For all of our conversation about critical thinking and higher level skills, we certainly spend much of our time preparing students for lower level skill assessments. If this is the case, just how low is the bar for those top performers?
Read MoreClueless? I Hope Not…
So, this week, I’ve been thinking about my district as we move ahead with Common Core. I have a feeling some of these questions are being asked around the country. Are they being asked in your district?
Read MoreTeacher Eval: Hunger Games Style
Yes, the geeky-English teacher that I am has jumped all over The Hunger Games craze. Yes, I’ve coerced all of my students into buying the book to use in class, most of us have seen the movie, plan to blog
Read MoreTeacher Whisperers Wanted
To dramatically improve teaching and learning nationwide, structural changes and out-of-the-box thinking are needed. The most quality solutions will involve new layers of teacher support and leadership. I think the chart below speaks for itself. I mean, if horses have
Read MoreFuture Shock!
It’s not easy being a parent and now there’s one more reason why. Much like automobile shoppers in the emerging car market of the 1950’s who wandered wide-eyed into attractive dealerships, parents have become consumers, but instead of for cars, they are shopping for the shiniest of schools.
Read MoreNCLB-Common Core-Value-Added-Limerick-of-all-Limericks
There once was a passionate teacher, Who cheered with her students in bleachers. Then bubble sheets came, "Data management” reigned, And now her students can’t reach her. *Sometimes, a seemingly-nonsensical poem just says thingsbest.
Read MoreWhat Do Teachers and Jersey Shore Have in Common?
One exhausted night at the end of May 2011, I got sucked into a Jersey Shore marathon and began to wonder if teachers could “GTL” like the overly-tanned and overly-paid reality show MTV characters. According to the oh-so-charming Mike “The
Read MoreValue Added Part III
Tests are easy to graph. I’d like to find a psychometrician who can take the camping, the PB&J, and the Pacific Ocean and show how THOSE things have forever impacted the sophomores on their four-day trip.
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