Blogboard

Mei Flower thinks the world history curriculum she has to teach moves just a little too quickly:

For example, we are currently studying the Enlightenment, and our most recent section dealt with the Scientific Revolution. In 90 minutes, I had to talk about Ptolemy, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Boyle, Newton, some guy who invented trigonometry, another guy who made advances in anatomy by dissecting human bodies, yet another guy who invented the decimal system, some guy who's the father of modern chemistry, a woman who wrote a book, Francis Bacon, the scientific method and Descartes. DESCARTES.

Well, good thing the Enlightenment wasn't all that important. ... Seriously, are there people out there running schools or education policy who don't think this sort of thing is a travesty?

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 5:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Somehow I'm doubtful that this is the kind of incentive that most teachers would recommend parents give to students. ....

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 2:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Nancy Flanagan reports on a screening of "The Providence Effect" and a related panel discussion on charter schools. She comes away (in both cases) skeptical of the "campaign-style" bravado:

Charter World is an interesting place, with different beliefs, incentives and catch phrases than Public School World. It would be a shame to lose the opportunity to do something truly different with charter schools, relying instead on rhetorical flourishes and empty myths.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Applying his own precept that pundits should be paid on the basis of performance, Claus von Zastrow of Public School Insights determines that, on the evidence of his recent articles on education, NewsWeek writer Jonathan Alter's salary should be docked--and indeed, that he should even be facing termination. Not sure he was expecting Alter himself to show up in his comments section, though. ... At any rate, it's a good back-and-forth.

Hat tip: Pondiscio.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ed Tech expert Scott McLeod offers 10 random questions that schools should be considering in connection with books and libraries. A sample:

If students and teachers now can be active content creators and producers, not just passive information recipients, doesn't that redefine our entire notion of what it means to be information literate and media fluent? Are our librarians and classroom teachers doing enough to help students master these new literacies (for example, by focusing on student content creation, not just information consumption and/or interpretation)?

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Cindi Rigsbee says that teachers often send students the wrong message about reading and writing. They're not supposed to be forms of punishment.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 3:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Mrs. Bluebird is distressed that so many parents fail to log on to her district's online gradebook system, which would enable them to track their child's work and progress. She comments:

That silence you hear is the sound of parent involvement, or, more precisely, the lack thereof. ... It's like they don't even care. And we wonder why the kids don't care either.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Mybellringers explains that—from her students perspective, anyway—she probably doesn't need to dress up this year to be taken as a witch.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bill Ferriter answers frequently asked questions on using blogs in the classroom. This sounds like a very good point:

Believing that blogs are ONLY opportunities for students to practice writing skills is a fatal flaw for most classroom blogging projects. Instead of digital soapboxes, teachers and students must begin to see blogs as interactive forums for continuing conversations around topics of interest--and interactive forums require two-way participation.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 1:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If you want to improve the quality of the teaching profession, says Renee Moore, you need to start by improving the quality of teacher-evaluation systems.

Apparently, we do not have systems that accurately identify teacher effectiveness or the degree of that effectiveness. Rigorous evaluation systems would not only identify quality teaching, but give each teacher a realistic, timely assessment of his/her work, identifying areas or strength and weakness; thereby, guiding professional development and support needs.

My report on Moore's presentation at the Forum for Educaiton and Democracy in Washington is here.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Will Richardson doesn't like where the Obama administration's Race to the Top program is leading and wonders why "more educators aren't voicing their displeasure at the idea of being paid based on the scores their students make on standardized tests (among other things.)"

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Lesson idea watch: Mr. Teacher has his ELL students lead a "gallery walk" through their word-problem solutions.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)