Author Archives: Mike

The Flat World and Education – Recommended Reading

Posted on November 29, 2010 by Mike

I am currently reading The Flat World and Educatioon by Linda Darling-Hammond. Actually, I have been currently reading it for some time. I began it in October on the train to and from Minnesota.  I have laid it aside from … Continue reading →

Posted in Education Reform | 1 Comment

Forty Seven Years Ago Today

Posted on November 23, 2010 by Mike

Nov. 22, 1963, I had no early classes, so I was poking about my room, getting ready to walk to campus, the other side of downtown. I had the radio on, but was paying no attention. I heard a shriek … Continue reading →

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Performance Reviews

Posted on November 21, 2010 by Mike

This summer, 7-9-2010 to be exact, on NPR, I heard a review of Samuel Culbert’s book Get Rid of the Performance Review. Although Culbert’s book is aimed at the corporate world, I was struck by how many of his points … Continue reading →

Posted in Education Reform, School Program, Teacher Accountability | Comments Off on Performance Reviews

Pay to Play

Posted on November 17, 2010 by Mike

Recently, I went to the John Best High School Orchestra Festival at the Morrison Center on the Boise State University campus. Eleven high school orchestras from around the valley  represented their respective schools. There were 190 young musicians on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Curriculum, School Program | 1 Comment

Teacher Evaluation, contd.

Posted on November 5, 2010 by Mike

A friend writes concerning the problem of employee evaluation in her field, nursing. But I suspect that evaluation is less of a problem for nurses if only because I imagine that in nursing there is more general agreement on what … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Good Teachers and Bad

Posted on November 1, 2010 by Mike

I taught for 44 years. The bulk of that experience was in public high schools. I was fortunate that in all that time, I never taught in a truly bad school, such as are depicted in the media as being … Continue reading →

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Grading the Teachers, part 2

Posted on October 4, 2010 by Mike

The L. A. Times published the school district’s test scores by teacher, by name, on or about August 14, 2010. The picture accompanying the article was of John Smith, a “bad” teacher. This struck me at the time as being … Continue reading →

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Teacher Bonuses

Posted on September 29, 2010 by Mike

The Politicians, Pundits, Polemicists, and even some Professors who, of all people, should know better, keep telling us that teachers, especially union members, keep up a mindless litany of “no” at any suggestion of progress. Well, there are some proposed … Continue reading →

Posted in Education Reform, Teacher Accountability, Teacher Compensation, Teacher's Unions | Comments Off on Teacher Bonuses

Figurative Language

Posted on September 21, 2010 by Mike

A friend recently sent me this list of examples of student writing. You have probably seen it before. It follows the comments. We English teachers (and perhaps others, if they assign writing) have always had our little chuckles over student … Continue reading →

Posted in Education Reform, Teacher Accountability, Teaching Literature | Comments Off on Figurative Language

Teachers as Writers

Posted on September 15, 2010 by Mike

Once upon a time, a decade or few ago, the constituency of public schools considered it important for us English teachers to teach kids to write coherent, meaningful, and reasonably correct English prose. In those halcyon days of yore, we … Continue reading →

Posted in Education Reform, Teacher Accountability, Teaching Literature, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Teachers as Writers