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Betraying Elmo
Just a few days ago, I spent an evening weeping with joy over the documentary Being Elmo. The subject of that documentary, Kevin Clash, is now facing accusations of “sex with an underage boy.” No matter what the truth of the story is, it will be disheartening. Which is worse? 1. The allegations are true.… Continue reading
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How Can I Get More Sleep?
A couple of years ago, Arianna Huffington gave a TED talk in which she exhorted women to get more sleep. I’ve been thinking about that talk a lot lately, because I’m tired. All the time. I recently bumped my alarm forward from 5 a.m. to 5:15, and that has made a tiny difference. But I still… Continue reading
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Education and Growing: Reprise
Foreword: It’s been a rough week. Things at work are going fine, but life outside of work – especially life as a new homeowner – has been, shall we say, challenging. Full of minor and major inconveniences. Full of questions about whether buying a house, buying THIS house, was such a good idea. My husband… Continue reading
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Things I Learned From Buying a House #3: Demystification
My husband and I are taking a home repair class, because since we moved into our brand new very old house, we’ve been paying people a lot of money to do things we could probably do ourselves. The class defies some current wisdom about what makes for “good teaching.” And it’s great. And I’m learning… Continue reading
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How To Fix Schools: Shorten Summer Vacation
In response to my open call on what should change about school, commenter emeraldlakesfreepress has an interesting suggestion. I think the school year schedule has to change. Long summers mean that children have months to forget what they have learned. 6 weeks on, 2 weeks off, with a slightly longer break in the winter and… Continue reading
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Ongoing Open Call: What Should Change About School?
I’ve just begun reading Nikhil Goyal’s One Size Does Not Fit All: A Student’s Assessment of School. Goyal is an American high-school senior who has made a name for himself talking to the media about educational change, and although I’m not far into his book yet, I am already intrigued. I’ll write more on his ideas… Continue reading
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Willing to Read and Write: Reprise
Last week, this post – first published in September of last year – spiked in my blog stats. It seemed a whole pile of people were reading it, but I couldn’t figure out who or why, although the search term “effort” had a corresponding spike. Maybe now, at midterm, teachers and students are being hard… Continue reading
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Now on Alltop
Dear readers: Classroom as Microcosm has been added to Alltop, a syndicator that I hope will bring new readers and so further enhance the thoughtful discussion that you all carry on in these pages. If you subscribe to Alltop, please add Classroom as Microcosm to your MyAlltop page! Just search for it, or go to the… Continue reading
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How Literature Will Save the World: Reprise
Why should we keep reading? Why should my students learn to love reading? I began asking myself this question in 2010, and I keep asking it, of myself and others. Below, some of my initial thoughts on the matter. * Lately, I’ve been thinking about reading. Last summer I published a post in which I mourned… 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 