Lessons from a Jar
I suspect that the more time our children spend exploring ideas authentic to them on their terms, the more deeply they'll understand the world around them and the better able they'll be to make a significant mark on the world.
0 Comments Posted Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Out of Control
It's bad enough that children are increasingly losing control over their personal opinions and insights for the sake of making the right scores on high-stakes tests. It's awful when they become ill over it--when it's not about educating children as much as it is about controlling them.
1 Comments Posted Wednesday, July 23, 2008
The End of Print as We Know It?
As far as reading goes, while I still read books, I now spend copious amounts of time reading material on the Internet - much more than I do reading from the pages of reference books or magazines. It's amazing to me that in fewer than a dozen years of my life, my experience of text has changed so drastically that now much of it happens electronically.
2 Comments Posted Friday, March 14, 2008
Resolution for the Year of the Rat
Let us hold on to our promises to kids – for California, to really make this the “Year of Education,” for the U.K. to encourage others to make this the “National Year of Reading” – and stop for a moment and make a resolution to see education as something beyond the books, classroom lessons, and homework assignments – to see the face of real children whose lives affect us and are affected by us. Let’s make this year, perhaps this era, one for the prosperity of our children and youth.
0 Comments Posted Friday, February 15, 2008
Freedom Writers
As I see it, when kids truly want to learn something - especially from curricula that encourage them to deal with real life issues like race and violence, while helping them develop strong enough literacy skills to make it to college - we do them more of a disservice by not allowing them to explore those materials.
0 Comments Posted Monday, February 04, 2008
Should Reading Be So Hard?
With the drudgery of some reading programs which employ rote tasks that aren't applicable to authentic and meaningful textual experiences, I fear that we make reading much harder for kids than it should be...
0 Comments Posted Friday, January 25, 2008
It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a….Reading Teacher?!
According to a New York Times article, "Superman Finds New Fans Among Reading Instructors," the Maryland State Department of Education is planning on expanding a literacy program which employs comic books as part of its curriculum after seeing positive results in a pilot program...
2 Comments Posted Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Don’t Look a Gift-Horse in the Mouth! The Dilemma of the ‘Gifted.
When there isn't an attempt to explore and capitalize on what makes children unique, "gifted" or otherwise, all children are left behind.
2 Comments Posted Wednesday, December 26, 2007
U.S. Flatlines on PISA
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development recently released the results of its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
0 Comments Posted Monday, December 10, 2007
Are Influential Teachers Becoming Extinct?
According to figures released by the United Federation of Teachers in New York City, teacher resignations have increased steadily since 2001.
2 Comments Posted Tuesday, December 04, 2007
The Myth of Bad Behavior and “Model” Students
According to a New York Times article, "Bad Behavior Does Not Doom Pupils, Studies Say," research from two separate studies indicates that our fears that children with poor behavior will not succeed in the upper grades are exaggerated.
0 Comments Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007
Pinky Promises
In the spirit of the upcoming holidays, forget for a moment about tests, NCLB, and what our kids can't do; instead, think about what your kids are capable of doing, what they're really thinking about the things we throw at them, and the various blessings they offer you.
0 Comments Posted Friday, November 16, 2007