Mar
16
2010
16
2010
Response to Washington Post: “Obama Revise NCLB Law”
This past weekend, as many of you know, President Obama’s new, revised-NCLB plan was released in both the New York Times and the Washington Post. My parents called after finishing up their Sunday morning ritual of newspaper-n-coffee to downshift about ...
Mar
25
2009
25
2009
Teaching Secrets: Finding a Job That You Love
Know a teacher who got a pink slip? Maybe my newest post at Teacher Magazine can help. Click here for the article.
It's Step 1 of my Top Secret New Teacher Handbook. Hope it creates some shortcuts, a machete even, through ...
Mar
07
2009
07
2009
How to be an Ed Tech Advocate
OK, guys. So I got it from the horse's mouth at CUE. According to the ISTE Director of Governmental Affairs, No Child Left Behind is not going away.
In the weeks leading up to the election, the Obama administration talked ...
Feb
25
2009
25
2009
Top 10: How to Take Control of Your Teaching
Occasionally, I repost this article so that new readers can find it more easily. Based on some very enthusiastic feedback, it has since morphed into a book proposal called The Top Secret New Teachers Handbook. I'll share more as it ...
Jan
17
2009
17
2009
NewsHour with Jim Leher: Michelle Rhee
I recently watched John Merrow's interview with Michelle Rhee on the NewsHour. Michelle seems like a real mixed blessing for education. On one hand, she's willing to clean house, and education does seriously need it. On the other hand, however, ...
Aug
13
2008
13
2008
The Carnival is in!
Welcome to another Carnival of Education hosted this week by Joanne Jacobs. After taking a writing break for a few weeks, I am back in the party. Something I love about Le Carnival is that is represents both sides of ...
Jul
02
2008
02
2008
The Carnival #178 is in town!
An (aspiring) Educator is hosting this week's Carnival of Education #178. I've tweaked my How to Take Control of Your Teaching list and although it's still in an evolving state, you can read it here. Enjoy the Carnival and the ...
Jun
21
2008
21
2008
NCLB? How ’bout B-studentsLB
I've been reading a lot of headlines lately about NCLB leaving out the over-achievers and potential leaders in our schools. Joanne Jacobs mentions it in her article, "What About the Smart Kids?" and the NYTimes and the Common Core blog ...
Jun
06
2008
06
2008
The Seventh Affliction
Joanne Jacobs made me aware of a post from the Education Gadfly about the six main afflictions of teachers. In a nutshell, they are as follows:
1. "An antiquated compensation system"
2. "A personnel system designed for the 1930s"
3. "A dysfunctional training-and-licensure regimen"
4. ...
May
23
2008
23
2008
Don’t Knock the Less Experienced Teacher
Look, we all know the statistics. Many of the hardest-to-teach classes are being taught by the least experienced teachers. According to Education Week, a study was recently conducted in Philadeliphia evaluating 9th graders, "the make-or-break year for many students on ...



