I’ll be honest there are days and weeks that simply kick my butt. The past weeks are evident of that. The lines are blurred and Monday flows into Tuesday, into Wednesday, into Thursday and Friday. That leaves me thinking and
Read More
High School Redesign will Never Be Enough
This past Wednesday, the Obama Administration announced $375 million in support for what he is calling “Next Generation High Schools”. These schools, according to the press release, will more effectively engage and empower students to meet the demands of today’s economy.
Read More
Arguing With Students: It’s All About the Toothpaste
Two classroom management challenges came up recently in my engineering classes. In the first, two friends were horsing around and did some minor, easy to fix damage to their projects. Each claimed the other had started it. In the second,
Read More
Take a Lesson from the Ants
Have you ever terrorized ants? I’m not talking about being malicious or cruel—I just think that ants are fun to mess with sometimes. When it comes to Mother Nature, ants are one of those tiny creatures that really amaze me.
Read MoreLessons From My Version of MacGyver
As I was dropping my students off at music, I spotted our plant manager, known as Miss Shannon, who was walking a comically tiny bike across the courtyard. As I ran to open the door to the main building, I
Read More
Is Our Energy Renewable? Professional Capital Part II
Sustainability. Staying power through wise choices. I have heard people argue the causes of global warming, and the best human response, but I have yet to hear anyone attack the core value of sustainability. And it has become a metaphor
Read MoreUnder Construction
Coming back to fifth grade in the midst of common core meant greater rigor, high expectations, and new ways of teaching cognitive processes. I was nervous that maybe I would not have the game to rise to this new
Read More
True Teacher Confession #1: Sometimes I wear pajamas to work.
To clarify, my students earned pajama day by making a school fundraiser goal. Did I set up the goals? You bet! I love pajama day! But not just pj day… Occasionally, I wear my “Teacher by day, Jedi by night”
Read More
The Preparation Gap
There are many factors that are impacting education, to include lack of funding, lack of teaching professionals in the classroom, and the lack of support for new professionals during the most crucial years. As a Hope Street Group National Teacher
Read MoreJust. Keep. Calm.
That’s right AZMerit scores are here. We’ll finally know how Arizona students performed taking a first stab at the measure of the new standards. Kind of. Districts have now received embargoed reports that can’t yet be shared with the public
Read More