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PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT OR INTERFERENCE?
I recently read an ED News Daily blog post by Robyn Shulman entitled Unemployed at 10 Years Old: Stifling Creativity. I was immediately intrigued by the title of her post and her thoughts provoked...
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KEEPING IT SIMPLE
Recently, I had lunch with an old teaching colleague of mine. Kelly is a second grade teacher in Ohio, and she and I were discussing the many initiatives we’ve seen in our careers designed to improve...
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High-Stakes Testing is Sucking the Life out of Education
That is what education historian, former Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education, and author Dr. Diane Ravitch said recently at the Minnesota Education Association Conference earlier this month. It is...
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Does School Culture Affect Test Scores?
The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has introduced a new measurement of national prosperity, focusing on the “happiness factor” rather than economics. After I did a little digging, I learned that there has...
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Would You Take Autonomy Over Pay?
Imagine teaching in a school with no principal. What if the school was run like a law firm, where the teachers work as partners with equal votes in instructional decisions, they share administrative...
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Attacking the Teacher Attackers
With all of the rhetoric about education reform, every once in awhile it is refreshing when someone puts it into perspective. It's even more refreshing when that perspective shows how preposterous the...
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A Mathematical Look at Overpaying our Teachers
The recent legislative talks about increasing the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.00 (or $10.10 depending on which news you’re following), made me think about how we pay people who do one of the most...
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Getting Past the Guilt
What is your biggest challenge as a teacher? I ask this question to many teachers and surprisingly, there are two common threads regardless of the school community, the grade level, or how long the...
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A Powerful Lesson from Kids and Cheerios
In May of this year, Cheerios launched a new commercial featuring an interracial family. In the weeks that followed, outrage, vitriol, and criticism ensued. But, perhaps the most powerful reaction to...
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What Makes High-Achieving Students Different?
The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher and other studies have cited the lack of parental involvement as one of the greatest challenges in the classroom. According to the 1,000 teachers surveyed...
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Gratitude is More Than Good Manners
With Thanksgiving on the horizon, gratitude will once again be part of many conversations, classroom projects, family traditions, religious practices and community service initiatives. Like many of...
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What if Teachers Were Respected?
In ancient times, it was the teachers who became the stars. Socrates, Aristotle, Sir Isaac Newton and others influenced education and civilized society. They were esteemed and respected for their...
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Keeping it Real for Kids
106-year old Edythe Kirchmaier made headlines as the oldest registered Facebook user. What's even more remarkable is how she uses her over 47,000 fan following to bring greater awareness to Direct...
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Teaching 21st Century Skills Based Upon Age-Old Instruction
The goal for America’s educational system is clear: Every student should graduate from high school with the skills necessary for college and careers. Anyone who is even vaguely familiar with Common...
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Are You Ready For The Maker Movement?
We used to call it hands-on learning. You remember… kids would use their imaginations to build and create and actually make things. It didn’t have to be high-tech. Kids could transform an ordinary...
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