Viewing: Writers Project
The mythical superhuman teacher
Yes, there are many problems in education. But many of them boil down to the fact that we are a cadre of professionals who are taken advantage of as part of the job requirement.
Spontaneous Public Displays of Art
I can’t wait to show my 8th Grade Honors class this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq6b9bMBXpg. It’s a great display of the act of spreading the arts publicly and on a huge scale. My students have been working all year on their
Where the Wild Things Are: Part II
So I recited the book and showed the movie trailer to the students on my Interactive Whiteboard, just as I mused about in my last post. From there, I read an old version of the “Three Little Pigs” and asked
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,
Internet Reading: The genre
So I’m sitting here pondering the titles of the two curriculum books I am currently writing on teaching Internet Literacy, and I can’t help but wonder if reading on the Internet isn’t its own genre all together. I mean,
Finding Your Own Theme in Life
I have an article in the new March/April issue of Imagine Magazine, put out by Johns Hopkins. It’s a beautiful magazine, whose audience is gifted middle schoolers. It’s always a pleasure to write for a middle school audience. I can
A teacher’s duty?
So by now I assume we’ve all heard of the sanctioned “cage fighting” in a Dallas, TX school. As AP reports, school officials apparently condoned the use of a steel cage in which students could bare-knuckle fight their way towards
Extreme Makeover: Classroom Edition
There’s been so much talk lately of deep-needed reforms for education, but we neglect just how powerful a simple makeover can be. I’m lucky to currently work at a school that has a patch of green, which fixes the broken
CUE Conference: Podcasting with 70 Middle Schoolers – RU Crazy?
So here’s my Keynote presentation for all of you who wanted to flip through it for some reminders. To open up my handouts, click here. Hope you all enjoyed the session, and feel free to drop me a line
The Importance of The Classroom Library
I believe a classroom library is the heartbeat of a teacher’s environment. It is the window into their own personality, and it reflects the importance of literacy in the classroom. I believe every teacher, no matter the subject taught, should
Teacher Magazine: Test Prep Magic
Check out my article in yesterday’s Teacher Magazine outlining 5 little-thought-about strategies in teaching test prep. Hope it helps you during your own Test Prep season. -Tweenteacher
DARPA to create metacognitively aware robots
The Register reports that DARPA (Defense Advance Research Projects Agency) is currently researching how to create robots that are “like some self-aware computer systems capable of “meta-reasoning” and “introspection…” Their goal is to “Provide machines with an ability to reason
The Death of Teacher Conferences or I Can’t Believe I Miss My Canvas Bag
So, CATE (the California Association of Teachers of English) just came to an end. The hotel was lovely. All ran smoothly. We were greeted with smiles aplenty, and everything ran on time. Sheridan Blau, Kelly Gallagher, Carol Booth Olson, Taylor
Am I So Past My Prime?
Somehow, and maybe I’m reading into it here, I feel a little written off already. Education Week is reporting that some districts are pondering the possibility of “front-loading” new teacher salaries, increasing their compensation earlier in their career to aid
“I Statements” in Expository Writing
This weekend I’m presenting at the CATE conference in Santa Clara, CA. It’s a session on developing high level, critical-thinking commentary in expository writing. My feeling is that great commentary is the Voice in Expository, it is the Show, Not
Starting from scratch in teacher training
I recently heard Judy Willis (of “syn-naps” fame) speak at a conference. In her pre-teaching life, she was a neurologist and she brings her knowledge to the classroom and to her lectures. (See my recently published article in Teacher Magazine, “My
Test Prep-Bubbling Power
So I looked at my 8th grade students’ scores after they took the MMA and sighed. Their scores sucked.
Is EdTech changing how students think or is it addressing the changes in student thinking?
Science Daily is reporting that there has been a shift in how students are thinking as a result of their use of technology. They believe it possibly lowers critical thinking skills and analysis. Additionally, they wonder just how much schools
My New Interactive Whiteboard…an update
OK, you know when you get a new puppy and you love it and you couldn’t live without it and then you find out it has hip dysplasia? That’s a little of what my relationship is like with my
Congrats Neil Gaiman!
All hail the mighty Neil Gaiman! I can’t say that I actually called it, but I did recommend The Graveyard Book, did I not? Yes, it seems The Sandman himself has gone and won the Newbery Award. So congrats
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