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Author Archives: Mike
The Better Part…
Today(This entry has languished in the Drafts folder since May. I must have regarded it as unfinished, but now, here it is, complete or not.), on NPR’s On Being, I heard poet Sarah Kay quote someone, I forget who, as … Continue reading
Posted in Curriculum, Teaching Literature, Teaching Writing
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Now What?
The “Luna Laws” have been repealed. This is no time for self-congratulation, but time to begin the real work. It is time for thinking and talking about changes that will really make a difference, except that this time teachers need … Continue reading
Posted in Education Reform, Political
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Is American Education Broken?
No and yes. It depends on where you are looking at it from. What is broken is uniform access of students across the nation to a quality public education. American public schools range in quality from excellent to abysmal. I … Continue reading
Posted in Education Reform
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Building a Better Science Teacher
The August 2012 Scientific American carries an article by Pat Wingert, “Building a Better Science Teacher.” Much of his argument is same-old same-old: what a horrible job of teaching math and science the nation’s public schools are doing, the stock-in-trade … Continue reading
Posted in Education Reform
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Student Journals
Recently, a friend commented, regarding the theater shooting incident in Colorado I just heard a news item that is one of the most appalling things I’ve ever heard. James Holmes wrote his plan for the attack in a notebook and … Continue reading
Posted in Practices, Teacher Accountability
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VC
Coming up Geiger Grade, light snow. At Nine-mile Flat, floor it. The road constricts to 110. Mid-winter. Mid-week. Prime drinking time. Tourists and summer people are gone. C Street is mostly parking spaces. Closing time. The snow has stopped, the … Continue reading
The Ontario Model
Forty years ago, or forty-one perhaps, Genny and I took the long way ‘round returning from Sioux Falls, SD to Payette, ID. We drove north to Winnipeg, turned left, and followed Canada 1 clear across. We dropped south to Seattle … Continue reading
Posted in Education Reform, Practices, School Program, Teacher Accountability
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The Better Part…
Today, on NPR’s On Being, I heard poet Sarah Kay quote someone, I forget who, as saying “Listening is the better part of speaking.” It reminded me of a wise philosopher who said “We have two ears and one mouth … Continue reading
Posted in Curriculum, Literary, Teaching Literature
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Hotspot Schools
I want to make something clear: I do not agree with the Reformist’s premise that American Public Education is broken beyond repair and must be reinvented from the ground up, nor do I agree with their methods for “fixing” it, … Continue reading
Posted in Education Reform, School Program
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Bad Systems, Bad Teachers
You all have probably gathered by now from my rants that the world of school is not easily walked away from. You have probably gathered that I have little use for the school “reform” movement, which, in the cynicism of geezerhood, … Continue reading
Posted in Education Reform, Memoir, Teacher Accountability
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