Too Teeter and Too Totter

Talk

2011-04-07T16:10:00.013-04:00

I'm part of a project this year that works with new(ish) teachers on teaching science. One of the science teaching practices we're learning about and trying out is a "Science Talk." A Science Talk is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. You ask your class a question -- a question that doesn't really have a right answer, that perhaps can be interpreted in different ways -- and then, with

Cheating and other hazards of high-stakes testing

2011-03-31T15:57:00.000-04:00

There's been a lot of news lately about cases of confirmed or suspected cheating by administrators and teachers on high-stakes tests. This is, of course, not surprising. When a single measure such as test scores is used to make decisions about school funding, jobs, and whether or not to keep a school open, you can be sure there'll be outright cheating. But there's a much stickier question that

The Lives of Teachers: Autonomy Versus Control

2010-12-12T21:18:00.003-05:00

I have a lot going on right now, but I had to write a post for a project I'm working on about teacher autonomy, so I thought I'd post it here. Clearly, if we just leave teachers to their own devices, to teach with their doors closed and no supervision, we cannot be assured of high-quality instruction. At the same time, if we ask teachers to be automatons who parrot pre-packaged lessons,

Writing is like talking

2010-12-02T22:35:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to infuse my science, social studies, and math instruction with more writing. At my school, we aren't that great yet at teaching children to write, and the result of our instruction in that domain leaves much to be desired. (I am fully implicated in this problem along with my colleagues -- for years, I've been saying I don't really know how to teach writing.) Yesterday I

Teach less, but teach smarter

2010-11-15T22:27:00.008-05:00

I've been doing a little math today. I've been calculating how much time I work, and of that time, how much I spend teaching. I have some unique data on this because, since September, I've been keeping track of all my work time. Since I'm half self-employed, I need to track my time for some projects. Since I was tracking my time for some projects, I figured I might as well track my time for

To Play or Not to Play?

2010-11-06T16:31:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures of my students on our first neighborhood walk the other day. This is what I love about teaching. Besides good conversations, exciting discoveries, and having fun together, my favorite moments are when we are outside, exploring and discovering, or inside, creating and building. Don't get me wrong. I also love teaching math and reading. I love watching skills and

Knowledge is Power, People

2010-10-27T17:48:00.008-04:00

On this rainy morning, I went to visit the KIPP Charter School in a nearby town. Charter schools are THE hot topic around here, partly thanks to Waiting for Superman and partly because Massachusetts has dropped the cap on charter schools. Next year will see many new charters in Boston, and the city school system will be losing a lot of money to them. The big question is, with fewer

Stories

2010-10-21T14:51:00.001-04:00

Here are two stories about kids who are sort of on the autistic spectrum (whether formally diagnosed or not). These are the kinds of kids who often make the best stories. Yesterday I was having a meeting with my principal and co-teacher while the kids were at Dance. We were in the middle of a sentence when Chinwe walked nonchalantly in the open door. (Chinwe was in my class last year.)

Inside a Teacher's Brain

2010-10-15T08:28:00.000-04:00

There is a powerful image early on in Waiting for Superman that I can't get out of my mind. A cartoon teacher stands in her classroom, cartoon students seated before her. She walks along the row of desks, stopping behind each child just long enough to open up the top of their brain, pour some knowledge in, and pop it closed again. Soon, though, countless edicts and policies begin to arrive

Test Prep

2010-10-06T13:45:00.004-04:00

I went to see "Waiting for Superman" the other night. To my surprise, I thought it was pretty good. Oversimplified, of course. But how could anyone expect otherwise? Cover the topic of education in the US deeply in a two-hour film?! Impossible. Here is what has been most unsettling me since then, and it is a question only hinted at in the film. The charter schools highlighted in the film (

What makes a neighborhood a good place to be?

2010-10-03T13:17:00.002-04:00

This week we started thinking about this question, which is the guiding question for our neighborhoods curriculum all year. It is a really good question, I think, one we haven't used (with that wording) before. It took me two years of teaching this curriculum to feel like I really knew the "big picture" of what we were trying to teach. Once I had that understanding, I could step back and think

Accountability

2010-09-28T11:42:00.004-04:00

One does not go far in the world of education today without tripping over the word accountability. In the past four or so years, the word has gone from barely existing on the edges of my known vocabulary to staring me in the face nearly every day. I come across it on the radio, in the news, at staff meetings and committee meetings, in education books and articles, on Facebook, in blogs, at

Roller-skating

2010-09-24T14:07:00.003-04:00

A Teacher’s Guide to Fellowships and Awards: Opportunities for Professional Growth and Renewal