“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.” ~Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go! Educators, riddle me this: How many of us actually send our personal children
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Back to la Escuela #3: Spanish for English?
In my previous two “back to schools” blogs, I focused on bringing back librarians and basic supplies such as tissue. I struggled more for the third topic, because the obvious choice seemed to be to bring back teachers! Recently the
Read MoreStudents vs Scholars
Students vs. Scholars Last year our school culture shifted away from “I have to do this.” “I have to teach these kids.” “This is my job, I have to be here.” “I have who, that student.” TO, “I get to
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Grit Vs. The Virtue of Giving Up
Bill Ferriter, In a recent Tempered Radical post, The Poisonous Mythology of Grittiness, relates a recent conversation about grit that he had with John Spenser. The crux of their discussion was that grit is too often defined as working through set-backs and “buckling down and
Read MoreTrading Bad Behavior for Good Behavior
Years ago, when they were still small, my boys were helping my wife make pot roast. The first thing she did was cut off four inches of good meat and throw it away. “Why’d you cut off that good meat
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The Little Things
As I’ve gotten into my groove as a returning rookie teacher, I’ve rediscovered the joys of finding success in the little things. When I say “little,” I mean things that measure students’ success in ways that are not analyzed as
Read MoreThe Tough Part
This past year we looked at ways to increase student leadership roles on our campus. One role we created was a Student on Special Assignment (S.O.S.A). Originally six students were selected for this role. Soon after we realized we needed to
Read MoreWhere Did My Humor Go?
I was so proud of my very first Stories From School blog. It shed light on an interesting subject, related directly to education practice, and allowed readers a glimpse into a topic that was current and relevant. Most importantly, however,
Read MoreMind Like a Civ(ics Test)?
Should Arizona high school graduates understand civics? Heck, yes. What? I agree with our Republican-dominated legislative and executive branch on an issue? As in many other states, our state legislature and national representatives are elected disproportianately by older, wealthy white
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Dear A+ Student
The following is based on an actual letter I gave to a student. I’ve changed the names and particulars to protect identities. Dear Estrella, I’m writing because frankly I think that if we had this conversation in person you would
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