by Jen Teaching allows me to: Articulate Inspire Motivate Create Discover Smile Laugh Cry Read Write Think Calculate Communicate Collaborate Mediate Watch Learn Grow Explore Sing Investigate Plan Anticipate Expect Differentiate Individualize Share Celebrate Understand Demonstrate Experience Advocate Discern Problem
Read MoreThose Are Some Big Pockets….
Believe it or not, I'm going to be brief. Because my other posts are excessively long, in a Bill Clinton speech – meets Martin Scorsese movie – kind of way, I figure this will help reduce my overall word average
Read MoreAnd the Winner…!
Well, the winner wasn't me! I got my rejection letter in the mail. "Dear Mr. Dicus, Thank you for letting us observe your classroom and meeting with you. You're nomination for this award is a huge accomplishment. Unfortunately, ……" (I
Read MoreNo, It’s a Child.
Yesterday my colleagues and I had the pleasure of a good old-fashioned read-aloud (no post-its to track our thinking, or an explicit strategy think aloud). We gathered in the library for our PLC Wednesday and our principal began the afternoon
Read MoreThose Who Can, Make Movies
At a Microsoft conference for educators last summer I got to take home a bunch of pink erasers (I was hoping for something sleeker). The erasers read “make mistakes”. The folks at one of the most successful corporations on the planet know that mistakes lead to great ideas and that they should be made regularly. We need to start rewarding innovation and risk-taking if we want good, or even great teachers. And those are the very things that will be punished if we think that a standardized test taken by a hungry or moody teenager can tell us everything we need to know about good teaching.
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If I Had a Film Crew
I, rarely, watch movies about teachers – mainly because it drives my husband nuts when I yell at the screen because a teacher has pulled a karate move with inner city students, has placed chains on doors to lock out crime, or is connected
Read MoreElections, Squirrels, Teaching, and Shiny Things.
An old adage suggests that if one wishes to understand why something truly happens, the question“why?” must be posed at least five consecutive times. This allows the questioner to get below surface-level influences and arrive at the root cause. I
Read MoreNow what do we do?
So Election Day has come and gone and many people are thinking what's going to happen next? How are things going to change? What do I do? Well, you are going to do your job. That's what you are going
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