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Lesson Diary, or, Stuff I Might Do Next Semester
I used to keep a lesson diary. I might start doing it again. I’ve been participating in the Castle Book Club discussion of Daniel T. Willingham’s Why Don’t Students Like School? – half-heartedly, I admit, for two reasons. First, my beloved cat died last week, and since then I’ve been doing everything with only half… Continue reading
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how I saved my teaching career part 5: facing fears
My latest guest post for the TimesOnline’s education blog, School Gate, went up today. It’s called Face Your Fears. I discuss the anxieties I needed to confront if I wanted to keep teaching without falling to pieces. Please visit and comment if you can! I’d love to hear your own thoughts on how to overcome… Continue reading
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carnival of ed for June 24, 2009
The Carnival of Education is up at Steve Spangler’s Blog. Some highlights: Joep de Graff at Dancing Crocodile considers the difficulties of highly intelligent students in Gifted but Stupid. And then there are those who have to work at it. Old Andrew at Scenes from the Battleground gives us his thoughts on those who are… Continue reading
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10 edublogs I’ve been reading
Keeping a blog gives me a lot of chances to learn from other bloggers. I’m often inspired by someone else’s post, and that inspiration can be the beginning of a terrific conversation and blogging relationship. Below are ten education blogs that are “favourites” in my feed reader. Some of these are well-known and widely appreciated,… Continue reading
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Holden Caulfield Has Left the Building
Apparently, teens don’t like Holden Caulfield any more. Yesterday’s NY Times gave us an article about the demise of Holden’s appeal in the minds of the young. One teacher says, “Holden’s passivity is especially galling and perplexing to many present-day students…In general, they do not have much sympathy for alienated antiheroes; they are more focused… Continue reading
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There are Worse Things than Dropping Out of School
Craig Althof over at In Pursuit of Excellence emailed me the other day with an article from CNN about “dropout prevention programs” in the United States, including the America’s Promise Alliance’s program, which is chaired by Gen. Colin Powell. The introduction to the article focuses on dropout prevention “foot soldiers” (a coordinator and a police… Continue reading
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book club: why don’t students like school?
The Castle Summer Book Club’s discussion of Daniel T. Willingham’s book Why Don’t Students Like School? is underway. It’s too late to join the book club proper, but the discussion is open to the general public – you can’t post, but you can add comments. The link I’ve provided above is to the Group 2… Continue reading
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the carnival of ed goes hiking
Two of my particular interests – education blogging and hiking – have come together over at Successful Teaching in this week’s Carnival of Education. Pat has put together a bundle of great education posts, including: My Wealth Builder on holding his daughter back from kindergarten. BaltoNorth on optional “mandatory” volunteerism in high schools. Pat herself… Continue reading
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professional development meme 2009
I’ve been tagged by Tracy Rosen; thanks Tracy! This meme recently appeared on Clif’s Notes. Directions: Summer can be a great time for professional development. It is an opportunity to learn more about a topic, read a particular work or the works of a particular author, beef up an existing unit of instruction, advance one’s… Continue reading
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how I saved my teaching career part 4: finding community
The fourth installment in my series “How I Saved My Teaching Career” went up on School Gate, the TimesOnline’s education blog, today. This post is about finding one’s community in order feel supported. While you’re there, I’d encourage you to browse around the School Gate blog. Sarah Ebner is a terrific blogger (and very generous;… Continue reading
About Me
My job is to teach people to read and write; aside from that, I like to learn things.
Classroom as Microcosm 