Setting the Stage I am in a hotel room with three millennials: Grace, 24, Gabriel, 22, Glorie, 20. An argument is raging: How can I be civil with people who support evil? I know that’s harsh. Is your neighbor who voted for Trump evil? I’ll say no. But these young people are having none of it. […]
Principals’ Corner
Principals.
Posted inAdult Learning
The Politics and Pedagogy of Immigration Policy
The national debate over the Trump Administration policy of separating children from their parents at the southern border has reached a fever pitch. Images and audio of crying children, traumatized by the removal of their parents to detention facilities while the children are detained in what amounts to cages, have preoccupied the national media and gripped […]
Posted inAdult Learning
2018: Reflections on a School Year
It’s the Saturday after the last day of school for teachers. I am turning 58 today. I just completed my 34th year as a social studies teacher. Tomorrow is Father’s Day. Looking back over the past year and over the arch of my career, I want to write about the struggles and successes of my […]
Posted inHow to Fix Education
In Defense of Standardized Testing: A Reflection
Standardized testing: just the thought of these assessments strikes terror in the hearts of teachers. If only our students cared as much about how they score on state-mandated tests. Most of the educational literature reflects a negative view of standardized testing, but they serve an important purpose in American education: to indicate teacher effectiveness through […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
The Second Quarter Blues
The weeks between Thanksgiving and the New Year are often cited as the most wonderful time of the year… except when they are the worst. In schools that begin around Labor Day, the Second Quarter – or second grading period – typically stretches from November to January. Due to holidays, concerts, sporting events, interruptions, and the […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Dear Administrators: Don’t Move Ineffective Teachers to a Lower Grade; Help Them Improve
Guest Writer: Shawnta S. Barnes The great school mix up is one strategy elementary principals use to remove ineffective teachers from upper elementary grades, the grades where state standardized tests are taken. Apparently, moving these teachers to an ‘easier’ grade will magically fix the problems they faced in their upper-grade classroom. There are a few […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Principals' Corner
Is Adult Drama the Elephant in the Classroom?
Why teacher’s professional issues are more important than student’s concerns when building effective professional learning communities. By Laura D. Brown Learning Styles, Collaborative Learning, Project-Based Learning (PBL) — these are just three of the many instructional approaches that I have been trained to implement during my twenty-two-year teaching career. All of the above-mentioned approaches have […]
Posted inFeatured
How My School Attained Blue Ribbon Status
On Thursday, September 28th, Good Hope Middle School (the school where I teach) was one of 342 schools (35 of the middle or junior high institutions) designated a Blue Ribbon School. Since then, a few of my fellow teachers asked me “How did we earn such a distinction?”, “What does your school do differently?”, or, […]