Blogboard

Ga. kindergarten teacher Christina Shunnarah, one of the bloggers for NYT's Lesson Plans, reflects that the 95 percent of her students' cultures that lie below the surface are the most important. Besides the obvious cultural markers of food, fashion and folklore, Shunnarah says that teachers need to pay attention to elements of 'deep culture'--concepts of beauty, approaches to problem solving and personal relationships, eating habits, facial expressions, to name a few. But before understanding their students, teachers need to understand their own backgrounds, and how they react to different cultures.

In order for me to be as effective as possible with the students I work with, I must continuously engage in a process of self-reflection. To be able to know others, especially diverse others, one must know the self. So the growth of a culturally competent educator starts there. We must look within for a deeper understanding of who we are before we can adequately address the needs of our students.

Posted by Jeff Lambert at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Doug Noon of Borderland imagines what life would be like if education reform got the same treatment as the Wall Street bailout.

If education reform worked anything like the $700 billion Wall Street bailout plan now on the table, we’d have seen government officials immediately call for implementing a plan that, as George Bush would argue, “matches the scope of the problem.” We’d see the debt ceiling raised, with hundreds of billions of dollars committed to resolving the crisis, and no demand for accountability.

For Noon, the bailout illustrates education reform’s low-priority status in the American government.

The quick willingness of the Bush administration to commit public funds to the Wall Street bailout exposes the duplicity behind objections that the Broader, Bolder proposal for education reform is too expensive.

Posted by Josh Cohen at 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

English teacher Ariel Sacks is rethinking her grading schema. “Just what is a class participation grade?” she asks. “How is it calculated? I’ll come clean and say that I’ve mostly been making mine up.”

While looking over the state standards—which emphasize reading, writing, and speaking—with her colleagues one day, Ariel realizes that participation, for her, is really about making “meaningful spoken contributions to class.”

And now, as I rip apart my less than useful practice of making up class participation grades, it occurs to me that I should just get rid of it, and create a new category for speaking. . . I have many assignments that are designed to build and assess students’ oral language skills, and even rubrics that make explicit what’s being graded. Yet I’ve struggled with which category to place them in! So now they have a home, and my grading is more aligned with ELA standards.

Posted by Liana Heitin at 3:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Chris Lehmann at Practical Theory takes on the idea that schools are preparing a 21st century workforce. It would be better to start with the premise, he says, that we teach because we care about our students, and not imply “that education is something we do to kids in service of the larger need of society – and a market economy."

Instead, if we talk about schools that help students become 21st Century citizens, we can speak to their need to be engaged and involved in their entire world. We can talk about how our hope for them to find their place in our society, not just as worker but as person. That rhetoric, to me, speaks to a transaction of care, because it aspires to help students find a rich and meaningful life while also teaching the need to be part of the larger society in powerful ways.

Posted by Jeff Lambert at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A nice read for a Friday afternoon: California Teacher Guy discovers the dreaded school superintendent is actually a pretty nice guy.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

huffenglish explores the plight of high school English teachers who are tired of writing extensive, thoughtful comments on students' papers, only to be subsequently be asked, “Why’d I get a B?”

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 1:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mei Flower, who by the way has a great "about me" description, is trying out some student-directed instructional methods, but admits she's having a difficult time giving up control:

I am introducing literature circles in my reading classes. I'm nervous about it, because it takes the control out of my hands and gives it to the kids; they're supposed to direct their own learning. I hope it works. It's supposed to help them become better readers and develop their metacognitive ability. I started today with my largest class, which had six groups of four. Two groups got right to work, two took about five minutes to settle down, and two took a LONG time to get started. I know that it's just the first day, and that they need extensive modeling before they go off on their own, and that I shouldn't judge the entire exercise based on one day's work, but ... it's hard to turn over control in the first place, and when things don't immediately go right, I get worried and frustrated. I know that's my issue, not the kids'.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Teacher blogger Anthony Cody has an excellent and informative post on the befuddling condition of education in California. In response, Nancy Flanagan points out that California was once the model for progress in public education, but has lately "passed some truly weird education legislation."

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Will Richardson puts in a plug for a new book called Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives. His blurb: "You can add this to the chorus of smart people who see what’s happening as 'tectonic.'"

