the news of his death. Even at that young age, I knew something had happened that would change the direction of my nation, indeed; […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Let’s Embrace the Move to Standards-Based Grading
When my Principal mentioned that we would start the move towards Standards-Based grading next year, all I saw were looks of horror on most teachers’ faces. Look, I get it. Change is hard. Super hard. Among all the other tasks teachers are charged with, adding another just seems… impossible. But I also believe that change […]
Posted inCommon Core
“Let Them Eat Cake:” How Teachers Can Resist Banned Words
Words never uttered can be extremely significant. Often the perception of words said (or unsaid) carry more importance than truth. In October of 1789, Marie Antoinette did not look down at the swarming hordes of fishmonger women storming the Palace on Versailles and […]
Posted inTeacher Leaders
The Writing Gap: Why a Renaissance in Writing Instruction is Imperative
“Appositive?” “What is an appositive?” “Is that even a word?” These were snippets of conversations overheard in a teacher’s book study at Liverpool High School, a large, suburban school north of Syracuse, NY. The assembled teachers, from a variety of disciplines including World Languages, English, Social Studies, Science, Mathematics and Special Education, comprise a group studying […]
Posted inCommon Core
3 Steps to Helping Students Develop College-Ready Writing Skills
Teachers are forever reminding their students that what’s going on in their classrooms will be ‘important to know in high school and college’ – but how many students actually believe them? I remember one student who replied to me when I said that: “Yeah, that’s what they say every year. And it’s never really true […]
Posted inCommon Core
Empowering Students Through Choice
Last month, I wrote an article about how lack of creativity for teachers can hinder both progress and respect. The same thing can be said for our students: a lack of creativity can hinder progress, respect, and self-efficacy. Allowing more choice for our students can empower them while also promoting creativity. Scripted and finite curricula […]