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mister Teacher, a 3rd grade math teacher, is teaching his kids to compare number values by using the "alligator mouth eats the greater number" trick. They seem to have gotten the idea:

Almost all of them had the inequality sign pointing the right way on their exercises, but almost all of them had drawn HUGE inequality signs, complete with jagged teeth, forked tongues, and in some cases, firey breath.

And by the way, if Pac Man was involved in your learning of this concept, you're apparently showing your age.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Two NYC education bloggers are debating Green Dot charter school’s recent decision to unionize with the United Federation of Teachers and what it means for teacher tenure at the school.

Edwize, a UFT sponsored blog, supports the decision, saying it gives teachers at the school excellent protection.

Teachers working at Green Dot New York Charter School are guaranteed “just cause” for any disciplinary action, including termination. Not only does this ensure fair and consistent treatment, it also surpasses the state’s tenure law as the school’s just cause commitment applies to all employees, not just those who have passed a probationary period.

But NYC Educator points out that according to the Green Dot Web site, the teachers at Green Dot schools have no “tenure or seniority preference,” and questions the alternative that Edwise mentions.

[Edwise] put up a post today … repeating his contention that Green Dot teachers have something even better than tenure. I myself wonder what that may be, since the Green Dot website proudly declares its teachers have neither tenure nor seniority rights. It fails to mention its teachers have something better than tenure.

NYC Educator worries that the lack of tenure will hurt the teachers most.

When union muckety-mucks start pooh-poohing tenure, it does not bode well for teachers.

Posted by Josh Cohen at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ariel Sacks reports that her school is doing a nice job of giving experienced teachers meaningful leadership roles—something you don't hear all that often unfortunately. The result, she says, is institutional progress:

The wonderful thing about the teacher leadership opportunities at my school is that they truly allow teachers to solve problems and guide the progress of the school. Teachers have so much input and autonomy that there is amazingly little resistance to progress. There are no outside people condescending to us, telling us what to do, and meeting with that classic teacher response (which is often conveyed only in a facial expression), “Why don’t YOU try doing that in my classroom!?”

Sounds like a no-brainer, except that—to quote Carol Ann Tomlinson—"it’s just that we almost never do those [types of] things systematically and persistently in schools."

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

J. of Mildly Melancholy started a new job this year and, from the sounds of it, is having some some major stress and confidence issues.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Matthew Kay of Lesson Plans—a new group of teacher blogs hosted by the New York Times—teaches at a successful high school in Philadelphia that has figured out a way to deal with the common problem of teacher retention that many urban schools face and a way to get the students excited about school.

As I write this, student laughter is floating up from our café — late on a Friday afternoon. Some have stepped out to get Chinese, and now they are back — to hang out with teachers in the principal’s office. Given every opportunity to leave, both our educators and students regularly decide to stay.

Kay says the key to his success with his students and the school’s success with its teachers comes from the freedom to teach how he wants to teach.

If I hadn’t been allowed to be an artist in the classroom, if my curriculum had been some stranger’s standardized script, [Kay’s students] may not have found their voices … If we want to convince dynamic, young educators to choose the inner city as the place to master their craft — we’ve got to remember that the best are artists.

Posted by Josh Cohen at 2:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hobo Teacher's year is off to a (characteristically) rough start. Among other things, at a school open house, a parent voiced a concern that some of the materials on his class reading list seem to promote "homosexuality and rape." Leaving aside that the books were selected by the district in accordance with an approved policy, HT is struck by the woman's conjoinment of issues:

Yikes, lady—I understand that stances on homosexuality vary in this country a great deal, but putting it in the same breathe as rape—whoa. That’s a big ol’ bag of objection that she’s carry around and it seems to be full. And who promotes rape?! The whole thing gave me the creeps.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

IB a Math Teacher has caught a few of his students looking, not just once but twice.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cindi Rigsbee, North Carolina teacher of the year, recounts her emotional appearance on Good Morning America, during which she was reunited with her long-lost, inspirational 1st grade teacher.

For the next few seconds, as the video footage is showing me gasp and run to hug her, I am no longer Cindi Rigsbee, Teacher of the Year. Instead I am Cindy Cole, first grader at Bragtown Elementary, and my emotions are no longer contained, even if all America is watching! …

One thing I want to remember forever: during the piece and after - there were very few people in that room who weren't crying. From the studio audience to the crew to my big manly husband, there was barely a dry eye in the studio! And as I tried to manuever my way back to the dressing room to get my things, I was stopped repeatedly by folks from the editing room and other places in the building who were crying and wanting to tell me about their special teachers.

Rigsbee reflects on her experience and reminds teachers of the significant impact they have on their students’ lives.

I hope that my story of Mrs. Warnecke will be a reminder of the importance of our jobs and that we must understand that impact with every lesson we plan and every comment we make to a student.

Posted by Josh Cohen at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Edwize reports that 23 year old NYC teacher Hannah Upp has been missing since August 29. The UFT posted a $10,000 dollar reward for information leading to her whereabouts.

For more information on Hannah and to find out how you can help, go to We’re Not Giving Upp (on Hannah), and join the Facebook group.

9/17/2008
Update: Missing Teacher Found

According to an Associated Press report, Hannah Upp was rescued by a ferry captain after jumping from a Staten Island pier. She is in stable condition.

Posted by Josh Cohen at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Inspired by two librarian bloggers (here and here) that recently tackled the complex discussion of defining and avoiding censorship in their libraries, Doug Johnson of Blue Skunk reflects on his own experience as a school librarian fighting censorship, the ALA and AASL’s policies, and the courage it takes to stand up to proponents of censorship.

It takes a deceptively large amount of courage to fight censorship, to defend a wide variety of viewpoints - especially in a politically charged climate … this [is] certainly not an issue the library alone owns. How will you respond when a parent asks you to block Planned Parenthood, PETA or The Flying Spaghetti Monster websites?

Posted by Josh Cohen at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Teach Baltimore of More Humbly did I Teach (formerly Epiphany in Baltimore) was surprised by the large applause Sen. John McCain received after declaring in his RNC speech that he will, “help bad teachers find another line of work.”

(It was) the applause that most struck me - a wild, frenzied cheer for teachers to lose their jobs. I just keep trying to imagine if the line was about another profession, like firefighters, or police officers … immediately thereafter McCain brings up the word "accountability," which is a euphemistic buzzword for standardized tests.

On the other had, TB says he got goose bumps when McCain called education the “civil rights issue of this century.” But he would take a different approach than either presidential candidate is proposing:

My answer for that is to create an amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing equal public education for all, not on more testing "accountability." (And, make no mistake, I have nothing against accountability; I just don't think a standardized test is the end-all and be-all, or anywhere near it.)

Posted by Josh Cohen at 1:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Just back from a professional development tour, Will Richardson says that teachers are still behind in their awareness of the way technology is changing things:

The vast majority of those who I’ve been in rooms with the last three weeks have little idea of what is happening in the world and have given nary a thought to what this means for teaching and learning. How do I know that? By the “omg” comments that I hear as they are filing out. By the “Ugh…we’ve got a lot of work to do” responses. By the teacher/mother of a teenager who asked me what Facebook was. By the consistently less than 10% of people in the room who own a MySpace or a Facebook site. Not that the Read/Write Web conversation is the only one that matters in the context of changing schools, mind you. But it is the one that consumes my time, obviously.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

This is actually last week's news (we're a bit behind on things), but in case you missed it: The secret identity of edweek.org's uber blogger eduwonkette has been revealed. This was a very well-kept secret that, so I've heard, was driving a lot of education policy folks crazy.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Filling in at PBS's media infusion, classroom technology expert Kristin Hokanson says the growth of Web 2.0 tools makes this an exciting--and crucial--time to teach kids about the election. After all, much of the campaigning is happening in a space that is familiar to young people:

For the 2008 election, all of the candidates have accounts on [MySpace and Facebook] and many other social networking sites. YouTube You Choose is a common source of political videos and MySpace Decision 08 is reaching out to younger voters.

Students, however, don’t always make the connection between their social involvement in political issues and what they are learning in school. With the emergence of the read/write Web, the Web 2.0 world of information and media, students are already using the Internet to express themselves on their personal sites.

Posted by Josh Cohen at 2:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)